The House of Lieven is one of the oldest and most aristocratic families of Nordic and Baltic-German origin.

History

The family is descended from Caupo of Turaida (Latvian, Kaupo), the Livonian quasi rex who converted to Christianity in 1186, when Bishop Meinhard attempted to Christianize the region. The Livonian Chronicle of Henry tells that in the winter 1203–1204 Caupo went to Rome with Theoderich von Treyden, a Cistercian Monk who was later to become the founder of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword and the first bishop of Estonia. They were received in Rome by Pope Innocent III who supported their plans to Christianize Livonia, ennobled Caupo and granted him his coat of arms and the name Lieven. Caupo's grandson Nicholas was the first to spell his name Lieven. According to feudal records, the Lieven ancestor Gerardus Līvo (1269) and his son Johannes (1296) entered service as vassals to the Archbishop of Rīga. One of Caupo's daughters married an ancestor of the barons, later Counts, of Ungern-Sternberg.

Notable family members

In popular culture

Thomas Lieven is the name of the fictional protagonist of the tongue-in-cheek spy novel "It Can't Always Be Caviar" by Austrian writer Johannes Mario Simmel.