Baudissin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Baudissin is the name of a German noble family, first mentioned in 1326 in Upper Lusatia (Oberlausitz in German) which is part of Saxony. At the time Bautzen, the district capital, was called “Budissin” (in Sorbian Budyšin) whence the name originated. All name bearers, including of family lines like the Baudissin-Zinzendorf and the Baudissin-Zinzendorf-Pottendorf, are counts or countesses.
Wulff Heinrich von Baudissin or Bauditz (1579-1646) was a distinguished Protestant cavalry commander and rose to the rank of field-marshal in the Saxon and Danish armies during the Thirty Years' War. He also commanded a strong Swedish contingent and sacked several cities along the River Rhine between 1633 and 1634. Wulff Heinrich v. B. retired in Holstein, a German province under Danish rule, and became the progenitor of all family members living today. From this time on most Baudissins settled in Holstein and other parts of Denmark and often served the Danish kings as diplomatists, officers and administrators. Wulff Heinrich v. B’s grandson Wulf Hinrich (1671 – 1748) was another outstanding military leader. He was awarded with a hereditary countship in 1741 by the prince-elector of Saxony, Duke Frederick Augustus II, (→ King Augustus III of Poland) for his services and thus became the first Graf von B.
The family has since brought forth numerous diplomats, military and civil officers, administrators, advisers to kings and emperors, writers, artists, journalists and lawyers. Other particularly renowned family members:
- Wolf Heinrich Friedrich Karl Graf von Baudissin (1789-1878), German in Danish diplomatic service, writer and one of the main translators of William Shakespeare’s and Molière’s works into German.
- Wolf Stefan Traugott Graf von Baudissin (1907-1993), NATO general, the creator of the concept of “Civic Education” (Innere Führung), and (as professor) 1971 - 1984 director of the Hamburg Institute for Peace Research IFSH.
The families Baudissin and their Danish branch of "Bauditz" are listed in joint entries in the 1909, 1911, 1915 and 1959 editions of the "Danmarks Adels Aarbog", the register of Danish noble families.
[edit] External links
- www.baudissin.eu is a portal for further information and lists several personal homepages related to the Baudissins - in German
- IFSH- the website of the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg of which former General Wolf Count von Baudissin was the founding director.
