Schlieffen (or Schliefen) is the name of an old German noble family from

Pomerania Pomerania ( pl, Pomorze; german: Pommern; Kashubian: ''Pòmòrskô''; sv, Pommern) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The western part of Pomerania belongs to ...

. The family, branches of which still exist today, originates in Kolberg.

History

Origin

The family is first mentioned in records in 1365 with ''Henning Sleff'', who died around 1376, a citizen of Kolberg. He is also the originator of the familial line. Petrus Schleve also belonged to the family, who appears around 1200 as a

Burgmann From the 12th century in central Europe, a ''Burgmann'' (plural: ''Burgmannen'' or modern term ''Burgmänner'', Latin: ''oppidanus'', ''castrensus'') was a knight ministeriales or member of the nobility who was obliged to guard and defend castles. ...

(or castellan). Another member, Gerhard, appears in 1248 as a witness. Furthermore, one Petrus Schleve was a city councillor in 1303 and 1321 in Kolberg.

Spread and individual lines

The family divided early into two branches. The founders were Hans and Nicolas, the sons of Hans Schleve the Elder. Hans Schlief the Younger was the father of the senior, Dresow branch, as well as the Dresow offshoots and the Sulechowo branch. Nicolas was the ancestor of the younger branch, and the Danzig branch. Martin Ernst von Schlieffen

The Dresow offshoot died out in 1686 with the death of Anton Wilhelm von Schlieffen. The Danzig branch died out in the early 18th century. The elder Dresow branch had in 1784 only one male descendant, Johann Friedrich Wilhelm von Schlieffen (b. 1753), a Prussian lieutenant. From the Soldekow branch, at the end of the 18th century only Johann Adolf Heinrich von Schlieffen (b. 1769) was alive. Hans von Schlieffen the Younger left his post as councillor to King

Christopher III Christopher of Bavaria (26 February 1416 – 5/6 January 1448) was King of Denmark (1440–48, as Christopher III), Sweden (1441–48) and Norway (1442–48) during the era of the Kalmar Union. Biography Coming to power He was the son of Jo ...

of Denmark, Norway and Sweden and on 11 July 1444 received a Danish

grant of arms A grant of arms or a governmental issuance of arms are actions, by a lawful authority such as an officer of arms or State Herald, conferring on a person and his or her descendants the right to bear a particular coat of arms or armorial bearings. ...

Kalmar Kalmar (, , ) is a city in the southeast of Sweden, situated by the Baltic Sea. It had 36,392 inhabitants in 2010 and is the seat of Kalmar Municipality. It is also the capital of Kalmar County, which comprises 12 municipalities with a total of ...

, after he had taken the office of mayor of Kolberg. Limbrecht (or Lambertus) of the Soldekow branch, abbot of the monastery of Oliva near Danzig, and his brothers Wickbold, George and Jacob received from King

Sigismund II Augustus Sigismund II Augustus ( pl, Zygmunt II August, lt, Žygimantas Augustas; 1 August 1520 – 7 July 1572) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, the son of Sigismund I the Old, whom Sigismund II succeeded in 1548. He was the first ruler ...

of Poland on 19 July 1555 the Polish noble

indygenat ''Indygenat'' or 'naturalization' in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was the grant of nobility to foreign nobles. To grant ''indygenat'', a foreign noble had to submit proof of their service to the Republic, together with proof of nobility is ...

and additions to their coat of arms, at the Imperial Diet in Petrikau. Martin Ernst von Schlieffen (born 1732) became Minister of State, commander of an infantry regiment, governor of Wesel, Knight of the

Order of the Black Eagle The Order of the Black Eagle (german: Hoher Orden vom Schwarzen Adler) was the highest order of chivalry in the Kingdom of Prussia. The order was founded on 17 January 1701 by Elector Friedrich III of Brandenburg (who became Friedrich I, King ...

, and Commander of the Order of the Golden Lion. He died on 15 September 1825 as a Prussian lieutenant general. Johann Leo von Schlieffen (born 1649), son of Georg Heinrich von Schlieffen (1684–1751) and Anna von Brunswick, died in 1777 as a Prussian judge. Out of his three sons from his marriage with Dorothea Elisabeth von Fuchs, the eldest one, Heinrich Wilhelm Graf von Schlieffen (born 1756) became a Prussian Lieutenant-General of artillery and Knight of the

Order of the Red Eagle The Order of the Red Eagle (german: Roter Adlerorden) was an order of chivalry of the Kingdom of Prussia. It was awarded to both military personnel and civilians, to recognize valor in combat, excellence in military leadership, long and faithful se ...

, 1st Class. He died in 1842 without children. The second son, Johann Ernst Ludwig (born 1759) died on 5 December 1819 as a Prussian captain, and the youngest, Karl Friedrich Graf von Schlieffen (1763–1840), became a Prussian colonel. The house of the counts was continued in two lines by the descendants of the two younger sons. Graf Wilhelm von Schlieffen (1829–1902) came from the first line, and was the son of Graf Wilhelm Heinrich von Schlieffen (died 1836), a Prussian Major, from his marriage with Sophia von Jagow. He became the

fee tail 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 alien ...

lord at Schlieffenberg, Niglewe, Tolzin,

Rahden Rahden is a town in the far north of North Rhine-Westphalia between Bielefeld and Bremen and between Hanover and Osnabrück. Rahden is part of the Minden-Lübbecke District in East Westphalia-Lippe. Rahden was first mentioned in 1033 and 1816 t ...

and Sierhagen in Mecklenburg, as well as

Windhausen Windhausen is a village and a former municipality in the district of Göttingen, in Lower Saxony, Germany. Since 1 March 2013, it is part of the municipality Bad Grund. Sights Protestant St. John's Church in the centre of Windhausen is a very ...

and Sensenstei in Hesse. In 1858 he married Amelie Gräfin von der Groeben. His uncle Karl Graf von Schlieffen (born 1792) was fee tail lord at Schwandt (now part of Rosenow), Marienhof and Vossfeld (also now part of Rosenow) in Mecklenburg and a Prussian lieutenant general. From his marriage to Clementine von Wedell (1801–1836) he had three daughters and four sons. His brother Leo (born 1802) became a Prussian Major and a lifetime member of the

Prussian House of Lords The Prussian House of Lords (german: Preußisches Herrenhaus) in Berlin was the upper house of the Landtag of Prussia (german: Preußischer Landtag), the parliament of Prussia from 1850 to 1918. Together with the lower house, the House of Re ...

. In 1837 he married Virginie von Schlieffen (born 1817) from the Soltikow family, the owner of the estate of Sandow in Pyritz in Pomerania. From the marriage they had four daughters and three sons. Alfred von Schlieffen 1906

From the second comital line came Friedrich Magnus Graf von Schlieffen (born 1796), son of Graf Karl Friedrich von Schlieffen (died 1840), lord of the ''

Herrschaft The German term ''Herrschaft'' (plural: ''Herrschaften'') covers a broad semantic field and only the context will tell whether it means, "rule", "power", "dominion", "authority", "territory" or "lordship". In its most abstract sense, it refers ...

'' Großkrausche in Bunzlau and a Prussian major. From his 1828 marriage to Auguste von Schönberg (born 1808), he had three daughters and four sons. A daughter, countess Louise (born 1829), in 1856 married the Prussian chamberlain Friedrich Graf von und zu Egloffstein. Two of her brothers entered Prussian military service. Her father's brother Karl Graf von Schlieffen (born 1798), a Prussian lieutenant colonel, died in 1845 as a royal aide-de-camp. From his 1823 marriage to Catharina Gräfin von Schuwalow (1801–1858) he had four daughters and one son. The latter, Georg Graf von Schlieffen (born 1832), lord at Oberwitz in Upper Silesia, who became a Prussian royal

valet de chambre ''Valet de chambre'' (), or ''varlet de chambre'', was a court appointment introduced in the late Middle Ages, common from the 14th century onwards. Royal households had many persons appointed at any time. While some valets simply waited on t ...

. In 1860 he married Ludmilla Gräfin von Renart (born 1830), the widowed Countess of Brühl. His sisters, countesses Elisabeth (born 1825) and Maria (born 1830), both became honorary canonesses of the ''Stift zum heiligen Grab''. Countess Anastasia (born 1827) married Ludwig Graf von Pappenheim in 1854. Her sister Louise (born 1838) married Maximilian Graf von Pappenheim in 1860. A significant member of the family in modern times was Alfred Graf von Schlieffen (born 1833). He joined the Prussian army in 1854 and fought in the Austro-Prussian War and the Franco-Prussian War. In 1884 he became a department head in the

German General Staff The German General Staff, originally the Prussian General Staff and officially the Great General Staff (german: Großer Generalstab), was a full-time body at the head of the Prussian Army and later, the German Army, responsible for the continuou ...

, 1888 Quartermaster-General and Deputy Chief of the General Staff. In 1905 he composed the Schlieffen Plan, which was to enable the German Empire to prevent a war on two fronts. He died a Prussian field marshal on 4 January 1913 in Berlin.

Peerage

The three brothers Wilhelm von Schlieffen, a Prussian colonel, Ludwig von Schlieffen at Czierwienz at Neitzkow in Stolp, and Karl von Schlieffen, Prussian colonel were raised to the Prussian rank of counts on 1 March 1812 in Berlin by royal decree.

Legacy in Kolberg

In Kolberg cathedral, the ''Schlieffenkrone'' is a reminder of the family's influence and importance in the city, being a wooden chandelier from 1523. As in many other Hanseatic cities, such as

Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the state ...

, the family first rose up within the bourgeoisie in the city, and then through investments and money-lending in manors and villages became part of the landed nobility. The ''Schlieffenkrone'' was saved in 1945 on the initiative of pastor Pastor Paul Hinz, because it was walled up in time. The ''Dom Schlieffenów'' (Schlieffen house) in Kolberg is an originally Brick Gothic town house of the Schlieffen family from the 15th century. It was renovated in 1540 in the style of the Early Renaissance. Since the Second World War, the building holds the museum for city history.

Members

*Adolph von Schlieffen (1841–1916) *

Alfred von Schlieffen Graf Alfred von Schlieffen, generally called Count Schlieffen (; 28 February 1833 – 4 January 1913) was a German field marshal and strategist who served as chief of the Imperial German General Staff from 1891 to 1906. His name lived on in t ...

(1833–1913), field marshal and author of the

Schlieffen Plan The Schlieffen Plan (german: Schlieffen-Plan, ) is a name given after the First World War to German war plans, due to the influence of Field Marshal Alfred von Schlieffen and his thinking on an invasion of France and Belgium, which began on ...

* Anton von Schlieffen (1576–1650), officer *Arthur von Schlieffen (1844–1914), Prussian Lieutenant General *Georg von Schleiffen-Renard (1860–1944) *Hans Schlief (d. 1466), mayor of Kolberg *Karl von Schlieffen (1792–1866), Prussian Lieutenant General *Karl-Klemens von Schlieffen (1858–1934), Prussian Major General *Katharina Gräfin von Schlieffen (born in 1956), German jurist *Limbrecht von Schlieffen (1852–1935), Prussian

General of the Cavalry General of the Cavalry (german: General der Kavallerie) was a General officer rank in the cavalry in various states of which the modern states of German and Austria are successors or in other armies which used the German model. Artillery officers ...

*Leo von Schlieffen (1802–1874), politician, member of the