Arms granted to Ludwig I von Blumenthal in 1701 and (below) to Hans and Joachim von Blumenthal in 1786, upon Hans being elevated toCount (Graf). Note that here the vine is planted, not couped.
TheBlumenthal family is a Lutheran and Roman CatholicGerman noble family, originally fromBrandenburg-Prussia. Other (unrelated) families of this name exist in Switzerland and formerly in Russia, and many unrelated families (quite a few of them Jewish) calledBlumenthal, without "von", are to be found worldwide.
The family was already noble from earliest times (Uradel), dating from the days of theHoly Roman Empire in theMiddle Ages, long before the creation of theKingdom of Prussia and theGerman Empire, and different branches acquired different titles over time. All living members of the noble family are descended from Heinrich (V) von Blumenthal (1654–93), whosebaronial status was limited to the borders ofBrandenburg. Other members of the family were raised toallodial baronies (Freiherren), all of which are now extinct, or tocountships, of which only one line survives. One member of the family,Georg (I) was a Prince-Bishop (i.e. a head of state). In the case of another,Leonhard (I) the Kaiser announced in the Court Circular his intention to raise him to Prince, but he died months later before this could be enacted.
Horst Castle at Blumenthal, seat of the Blumenthal family from the 13th century until 1810Quackenburg, seat of a major branch of the Blumenthal family from the early 18th century onwards
Like the von Grabow family, whose descendants have includedPushkin, the Blumenthals were originally a branch of the Ammendorf (or Amendorf ) family, who inherited the estates of Blumenthal and Grabow from the only daughter and heiress of Nikolaus von Blumenthal, first referred to in a document of 1240. His family probably originally came fromBloemendaal ("Flower Valley" or "Valley of Flowers") in Holland and re-located first to Blumenthal nearVerden in thediocese of Bremen and thence to Blumenthal in theArchdiocese of Magdeburg, where they werevassals of theWendish Counts of Plotho, naming each settlement after the previous one.
ThePlotho family expanded its estates in thePrignitz in the 13th century, bringing Nikolaus von Blumenthal with them. There he named the villages of Blumenthal and Grabow after his properties in the Archdiocese of Magdeburg. The family of his son-in-law, Ruthger von Amendorf, had also come from the country around Bremen. They inherited Nikolaus von Blumenthal's estates and took his name. The castle of Horst, near Blumenthal in the Prignitz, was the family seat for over 600 years, until 1810. The family also claimed a legendary descent from the Roman EmperorFlorianus, as well as from theArthurian knightsGarel andDaniel von Blumenthal, whose stories are told in 13th-century poems byDer Pleier andDer Stricker, respectively.
Hans (II), son of Otto (III),Vogt ofArneburg 1440–50
Georg (I) (1490–1550), the lastCatholic sovereign ruler in northern Germany, and the only Bishop in Brandenburg during theProtestant Reformation to die a Catholic.
Heinrich (V) (died 1693), the most recent common ancestor of all living members of the family, fought at the Battle of Fleurus in Derfflinger's Foot (Stayn's Brigade) and was addressed by the Elector Frederick III (the future King in Prussia) as "Obristwachtmeister usw. Baron von Blumenthal" (roughly, "Major, etc., Baron von Blumenthal)
Ludwig (I) (1666–1704) became aCount of the Holy Roman Empire in 1701, was a chamberlain toFrederick I King of Prussia and was Colonel of the Prussian Life Dragoons, at whose head he was killed in a charge up the slope to Oberglau at theBattle of Blenheim; the regiment lost 300 men. He married Sophie Wilhelmina von Schöning, daughter of the Field Marshal and War MinisterHans Adam von Schöning.
Ludwig (II) (died 1760) was President of Frederick the Great's principal ministry, the War and Domains Directory. He was succeeded by his nephew.
Ludwig (II)'s sonsFriedrich (died 1745) andHans (1722–1788) both commandedFrederick the Great's famousGardes du Corps, which Friedrich had founded. Hans won the Pour le Mérite atHohenfriedberg. He had to leave the army after being wounded leading his regiment in a successful cavalry charge at theBattle of Lobositz. In 1786 he was made a Count, together with his cousin Joachim (VIII) and supervised the education ofFrederick William III's brother, Prince Henry.
Their brotherHenrich (VII), a major in Prinz Heinrich's Regiment, was killed in action atOstritz in 1756. His gallant defence was reported in the local press and his friend the poetvon Kleist wrote his epitaph.
Georg (IV) (born at Quackenburg,Pomerania, in 1722, died 1784) won the Pour le Mérite at theBattle of Prague. In March 1760 his defensive action against a surprise attack at Neustadt caught the attention of the British press. He was charged with raising forces to oppose the invasion of Pomerania in the 1760s by the Russians, who put a price on his head. He became a major general. His nephew
Werner (I) (1725–1824) and his sonWerner (III) (1766–1832) both commanded the dragoon regiment known as the Porzellaner
Ludwig (V) (1774–1813), brother of Werner (III), fought at Jena and Eylau and was mortally wounded leading the 2nd Squadron of the Brandenburg Dragoons in Thümen's Brigade atDennewitz.
Joachim (VIII) Christian (1720–1800) Prussian Minister of War and Finance, was made a count together with his cousin Hans, by an unusual double-patent.
Ludwig (I)'s daughterCountess Charlotte (1701–1761 (married to GeneralAlexander von Dönhoff), Count Heinrich (VII)'s widowMarie Thérèse, néed'Harscamp(1712–82) and Friedrich (V)'s widowLeopoldine, the biographer ofZieten, were all chief ladies-in-waiting toPrincess Henry, sister-in-law ofFrederick the Great. A sculpture of Marie Thérèse byJean-Pierre-Antoine Tassaert was destroyed by allied bombing.
Count Heinrich (VIII) von Blumenthal, 1765–1830, Mayor of Magdeburg, politician and courtier under King Jérome of Westphalia
Count Heinrich (VIII) (1765–1830), the last Blumenthal to occupy the family seat at Horst bei Blumenthal, was Mayor ofMagdeburg (where his statue is to be seen) and Head Chamberlain toJérôme Bonaparte, King of Westphalia, as well as governor of Jerôme's palace atWilhelmshöhe.
Count Albert (1797–1860) commanded the PrussianFirst Foot Guards from 1851 to 1856 and retired as a lieutenant-general
Robert wasRegierungspresident (Governor) ofDanzig from 1841 to 1863 and ofSigmaringen from 1864 to 1873. He was a leading opponent of Roman Catholicism in Prussia.
Albrecht (IV) (1842–1918), son of Leonhard, who published his father's memoirs, became a lieutenant general.
Louis (Ludwig (VII)) (1811–1903), brother of Leonhard, led the Prussian 52nd Infantry as Colonel into its decisive charge on the AustrianHoch- und Deutschmeister Regiment at theBattle of Nachod in 1866. He became a major-general.
Werner (1870–1946), Lt-Colonel, son of Louis
Maximilian (I) (1823–1914), was a major in the 1st East Prussian Grenadiers No. 1 during theAustro-Prussian War, in which he won theOrder of the Red Eagle (Fourth Class). In 1870 he commanded a battalion of the 73rd Fusiliers and won theIron Cross (Second Class) atGravelotte, having led his battalion through the murderous crossfire of the Mance Ravine and stood firm while being bombarded by the artillery of both sides. After the war he commanded the 1st Silesian Grenadier Regiment No. 10. He retired as a major general.
CountWerner (V) von Blumenthal-Suckow (1848–1928), a veteran of theAustro- andFranco-Prussian wars, and a friend of Prince Frederick vonHohenzollern of Prussia, became Chamberlain to theKing of Saxony. He was a leading moderate in the Conservative Party, and at theTivoli Congress of 1892, at which Klasing persuaded the party to adopt antisemitism as part of its programme, he spoke out courageously. He was shouted down, and those who supported him did not dare do so publicly. His daughter Maria, a nun, was murdered in her 70s by theSS.
Hans (XI) (1855–1945), youngest son of Ludwig (VII), lost his two elder brothers in the Franco-Prussian War. Most of his adult life was uneventful. He was colonel of the 13th Hussars in 1900; Commander of the 24th cavalry Brigade (13th Hussars and 9th Dragoons) stationed inMetz in 1906, and promoted to major general, but after quarrelling with his commanding officer, GeneralMaximilian von Prittwitz, he left the army in 1910 as a lieutenant general. However, on the outbreak of the First World War he rejoined the army and first commanded the 60th Landwehr Brigade, then the 49th in Bois de Lord, south of theChampagne, until 1917, when health forced him to retire again. He was made a Count of theGrand Duchy of Baden, and married Lillian Steinway-Oakes (1860–1904), daughter of the celebrated co-founder ofSteinway & Sons,Henry Steinway, and sister-in-law of Baden's minister of the interior, Baron Heinrich von Bodman. His end was tragic. His son Curt joined theSA and rose to be Reiterstandartenführer (equivalent to a major general) in command of the 27th SA Reiterstandarte atKyritz. On the night of 1 May 1945 Curt shot his wife, children and himself in front of his father and sister Clarissa. Shortly after that, the Russians arrived and attempted to rape the 65-year-old Clarissa. Hans, himself over ninety, drove (or shamed) them off. But the experience was a shock and he died of a heart attack a few days later on 7 May.
Clarissa (1881–1971) mentioned above, made a career for herself during the 1930s as an impressionist painter inFlorence andRome. She was a Roman Catholic convert. A portion of those years are mentioned in the Memoir, "Artemis Smith's ODD GIRL Revisited" by Annselm Artemis Smith Morpurgo, daughter of Scandinavian Expressionist Painter and Sculptor Vilna Jorgen Morpurgo. Vilna resided and studied with Clarissa in Rome at Clarissa's studio on via Marghutta. As late as 1962, a gallery on via Marghutta is known to have still exhibited Clarissa's work. Both Clarissa and Vilna participated in a noted 1938 Group Show of Foreign Women Artists, which also included Elaine De Kooning, at another neighboring gallery on via Flamminia. Clarissa notably also painted a portrait of Vilna in 1933, taken to the US in 1940 by a branch of the Italian-Jewish Morpurgo Baronial Family and only recently (since 2009) placed on charity auction by The Savant Garde Institute.[1] Additional history related to that obscure impressionist masterpiece may be found at the Vilna Jorgen Morpurgo webpage.[2] Clarissa's technique is unmistakable although she may often have left her work unsigned. There are probably many other of her paintings that will eventually surface. She was also an accomplished Vatican restorer and probably, according to colleague Vilna Jorgen Morpurgo, also secretly a fine arts forger for the Vatican. Both Vilna and Clarissa were included in the elite artistic social circle surrounding Mussolini and Hitler in the 1930s, but it is also very likely, from Vilna's account, that Clarissa is one of the unsung heroines of the German aristocracy who secretly opposed and worked against Mussolini's alliance with Hitler and helped Vilna and her Italian-Jewish Family escape to the US in 1940.
Albrecht (1889–1945) was a respectedphilologist, aRhodes Scholar atOxford, and as a poet was a leading member of the circle ofStefan George, to whom he introduced theStauffenberg brothers. The dissident Lutheran pastorDietrich Bonhoeffer conducted an illegal seminary in 1938 from Albrecht's estate atGroß Schlönwitz. In 1940, he joined the NSDAP. In 1945, faced with the advancing American troops and the defeat of Nazi Germany, he and his wife committed suicide in Marburg.
Wolf-Werner von Blumenthal (1902–68), son of Lt. Col. Werner, was chairman of the family firm of Bachmann-von Blumenthal,[3] which manufactured fighter aircraft during the Second World War. His diary of the last days of the war survives.
Wulf von Blumenthal (1905–1999) served on the Eastern Front in 1943 and pursued a military career in the post-war Bundeswehr, rising to the rank of Colonel commanding the 32nd Panzer Grenadier Battalion.
Werner Richard (1914–2003) andWolfgang Charles, Albrecht's sons, were both educated at Oxford. They ceased using their first Christian name and adopted their stepfather's surname, becoming, respectively, Richard andCharles Arnold-Baker, joined the British army and both served as officers inMI6. Richard (called Captain Barnes in the transcripts) was in the team of officers who interrogatedRudolf Hess, and Charles commandedWinston Churchill's bodyguard for part of the war, and inNorway arrested the Deputy Commandant ofAuschwitz,Karl Fritzsch. Charles was one of the earliest officers of MI6 to voice suspicions about the traitorKim Philby. He was the Senior Barrister of theInner Temple (his ashes are interred in the triforium of theTemple Church) and author ofThe Companion to British History.
James Arnold-Baker (1944–2018), son of Werner Richard, read Geology atOxford. He was CEO ofBBC Enterprises from 1986 to 1994 and then became Secretary to the Delegates (Chief Executive) ofOxford University Press.
Journals of Field Marshal Count von Blumenthal for 1866 and 1870–71, edited by his son, Count Albrecht von Blumenthal, translated by Major Gillespie-Addison, published by Edward Arnold, 1903.
Prussia: the Junker Point of View, by Henry von Blumenthal, published by Longcross Press, 2022.[1]
Steinhöfel, bought by Joachim (VIII) von Blumenthal, inherited by his daughter Charlotte and then by her son Valentin von Massow, an adjutant of Wellington's at Waterloo.
In the rest of the Brandenburg Mark: Bukow (1546–1556); Haselberg & Harnekop (1617–1662);Paretz (1677–1795); Flatow (1797–1810);Steinhöfel (1774–1800 - descended to Charlotte von Blumenthal and thence to her son Valentin von Massow) ); Trechwitz (1644–1650); Falkenberg
In the LowerLausitz: Pretschen and Wittmannsdorf (1649 - mid-18th century); Guhrow (briefly in the 17th century)
InMecklenburg: Adamsdorf (formerly Kuhschwanz; 1800–1835) and Liepen (1800–1810)
InHalberstadt: the former properties of the von Warberg family (1653–1732)
InAnhalt:Quellendorf (1871-late 19th century) bought by Field Marshal Count Leonhardt von Blumenthal from General Count Henckel von Donnersmarck and later transferred to his son-in-law Rudolf von Oettinger.
SuckowVarzin, sold by the Blumenthals to Bismarck in 1874
InPomerania:Quackenburg (1717–1905); Egsow & Cummerzin (1734–1833); Suckow (19th century to 1874);Varzin (1874; sold to Bismarck); Jannewitz & Wendisch-Puddiger, with Chorow, Wussow, Gross Onessow, Klein Onessow,Groß Schlönwitz (1734–1773 and 1843–1945); Gross Möllen and Loiste (18th century);Staffelde (1883–1945; recovered and resold in 1990s); Segenthin (1834–1945); Deutsch-Puddiger (1839–1945); Grünwalde in Rummelsburg (briefly, 19th century);Natzlaff (19th Century).
InWest Prussia: Gottschalk & Dohnastedt (1841 – after 1904)
Arms : Or (or depending on the branch of the family, party per pale, sable and or); in bend sinister, a vinestock couped (or planted, again depending upon the branch of the family), with three clusters and three leaves proper, all counterchanged.Crest: A virgin, dressed per pale or and sable (or in some cases undressed), between two eagles' wings, holding a wreath in her dexter hand.
Geschichte des Geschlechts der Grafen und Herren von Blumenthal, Berlin 1904;
Genealogisches Handbuch der Adeligen Häuser A Band XVIII - C.A. Starke Verlag, 1985
For He is an Englishman - Memoirs of a Prussian Nobleman byCharles Arnold-Baker or Wolfgang von Blumenthal - Jeremy Mills Publishing Ltd, 2007 -ISBN978-1-905217-44-1
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