Armorials of Frankenstein ancient: An oblique red battle axe on Gold. These arms are still used by the Barons of FranckensteinArms of Franckensteinmodern: complemented in 1533 by Henry IV. of Frankenstein (d.1558) by the arms of Clover, being the heir of the Lords of Cleen. The Cleens were also heirs of Praunheim and Sachsenhausen, therefore also adding the silver helmet of the Praunheims combined with the swans of Sachsenhausen to the crest.Divided and split two times coated with a golden heartshield, therein an oblique red battle axe on Gold (Franckenstein). In fields 1 and 6 in gold a three-leaf red cloverleaf (von Cleen), in fields 2 and 5 in blue a right-sided silver helmet, on it a growing silver swan, whose raised red wings are each covered with a silver bar, 3 and 4 in gold a red bar, above 3 green twigs each with 3 leaves (von Praunheim-Sachsenhausen).
In 948, an Arbogast von Franckenstein confirmed to the abbot of Lorsch Abbey in two contracts to "grant defense and shield the carriages travelling on the Bergstraße and passing through Frankenstein realm". In the same year, this knight Arbogast is supposed to have won the Tournament of Cologne, thanks to an invitation of the Archbishop Bruno the Great, who was said to have been the former abbot of Lorsch Abbey. Arbogast von Franckenstein is mentioned in Georg Rüxner's Thurnierbuch, but is probably legendary as Rüxners's statements, especially those citing "earlier centuries", are often deemed.
The contracts are not found in the Lorsch Abbey archives but appear only in secondary literature.
The Franckenstein clan is descended from Lord Konrad II of Breuberg, who built Frankenstein Castle sometime before 1252.
History
Ludovic of Luetzelbach was the first ancestor of the Frankenstein dynasty and is documented in the year 1115 for the first time,[1] his descendant Wieknand again in 1160.[2]
His grandson Konrad I. and his offspring built the homonymous Breuberg Castle around 1200[3] and named themselves after it. In 1239, owing to his son's Eberhard I. Reiz von Breuberg marriage with Mechtild (Elisabeth?), one of the five heiresses of Gerlach II. von Büdingen, imperial bailiff of the Wetteraukreis, the power, possessions and interests were also relocated into the Wetterau region, where the Breubergians Arrois, Gerlach and Eberhard III. held the bailiffship consecutively. They found their last resting-place in the monastery of Konradsdorf, where the family had made many donations.
Before 1250, Lord Konrad II. Reiz von Breuberg erected Frankenstein Castle near Darmstadt and since named himself "von und zu Frankenstein". He was the founder of the free imperial lordship Frankenstein, which was subject only to the jurisdiction of the emperor, with possessions in Nieder-Beerbach, Darmstadt, Ockstadt, Wetterau and Hesse. Additionally the Frankensteins held other possession and Sovereignty-rights as Burgraves in Zwingenberg (Auerbach (Bensheim), in Darmstadt, Groß-Gerau, Frankfurt am Main and Bensheim.
In the year 1292 the Frankensteins opened the castle to the counts of Katzenelnbogen (County of Katzenelnbogen) and leagued with them.
Being both strong opponents of the Protestant Reformation and following territorial conflicts, connected disputes with the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt, as well as the adherence to the catholic faith and the associated "right of patronage", the family head Lord Johannes I. decided to sell the lordship to the landgrave in 1662, after various lawsuits at the Imperial Chamber Court.
Because of many vacancies in relation with the reformation, some family members could fill a number of unengaged offices and posts in various Chapters, Abbeys and Dioceses as Canons, Abbesses and Prince-Bishops.
After the sale of Frankenstein and being awarded the imperial baron dignity in 1670, the family retired to its possessions in Wetterau and acquired the lordship of Ullstadt in the beginning of the 17th century in Middle Franconia. In the 19th century they also bought the Lordship of Thalheim bei Wels in Austria. The family still consists of two existing branches in Germany, Austria and the US.
Prominent family members
Konrad II Reiz von Breuberg (1245–1292), also Konrad I von Frankenstein, first bearer of the family name
Apetzko (Apeczko - Arbogast) von Frankenstein (1345–1352), Bishop of Lebus
Rudolf von und zu Frankenstein (1552–1560), Prince-Bishop of Speyer
Clemens von und zu Franckenstein (1875–1942), German composer and last general director of the Royal Bavarian Opera and Theatres
Georg von und zu Franckenstein (1878–1953), GCVO, K.u.K. Special Envoy to the Osman Imperial Court, Austrian Ambassador in London from 1920–1938, later Sir George Franckenstein
Coat of arms of Anna Frankenstein, Abbess of Neuburg
Franckenstein church window at St. Catherine in Oppenheim, 1450
Bobstadt municipality crest
Friedberg-Ockstadt municipality crest
Building work by the Frankenstein family
Breuberg Castle, 12th century
Ullstadt Castle, 17th century
Frankenstein Castle, 13th century
Traunegg Palace, 19th century
Ockstadt Castle
Eberstadt Church, 1260
Villa Franckenstein in Windischgarsten, 19th century
Frankenstein Residence in Dieburg
Literature
Karl O. von Aretin: Franckenstein Eine politische Karriere zwischen Bismarck und Ludwig II.. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN3-608-94286-6.
J. Friedrich Battenberg: Roßdorf in vormoderner Zeit. Alltag und Konfliktkultur einer hessischen Landgemeinde im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert. In: Archiv für hessische Geschichte und Altertumskunde, Bd. N.F. 60 (2002), ISSN0066-636X, S. 29–60
Roman Fischer: Findbuch zum Bestand Frankensteinische Lehenurkunden 1251–1812. Kramer, Frankfurt am Main 1992, ISBN3-7829-0433-8
Georg von Franckenstein: Zwischen Wien und London Erinnerungen eines österreichischen Diplomaten. Leopold Stocker Verlag, Graz 2005, ISBN3-7020-1092-0.
Sir George Franckenstein, Facts and features of my life, ISBN978-1118112755.
Walter Scheele: Sagenhafter Franckenstein. Societäts-Verlag, Ulm 2004, ISBN3-7973-0875-2
Otto von Waldenfels (Hrsg.): Genealogisches Handbuch des in Bayern immatrikulierten Adels. Verlag Degener, Neustadt an der Aisch.
Hellmuth Gensicke: Untersuchungen zur Genealogie und Besitzgeschichte der Herren von Eschollbrücken, Weiterstadt, Lützelbach, Breuberg und Frankenstein. In: Hessische historische Forschungen (1963), S.99–115
Walter Scheele: Burg Franckenstein. Societäts-Verlag, Frankfurt/Main 2001, ISBN3-7973-0786-1
Historischer Verein für Hessen, Archiv für hessische Geschichte und Altertumskunde.
Otto Hupp: Münchener Kalender 1912. Verlagsanstalt München / Regensburg 1912.
Rudolf Kunz: Dorfordnungen der Herrschaft Franckenstein aus der 2. Hälfte des 16. Jahrhunderts. Sonderdruck aus: Archiv für hessische Geschichte und Altertumskunde. Band 26, Heft 1, 1958
Wolfgang Weißgerber: Die Herren von Frankenstein und ihre Frauen: Landschaften, Personen, Geschichten. Schlapp, Darmstadt-Eberstadt 2002, ISBN3-87704-050-0.
Norbert Hierl-Deronco: "Es ist eine Lust zu Bauen". Von Bauherren, Bauleuten und vom Bauen im Barock in Kurbayern, Franken, Rheinland. Krailling 2001, ISBN3-929884-08-9, S. 133–142
^Neues allgemeines Deutsches Adels - Lexicon im Vereine mit mehreren Historikern herausgegeben von Prof. Dr. Ernst Heinrich Kpeschke. Dritter Band, Seite 321. Leipzig, Verlag von Friedrich Voigt. 1861.
^M. Stimmlng, Mainzer Urk.- Buch I 1932 Nr. 586 und 6(5).
^Anja Dötsch, Christian Ottersbach: Burg Breuberg im Odenwald: vom stauferzeitlichen Adelssitz zur Residenzburg und Festung. Schnell und Steiner, Regensburg 2008, S. 8
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