The House of Nostitz () is an old and influential Silesian aristocratic family, whose members occupied many important positions within Holy Roman Empire and later in Austria, Bohemia, Germany, and Russia.
History
The family was named after Nostitz in Saxony, with its history dating back to 1280 in Oberlausitz, today's Germany. They sovereignly ruled over the Imperial County of Rieneck from 1673 when it was purchased by (1610–1683) until 1803 when they sold it to the Princes of Colloredo-Mansfeld.
Apart from Nostitz-Rieneck several other branches of the family existed: Nostitz-Rieneck-Rokitnitz, Nostitz-Unwürde, Nostitz-Jänkendorf, Nostitz-Wallwitz, Nostitz-Drzewiecky, and Nostitz-Ransen which lived and spread through Prussia, Austria, Bohemia, Poland, Lithuania and Russia.
The Nostitz-Jänkendorf branch, which held baronial or untitled noble status in Saxony, established a lineage in the Russian Empire through Lieutenant-General Georg Karl von Nostitz-Jänkendorf, whose descendants were elevated to the hereditary title of Count by an imperial decree in 1849.
Notable members (1725–1794), Bohemian nobleman and patron Friedrich Moritz, Graf von Nostitz-Rieneck (1728–1796), a field marshal in imperial service to the House of Habsburg Johann Nepomuk von Nostitz-Rieneck (1768–1840), nephew of Friedrich Moritz, commanded a cavalry division in the army of the Austrian Empire during the Napoleonic Wars August Ludwig von Nostitz (1777–1866), Prussian general, fought in the Waterloo Campaign (1878–1944), writer and salon Dame Georg von Nostitz (Georg Karl von Nostitz-Jänkendorf, 1781—1838), German military officer in Imperial Russian service Gustav-Adolf von Nostitz-Wallwitz (1898–1945), general in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II Nick Nostitz (born 1968), German photographic journalist
Lordships 1280: earliest record of the Lords of Nostitz 1366: Lordship of the Holy Roman Empire 1631: Barony of the Holy Roman Empire 1673: purchased the County of Rieneck 1692: Counts of the Holy Roman Empire 1849: Counts of the Russian Empire
See also Nostitz (disambiguation) Rieneck
References
Further reading Beiträge zur Geschichte des Geschlechts von Nostitz. 2 Hft. Leipzig (1874–76) Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Band 116, 1998, Adelslexikon