| About our familys nobility... |
To those (mererly the younger ones?) who wonders about the nobility of our family…
Everyone named (von) Knorring are of the same family. Although our family book has the title "the Knorring Families" (Ätterna Knorring) there are only one huge family von Knorring.
According to the old swedish dictionary Nordisk Familjebok, "ätt" means "noble family", and family means "…all persons who by their origin are related to each other".
Even our new National encyclopedia shows that by "noble family", and by "family" are ment "...individuals with common origin...".
So, a family consists of all persons with a common origin, and if the family is noble, it could also be called "ätt" in swedish.
And of course, in the definition given above, there is an implication of the relations among the family members to be shown (otherwise all people on the earth would constitute one family and the concept of "family" would be out of use).
Thanks to research of the former genealogist at the Swedish House of Nobles, mr Pontus Möller, the earlier unknown and misunderstood relationships where cleared up, and our common origin was shown. What earlier had appeared as a few different families, without any genealogical relation was now reduced into one, all shown in the family book.
The title of the book could therefore as well had been "Ätten Knorring" (The Family Knorring), or rather "Ättegrenarna Knorring" (The Knorring Family Branches) as the books structure follows the earlier different branches, successfully connect by Pontus Möller.
The family von Knorring originates from the oldest German nobility. As different branches has established i new countries, the noble dignity has come to be confirmed by several House of Nobilities. Not for the least of political reasons different branches has come to be members of different House of Nobilities. For example, Finland as well as the Baltic countries has been subject to revolutionizing changes, as the whole of Finland had been a part of Sweden since the 1400th century. Major parts of the Baltic countries was periodically ruled by different countries, not the least by Sweden. Besides Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania there has also been administrative concepts as Livonia, Courland, Ingria, Lettgallen, Semgallen etc.
Therefore, these countries and provinces was parts of different empires as their powerful rulers differed from time to time. Some of them even no longer exist, while others has successfully reestablished as independent nations. The most permanent situation in this aspect is that Finland was about one half of Sweden from mid 1400th century until 1809, when it was lost in the war against Russia. In connection to the Oktober revolution, and the falling of the Russian czars in 1917, Finland managed to declare its independence. Thereby they also had to found and establish a lot of the institutions needed by an independent nation of that time, i.e. a House of Nobles. That is why many of the earlier Swedish and Baltic noble families are introduced around 1917 at the Finnish House of Nobles.
So, as a consequence of different political changes, our forefathers came to live in different countries, despite they never passed any borders.
Besides that, our forefathers also found new home countries and citizenships by personal reasons.
During our familys journey, from the 11th century in Eichsfeld (in todays mid Germany) until the 21st century in Sweden, our noble dignity has therefore been confirmed several times, namely in Courland 1620, Stockholm 1672, Ösel 1741, Livonia 1745, Estonia 1746, Livonia 1747, Stockholm 1756, Finland 1818, Livonia 1867, Stockholm 1916 and in Stockholm 1955.
Different branches of our family therefore bears different titles (if any) and numbers on the different Houses of Nobility. These branches came therefore to be the natural way of structuring the earlier genealogical research, which by practical reasons has been kept despite the modern research made by Pontus Möller.
The without comparison greatest branch of todays von Knorrings is the one originating from lieutenant colonel Otto Wilhelm von Knorring, born in 1681, the branch which mainly constitutes the Swedish von Knorring Family Society. Otto Wilhelm was born on one of his three herited estates, Koppelmann in the Kegel parish in Harrien in todays Estonia, during the period when Estonia was a part of Sweden (1558 – 1721). Besides Otto Wilhelm, his father, grandfather and grand grandfather was also born within the Swedish Estonia.
Therefore it seems rather clear why he headed for the remaining Sweden when Estonia was lost to the Russians at the battle of Poltava. After having been a Russian war prisoner for 13 years he managed to escape, and finally reached Stockholm on the 7th of May in 1722. Thereafter he continued his service at the Dalecarlia Regiment.
Later the same year, he visited Estonia in his effort to get back at least one of this three herited estates. But the permission given by Czar Peter the Great was combined with the condition of Otto Wilhelm accepting to be a Russian citizen. As he denied that he also lost all his property.
The biggest von Knorring branch of today, mainly the one originating from Otto Wilhelm and mainly living in Sweden, has never been introduced on any House of Nobles since they where present in the Baltics, that is why it is called unintroduced on the Swedish House of Nobility.
Besides this branch, there is an introduced one in Sweden since Carl von Knorring moved to Stockholm from Helsingki and became a Swedish citizen in 1951. This branch is still present in Sweden, and is registered as nr 1976 and nr 138 at the Houses of Nobles in Helsinki and Stockholm resp.
Two more branches has been registered at the Houses of Nobles in Stockholm and Helsingki, nr 809 resp 66, and the baron branch nr 177 resp 9, however both of these are deceased.
Why is there a "von" in our family name?
The additions "von" and "af" are a prefix of peerage. When somebody was nobelized for his efforts, besides to accept a coat of arms he usually also took a more magnificent family name. Another alternative was to add the "von" or "af" to the family name. But even among the peerage there are degrees. The most excellent ones where those with a noble title, and among those, the barons.
As of an even more excellent degree where those who originated frpom the oldest German nobility considered, as the whole system with peerage and nobility once was founded there.
Why do some write their von as "v." and others as "von"?
Periodically, due to the preferences of the ruling king, many persons came to be nobelized in Europe, some of the older peerage felt a kind of inflation among the nobility. They felt their prefix "von" as no longer being as exclusive. To show their more substantial peerage they therefore began to write only "v." instead of "von". Thereby the managed in a discreet way to point out their older origin. On the contrary, the later nobelized families of course took every chance to expose their newly won peerage to its maximun...
Summary
Everything that once concerned the nobility has lost its substantial meanings of rights and obligations, i.e. the freedom of taxes and to supply knights. The meaning of being noble today maybe is the presence of a thrilling and interesting family history, inspiring to extensive genealogical research. An unbeatable advantage for noble families is the access to a great amount of historical document, as the family name is more unique and easy to search and trace than more common ones.
The House of Nobility in Stockholm (as well as others) are therefore no longer of the governements interest, but an association for the introduced families. They manage their own funds and real estate in order to provide their activities. They also manage assets founded for specific and introduced families, oftenly dedicated for specific a use as education for the family members.