Kurck
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Kurki or Kurck family, also known as the family of Laukko, is a medievally-originated Finnish noble family that produced several historically prominent persons. It is documented in the late 14th century. The family is usually divided in several lineages as it continued through female succession. Please observe that no one surnamed Kurki who lived in Finland after the 17th century is descended from this family through documentarily proven agnatic lineage. The surname is common in Finland, and has been used by several other former or current unrelated families. The medieval Kurki family held the manor of ''Laukko'' at least since the 14th century, until the beginning of the 19th century. A seal of a member of this family is known already from the early 15th century. It depicts a
common crane The common crane (''Grus grus''), also known as the Eurasian crane, is a bird of the family Gruidae, the cranes. A medium-sized species, it is the only crane commonly found in Europe besides the demoiselle crane (''Grus virgo'') and the Siberian ...
, which is ''kurki'' in Finnish. However, the coat of arms of the family since the 15th century depicts a sword with three stars (lady Elin's coat of arms, and later confirmed in the 1st baron's coat of arms at the
Swedish House of Nobility The House of Nobility ( sv, Riddarhuset) in Stockholm, Sweden, is a corporation and a building that maintains records and acts as an interest group on behalf of the Swedish nobility. Name The name is literally translated as ''House of Knights'', ...
when the baronial rank was obtained in 1652). In 1797, Arvid Fredrik Kurck (1735–1810) was created a Swedish count, but his branch became extinct.


Original Kurki family of Tavastia

According to folklore, an ancestor of the family Kurki was Matthew Kurki, a legendary chieftain of Pirkka men of the 13th century. Legendary material assign him as the first owner of Laukko. However, before the confiscation of ecclesiastical properties in the 16th century, kings and government did not have lands to grant to speak of, and therefore this idea, having received it from king as reward, in the folklore derives from more modern era. In Middle Ages, people owned usually just inherited lands and lands conquered or assarted by the clan. Landed properties were highly family-committed. Laukko seems not to have been an immense landholding until made gradually such by the second Kurki family in the 15th century. The location of the Matthew (''Matti'') Kurki folklore as itself matches, because Laukko is located in
Vesilahti Vesilahti ( sv, Vesilahti, also ) is a municipality of Finland. It is part of the Pirkanmaa region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The municipality is unilingually F ...
, the historical
Pirkkala Pirkkala (; sv, Birkala) is a municipality of Finland. It is located some south-west from Tampere in the Pirkanmaa region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is , which makes ...
area, where those folk legends are strongest. There is a gap of a century between Matti Kurki and the first documented Kurki, deputy lawspeaker ''Jakob Kurki'' (Jeppe, Jesper, Jaakko, Jacob) of the late 14th century, whose seat was the manor of ''Niemenpää'' in southern Tavastia.


Medieval Kurki family

The heiress of the old Kurki family of Niemenpää married sometime in the late 14th century a nobleman named ''Herman'', of either Swedish or German extraction and using the nickname Svärd, "sword", in accordance with his coat of arms. Of their sons, Nicholas used the nickname Kurki, whereas another son, Peter, seems to have been known as "sword" ("..old lord Peder Swärdh.."). From Peter, owner of Niemenpää, the continuous line holding the lordship of Harviala descends. Nicholas is surmised to have been childless. This however is proven false by an entry in th
Diplomataricum Fennicum
that clearly mentions a daughter. Several genealogies name him and his wife Cecilia Filipsdotter as the parents of one to three children, among them Jeppe Kurki. Other theories include the descent of Jeppe from a younger kinsman of his (some researchers have estimated that as nephew, be it nephew through a brother or, more probably, a sister). This ''Jeppe Kurki'' (Jacob, Jaakko, Jesper) married ''Karin Klasdotter'', daughter of Klas Lydekesson, an important heiress. The last male of their line was a grandson, Arvid Kurk (1463–1522), who was the last
catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
bishop of Turku. Bishop ''Arvid Klasson Kurk'' had a sister, Elin Kurk, who was married with ''Knut Eriksson'' (Canute Ericsson),
lawspeaker A lawspeaker or lawman ( Swedish: ''lagman'', Old Swedish: ''laghmaþer'' or ''laghman'', Danish: ''lovsigemand'', Norwegian: ''lagmann'', Icelandic: , Faroese: '' løgmaður'', Finnish: ''laamanni'', kl, inatsitinuk) is a unique Scandina ...
of Northern Finland. Elin's son Jöns Knutsson (1503-c 1577) inherited his uncle the bishop Arvid and was the next owner of Laukko and the Kurki patrimony. ''This epoch also includes (at least in folklore)'': '' Klas Kurk'', of the 15th century. He was a nobleman who in the folk ballad Death of Elin burned his (first) wife Elin, whom he believed to have been unfaithful and given birth to a son of another man. The poem however is either fictive or possibly persons are mixed.


Noble, ultimately baronial family Kurki, in Sweden known as Kurck

''Elin Klasdotter'', sister of bishop Arvid Kurk, and heiress of the medieval Kurki family, is the ancestress of the next male-line family that used the surname Kurki. The Swedish formulation of the name – Kurck – was manifested as the family was registered under that name in 1625 at the Swedish House of Nobility when that institution was established. Lady Elin's father was lord ''Klas Jeppesson Kurk''. Her husband was lawspeaker ''Knut Eriksson'' (died in 1539 at great age), a member of the
Privy Council of Sweden The Council of the Realm, or simply The Council ( sv, Riksrådet or sv, Rådet: sometimes in la, Senatus Regni Sueciae), was a cabinet of medieval origin, consisting of magnates ( sv, stormän) which advised, and at times co-ruled with, the Ki ...
and since 1511 lagman of Northern Finland (Elgenstierna gives him as a scion of the Smålandic family of petty gentry holding the manor of Näs; but Gillingstam opines him being of Finnic extraction). Elin's son ''Jöns Knutsson Kurck'' (1503-c 1577) was also member of the royal council (PC) and his father's successor as lawspeaker. The family continues through a son of Jöns' second marriage with Ingeborg Tott: * Canute Jönsson (died 1598). His wife was Bridget Benedictsdotter of the ''Gylta'' family, who inherited the Hedensö manor in Näshulta,
Södermanland Södermanland ( or ), locally Sörmland, sometimes referred to under its Latin form ''Sudermannia'' or ''Sudermania'', is a historical province or ''landskap'' on the south eastern coast of Sweden. It borders Östergötland, Närke, Västman ...
. That manor became the Kurki family's seat in Sweden. Colonel Axel Kurck 1555–1630 was a soldier whom revolting Cudgel men (nuijamiehet) wanted to make their chief, but he did not consent. Axel became later military governor of the entire Finland. Jöns Kurck (1590–1652), member of the Royal Council and president of Court of Appeals of Turku, was created ''
friherre (; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , literally "free lord" or "free lady") and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empire ...
'' (baron) in 1652, and he started the baronial family that survived to the 20th century. The baronial Kurck family held the Laukko manor yet over a century, but settled chiefly in Sweden in the area of Stockholm, because they were of high
nobility 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 character ...
and often among the important officials of the kingdom. The unmarried baron Axel Gustav Kurck (1728–1800) established Laukko as a
fideicommiss In English common law, fee tail or entail is a form of trust established by deed or settlement which restricts the sale or inheritance of an estate in real property and prevents the property from being sold, devised by will, or otherwise alie ...
for agnates of the Kurck family. Arvid Fredrik Kurck (1735–1810) was in 1797 created
count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...
but did not bother to register it at the Swedish House of Nobility. He succeeded in 1800 as owner of Laukko fideicommiss. His distant cousin and successor, baron Klas Arvid Kurck (1769–1834), Lord Justice of the Supreme Court of Sweden, and Lord President of the Chamber Court of Sweden (the supreme administrative court), had to sell (ultimately in 1817) the ancestral manor of Laukko when
Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
had become a separate grand duchy attached to Russian Empire, because the Kurck family wanted to stay in Sweden, and the Finnish government did not allow foreigners to possess landed properties. Baron Klaus Arvid's only son's only son, Dr. Phil, baron Klas Karl Gustav Kurck (1849–1937), cultural historian, was the last legitimate agnate of this Kurck family. Female-line descendants of the baronial lineage live, mostly in Sweden, including branches of families von Friesendorff, Stjernswärd,
Wrede Wrede is a surname that includes two different noble families, the German princely one and Finnish-Swede noble family "von Wrede" that originated from Westphalia Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern ...
,
von Nolcken The term ''von'' () is used in German language surnames either as a nobiliary particle indicating a noble patrilineality, or as a simple preposition used by commoners that means ''of'' or ''from''. Nobility directories like the ''Almanach de Go ...
, and Procopé.


Royal descendants

The current king of the
Kingdom of the Netherlands , national_anthem = ) , image_map = Kingdom of the Netherlands (orthographic projection).svg , map_width = 250px , image_map2 = File:KonDerNed-10-10-10.png , map_caption2 = Map of the four constituent countries shown to scale , capital = ...
, Willem-Alexander (born 1967),
Prince of Orange Prince of Orange (or Princess of Orange if the holder is female) is a title originally associated with the sovereign Principality of Orange, in what is now southern France and subsequently held by sovereigns in the Netherlands. The title ...
, descends paternally, through a female line, after 500 years, from each of the three above-mentioned
Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...
families of Kurck. This is because one ancestress of Willem-Alexander has been countess Eva Horn (1653–1740), wife of Reichsgraf Nicholas Bielke, lord of the Finnish barony of Korpo, and daughter of the Finnish field marshal Gustav Horn (1592–1657), Count of Pori, the
Lord High Constable of Sweden The Lord High Constable ( sv, Riksmarsk or only ''Marsk'') was a prominent and influential office in Sweden, from the 13th century until 1676, excluding periods when the office was out of use. The office holder was a member of the Swedish Privy Cou ...
. The Horn counts of Pori, Finland descend, through the
Porvoo Porvoo (; sv, Borgå ; la, Borgoa) is a city and a municipality in the Uusimaa region of Finland, situated on the southern coast about east of the city border of Helsinki and about from the city centre. Porvoo was one of the six medieval to ...
-originated owners of the manor of Sydänmaa, from a daughter of the abovementioned lady ''Elin Klasdotter'', heiress of the Kurck of Laukko, and her husband lawspeaker ''Knut Eriksson''. Lady Elin, as explained above, descended from the medieval Kurck of Laukko family and from the Kurck of Niemenpää family (and was their heiress), and of course all her descendants so descend too.


References

{{Reflist


Sources

* ''Äldre svenska frälsesläkter'' by Folke Wernstedt, 1965 (deals with the family of Arvi Kurki and the Svärd family) * ''Svenska adelns ättartavlor'' by Gustaf Elgenstierna, 1925 (1998 edition) – deals with the baronial Kurck family * W. W. van Valkenburg, ''De voorouders van Z.K.H. Prins Claus, Prins der Nederlanden'', Ned. Leeuw Feb/March 1966. Finnish families Finnish noble families