Ahlefeldt (noble family)

The House of Ahlefeldt is an ancient German and Danish noble family. It has identical coat of arms with the von Rumohr family, which indicates that they have descended from one House.^[1]

House of Ahlefeldt
Noble house
Ahlefeldt family coat of arms.
Country	Kingdom of Denmark Germany
Place of origin	Holstein
Founded	1321; 703 years ago (1321)
Founder	Benedict von Ahlefeld
Current head	First line (Eskilsmark): Oscar Dolores, Count Ahlefeldt Second line (Langeland): Christian Benedict, Count Ahlefeldt-Laurvig
Historic seat	Tranekær Manor
Titles	Lensgreve Count Baron Comtesse
Connected families	Ahlefeldt-Laurvig Ahlefeldt-Laurvigen Ahlefeldt-Laurvig-Bille Ahlefeldt-Laurvig-Lehn Danish Royal Family
Estate(s)	Tranekær Manor Egeskov Castle Frederiksdal House Hvidkilde Estate Eriksholm Castle County of Langeland County of Laurvig

Legend

According to legend, the family descended from "Hunold" Hunoldus comes de Schwabeck, whose great-grandson Konrad (Conradus baron de Alhefeld) 1152 participated in the murder of Herman II, Count of Winzenburg, and then, in 1153, he went to serve King Sven III. In 1154 Konrad was overthrown, and he and his family had to flee from Denmark. However, written of records and evidence of these events are unavailable.

Origins

Variant CoA of the Ahlefeldt family

The family originated from Westensee near Kiel, Germany. The earliest known ancestor is Benedictus de Prodole (d. circa 1340) from Perdöl, whose son and grandsons served King Waldemar of Denmark and received significant pawn fiefs and properties in Denmark. Descendants of his brother, Scacco de Prodole, also known as Scacco de Rumore were members of the House of Rumohr. Two other German noble houses belonged to the same genus and had identical coat of arms: von Bosendahl and von Rastorp, but both went extinct, the first in 1535 and the latter in 1749.

In Duchy of Schleswig the family inherited estates Søgård, Nør, Königsförde-Lindau, Sakstorp and Gelting. In Holstein, Bossee, Lehmkulen, Wittmold, Deutsch-Nienhof, Emkendorf, Kl. Nordsee, Haseldorf and Fresenburg. Godske von Ahlefeldt (d. 1541) was the last Catholic Bishop of Schleswig.^[2]

Imperial Counts of Rixingen

Friedrich von Ahlefeldt (1623-1686) was raised ad personam in 1665 to Heiliger Römischer Reichsgraf, Count of the Holy Roman Empire in immediate vassalage to the Holy Roman Emperor. But in 1669 he bought the County of Rixingen (later passed to the Dukes of Richelieu in 1751), thus becoming the real sovereign count. Friedrich's daughter, Countess Christiane von Ahlefeldt-Rixingen (1659-1695) from his first marriage to Countess Magarethe Dorothea zu Rantzau (1642-1665) married Frederick Louis, Count of Nassau-Ottweiler. His two daughters from his second marriage to Countess Marie Elisabeth zu Leiningen-Dagsburg-Hartenburg (1648-1724), Countess Charlotte Sibylla (1672-1726) married Count Georg Ludwig zu Solms-Rödelheim (1664-1715) and Countess Sophie Amalie von Ahlefeldt-Rixingen married Prince Frederick William of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg. His two sons followed him as Governors in Schleswig and Holstein. The son from his first marriage, Count Friedrich von Ahlefedt (1662–1708), married Christiane Charlotte Gyldenløve in 1687, an illegitimate daughter of King Christian V of Denmark with Sophie Amalie Moth, Countess of Samsøe. His son from his second marriage, Count Carl von Ahlefeldt, inherited the dominions of Rixingen and Mörsberg in 1686, which he later passed on to his brother-in-law, Count Friedrich Ludwig von Nassau-Ottweiler. After the death of his older half-brother in 1708 Carl inherited the county of Langeland with Tranekær Castle.^[3]

Denmark line

His kinsman, High royal councillor Burchard von Ahlefeldt received in 1672 letters patent as Danish count and the position of Lensgrave. He inherited the county of Langeland which was later inherited by his cousins, Imperial Counts von Ahlefeldt.

One of his grandsons, Count Christian von Ahlefeldt inherited the county of Laurvig in Norway, one of the two official counties ever in that country (the other was Jarlsberg, which belonged to the House of Wedel). In 1785 he received the royal licence to himself and his descendants to bear the name Ahlefeldt-Laurvig and later Ahlefeldt-Laurvig-Bille.

Holdings

The Ahlefeldt family accumulated large holdings of land on the territories of today's Germany and Denmark:

• Olpenitz (at Kappeln)
• Saxtorf (at Schwansen)
• Königsförde-Lindau (at the Eider Canal)
• County of Langeland with Tranekær Castle
• Barony of Lehn
• Egeskov Castle
• Tranekær Castle, Eriksholm Castle, Fjællebro, Hjortholm, Møllerup, Skovsbo and Ulstrup Castle.

Gallery

• 
  Detlev von Ahlefeldt (1480-1572)
• 
  Benedikt von Ahlefeldt (1492-1513)
• 
  Hans von Ahlefeldt (1620-1694)
• 
  Burchard von Ahlefeldt (1634-1695)

References

1. Henning von Rumohr: Ahlefeld und Rumohr. In: Dat se blive ewich tosamende ungedelt. Neumünster 1960
2. Olaus Heinrich Moller: Historische, diplomatische und genealogische Nachrichten von dem adeligen Geschlecht der von Ahlefeldt, Serringhausen 1771
3. "Verwaltung der Grafschaft Rixingen, deren Verkauf an den Prinzen von Guise (1720), die Restkaufgeldforderung des Grafen von Ahlefeld sowie die daraus erwachsenen Rechtsstreitigkeiten. Meist Korrespondenzen der Bedienten der Rheingrafen von Dhaun, von Nassau-Ottweiler und Kirchberg-Sayn-Hachenburg: Band 5 - Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek".