The Hohenfeld family (von Hohenfeld, Hohenfelder) is an ancient family of Austrian nobility, originally centered around Upper Austria. The family was extinguished in male line in 1824.
The name is variously spelled as (von) Hohenfeld, Höhenfeld, Hohenfeldt, Hochenfeld(en), Hochfeld, Hoenfelt, etc.
History
Origins According to notes compiled by Ludwig von Hohenfeld between 1625 and 1631, the Hohenfeld family would indirectly descend from "Adolsgerium Kuniboldi ex sanguine Herculis Alemani postremi germaniae regis filius filius" anno 493 (Adolsgerius, son of Chunibold, son of the last king of Germany Alemanus Hercules [de]). This Alemanus Hercules was a mythical king of Germany (besides an alleged founder of Bavaria and associated with Regensburg), whose popularity increased by the works of Johannes Aventinus that were published in the late 16th century.
At around the same time, in 1639, Conrad Kempff produced a genealogical tree of the family, where he traces back the roots of the family to a progenitor in the 11th century, Babo of Hochfeld (Hochenfeld), as one of the 32 legendary sons of Count Babo of Abensperg. The Babonids, Count Babo's direct ancestors and successors as Burggraves of Regensburg and surrounding possessions, were closely related and affiliated with the Babenberger and both descended from the Popponids (all named after the leading name Babo). The line of the Babonids were extinguished in 1196, after which their goods were appropriated by the Counts of Wittelsbach in the early 13th century. According to Kempff, the descendants of Babo of Hochfeld stayed in Bavaria until about 1200 after which they migrated from Bavaria to Austria; this migration may have been caused by the loss of their Babonid protectors.
No evidence of the supposed descent from the Babonids exists, let alone of Adolsgerius. Notably, these claims were recorded in a period where the family had to prove their ancient rights in juridical efforts to reclaim their confiscated goods during the counter-reformation and their exile from Austria.
In this unattested "Bavarian" period, the Hohenfeld would have married into several leading noble Bavarian houses (Neuburg, Wolfratshausen, Traun, Haag, Hirschhorn, Lamberg, Eurasberg).
Early history The family (re)appeared in Austria in the early 13th century. Around the year 1220, the founder of a short-lived junior branch, Heinrich von Hohenfeld zu Stiela, was mentioned as a Cammer-Juncker for the Babenberger Dukes of Styria.Gauhe (1719), pp. 677 The Babenberger (being possibly related to the Hohenfelder) could have provided a refuge, after the appropriation of the Babonid goods by the Wittelsbach. From the early 13th century onwards, the main branch of the Hohenfeld family – Heinrich's elder brother Georg and his son Otto I von Hohenfeld (about 1245–1328) – settled in St Georgen im Attergau in Upper Austria, also under control of the Babenberger dukes. This is the main branch from whom the uninterrupted line of the Hohenfeld family can be traced back.
A recordDocument at the Monastery of Ranshofen, Nonumenta Boica, Band 3, München 1764, pp. 351, nr. 309 referring to an Ulreich von Hohenfeld, as noted in the Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, is dated to 1 May 1291, but this Ulreich can as of yet not be linked.
Strnad (1868) theorized that the brothers or cousins Ulreich and Otto de Hohenwelden were in fact of local origin and descended from the Lords of Wasen (also known as Counts of Attersee or the Chamer/Kamer) in the Attergau region; they would simply have changed their names. However, this theory seems to have been based mostly on the names Ulreich and Otto, while no castle or toponym relating to Hohenfeld or Hochfeld can be attributed that would explain the change of name.
The family belonged to the ranks of the lower nobility at first. But over the centuries, they acquired many lands and held important offices in Austria and in the German lands. The family intermarried among the twelve so-called "Apostle Houses", such as the Traun, Polheim [de], Jörger, and Zinzendorf. They were known as ministeriales of the Counts of Schaunberg, from whom they acquired Castle Edramsberg in 1472.
Christoph von Hohenfeld (died 1496) joined the Mailberger Bund [de] in 1451, alongside Ulrich von Eyczing [de] and Ulrich of Celje, against Frederick III.
Two notable family members from this period are:
Lucia von Hohenfeld married (~1448-1496) in 1474, a supposed son of Sultan Murad II and half-brother of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror, who was baptized by Pope Calixtus III in 1456. Christoph von Hohenfeld (1465-1520) won Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III's trust with his role as burggrave and later vogt of the castle of Wels and Vienna. He was elevated to the rank of Baron (Freiherr) on 5 January 1484,Heinrich Wurm (1960), Die Hohenfelder in ihren Verhältnissen zu Wels in Jahrbuch des Musealvereines Wels Band 6, Wels, pp. 23–32 (ooegeschichte.at) but his title fell into disuse and the diploma itself was lost in 1620. Achaz Hohenfelder even forbade his sons to aspire to the lordship, ‘for arrogance would avert the blessing of God and the propagation of the family.’
Reformation Protestantism spread rapidly in Austria, triggered by its adoption by the local nobility. The Hohenfelder, to begin with Wolfgang von Hohenfeld (1505-1568), were affiliated with the nucleus of Protestant nobility from an early phase.See e.g.: Max Doblinger (1951) Jörg von Perkheim, eind ständischer Diplomat des 16. Jahrhunderts, pp. 4-22 Wolfgang was head of the only extant branch of the Hohenfeld family by that time. He was befriended with some of the most influential Protestant nobles such as Jörg von Perkheim (~1485-1559) and Christoph II Jörger von Tollet (~1502-~1578). The former of these happened to be Wolfgang's closest aristocratic neighbor, and the latter was an early Protestant convert who had studied under Martin Luther and returned to Austria as a propagator of Protestantism.
Wolfgang's only surviving son, Achaz von Hohenfeld (~1535-1603), studied in Wittenberg in 1557 and in Tübingen under Philip Melanchthon in 1561.Max Doblinger (1951) Returning to Austria, he became an inspector of a collegiate school in 1571 and was known as 'the Lutheran Pope'.Various sources, albeit mostly modern sources (and the title seems to have been conferred to other individuals as well), e.g.: Alfred Noe, Hans-Gert Roloff, Norbert Bachleitner (2022), Beiträge zu Komparatistik und Sozialgeschichte der Literatur, pp. 558 He became involved, among others, with Jakob Andreae.Hans Sturmberger (1959) Jakob Andreae und Achaz von Hohenfeld, Eine Diskussion über das Gehorsamsproblem zur Zeit der Rudolfinischen Gegenreformation in Österreich, in: Festschrift Karl Ederzum 70
After Achaz' death in 1603, the Hohenfeld titles, goods, and Protestant legacy were passed on to his sons Otto, Wolfgang, Ludwig, Christoph, Michael, and Rudolph – born between 1575 and 1585. The Hohenfeld did not sign the League of Horn [de] in 1608, but continued to be related and affiliated to many of its signers, consisting of influential Protestant nobles. After the major Protestant defeat at the Battle of White Mountain and the ensuing end of the Bohemian Revolt in 1620, counter-reformation pressure began to increase in Upper Austria.
All children of Achaz were impacted following 1620 by the counter-reformation :
Otto (1574-1620), the eldest son, and his wife, Anna Maria von Geymann Gallspach [de] (1590-1621) died in Linz in 1620 and 1621, respectively. Their only surviving son, the orphan Otto Achaz (1614-1685) was placed under a forced guardianship of Johann-Ludwig Count von Kufstein [de] and converted to Catholicism in 1636. Although he married twice, no children are known.
Wolfgang (1575-~1613) died before the events in 1620, and nothing is known about his only son Heinrich, born about 1603. Ludwig (1576-1644), lord of Weidenholz, married to Clara von Neydeck (1582/83-1655), befriended and influenced by Johannes Valentinus AndreaeDr. F. H. Rheinwald (1849), Ionnis Valentini Andreae ... Vita ab Ipso Conscripta ... (grandson of aforementioned Jakob Andreae). In 1625, Ludwig was forced to flee to Andreae's home in Württemberg, and, in 1635, to sell his possessions at Weidenholz (near Waizenkirchen). His daughter Katharina (1608-1665) describes the family's mood while in exile in Esslingen "Our dear father should have experienced it more blessedly; [God] has brought him into the ditches. [...] My brother [Achaz] can't believe how he feels, he can't even cry about it." His son Achaz (1610-1672) [de] rose to a prominent position at the court in Nassau-Diez, but eventually converted to Catholicism 1669 after his marriage to the catholic Anna-Ursula von Metternich-Winneburg, and his offspring remained catholic. His descendants held many positions throughout Germany, but his known male line died out in the 18th century. Another son, Wolfgang (1616-1679), ended up with the lordship of Binningen in Switzerland, through an inheritance of his wife, a Polheim-Wartemburg, but his line ended with his son Carl Ludwig.
Markus (1577-1618), lord of Almegg, Eitzing and Wildenberg, and his offspring converted to Catholicism and remained in Upper Austria. His eldest surviving son, Ferdinand (1612–1675), took over the family possessions in Upper Austria and was elevated to Imperial Count in 1669. This line became the main line until the family's patrilineal extinction in 1824. Christoph (1580-1631), lord of Aistersheim, Almegg, and Peuerbach; so therefore in charge of the most important ancestral titles. He was married to Sidonia von Zinzendorf und Pottendorf (~1584-1640), a granddaughter of Sigismund von Polheim [de], another important Protestant leader (1531–1598), and Potentiane von Hohenfeld, a distant cousin of Sidonia's husband. About 1620, the family flees Austria as an Exulant [de], first to Sulzbach and later (on the enemy's approach of that town) to Wunsiedel. The family castle at Aistersheim is plundered by Tilly's troops in 1620 while on their way to Bohemia to fight in the Battle of White Mountain, and the castle's commander is beheaded and the garrison hanged. In 1625, Christoph gives up his claims on Peuerbach and he dies indebted in 1631. His wife Sidonia moves to Regensburg and dies there as well in 1640. Their twelve or more children are mostly unaccounted for. One son, Sigmund von Hohenfeld, still lives in Wunsiedel in 1686 when he writes a letter to Markgrave Christian Ernst von Brandenburg-Bayreuth.Friedrich Schuh (1929) Der Markgraf Christian Ernst (1655-1712) und die landständische Verfassung des Fürstentums Bayreuth, pp. 97 Another son, August von Hohenfeld (1620-1642), dies in military service in 1642. His descendants supposedly survived into the 20th century in Elbing. Furthermore, 19th century Victor Hohlfeld in Dresden as well as the 18th century Danish-Norwegian von Hoelfdeldt family claimed descent from Christoph von Hohenfeld. Nothing is known about the last two sons, Michael (born 1683) and Rudolph (born around 1685), and they could have died at a young age.
Later history Only one branch of the family had remained in Austria after around 1620, namely the branch of Markus von Hohenfeld (1577-1618) and his branch would endure the longest. After his and his siblings' conversion to Catholicism, Markus' eldest son Ferdinand (1612-1675) was confirmed in his knighthood on 28 July 1652 with the title of Austrian Freiherr. This was followed, on 7 March 1669, by an elevation to the rank of Imperial Count, which was later enhanced by a further ennoblement of his son Otto Heinrich (1650-1719) to the rank of Austrian Count on 24 December 1714. Ferdinand's younger brother Wolf Ludwig (1615-...) would produce a younger line next to Ferdinand's comital line, which would survive for another three generations into the 18th century.