Count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

Berend Gregor Ferdinand (''Fiodor Ivanovich'' in Russian) von Tiesenhausen (June 1, 1782,

Reval Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ''m ...

– December 2, 1805, at the

Battle of Austerlitz The Battle of Austerlitz (2 December 1805/11 Frimaire An XIV FRC), also known as the Battle of the Three Emperors, was one of the most important and decisive engagements of the Napoleonic Wars. The battle occurred near the town of Austerlitz i ...

) was a

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

noble and military officer of German Baltic origin.

Biography

Count Ferdinand von Tiesenhausen was the scion of an ancient German Baltic nobility family that settled in

Livonia Livonia ( liv, Līvõmō, et, Liivimaa, fi, Liivinmaa, German and Scandinavian languages: ', archaic German: ''Liefland'', nl, Lijfland, Latvian and lt, Livonija, pl, Inflanty, archaic English: ''Livland'', ''Liwlandia''; russian: Ли ...

during the

Baltic crusades The Northern Crusades or Baltic Crusades were Christian colonization and Christianization campaigns undertaken by Catholic Christian military orders and kingdoms, primarily against the pagan Baltic, Finnic and West Slavic peoples around the ...

in the first half of the 12th century, going on to become one of the wealthiest and most prominent noble lines in the region ('' Tiesenhausen'' or ''

Tyzenhauz Tyzenhaus (, , , ) was a noble family of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth of German extraction. It was active in the Duchy of Livonia, Duchy of Courland and the northern Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Among the best-known members of the family were ...

''). The son of Count Hans Heinrich von Tiesenhausen (1741–1815)Count Hans Heinrich was a major landowner and his wife Catherine, born Princess von Stackelberg (1753–1826), Tiesenhausen married Princess Elizabeth Golenishchev-Kutuzov, daughter of the Russian Napoleonic-war hero General Prince Kutuzov. Elizabeth gave birth to two daughters:

Catherine Katherine, also spelled Catherine, and other variations are feminine names. They are popular in Christian countries because of their derivation from the name of one of the first Christian saints, Catherine of Alexandria. In the early Christ ...

(1803–1888), later a

lady-in-waiting of the Imperial Court of Russia A lady-in-waiting of the Imperial Russian Court (''придворные дамы'') was a woman of high aristocracy at the service of a woman of the Imperial family. They were organised according to the strict hierarchy of Peter the Great's t ...

, and

Dorothea Dorothea (also spelled Dorothée, Dorotea or other variants) is a female given name from Greek (Dōrothéa) meaning "God's Gift". It may refer to: People * Dorothea Binz (1920–1947), German concentration camp officer executed for war cr ...

(1804–1863), the future wife of Count Charles Louis de Ficquelmont. Tiesenhausen chose a military career. He fought under the command of his father-in-law and eventually became the '' aide-de-camp'' of Emperor

Alexander I of Russia Alexander I (; – ) was Emperor of Russia from 1801, the first King of Congress Poland from 1815, and the Grand Duke of Finland from 1809 to his death. He was the eldest son of Emperor Paul I and Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg. The son o ...

. He was fatally wounded at the

battle of Austerlitz The Battle of Austerlitz (2 December 1805/11 Frimaire An XIV FRC), also known as the Battle of the Three Emperors, was one of the most important and decisive engagements of the Napoleonic Wars. The battle occurred near the town of Austerlitz i ...

and fell with a flag in his hands.

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

, passing close to the gravely wounded Count, said: ″''What a glorious death!''″. The character Andrei Bolkonsky in

Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...

's ''

War and Peace ''War and Peace'' (russian: Война и мир, translit=Voyna i mir; pre-reform Russian: ; ) is a literary work by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy that mixes fictional narrative with chapters on history and philosophy. It was first published ...

'' was inspired by Tiesenhausen. The Count was taken to the Malik family's inn at nearby Straßendorf, but he did not survive. He was first buried in the garden of the inn, then exhumed and moved to his family's estates in

. A marble

obelisk An obelisk (; from grc, ὀβελίσκος ; diminutive of ''obelos'', " spit, nail, pointed pillar") is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape or pyramidion at the top. Originally constructed by An ...

was erected in his memory in the

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

Cathedral Our Lady of

Biography

* Tatiana de Metternich, ''Die Stroganoffs. Ein ungekrönte Dynastie'', Munich, Kraus * Alfons Clary-Aldringen, ''Geschichten eines alten Österreichers'', Francfort-sur-le-Main, Ullstein, 1977

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tiesenhausen, Ferdinand Von 1782 births 1805 deaths People from Tallinn People from the Governorate of Estonia Baltic-German people Russian military personnel of the Napoleonic Wars

Biography

Biography

See also

References