The House of Kálnoky is a noble family originating from the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...

. The Kálnoky family history can be traced back to medieval times.

History

In 1252 the family was documented in

Székely Land The Székely Land or Szeklerland (, , Old Hungarian script, Székely runes: 𐲥𐳋𐳓𐳉𐳗𐳌𐳞𐳖𐳇; and sometimes ; ; ) is a historic and ethnographic area in present-day Romania, inhabited mainly by Székelys, a subgroup of Hung ...

, in the eastern part of

Transylvania Transylvania ( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjen'') is a List of historical regions of Central Europe, historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and ...

, as ''

comes ''Comes'' (plural ''comites''), translated as count, was a Roman title, generally linked to a comitatus or comital office. The word ''comes'' originally meant "companion" or "follower", deriving from "''com-''" ("with") and "''ire''" ("go"). Th ...

'' (chief) of the Szekler 'Sepsi' tribe. Since their first documentation, the family have been ''primores'' (magnates) of the Szekler people in Transylvania. They are styled as Count Kálnoky Baron of Kőröspatak since 1697 when Sámuel Kálnoky (1640–1706) was chancellor of Transylvania at the court of Vienna. At the beginning of the 18th century, through multiple marriages, the Kálnokys became close to Prince Constantin Brancoveanu, ruler of Wallachia. An entire generation grew up in Bucharest at the prince's court, and held public functions there. To support Austria's Empress Maria Theresia in the ''Erbfolgekrieg''

War of the Austrian Succession The War of the Austrian Succession was a European conflict fought between 1740 and 1748, primarily in Central Europe, the Austrian Netherlands, Italian Peninsula, Italy, the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. Related conflicts include King Ge ...

, the family established a regiment of

hussar A hussar, ; ; ; ; . was a member of a class of light cavalry, originally from the Kingdom of Hungary during the 15th and 16th centuries. The title and distinctive dress of these horsemen were subsequently widely adopted by light cavalry ...

s in 1741 which bore their name. The daughter of the Austrian empire's first chancellor married into the Kálnoky family, who thus inherited some of the chancellor's possessions in Moravia. Two hundred years of military and political careers followed for the family in Austria. The Kálnoky's had a hereditary seat in the House of Lords in Vienna. Under Emperor Franz Joseph I,

Count Gustav Kálnoky Count Gustav Siegmund Kálnoky von Kőröspatak (Hungarian: ''gróf Kálnoky Gusztáv Zsigmond'') (December 29, 1832February 13, 1898), was an Austro-Hungarian diplomat and statesman. Biography Kálnoky was born in Letovice (Lettowitz), Moravia ...

presided over the joint (Austrian and Hungarian) council of ministers, was minister of the Imperial House and of Foreign Affairs. Effectively, he was the emperor's right hand between 1881 and 1895. He signed the

Triple Alliance (1882) The Triple Alliance was a defensive military alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. It was formed on 20 May 1882 and renewed periodically until it expired in 1915 during World War I. Germany and Austria-Hungary had been closel ...

between the Austro-Hungarian empire, Germany and Italy. He extended this in 1883 by signing a secret treaty with Romania for reciprocal military support. Besides their outstanding military and political careers, the Kálnoky's have been known for their advantageous wedding strategies. Several members married heiresses of aristocratic families on the verge of extinction, thus considerably increasing the Kálnoky's assets and influence in central and western Europe. Count Hugo Kálnoky married Countess Marie Mensdorff-Pouilly-Dietrichstein, a niece of British Queen Victoria's consort Prince Albert. Countesses Kálnoky also married into the Houses of

Habsburg The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...

Hohenzollern The House of Hohenzollern (, ; , ; ) is a formerly royal (and from 1871 to 1918, imperial) German dynasty whose members were variously princes, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzollern, Brandenburg, Prussia, the German Empire, and Romania. ...

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (, ; ; ), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein ( ), is a Landlocked country#Doubly landlocked, doubly landlocked Swiss Standard German, German-speaking microstate in the Central European Alps, between Austria in the east ...

and others.

Family-related books and movies

* Ingeborg Countess Kálnoky's ''The Guest House – The Witnesses at Nuremberg'' (Bobbs-Merrill, 1974), co-written with Ilona Herisko, is a memoir of her time between September 1945 and January 1947 as the hostess of the houses set up by the Americans for the witnesses who were to appear before the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg. People housed under her supervision included everyone from Hitler's personal photographer

Heinrich Hoffmann Heinrich Hoffmann or Hoffman may refer to: Hoffmann *Heinrich Hoffmann (photographer) (1885–1957), German photographer *Heinrich Hoffmann (author) (1809–1894), German psychiatrist and author *Heinrich Hoffmann (sport shooter) (1869–1932), Ger ...

and

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

founder

Rudolf Diels Rudolf Diels (16 December 1900 – 18 November 1957) was a German civil servant and first head of the Gestapo from 1933–34. He obtained the rank of SS-''Oberführer'' and was a protégé of Hermann Göring. Diels was forced from the Gestapo ...

to members of the German resistance and concentration camp survivors. * Christiane Kohl's ''Das Zeugenhaus'' (Goldmann, 2005), mines similar territory as Ingeborg Kálnoky's ''The Guest House'' but is based on both Kalnoky's guest book and personal recollections as well as the recollections of Bernhard von Kleist, who worked as an interpreter for the Americans at the Nuremberg trials, and the guest book entries of his wife, Annemarie von Kleist, who took over the witness house after Countess Kálnoky. An English-language version was published in 2010, titled ''The Witness House: Nazis and Holocaust Survivors Sharing a Villa During the Nuremberg Trials'' (Other Press). * Boris Kálnoky's German-language ''Ahnenland – oder die Suche nach der Seele meiner Familie'' (Droemer Knaur, 2011), originally intended as a biography about his staunchly anti-communist and anti-fascist grandfather, Hugó Kálnoky, who worked as a journalist, chronicles the storied Kálnoky family history based on old records, personal letters, diaries and newspaper articles from its beginnings in 13th-century Transylvania all the way up to modern times. * A movie of the same name, based on Christiane Kohl's ''Das Zeugenhaus'' (''The Witness House'' in English), appeared on Germany's

ZDF ZDF (), short for (; ), is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Launched on 1 April 1963, it is run as an independent nonprofit institution, and was founded by all federal states of Germany ( ...

television on 24 November 2014. It was directed by

Matti Geschonneck Matti Geschonneck (born 8 May 1952 in Potsdam) is a German film director. Geschonneck is the son of German actor Erwin Geschonneck, who was one of the most famous actors in East Germany, and a half-brother of German forensic specialist and auth ...

and produced by Oliver Berben, with his mother/actress,

Iris Berben Iris Renate Dorothea Berben (, born 12 August 1950) is a German actress. Biography Berben was born in Detmold, North Rhine-Westphalia. She grew up in Hamburg, where her parents ran a restaurant. Berben has appeared in about 150 film and televi ...

, cast as Ingeborg Countess Kálnoky. * Nathalie Kálnoky: ‘The Szekler Nation and Medieval Hungary: Politics, Law and Identity on the Frontier’. Bloomsbury, 2020

Descendants

Male descendants live today in Austria, France, Germany, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania. *

Gustav Kálnoky Gustav, Gustaf or Gustave may refer to: *Gustav (name), a male given name of Old Swedish origin Art, entertainment, and media * ''Primeval'' (film), a 2007 American horror film * ''Gustav'' (film series), a Hungarian series of animated short cart ...

(, means "from Sepsikőröspatak" (, now Covasna County)), an Austro-Hungarian statesman (1832–1898) *

Sámuel Kálnoky Sámuel Kálnoky (1640–1706) was a member of Kálnoky family who served as the chancellor of Transylvania. Sámuel Kálnoky became the first chancellor of Transylvania in Vienna and received the rank of count by the Habsburgs The House of ...

, chancellor of Transylvania (1640–1706) *

Antal Kálnoky Antal may refer to: * Andal, 8th-century poet saint of South India * Antal (given name) * Antal (surname) * 6717 Antal, a minor planet See also * Andal (disambiguation) * Atal (disambiguation) Atal or Attal is a Pashto language word which mean ...

, general of the Kálnoky hussar regiment Nr 2 (1707–1783) *

Dénes Kálnoky Dénes is a Hungarian male given name, the equivalent of Denis in English and can sometimes stand for or replace the feminine version of Den(n)is, namely ''Denise''. As with many given names, it also transitioned into a surname in the Middle Ages. N ...

, a Transylvanian politician, writer and freedom fighter (1814–1888) *

Boris Kálnoky Boris may refer to: People * Boris (given name), a male given name * *List of people with given name Boris * Boris (surname) Arts and media * Boris (band), a Japanese experimental rock trio * ''Boris'' (EP), by Yezda Urfa, 1975 * "Boris" (son ...

, a German-Hungaria
journalist
an
writer
(1961–) *

Tibor Kálnoky Tibor is a masculine Hungarian given name. * Originated shortened form of the medieval Hungarian name ''Tiborc''; which originates from the ancient Latin surname Tiburtius. * from Etruscan name Tibur, which means "honest man" Some notable people ...

, a conservationist in Romania (1966–), Trustee of The Prince of Wales's Foundation in Romania and host of the prince at his yearly visits to Transylvania *

Lindi Kálnoky Lindi is a historic coastal town in southern Tanzania and the administrative center of the Lindi Region, the least populated region in the country. Situated at the head of Lindi Bay along the Indian Ocean, the town is located approximately 10 ...

, an Austrian politician (1935–)

References

External links

Count Kalnoky's Guesthouses website

The Kalnoky Foundation
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kalnoky, House Of Hungarian noble families