Cappelen (family)
| Cappelen | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Ethnicity | German-Norwegian |
| Current region | Norway |
| Place of origin | Germany |
| Distinctions | patricians[1] |
Cappelen is the surname of a prominent Norwegian family of merchants, land owners, civil servants and politicians. The family belonged to the historical Patriciate of Norway.[1]
History
The family originated in Cappeln near Wildeshausen in Oldenburg in Lower Saxony, Germany with Johan von Cappelen (1627–1688), who immigrated to Norway from Bremen in 1653. Johan von Cappelen bought several properties and ended as a bailiff in Lier in Buskerud County, Norway. The family's main branches originated from three of his sons:
- Johan von Cappelen junior (1658–1698), after his father was bailiff in Lier, Norway
- Ulrich Friderich von Cappelen (1668–1722), timber merchant and ran a sawmill in Skien in Telemark County, Norway
- Gabriel von Cappelen (1674–1758), timber merchant in Bragernes in Drammen in Buskerud County, Norway
Jørgen Wright Cappelen, a later member of the family, founded the publishing house J. W. Cappelens Forlag. The family in Norway had stopped using the von in the 19th century.[2]
Famous members
- Jørgen von Cappelen (1715–1785) – Norwegian businessman and owner of Fossesholm Manor
- Jørgen Wright Cappelen (1805–78), founder of the publishing house
- Ulrich Fredrich von Cappelen (1770–1820), ship-owner
- Didrich von Cappelen (1761–1828), member of the Eidsvoll assembly in 1814
- Ulrik Frederik Cappelen (1797–1864), county governor and politician
- Johan Cappelen (1889–1947), lawyer, county governor and Minister of Justice
- August Cappelen (1827–52), painter
- Nicolai Benjamin Cappelen (1797–1866), politician, civil servant
- Anna Sofie Cappelen, heiress to the Borgestad manor house and married to Prime Minister Gunnar Knudsen
- Diderik Cappelen (1856–1935), chamberlain at the royal court and owner of Ulefoss iron works and Holden manor house. He discovered the mineral cappelenit that is named after him
- Frederick William Cappelen, city engineer in Minneapolis. Cappelen Memorial Bridge is named after him
- Axel Cappelen (1858–1919), surgeon
- Didrik Cappelen Schiøtt (1887–1958), married to Margit Schiøtt, member of Stortinget, the Norwegian parliament
- Didrik Cappelen (born 1900), resistance fighter, county judge and politician
- Hans Cappelen (Hasse) (1903–79), businessman, resistance fighter and Norwegian witness in the Nuremberg trials
- Peder Wright Cappelen (1931–92), writer and publisher
- Andreas Zeier Cappelen, government minister (several posts including Foreign Minister)
- Sofie Cappelen, actress
- Pål Cappelen, handball player
- Berit Bertling Cappelen, novelist
- Trond Reinertsen (b. 1945), economist and business leader
- Herman Cappelen (b. 1967), philosopher
Coat of arms
The family coat of arms were lawfully assumed in Norway in 1683: The shield is parted in two fields, the first and upper one having the mother pelican feeding its young with its own blood (a pelican in its piety), and the second field has three blooming roses with leaves and stems. On top of the shield is a helmet with a crest: two buffalo horns and between them the symbol of Fortune being a naked woman holding a ship's sail in her hands and standing on an orb.[3]
The Ulefoss-line of the family has, however, dropped Fortune and uses the two horns only. The various lines of the family have different heraldic colours (tinctures) in the arms.[4]
In Germany the family used a merchant's mark.[5]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Ibsen, Henrik (14 September 1882), Letter to Rasmus B. Anderson
- ↑ Cappelen (Store norske leksikon)
- ↑ Heraldisk nøkkel(Herman Leopoldus Løvenskiold. 1978. Oslo: Universitetsforl) ISBN 978-82-00-01697-7
- ↑ Norske slektsvåpen (Hans Cappelen. 1976)
- ↑ Fabelwesen der Heraldik in Familien- und Stadtewappen (Carl Alexander Von Volborth. (1996) ISBN 978-3-7630-2329-5)
Other sources
- Thomle, Erik Andreas (1896) Familien (von) Cappelen i Norge og Danmark (Christiania: J.W. Cappelen)
- Steffens, Haagen Krog (1912) Norske Slægter 1912 (Christiania: Gyldendalske Boghandel)
- Cappelen, Hans (1988) Familien Cappelens tyske opprinnelse. Noen antagelser og hypoteser (in Norsk Slektshistorisk Tidsskrift)
- Haugen, Lambrecht (2008) Cappelen-slekten 1627–2008 (Rosendal)