The House of Bülow () is an old

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

noble family Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy (class), aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below Royal family, royalty. Nobility has often been an Estates of the realm, estate of the rea ...

with a Danish branch. Of

Mecklenburg Mecklenburg (; ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schwerin, Neubrandenburg, Wismar and Güstrow. ...

origin, its members have borne the title of Baron (''

Freiherr (; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , ) and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and in ...

''), Count (''

Graf (; feminine: ) is a historical title of the German nobility and later also of the Russian nobility, usually translated as "count". Considered to be intermediate among noble ranks, the title is often treated as equivalent to the British title ...

'') or Prince (''

Fürst ' (, female form ', plural '; from Old High German ', "the first", a translation of the Latin ') is a German language, German word for a ruler as well as a princely title. ' were, starting in the Middle Ages, members of the highest nobility who ...

'').

History

The family traces its main line back to one knight ''Godofridus de Bulowe'', mentioned in a 1229 deed. He was named after the village of Bülow near Königsfeld, then part of the

Bishopric of Ratzeburg The Diocese of Ratzeburg (, ) is a former diocese of the Catholic Church. It was erected from the Diocese of Oldenburg c. 1050 and was suppressed in 1554. The diocese was originally a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Hamburg; in 1072 it became a s ...

. The family made great donations to nearby Rehna Abbey. As ''Bülow'' was also a word for oriole in the local dialect based on Wendish roots, the bird is depicted as a crest in the family's coat of arms. In Mecklenburg the family acquired around 110 estates, castles or villages from 1229 onwards, nine of which remained in its possession until the confiscations in communist East Germany in 1945. From 1470 to this day the family holds the manor of Gudow in

Saxe-Lauenburg The Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg (, ), was a ''reichsfrei'' duchy that existed from 1296 to 1803 and again from 1814 to 1876 in the extreme southeast region of what is now Schleswig-Holstein. Its territorial centre was in the modern district of Herz ...

(today part of the former West-German state of

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; ; ; ; ; occasionally in English ''Sleswick-Holsatia'') is the Northern Germany, northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical Duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of S ...

), and in the 19th century it acquired three more estates nearby, also still owned by family members. In the 14th century, four members officiated as Bishops of Schwerin; one Dietrich von Bülow was Bishop of Lebus from 1490 onwards. Numerous female members joined the convent of

Dobbertin Abbey Dobbertin Abbey (''Kloster Dobbertin'') is a former monastery, which from approximately 1220 to approximately 1235 accommodated a community of Benedictine monks, from approximately 1235 a community of Benedictine nuns, and from 1572 a women's colle ...

. In 1383 the Mecklenburg knight Heinrich von Bülow burnt down the village and church of

Wilsnack Bad Wilsnack (until 1929 Wilsnack) is a small town in the Prignitz district, in Brandenburg, Germany. The former pilgrimage site of the Holy Blood of Wilsnack has been officially recognised as a spa town (''Bad'') since 1929. It is the administrati ...

; thereafter, the rebuilt Church of the

Holy Blood of Wilsnack The Holy Blood of Wilsnack was the name given to three hosts, which survived a fire in 1383 that burned the church and village to the ground. The hosts were thus seen as miraculous. The relics became the destination of medieval religious pilgri ...

became a destination of medieval religious pilgrimages.

Notable members

The most notable family members are

Hans von Bülow Freiherr Hans Guido von Bülow (; 8 January 1830 – 12 February 1894) was a German conductor, pianist, and composer of the Romantic era. As one of the most distinguished conductors of the 19th century, his activity was critical for establishi ...

(1830–1894), pianist, conductor and composer who married Liszt's daughter Cosima, who later left him for

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

, and Prince

Bernhard von Bülow Bernhard Heinrich Karl Martin, Prince of Bülow ( ; 3 May 1849 – 28 October 1929) was a German politician who served as the chancellor of the German Empire, imperial chancellor of the German Empire and minister-president of Prussia from 1900 to ...

(1849–1929), Chancellor of Germany from 1900 to 1909.

Heraldry

The

blazon In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...

of the family's coat of arms is: Azure, fourteen

bezant In the Middle Ages, the term bezant (, from Latin ) was used in Western Europe to describe several gold coins of the east, all derived ultimately from the Roman . The word itself comes from the Greek Byzantion, the ancient name of Constantinop ...

s in pile, displayed four, four, three, two, one. The family's heraldic animal is the oriole, which can be seen in the armorial crest below. File:Bülow von Dennewitz - Tyroff HA.jpg, ''Graf Bülow von Dennewitz'' (1814) File:Bülow 2 - Tyroff HA.jpg, ''Graf von Bülow'' (1816) File:Buelow-Wappen.png, Arms of the Bülow family (1858) File:Friedrichshagen Kirche 6.jpg, Epitaph in Friedrichshagen church File:Bülow Pirol.JPG, The oriole as crest, at Doberan Minster

References

External links

Website of the Bülow family
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bulow family Surnames Mecklenburgian nobility