Anthony Günther, Count of Oldenburg (aka Anton Günther, 10 November 158319 June 1667) was an

Imperial Count Imperial Count (, ) was a title in the Holy Roman Empire. During the medieval era, it was used exclusively to designate the holder of an imperial county, that is, a fief held directly ( immediately) from the emperor, rather than from a prince wh ...

and a member of the

House of Oldenburg The House of Oldenburg is a Germans, German dynasty whose members rule or have ruled in Danish Realm, Denmark, Kingdom of Iceland, Iceland, Kingdom of Greece, Greece, Norway, Russian Empire, Russia, Sweden, United Kingdom, the United Kingdom, King ...

Early life and ancestry

Günther was born in

Oldenburg Oldenburg may also refer to: Places * Mount Oldenburg, Ellsworth Land, Antarctica *Oldenburg (city), an independent city in Lower Saxony, Germany **Oldenburg (district), a district historically in Oldenburg Free State and now in Lower Saxony * Ol ...

, into the

and was the ruling count of

from 1603 until his death in

Rastede Rastede (Low German: ''Raastäe/Raas'') is a municipality in the Ammerland district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately 12 km north of Oldenburg. It is the site of the Schloss Rastede. The Rastede railway station is ...

, and of

Delmenhorst Delmenhorst (; Northern Low Saxon: ''Demost'') is an urban district (''List of German urban districts, Kreisfreie Stadt'') in Lower Saxony, Germany. It has a population of 74,500 and is located west of downtown Bremen (city), Bremen with which ...

from 1647 until his death. He was the son of John VII (1540–1603) and his wife, Countess Elisabeth of Schwarzburg-Blankenburg.

Biography

S. Baring-Gould relates the following interesting anecdote about the count in his book "Strange Survivals Some Chapters in the History of Man": ''In 1615 Count Anthony Günther of Oldenburg, on visiting a dyke in process of construction, found the workmen about to bury an infant under it. The count interfered, saved the child, reprimanded the dam-builders, and imprisoned the mother who had sold her babe for the purpose. Singularly enough, this same count is declared by tradition to have buried a living child in the foundations of his castle at Oldenburg.''

Haus "Graf Anton Günther"

The Haus "Graf Anton Günther" is a historic house in central Oldenburg, dating from 1682. Count Anton Günther is depicted on the facade, which was redesigned in the

neo-Renaissance Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th-century Revivalism (architecture), architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival architecture, Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival ar ...

style in 1894. The house was used by merchants and tobacco manufacturers.

Marriage

Anthony Günther married his relative, Duchess Sophie Catherine of

Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg was the name of a branch line of the House of Oldenburg as well as the name of their land. It existed from 1564 until 1668 and was a titular duchy under the King of Denmark, rather than a true territorial dukedom in ...

(28 June 1617 – 22 November 1696), a daughter of

Alexander, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg Alexander, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg, (20 January 157313 May 1627) was a Danish nobleman.Stokvis, Anthony Marinus Hendrik Johan (1890-93). Manuel d'histoire, de généalogie et de chronologie de tous les États du globe, depuis les tem ...

and his wife, Countess Dorothea of

Schwarzburg-Sondershausen Schwarzburg-Sondershausen was a small principality in Germany, in the present day state of Thuringia, with its capital at Sondershausen. History Schwarzburg-Sondershausen was a county (earldom) until 1697. In that year, it became a principal ...

(1579-1639). They had no children.

Counts of Aldenburg

He had an extramarital liason with his mistress, Elisabeth Margarethe von Ungnad, Freiin von Sonnegg (1605-1670), member of the

Austrian nobility The Austrian nobility () is a status group that was officially abolished in 1919 after the fall of Austria-Hungary. Austria's system of nobility was very similar to that of Germany (see German nobility), as both countries were previously part of ...

settled in the

Kingdom of Bohemia The Kingdom of Bohemia (), sometimes referenced in English literature as the Czech Kingdom, was a History of the Czech lands in the High Middle Ages, medieval and History of the Czech lands, early modern monarchy in Central Europe. It was the pr ...

. She was elder daughter of Andreas von Ungnad,

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 ...

zu Sonnegg (1579-1634) by his wife, Margarethe von Prag, Freiin von Windhag zu Engelstein (1585-1669). The affair resulted in birth of one son: * Count Anton I von Aldenburg (1633-1680); married on 22 April 1659 to Countess Auguste Johanna of

Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein was a county and later principality between Hesse-Darmstadt and Westphalia. History The county with imperial immediacy was formed by the 1657 partition of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Wittgenstein and raised from a county t ...

(1638-1669) and had issue. Their issue became Counts of Aldenburg, whose line died out with it's last representative, Countess Charlotte Sophie of Aldenburg, married to William, Count Bentinck, Lord of Rhoon and Pendrecht. Their descendants became Counts of Bentinck-Aldenburg, a mediatised house, former

ruling family A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a monarchy, monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A dynasty may also be referred to as a "house", "family" or "clan", among others. H ...

of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

. As such, the House of Bentinck-Aldenburg belonged to the ''high nobility'' with equal status of birth for marriage purposes to other

European royal families European, or Europeans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe and other West ...

.https://www.genealogics.org/descendtext.php?personID=I00004169&tree=LEO&generations=4

References

Sources

* Friedrich-Wilhelm Schaer: ''Anton Günther'', in: Hans Friedl, Wolfgang Günther, Hilke Günther-Arndt and Heinrich Schmidt (eds.): ''Biographisches Handbuch zur Geschichte des Landes Oldenburg'', Isensee Verlag, Oldenburg, 1992, , pp. 37–40 * Karl Veit Riedel: ''August Oetken'', in: ''Biographisches Handbuch zur Geschichte des Landes Oldenburg'', Isensee Verlag, Oldenburg, 1992, , pp. 534–535 * Gerold Schmidt: ''Der Kirchenmaler und Mosaikkünstler des Historismus Prof. August Oetken (1868–1951), Mitgestalter des Melanchthonhauses in Bretten'', in: Stefan Rhein and Gerhard Schwinge (eds.): ''Das Melanchthonhaus Bretten. Ein Beispiel des Reformationsgedenkens der Jahrhundertwende'', Verlag Regionalkultur, Ubstadt-Weiher, 1997, , pp. 167–212

External links

* *
Page at kulturportalnordwest.de
1583 births 1667 deaths People from Oldenburg (city) 17th-century German nobility Counts of Oldenburg {{Germany-noble-stub