The Coudenhove-Kalergi family is an Austro-Bohemian noble family of mixed Flemish and Cretan Greek descent, which was formed by the marriage of Count Franz Karl von Coudenhove (1825–1893) with Marie Kalergi (1840–1877) in 1857. The Coudenhoves were Catholic barons with estates in the Prince-Bishopric of Liège and the Lower Rhine region and were raised to the rank of counts of the Holy Roman Empire in 1790. After the upheaval of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, they moved to the Austrian Empire and acquired estates in the Lands of the Bohemian Crown. The Kallergis family had enjoyed high status in Crete, having been sent there by Byzantine emperor Alexios II Komnenos in the mid-12th century. They remained there during the Venetian occupation (1204–1669) and subsequently moved to the Venetian-held Ionian Islands. Their palazzo in Venice is still standing. The family's most prominent scion was Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi, a pioneer of European integration and founder of the Paneuropean Union.

History

The Coudenhove family dates back to the Duchy of Brabant nobleman Gerolf I de Coudenhove (died 1259). After the religious conflicts of the 16th and 17th centuries, the Catholic family moved southwards to the Prince-Bishopric of Liège, acquiring the estate of Fraiture (now in the Belgian province of Liège) in 1661. By the marriage of Maximilian François de Coudenhove (1700–1742) and baroness Maria Adolphina Reuschenberg, the family also inherited the estate of Setterich (near Aachen) in the Duchy of Jülich. Their eldest son George Louis de Coudenhove (1734–1786) married the countess Sophie von Hatzfeldt (1747–1825). She was a close confidante and counsellor of her uncle Friedrich Karl Joseph von Erthal, archbishop and prince-elector of Mainz. Sophie provided for her family's social advancement and was awarded the rank of Imperial Count (Reichsgraf) for herself and her four sons in 1790. The social and political system in Central Europe was in upheaval after the French Revolution. The Holy Roman Empire was dissolved in 1806, the prominent position of imperial counts was mediatised and ecclesiastical states like the prince-archbishopric of Mainz were secularised. The family's previous status was therefore obsolete. During the Napoleonic Wars, three of Sophie's four sons moved to the Austrian Empire, taking up positions in the military, imperial household, Catholic clergy and the Order of Malta. The eldest son, Carl (1774–1838), sold the acres in Setterich in 1813 and acquired the estate of Jindice (Inditz) in central Bohemia instead, marking the family's relocation from the Rhineland to the Habsburg monarchy. The Kallergis family is a Cretan Greek noble family originating from the 11th or 12th century, which claims descent from the Byzantine Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas. During the Venetian rule over Crete, the Kallergis family was one of the most important Greek Orthodox families on the island. Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi describes in his book An idea conquers the world the Kallergis name is composed of the Greek word kalon (=beautiful) and ergon (from ergō="work, task, deed, accomplishment, or purpose") [Greek: Καλλ(ι)έργης > Καλλέργης, known in many versions as Kalergis, Calergis, Kallergi, Callergi, Calergi]. Over the centuries, Polish, Norwegian, Baltic, French, and German lineages were absorbed into the Kallergis family. The two families united when, on 27 June 1857 in Paris, Count Franz Karl von Coudenhove (1825–1893) married Marie Kalergi (1840–1877), only daughter of Polish pianist Maria Nesselrode and her husband, Jan Kalergis. The lands thus combined included the Zamato estate in the Carinthian mountains, the castle of Ottensheim in Upper Austria, and the Ronsperg estate and castle in western Bohemia. Franz and Marie had six children, including Heinrich, the first count to use the double-barrelled name. In 1917 when Heinrich's eldest son, Johannes Evangelist Virgilio Coudenhove-Kalergi, was 24 years old, he asked Emperor Charles I of Austria to give him the title Coudenhove-Kalergi of Ronspergheim (von Ronspergheim), and the Emperor granted this request.

Family members

Ancestors and branch lines

Coudenhove family

Kalergis family