Pahlen

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Coat of Arms of the Pahlen family

von der Pahlen (Russian: Пален) is a noble Russian, Lithuanian and Swedish family of Baltic German origin. The family probably originated from Pomerania but in the beginning of 15th century moved to Livonia. First historical account of this family dates to 1120 when Johannes de Pala was governor or Riga.

On 18 September 1679 Charles XI of Sweden gave the baronial rank to five brothers of the family and all their descendants. In 1799 Paul I of Russia gave Petr Alekseevich Pahlen and all his descendants the count rank. By the decision of Russian Government of 1755 and 1865 most of the other members of Pahlen got the baronial rank of the Russian empire.

Among the notable members of the family:

Count Petr Alekseevich Pahlen (Peter Ludwig von der Pahlen) (1745-1826 - Russian courtier, organizer of the assassination of Paul I of Russia;
Count Pavel Petrovich Pahlen (Paul Carl Ernst Wilhelm Philipp von der Pahlen; Pahlen the 2nd 1775-1834), Russian General of Cavalry, hero of the War of 1812; son of Petr Alekseevich;
Count Petr Petrovich Pahlen (Pahlen the 1st; 1778 - 1864); Russian General of Cavalry, hero of the War of 1812, Russo-Turkish War, 1828-1829 and the campaign against the November Uprising in Poland, son of Petr Alekseevich;
Count Fyodor Petrovich Pahlen (1780-1863), Russian diplomat, Governor-General of Novorossiya, and Plenipotentiary President of the Divans in the Danubian Principalities, son of Petr Alekseevich;

Baron Matvey Ivanovich Pahlen (Pahlen the 3d, 1776-1863) Major-General of Cavalry, hero of the War of 1812;
Baron Dmitry Petrovich Pahlen (Ditrich Von der Pahlen), Russian military officer, friend of Mikhail Lermontov [1]

Count Konstantin Ivanovich Pahlen (1833—1912), Russian General and Statesman, hero of Siege of Sevastopol (1854-1855), Pskov governor, Russian minister for justice (1867-1878), grandson of Petr Alekseevich;
Count Alexey Petrovich Pahlen (1874-1938) [2] Russian Lieutenant-General, White movement officer under Nikolai Nikolaevich Yudenich
Emanuel A. von der Pahlen (4 Jul 1882 - 18 Jul 1952) Astronomer with a lunar crater named after him.