Coat of arms of the Graf Balthasar von Thannhausen Branch (mit Greifenklauen) as illustrated in Raab’s Genealogische Studien über adelige Geschlechter Bayerns (1872), symbolizing the Salzburg–Carinthian line of the family bearing the griffin claws.
The Thannhausen family (also found as Thanhauser, Thannhauser or von Thannhausen) is a still existing noble family that consisted of multiple branches throughout history. The lineage is documented across Bavaria, Franconia, Austria, and Salzburg for over six centuries. Its earliest known members served as ministerials under bishops and dukes of the Holy Roman Empire, gradually rising from regional administrators to imperial councillors and, by the seventeenth century, Counts (Grafen) in the Austrian nobility. The family’s evolution, traced through more than fifty archival records in the Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv (BayHStA), Österreichisches Staatsarchiv (OeStA), and Staatsarchiv Ludwigsburg reflects the social ascent and geographic spread of a dynasty that bridged the medieval and early modern European orders.[2]
The earliest known member, Konrad Thanhauser of Hausen, appears as a witness in a 1331 deed at Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen, establishing the family’s early Bavarian presence with Hausen and Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz as ancestral centers.[3] By the 15th century, the Thanhauser name recurs in noble and ecclesiastical records. A hereditary charter (Erbbbrief) of 1454, renewed in 1556, confirmed the family’s noble status and hereditary estates (Erbbesitz) across Bavaria and Franconia.[4] In 1488, Christoph Thanhauser of Neumarkt appears in a local charter.[5] A 1497 document from Hall in Tirol records Balthasar Thanhauser as a councillor to Emperor Maximilian I, marking the family’s entry into imperial service.[6] In 1498, Hans Thanhauser of Nuremberg issued a deed of interest, showing the family’s participation in urban financial affairs.[7]
Bavarian Line and Ecclesiastical Authority (16th Century)
By the early 1500s, several Thanhausers held legal and ecclesiastical offices. Sebastian (von) Thannhausen, Landrichter (chief magistrate) of Wörth an der Donau (1516–1522), sealed charters concerning church lands and guardianships.[8][9][10][11][12][13]Balthasar Thanhauser co-signed a Carinthian decree in 1512, while Dr. Peter Thanhauser submitted a Supplik to Emperor Maximilian I in 1515 — both indicating growing imperial connections.[14][15] In 1517, Hanns Thanhauser was enfeoffed by William IV, Duke of Bavaria with estates in Pilsach and Mitterstahl.[16]
Upper Palatinate Branch (from Moosinning to Erasbach)
By 1525, Georg Thanhauser, Propst von Moosinning, appears in inheritance records from St. Emmeram Regensburg, marking the family’s first major ecclesiastical role.[17] That same year, Franz Thanhauser emerged as a trusted military-political actor during the Salzburg Peasants’ War. On 28 June 1525, Salzburg envoys informed Archduke Ferdinand of Austria that Franz should be explicitly instructed to refrain from hostile action during ongoing negotiations — evidence of his strategic weight on the Styrian–Carinthian frontier.[18] A week later, on 5 July 1525, Carinthian captain Veit Wellzer relayed Franz’s dispatch from Rottenmann reporting Sigmund von Dietrichstein’s defeat at Schladming; Wellzer immediately called Katzianer with 100 horse from Krain/Croatia and urged reinforcements from Tyrol to head off unrest in Carinthia.[19] In 1532, Jörg (Georg) Thanhauser of Inning is recorded in inheritance and guardianship proceedings in Freising,[20][21] while Peter Thanhauser sold his Fleischbank (butcher’s stall) there in 1534.[22]Hans Thanhauser of Erasbach appears in Reichskammergericht proceedings (1538) and tithe disputes at Gnadenberg (1544–1550), demonstrating his status as a regional landholder and legal actor.[23][24][25][26] In 1544, Corona Thanhauser, likely his sister, sold an annuity — one of several women of the family engaged in financial matters.[27] By 1556–1557, Sigmund Thanhauser of Schonpühl renewed Moosinning inheritance rights — maintaining the family’s foothold in the ecclesiastical territories of Freising.[28][29] Together, Georg, Hans, and Sigmund represent the Erasbach–Moosinning line, the heart of the Thannhausen family’s continuity in the Upper Palatinate.
Salzburg–Carinthian expansion (Mid-16th Century)
Beyond Bavaria, the family advanced into Inner Austrian administration and Carinthian service. In Vienna on 11 November 1535, Franz von Thannhausen and Wolfgang Graswein attested to the settlement of a complex inheritance dispute involving the Harrach family, the Graswein kin, and the convent sisters of Göss Abbey (Ursula, Agnes, and Anna von Harrach), concerning the estate of Barbara von Gleinitz — reflecting Franz’s recognized legal-mediatory authority at court.[30] On 23 November 1537, King Ferdinand ordered a legal opinion regarding the Abbot of St. Lambrecht’s request to redeem Aflenztal (Styria) and directed the transfer of the pledge (Satz) of two Landgerichte in Aflenztal to the Thannhausen — placing the family in an imperial mortgagee/administrative role in Inner Austria.[31] In 1546, Ritter Franz von Thannhausen, kaiserlicher Rat, received from Archbishop Ernst of Salzburg the castle and captaincy of Friesach, confirming his rise to regional command.[32] By 1558, Christoph Freiherr von Thannhausen, Landeshauptmann von Kärnten, was active in Vienna and Graz, corresponding on Venetian trade and local defense;[33] in 1564 he reported to Emperor Maximilian II on the death of Ferdinand I and on fortification measures.[34]
Religious and dynastic affairs (Late 16th Century)
Now counted among the Austrian Hochadel, the family figured in confessional politics and high-noble marriages. In 1577, Paul Freiherr von Thannhausen appears in correspondence concerning Calvinist preachers (Calvinische Prediganten).[35] In 1589, Elisabeth von Thannhausen, widow of von Kholnicz, married Christof Freiherr von Auersperg in Laibach (Ljubljana).[36] From 1590–1592, Katharina Freiin zu Egkh, geb. von Thannhausen, is documented in Khevenhüller family financial papers.[37]
Rise to comital status (17th Century)
Schloss Thannhausen in Styria, Austria
By the early 1600s, the Thannhausen had achieved the rank of Grafen. Balthasar von Thannhausen corresponded with Emperor Ferdinand II, Empress Eleonore, and Archduchesses Maria Christine and Maria Magdalena between 1610–1636.[38] His wife, Freiin Ursula von Holnegg, appears as widow in a 1646 settlement.[39] Their son Johann Anton von Thannhausen married Barbara Maria Gräfin von Saurau in 1638 and became Erblandjägermeister in der Steiermark (1648).[40][41]Johann Nepomuk Ignaz von Thannhausen married Anna Eleonora Gräfin von Wetzhausen in 1672, uniting Styrian–Salzburg and Franconian lines.[42]In 1601, Caspar Thanhauser appears in a deed, marking continued presence of collateral lines into the early seventeenth century.[43]
During this period, the Austrian branch owned and resided at Schloss Thannhausen (Steiermark), which served as their principal estate throughout the seventeenth century.
Noble intermarriages (Late 17th–18th Centuries)
Alliance arms of Harrach and Thannhausen (early 18th century), formalized by the 1708 imperial decree for Maria Cäcilia Harrach, geb. Gräfin von Thannhausen, authorizing descendants to bear the style von Harrach zu Thannhausen.
1689: Gräfin Maria Cäcilia Elisabeth von Thannhausen married Graf Michael Oswald von Thun.[44]
1692: Gräfin Maria Renola Eleonora von Thannhausen (later Khevenhüller) left her testament in the Harrach archive.[45]
1692–1721: Sale of Sembriach estates to Graf Georg Adam von Lengheim.[46]
1708: Imperial decree authorizing the arms-union and the style von Harrach zu Thannhausen.[47]
1735: An attestation from the Ritterkanton Frankenstein lists Thanhauser among the knightly estate, reflecting standing within the Imperial Knights’ organization.[48]
1752: A tithe dispute names Bärtlme Thanhauser.[49]
1774: A salary record again names Bärtlme Thanhauser.[50]
17th–18th c.: Illuminated genealogical rolls (Harrach R-series) for Johann Josef Ignaz, Maria Cäcilia Elisabeth, Balthasar, and Ursula von Holnegg.[51]
Decline and legacy (18th–19th centuries)
After 1699, the Grafschaft Thannhausen was sold to Kurpfalz, marking the end of the Styrian–Salzburg estates.[52] In the 18th century the estate and title were associated with the von Stadion house; ministerial correspondence in 1761 still references the style Graf von Stadion und Thannhausen, reflecting the acquisition and retention of the name with the property in that period.[53]Estate records at Thanhausen (Bärnau) (1656–1870) trace property management into the nineteenth century.[54] The family reappears in the 19th century with Joseph Konrad Freiherr von und zu Thannhausen (1785–1836), whose file in the Staatsarchiv Ludwigsburg records the 1824 conversion of his wife, Theodora Rudolphina von Donzel, to Catholicism — the last well-documented descendant in that archival line.[55]
Heraldic and genealogical unity
Despite geographic spread, all branches — Salzburg–Carinthia, Erasbach, Rieß, and Franconia — derived from the same noble core. Distinct heraldic motifs identified each branch: the griffin claw (Salzburg–Carinthia), the hound (Erasbach), and the ship (Rieß).Cf. Raab, Genealogische Studien über adelige Geschlechter Bayerns (1872); see also Siebmacher (1777).[56] The 1497 Thanhauser epitaph in St. Johannes Church, Neumarkt, depicts Ott, Hans, and Jörg Thanhauser with the Erasbach dog arms — a lasting symbol of unity.[57]
From Konrad in 1331 to Joseph Konrad in 1836, the Thannhausen family embodies six centuries of adaptation — from feudal ministerials to imperial counts, from Neumarkt to Vienna, and from regional vassals to actors in the political and ecclesiastical fabric of Central Europe.
The Rieß (Reis) branch (Modern continuation)
Coat of arms of the Thannhausen family (Rieß branch)Schloss Thannhausen, ancestral seat of the Thannhausen family
The Rieß branch of the Thannhausen family constitutes the principal surviving cadet line and the modern bearer of the name in Swabia. Originating in the Nördlinger Ries valley east of Ellwangen, the branch represents the continuation of an ancient ministerial lineage that had spread across Bavaria and Franconia by the late Middle Ages. In contrast to the Erasbach dog and Salzburg–Carinthian griffin, the Rieß line bore a ship as its heraldic device, a symbol associated in early seals with service to the bishops of Eichstätt and navigation of the Danube trade routes.[58]
By the seventeenth century, this Swabian offshoot had entered hereditary service under the Princes of Oettingen-Wallerstein, whose domains encompassed much of the Ries basin. Members of the family acted as officers, foresters, and administrators in the Oettingen estates and later under the Kings of Württemberg. Within this milieu arose the baronial family of the Freiherren von und zu Thannhausen, who retained both the ancestral estate of Thannhausen and their status as imperial knights within the Swabian Imperial Circle's Kocher canton.[59]
The earliest securely attested figure of the modern line is Heinrich Konrad Freiherr von und zu Thannhausen (1609–1680), a Protestant councillor to the Margraves of Brandenburg-Ansbach and chief bailiff of Windsbach. His descendants re-established the family’s Catholic faith in the eighteenth century and consolidated their holdings around Tannhausen near Ellwangen. His grandsons, Joachim Christoph Heinrich (1694–1744) and Johann Ludwig Ernst (1696–1769), divided the estate into two halves — creating an older and younger line that endured for roughly 150 years.[60]
Subsequent generations are documented continuously in the Ludwigsburg State Archives through the estate archive (Gutsarchiv Thannhausen). These include Johann Joseph Konrad (1734–1798), Ignaz Friedrich (1770–1849), a veteran of the Battle of Leipzig and court forester to the Oettingen-Wallerstein princes, and Wilhelm Ernst (1803–1886), who later entered the Württemberg forestry administration. The nineteenth century saw the family’s full adaptation from feudal service to civil bureaucracy, culminating with Kuno Freiherr von und zu Thannhausen (1873–1929), whose correspondence and photographs form part of the modern archival deposit.[61]
The Ludwigsburg collection (Bestand PL 16) comprises over 380 catalogued items — including feudal charters (1683–1844), estate ledgers, patrimonial court records, correspondence, and genealogical manuscripts. A genealogical overview by Baron Franz-Ferdinand von und zu Thannhausen (b. 20th c.) supplements the early records with extensive documentation, photographs, and family charts compiled in cooperation with historian Siegfried Jäkel of Ellwangen. Together, these materials provide a nearly unbroken record of property management, religious life, and noble administration in the Ries valley from 1680 to the twentieth century.[62]
Today, the Barons von und zu Thannhausen continue to reside at their ancestral seat in Tannhausen, maintaining one of the most complete noble family archives of its scale in southern Germany. The manor, with its eighteenth-century core and early twentieth-century towers, remains a private residence and symbol of the family’s continuous presence in the region. The Gutsarchiv Thannhausen and municipal archives of Tannhausen preserve over three centuries of correspondence, land records, and genealogical data, reflecting the enduring continuity of the Thannhausen name into the modern era.[63]
In the twenty-first century, the small castle or 'Schloss' remains under the stewardship of Michael Freiherr von und zu Thannhausen (b. 1951), a retired lieutenant colonel and forester, who continues the family's civic and cultural presence in the region. Since acquiring the ancestral home in the early 1990s, Baron von Thannhausen has been active in local and district politics, serving for two decades on the municipal and district councils, including terms as deputy mayor of Tannhausen. He has also chaired the Ries Forestry Association and the East Württemberg district branch of the Maltese Order. In 2021 he was awarded the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in recognition of his volunteer leadership as chairman of the association supporting the former synagogue in Bopfingen-Oberdorf.[64][65]
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