House of Grünenberg
The House of Grünenberg was a prolific medieval Swiss noble family. The family was active from the middle of the 12th century until the 15th century in the Swiss Plateau, mostly in the Bernese Oberaargau. The family also had branches that owned land in Alsace and in southern Bavaria, especially in the Markgräflerland and in Breisgau. About one hundred members of the family are known today. The family name comes from Grünenberg Castle in Melchnau in the Canton of Bern.
Coat of arms
The coat of arms is an example of canting arms, since the name Grünenberg means Green mountain, it always included green mountains. Normally there were six rounded mountains arraigned in a triangle with one then two then three mountains. As a crest it often had feathers and sometimes a small hut appeared on the mountains.[1] The helmet cover is green on the outside and natural ermine on the interior.
In the Scheiblerschen Wappenbuch it is shown with golden margins around six green mountains.[2] The crest has a golden baron's coronet.
References
Literature
- Jakob Käser (1855), [online "Kapitel XIII. Die alten Twingherrenburgen und Nachrichten von den alten Twingherren"] (in German), Topographische, historische und statistische Darstellung des Dorfes und Gemeindebezirkes Melchnau in seinen Beziehungen zur Vergangenheit, Gegenwart und Zukunft
- Mit zwei lithographischen Erläuterungstafeln, Langenthal: Gedruckt bei J. Konrad, pp. 183–194, online
- Wolfgang Friedrich von Mülinen (1890), [online Artikel Grünenberg], "Der Oberaargau" (in German), Beiträge zur Heimatkunde des Kantons Bern, Deutschen Theils (Bern: Verlag von Nydegger & Baumgart) Heft 5: pp. 78–85, online
- August Plüss (1900), [online "Die Freiherren von Grünenberg in Kleinburgund
- Inaugural-Dissertation zur Erlangung der Doktorwürde eingereicht der hohen philosophischen Fakultät der Universität Bern"] (in German), Archiv des Historischen Vereins des Kantons Bern (Bern: Stämpfli) Bd. XVI, Heft 1, online
- August Plüss (1904), Schweizerische Heraldische Gesellschaft, ed., [online "Freie von Grünenberg und Langenstein"] (in German), Genealogisches Handbuch zur Schweizer Geschichte (Zürich: Druck und Verlag von Schulthess & Co.) I. Band: Hoher Adel: pp. 278–289., online
- Max Jufer (1994), [online "Die Freiherren von Langenstein-Grünenberg"] (in German), Jahrbuch des Oberaargaus (Langenthal: Merkur Druck AG) Bd. 37: pp. 109–214, online
- Lukas Wenger (2007), [online "Ganerbensitz Grünenberg? – Eigentumsverhältnisse der Freiherren von Grünenberg untersucht mit Hilfe einer genealogischen Datenbank"] (in German), Burgen und Schlösser, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Burgenvereinigung e. V. (Braubach am Rhein: Europäisches Burgeninstitut) (3/2007): pp. 152–155, ISSN 0007-6201, online
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Grünenberg family. |
- Grünenberg, von in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
- Grünenberg in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
(Adelsherrschaft)
- Private Website over the Lords of Grünenberg
- Website of the Burgruine Grünenberg, Melchnau Foundation