The House of Alvensleben[1] is an ancient, Low German (niederdeutsch) noble family from the Altmark region, whose earliest known member, Wichard de Alvensleve, is first mentioned in 1163 as a ministerialis of the Bishopric of Halberstadt. The family name derives from Alvensleben Castle (today Bebertal, district of Börde in Saxony-Anhalt). They are one of the oldest extant German aristocratic families.
Coat of arms of AlvenslebenAlvensleben Castle
The family line begins with Gebhard von Alvensleben, probably Wichard's son, mentioned between 1190 and 1216. The Alvenslebens were hereditary seneschals (Erbtruchsessen) of the Bishopric and Principality of Halberstadt from the 12th century. In the beginning, they served as Burgmannen in the bishop's castle of Alvensleben. Around 1270 they acquired their own family estate, Erxleben Castle, and, around 1324, Kalbe Castle.
Friedrich von Alvensleben (c 1265-1313) was master of the Knights Templar in their German and Slavic districts. His elder brothers founded two branches, the white and the black Alvenslebens, whereas the red branch died out in 1553.
The family generated two catholic bishops of Havelberg in the 15th and 16th centuries, but then became Lutheran Protestants. Joachim I. von Alvensleben (1514-1588) promoted the reformation in the Altmark region. The family provided many heads of government in this province, as well as a number of ministers, generals and diplomats in different Northern German states. Several lines of the family were made Prussian counts, beginning in 1798,[2] and the family received a hereditary seat in the Prussian House of Lords. Most of their properties were expropriated in 1945 in communist East Germany. Their main family estates were:
The family coat of arms shows in gold two red fesses, the upper one emblazoned with two, the lower one with one silver roses. On the helmet with its red and gold mantling there is an upright, gnarled branch in red and gold, two branches to the right and one to the left, crowned with a silver rose.
Achaz Henry of Alvensleben (1716–1777), Prussian general
Albert, Count of Alvensleben (1794–1858), Prussian minister of finance
Albert, Count of Alvensleben-Schönborn (1848–1928), member of the Prussian House of Lords
Alkmar II of Alvensleben (1841–1898), lieutenant general and commandant of Breslau
Alkmar of Alvensleben (1874–1946), German doctor
Andrew of Alvensleben (died 1565), castellan
Anna Maria of Alvensleben (1659–1724), eldest daughter of Gebhard Christopher of Alvensleben at Erxleben I
Armgard of Alvensleben (1893–1970), abbess of Heiligengrabe Abbey and managing director of the German Evangelical Railway Mission
Wichard von Alvensleben (Go player) (1937–2016), lawyer, Go player, Chess player
Siegmund Wilhelm Wohlbrück: Geschichtliche Nachrichten von dem Geschlecht von Alvensleben und dessen Gütern. 3 Bände, Berlin 1819–1829. Band I, Band II, Band III
George Adalbert von Mülverstedt: Codex Diplomaticus Alvenslebianus. Urkundensammlung des Geschlechts von Alvensleben. 4 Bände, Magdeburg 1879, 1882, 1885, 1900.
Hellmut Kretzschmar: Geschichtliche Nachrichten von dem Geschlecht von Alvensleben seit 1800. Burg 1930
Udo von Alvensleben-Wittenmoor: Alvenslebensche Burgen und Landsitze. Dortmund 1960.
„Alvensleben, Johann August Ernst Graf von“ from Ferdinand Spehr in: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, herausgegeben von der Historischen Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Band 1 (1875), pp. 377–378.
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