The Kotzebue family [lower-alpha 1] is a Baltic German noble family of Brandenburgish descent, tracing its origin back to Kossebau in Altmark. They held nobility status in the Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Bavaria. The English name of the Alaskan Inuit city of Kotzebue, as well as the neighboring Kotzebue Sound, in the Alaskan Arctic take their names from Otto von Kotzebue, a Russian naval officer of this family.
The Kotzebue family appears in historical documents as early as 1375. Early known members of the family include Henning Kossebu, a diplomat in Stendal in the Altmark, and Arnd Cassebu, a councillor in Salzwedel. [2] The ancestor of the modern family was Jakob Kotzebue (died 1597), a citizen and council treasurer in Magdeburg. His son Johann (1591–1629) was a Lutheran theologian, rector in Quedlinburg and minister in St. Jakob's church de in Magdeburg. Johann's son of the same name was also a Lutheran theologian and an abbot in the Loccum Abbey.
The most famous and prominent member of the family, the world-famous playwright, writer and librettist August von Kotzebue (1761–1819), became renowned for his dramatic works - their politics drew the attention of many, including famous figures such as Beethoven and Goethe. He was ennobled into the hereditary Russian nobility in 1786. However, he also made a lot of enemies and became a much-hated man in the eyes of many Germans, with many seeing him as a reactionary and a spy. Karl Ludwig Sand assassinated August von Kotzebue in 1819; the murder gave Prince von Metternich the opportunity to issue the Carlsbad Decrees which imposed political restrictions in universities all over Germany.
August von Kotzebue worked as a consul general in Russia and Germany, and almost all his descendants entered Russian service. Some embarked on military careers, including the famous explorer Otto von Kotzebue (1787–1846), others included Moritz von Kotzebue (1789–1861)et and Paul Demetrius von Kotzebue (1801–1884), who became a Russian count in 1874. In 1878, Paul Demetrius's daughter Countess Alexandrine Mathilde married Theodor Kotzebue-Pilar von Pilchau; because Paul Demetrius did not have any male descendants, he chose Pilar von Pilchau to inherit the primogeniture, thus creating the joint family of Graf Kotzebue-Pilar von Pilchau. [3]
Other family members also achieved prominence, such as the painter Alexander von Kotzebue (1815–1889), whose son Wilhelm (1864–1952) also painted - he became a member of the Bavarian nobility in 1906. Wilhelm Basilius von Kotzebue (1813–1887) became a Russian diplomat and writer.
August von Kotzebue married three times and had a total of 18 children, of whom 1 son and 3 daughters died during childhood.
First in 1785, he married Friederike Julie Dorothea von Essen, the daughter of the commandant of the Reval Castle Lieutenant-General Reinhold Wilhelm von Essen and his wife Baroness Anna Eleonora von von Saß. They had 4 children together:
After Essen's death in 1790, Kotzebue's second marriage was with Christine Gertrude von Krusenstern, daughter of Karl Adolf von Krusenstiern and Anna Magdalena von Brümmer the cousin of the famous explorer Adam Johann von Krusenstern, they had children together:
In 1805, August von Kotzebue was married the third time to Wilhelmine Friederike von Krusenstiern after his second wife's death in 1804, Krusenstiern was the daughter of officer Otto Wilhelm von Krusenstiern and Friederike Marie Ulrich, she was another cousin of Adam Johann von Krusenstern, she and Kotzebue had 8 children, of whom 2 died during childhood:
The Kotzebues were not as big landowners as other Baltic families did like the Wrangels and the Rennenkampffs, but they did own several manor houses in the Baltics, mostly located in the Governorate of Estonia: [3]
The coat of arms of the untitled Kotzebue family of 1786 according to the Genealogical Handbook of the Baltic Knighthoods, Part Estonia by Baron Otto Magnus von Stackelberg:
The shield showed 3 roses. Crest: over the crown a white-bearded monk standing in a brown robe, holding a scourge in his raised right hand. Mantling: blue-silver. [3]
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