Rintelen
Family Association
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Owing to the feudal files of the abbess of Herford and other relevant documents, it was possible for Wilhelm v. Rintelen to determine the ancestral sequence during the Middle Ages and thus to identify the family structure. The church books provided further documentation of the genealogy of the family after the Thirty Years' War. In 1934 he compiled the first family tree of the Rintelen. His successor in the Chair of the Family Association, Dr. Ludwig Rintelen, further continued the pedigree until the year 1954 and published it with the title "The Lineage of the Rintelen in 7 Centuries”. Prof. Dr. Paul Rintelen (Chairman 1971 – 1979) and his son Dr. Jost Rintelen made a valuable contribution to the research of the family history with the revision and continuation of this family table. Their efforts were published with the title “The Lineage of the Rintelen” in 1977. Jost has continued with his research of the family lineage until this day. In 2001 he published a second, revised edition of the book of the lineage of the Rintelen. For decades, the members of the Family Association have been able to study Jost's elaboration on specific questions of our genealogy in the Family Association newsletter. In the 13th and 14th century, family names started to become common in German cities. Early on, these names were often provenance names that were derived from the region or locality from whence the respective immigrants originated. The first name of the person concerned would receive the denomination of origin with the addition of "von", northern German "van", or "de" in Latin documents. Thus may be assumed with certainty that the origin of the name von Rintelen goes back to the city Rinteln on the river Weser, particularly as the town name Rinteln is found in Germany only this once. Incidentally, although not exclusively, in the documents of the 13th century, the name of the city is written in three syllables, the same form in which we still carry our name today. The village of Rinteln was built around 1230 on the left bank of the river Weser as "greenfield development" and received its town charter in 1239. An old village of the same name already existed a hundred meters downstream on the right bank of the Weser. It was mentioned in a document as early as 1153 and was deserted around 1400. Major parts of the village, including the monastery, were moved to the left bank of the Weser shortly after the city was founded. Around the turn of the 13th to the 14th century new citizens appear under the name of Rintelen in Herford, Lemgo, Hanover and Minden. Whether they are of the same clan cannot be determined from the documents. Originally, however, they all came from Rinteln, which at that time did not have a thousand inhabitants. Since they all belonged to the patriciate in the cities where they had moved to and were soon represented in the City Councils, it can be assumed that they also belonged to an "upper class" in Rinteln. Apart from the Hanoverian von Rintelen, whose descendants migrated via Lübeck with the Hanseatic League to the Baltic States and now live scattered throughout the world under the name of Renteln, descendants of the Rintelen from other cities are no longer to be found. Either the strains have become extinct in the male line or they have changed their name. What persuaded our ancestors to move to Herford, we don't know. Were the opportunities for a merchant family, that ours most likely was, to develop better here, or were they brought to Herford by the Abbess as ministers, we still have no evidence. The star they had in their coat of arms could indicate a relationship with the Counts of Sternberg, who themselves had the star as their coat of arms. The Sternberg family owned the governorate and court in Herford until 1281 and then again from 1303 onwards, as well as the patronage of some of Herford's farms, such as the Oldenherforde farm. Had they moved to Herford with an order from the Sternberger? Officials often adopted the coat of arms of their master in their seal because they acted on his behalf. Shortly after 1300, Albert and Ludolf von Rintelen appeared simultaneously in the Herford parchments. Albert was enfieffed with Markingtorpe and worked in the old town of Herford, and the presumed sons of Ludolf had Schoren as fief. Wilhelm v. Rintelen called them the "Markingtorper" and the "Schorener". The Markingtorper line can still be traced genealogically to this day, the Schorener line seems to have died out in the 15th century. Because the same first names appear repeatedly in both lines and the same symbols for the family seals were used in both lines at almost the same times, it can be assumed that Albert and Ludolf von Rintelen were related. In
order to make the family tree more transparent, it was divided into
four sections: A Herforder Root B Volkmarser Branch C Naumburger Branch D Peckelsheimer Branch Under the designation Herforder Root all old ancestors of the Rintelen family from the ancestor Albert von Rintelen (* between 1270 and 1280, † between 1336 and 1350) to the common ancestor, Johann von Rintelen (1620 - 1692), are summarized. For eight generations they lived in Herford, which was both a Hanseatic and a free city, but at the same time was dependent through manifold ties on its abbey. The abbey was a monastery for ladies of the high nobility, whose abbess had the status of an imperial princess. The von Rintelen belonged to the upper class of the city, the patrician class, who, as was customary at the time, married only among its peers. As counsellors, mayors and alderman, they helped shape the fate of the city for more than 300 years. They were, like many citizens of Herford, ministerials of the prince abbess. Similar to the origin of the name of the Herford Rintelen family is the family name of the Renteln. On the cemetery of the Minoritenkirche (church) on Leinstraße (street) in Hanover was the gravestone of the last resting place of the Hanoverian patrician Thidericus de Rintelen. It can now be found in the Kreuzkirche (church) where it was moved following the destruction of the Second World War. Thidericus, who died in 1321, is regarded as the progenitor of the von Renteln family. His grandson Henning II moved to Lübeck around 1365. The diverse spelling of his family name in numerous documents illustrates the difficulty that historians can have in assigning files to one and the same person: Henninghus de Rinthele, H. de Renthele, H. van Ryntlen, H. de Rentelen.
There
were particularly close trade relations between the Hanseatic cities
of Lübeck and Reval. This may explain the addition of the name
"Revaliensis" to Henning II's father Johann Henning. Evert
II von Renteln, a member of the VIIth generation, was the founder of
the Baltic family line which moved to settle in Reval in 1514. The
von Renteln family is Reval's oldest family, which survived the
centuries. The Baltic branch of the family later passed into the
Baltic knighthood under the name of Renteln.
Family history since the Thirty Years War
Johann von Rintelen (* around 1510, † 1590), who belonged to the 9th generation, moved to Lippe in the first half of the 16th century, where he was last active as councilor and vice-chancellor of Count Simon Vl. zur Lippe. One of his sons, Hermann von Rintelen (* around 1583, † after 1671), settled in Volkmarsen. Records can be found to show him act as an imperial notary and for a times as mayor. All living people of the family go back to his son, Johann von Rintelen (see above), who was the judge and pensioner of the Koglenburg administrative council and the town of Volkmarsen. Of his seven children, three sons founded strong branches of the family tree: Johann von Rintelen founded the Volkmarser Branch (B), Martin von Rintelen the Naumburger Branch (C) and Johann Hermann von Rintelen the Peckelsheimer Branch (D). Other branches of the family tree which died in the male line before the XVth generation are not mentioned specifically. Some of these lines resided in the Westphalian Lippe region (Herford, Vlotho, Blomberg, Schwalenberg, Freudenberg), some in Bremen and Blexen, and some in Bergen, Norway.
VOLKMARSEN BRANCH Johann von Rintelen (1659 - 1725), the eldest son of the judge and pensioner Johann von Rintelen, remained in Volkmarsen. His descendants farmed the inherited property and were farmers in this small town, which for a long time remained a farming town. At times they held the mayor's post in Volkmarsen. Although the families were partly quite rich in children, the branch could not branch out due to high infant mortality and the existing inheritance sequence. It was not until the second half of the 19th century that a second-born son could start his own family. It is Theodor von Rinteln (1848 - 1901) who emigrated to Baltimore, USA. There the branch spread more strongly and is mainly located in Baltimore until today. With Adolf Ludwig von Rinteln (1883 - 1965), from whose marriage with Franziska Henze only two daughters emerged, this branch in the male lineage expired in Germany. Starting in the middle of the 19th century, the family name of this branch was written in two syllables 'von Rinteln'.
NAUMBURG BRANCH The founder of the Naumburg branch, Martin von Rintelen (1662 - 1713), second son of the judge and pensioner Johann von Rintelen, was an administrative officer in the small town of Naumburg, south of Volkmarsen. His son Norbert (1703 - 1761) worked as a surgeon in Naumburg around the middle of the 18th century. The oldest of his sons, Johann Franz (1731 - 1814), took up his father's profession. Two sons move to Warburg and become owners of a textile dye factory there. Their older brother Karl Ludwig (1732 - 1814) owned a textile dye factory in Paderborn. In 1764 he bought a half-timbered house built in 1592, located on Weberberg 4, which survived the bombing of the war in 1945 and is now a protected historical site. The "Paderborn branch" of the family, which originated from Karl Ludwig Rintelen - he no longer carried the "von" - continues to propagate today. The descendants live widely scattered throughout Germany as well as Spain. The brother of Karl Ludwig, Johann Martin (1741 - 1781), was the owner of a textile dye factory in Warburg. The "First Warburg Branch" which was founded by him, developed strongly in the course of the generations. The now living descendants of this branch can be found all over Germany. The "Second Warburg Branch", based on Johann Ferdinand Rintelen (1746 - 1792), ends in the male line in the XVIIIth Generation. In 1981 the last name bearer of this branch, GeneralIeutnant a. D. Joseph Rintelen (* 1897), died in Hamburg.
PECKELSHEIM BRANCH The founder of the Peckelsheim Branch is Johann Hermann von Rintelen (1671 - 1754). He was a court clerk in the Sauerland town of Marsberg. His son Franz Anton (1708 - 1795) and his grandson Anton Ludwig (1731 - 1791), as well as their grandfather and great-grandfather, were civil servants in the service of the Barons v. Spiegel, the first as judge of Körbecke, the latter as pensioner of Peckelsheim. There are two branches originating from the Peckelsheimer pensioner's sons, both of which have expanded greatly. Beginning in 1788 the Peckelsheimer Anton Ludwig von Rintelen drops the "von" in his signature and signs as "Anton Rintelen". His eldest son, Dr. jur. Ferdinand Rintelen (1763 - 1825), was court director at Büren. He founds the "Bürener branch". Among his numerous descendants, Dr. Eduard Rintelen (1843 - 1894) and Dr. Ludwig Rintelen (1873 - 1955, successor of Wilhelm v. R. in the Chair of the Family Council), both of whom have rendered outstanding services to the genealogy of the Rintelen, are to be mentioned in particular. The "Borgholz Branch", which goes back to the magistrate Anton Franz Andreas Rintelen (1772 - 1847), has spread even more strongly. He had become a wealthy man as the squire of Borgholz, district Höxter, his function as bailiff and mortgage keeper earned him the name Conservateur. He later sold Borgholz and moved to Paderborn, from where he managed an estate in Bennhausen which also belonged to him. Of his twelve children from two marriages, two died in childhood, six sons became lawyers and his four daughters each married a lawyer. The most important of his sons was probably Wilhelm Rintelen (1797 - 1869), who became Minister of Justice of Prussia in 1849 and later President of the Court of Appeals in Münster. His grandson, Lieutenant General Wilhelm Rintelen (1855 - 1938), was granted the hereditary nobility in 1913. Wilhelm v. Rintelen was the founder of the Rintelen Family Association. - The "Borgholzer Branch" also includes the Goslar Rintelen as well as the Rintelen now living in Barcelona/Spain, in Caracas/Venezuela and wherever else in the world. The Rintelen families now residing in Austria are mainly lawyers, doctors, technicians or merchants. They are the descendants of Anton Rintelen (1842 - 1905). After studying in various cities, he settled in Graz as a lawyer, where he passed his final exams in 1866. His father Ludwig (1809 - 1888), son of the Conservator, followed him after his retirement in 1875 together with his son August (1850 - 1919). Ludwig had been Prussian government counselor in Münster and had probably had a difficult position during the Cultural Crisis War, because he "unquestionably valued the interests of the Catholic Church higher than the interests of the state", as the President of the Government wrote to the Ministry of the Interior. Ludwig's nephew, Eduard (1837 - 1916), also stayed in Austria after his studies in Innsbruck and settled in Rhötis/Vorarlberg. The "Löwener Branch" of the Herforder family remains to be mentioned. Löwen is a village in the district of Warburg. Friedrich Rintelen (1742 - 1827), a son of Franz Anton von Rintelen (Volkmarsen), settled here as a craftsman and probably also as a farmer. His descendants lived in Löwen as farmers. In the male line this branch goes extinct with Friedrich Karl Rintelen (* 1924), who fell in 1942. The Rentelns had originally come to the Baltic States with the Hanseatic League as merchants. They also worked as councillors and mayors. Centuries later they acquired land and became landowners. We also find officers, theologians and judges among them. - One reason why we are able to trace their lineage back over centuries and find these to continue without interruption is the fact that family documents were preserved and updated in their regions. This was not the case in some parts of Germany, where during the Thirty Years' War 1618 - 1648, religious-political differences between Protestants and Catholics led to campaigns and devastation in Europe, in the course of which countless churches and monasteries, their precious libraries and archives were destroyed and documents irretrievably destroyed. The German-speaking Balts of the tsarist empire soon occupied leading positions in state offices and regional authorities. They worked in the Russian civil administration or served as officers in the Russian military. Most of the Balts were of German origin, but there were also immigrants from other European countries. In general, they spoke German at home, but could all speak Russian, the language of the tsarist empire. Some understood to speak Estonian, a very difficult Finno-Ugric language. The Balts mainly governed the country, while the native population, the original Estonians, mostly worked as craftsmen or farmers and farm workers.
In the following generations, the Rentelns owned many more estates in Estonia, Livonia and in the governorates of Vitebsk and Mohilew, altogether about 85,000 hectares (about 210,000 acres). Due to their membership in the aristocratic society of the Circle Brothers of Lübeck, they were part of the old German nobility, and later belonged to the Livonian nobility and the Estonian knighthood. In his " History of the Families of Renteln " (Hamm 2000) Brandt v. Renteln (1923 - 2011) divides the genealogical table of the Baltic Renteln families into nine lines (A - J), which are also assigned to three "houses". Brandt himself stems from line C of the house of Sompäh. Line A begins with Thidericus von Renteln and dies at the end of the 19th century in the XVII generation with Waldemar and Alexander von Renteln, both childless officers. Lines B and C originate from George III of Renteln (1776 - 1863). His son Adam Leonhard (1826 - 1870) founded the house Chodzy (Russia), his brother Ludwig I. Adam (1828 - 1882) the house Sompäh (Estonia). The G line began with the brother of George III, Friedrich Gottlieb (1777 - 1858). His son Woldemar (1815 - 1906) founded the house Bremerfeld (Estonia). While line G ends with Woldemar's grandson Jürgen (1885 - 1961), the lines H and J continue the house of Bremerfeld. Woldemar's great-grandson Gerd Evert II (born 1961) and great-granddaughter Angelika (born 1964) are the youngest offspring of the H line. Woldemar's son Constantin (1857 - 1936) founded the line J, whose youngest descendants are Constantin's great-grandson Sven (born 1974) and Carl Peter (born 1962) as well as great-granddaughter Astrid (born 1957). The house Sompäh branches with the sons of Ludwig I. Adam into the line C (Rudolf, 1860 - 1906, Lord of Gut Sompäh), line D (Ernst, 1863 - 1947, Lord of Gut Lassila), line E (Ludwig II., 1864 - 1956, Lord of Gut Rachkül) and line F (Konstantin, 1868 - 1963, Lord of Gut Terrefer). Descendants of all four lines C-F of the house Sompäh still live today. Prof. Dr. Michael v. Renteln (born 1942) is a descendant of the house Chodzy in the line B. He represents his family in the Family Council of the Family Association of the Rintelen. With the consequences of the First World War and the Russian Revolution, the circumstances of the family of Renteln in the Baltic States changed fundamentally. In his family history, Brandt v. Renteln comments on the upheavals in this way: "Many died, generations went missing, whole lines went extinct - they were considered outlaws, or were deported from Reval to Siberia - wars and revolutions, with all their atrocities had devastated the country, and the English withdrew, neither intervening nor helping, but the Baltic in the north could not be eliminated. They started over and over again. They lived, not as great masters as before, but they lived, they worked hard, they did not let themselves be beaten down. And perhaps the undemanding and not at all great life that they led as poor peasants on the plundered lands of the remnants of their estates in the two decades between the two world wars was no less heroic in its quiet heroism than all the splendor and glory of its seven-hundred-year-old masters and dominions. […] Destroyed, like many Baltic, so did the Rentelnian families in those years and later still scatter in all winds and celestial directions. The escape routes from their homeland led from Russia, Estonia and Livonia to many countries..." (loc. cit., p. 138ff.) |