Hodenberg is the name of an old Lower Saxon

noble family Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteris ...

. The originally '' hochfrei'' family line belonged to the fourth military feudal level or ''

Heerschild The ''Heerschild'' (; lat, clipeus militarisStieber, Joachim. W. (1978). ''Pope Eugenius IV, the Council of Basel and the Secular and Ecclesiastical Authorities in the Empire'', E.J. Brill, Leiden, p. 124. ), also called the shield of knighthood, ...

''.

History

Since early times the von Hodenberg lords were protectors (''Schirmvögte'') of the monastery at Bücken founded by Archbishop Rembert of Bremen. Their name was probably derived from this hereditary office, because in Low German the word ''Hode'' means ''Hut'' or ''Schirm'' (i.e. protection or shield). At one time Hodenberg Castle on the

Weser The Weser () is a river of Lower Saxony in north-west Germany. It begins at Hannoversch Münden through the confluence of the Werra and Fulda. It passes through the Hanseatic city of Bremen. Its mouth is further north against the ports o ...

, the oldest ancestral seat of the family, was situated in the vicinity of this monastery. The oldest known progenitor was ''Hermann Hode'', who was mentioned in 1149 in a deed by the Archbishop of Bremen, Hartwig I of Stade. Somewhat later another ''Hermann Hode'' appeared who, from 1168, was frequently named amongst the followers of

Henry the Lion Henry the Lion (german: Heinrich der Löwe; 1129/1131 – 6 August 1195) was a member of the Welf dynasty who ruled as the duke of Saxony and Bavaria from 1142 and 1156, respectively, until 1180. Henry was one of the most powerful German p ...

. The construction of Hoya Castle, not far from Hodenberg, built by the ambitious counts of Hoya, caused the Hodenberg lords to build

Hodenhagen Hodenhagen is a municipality in the district of Heidekreis, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The town was once the site of Hudemühlen Castle, which is now destroyed. The castle was famous as the home of the kobold Hinzelmann.Keightley, Thomas (1850). '' ...

Castle near

east of the Weser in the first half of the 13th century. A descendant was named after it in 1244 ''dei gratia nobilis de Hodenhagen'' ("by the grace of God, nobleman of Hodenhagen"). In 1291 this son, Heinrich, Edelherr von Hodenhagen (Henry, Baron of Hodenhagen), sold Hodenberg Castle with all its estate west of the Weser and all its inhabitants to the counts of Hoya, who shortly afterwards also captured the estate of the

Vogt During the Middle Ages, an (sometimes given as modern English: advocate; German: ; French: ) was an office-holder who was legally delegated to perform some of the secular responsibilities of a major feudal lord, or for an institution such as ...

ei of Bücken. In 1313 Heinrich's sons, Hermann and Heinrich, also sold their own land east of the Weser, so that the counts of Hoya took possession of the entire Hodenberg estate. Both brothers continued to call themselves ''Edelherren'' (barons), but married wives of lower noble status, so that their descendants lost their status as peers. From the 16th century two main family lines arose whose last common ancestor was Marquard III von Hodenberg (died 1538). In 1622 Emperor Ferdinand II gave the Marquard von Hodenberg and his family leave to be called the ''

Edler Edler () was until 1919 the lowest rank of nobility in Austria-Hungary and Germany, just beneath a ''Ritter'' (hereditary knight), but above untitled nobles, who used only the nobiliary particle ''von'' before their surname. It was mostly given to ...

'' (lord) von Hodenberg, a title which the line made no use of however. In 1859 George V of Hanover recognised the family as a barony.

Coat of arms

The

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

displays a red wing on a silver shield, whose wing feathers curve downwards, and which is decorated with a golden stalked trefoil. The helmet is surmounted by a wing whose wing feathers curve round to the left. The

mantling In heraldry, mantling or "lambrequin" (its name in French) is drapery tied to the helmet above the shield. In paper heraldry it is a depiction of the protective cloth covering (often of linen) worn by knights from their helmets to stave off the ...

is red and silver.

Bearers of the name

* Bodo von Hodenberg (1604–1650), German poet * Bodo von Hodenberg (1826–1907), German politician * Hodo Freiherr von Hodenberg (1887–1962), German lawyer and politician * Wilhelm Freiherr von Hodenberg (1786–1861), German civil servant and politician * Wilken Freiherr von Hodenberg (born 1954), director of Deutsche Beteiligungs AG * Eberhard Freiherr von Hodenberg (born 1955), German doctor

Literature

Otto Hupp Hermann Joseph Otto Hubert August Constantin Hupp (May 21, 1859 – January 31, 1949) was a German graphical artist. His main working area was heraldry, yet he also worked as a typeface designer, creating commercial symbols and metal works. Life a ...

: ''Münchener Kalender 1908.'' Verlagsanstalt München / Regensburg 1908. *

External links

Entry about Hodenberg
in the

Neues allgemeines deutsches Adels-Lexicon Neues allgemeines Deutsches Adels-Lexicon or New General German Aristocracy Lexicon is the title of a series of historical reference books written by Professor Dr. Ernst Heinrich Kneschke about the German aristocracy, including royalty and nobilit ...

{{Authority control German noble families