The House of Reitzenstein was an old

German noble The German nobility () and royalty were status groups of the medieval society in Central Europe, which enjoyed certain privileges relative to other people under the laws and customs in the German-speaking area, until the beginning of the 20th ...

family of

Franconia Franconia ( ; ; ) is a geographical region of Germany, characterised by its culture and East Franconian dialect (). Franconia is made up of the three (governmental districts) of Lower Franconia, Lower, Middle Franconia, Middle and Upper Franco ...

n knightly origin. It belonged to the Franconian ''

Uradel (, German: "ancient nobility"; adjective or ) is a genealogical term introduced in late 18th-century Germany to distinguish those families whose noble rank can be traced to the 14th century or earlier. The word stands opposed to '' Briefadel'' ...

''.

History

First appearing in written documents from 1318, the House of Reitzenstein took its name from Reitzenstein near Issigau. The family was directly related to the

House of Sparneck The Sparneck family was an old German nobility, German noble family from Franconia. History The family is known to exist from 1223 to 1744 and was named after the market village of Sparneck. One of their first castles was the Waldsteinburg; fur ...

. Members of the family held the title of ''

Freiherr (; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , ) and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and in ...

''.

Notable members

* Franziska von Reitzenstein aka Franz von Nemmersdorf (1834–1896), German novelist * Hans Albin Freiherr von Reitzenstein, German ''Obersturmbannführer'' *

Richard August Reitzenstein Richard August Reitzenstein (2 April 1861, in Breslau – 23 March 1931, in Göttingen) was a German classical philologist and scholar of Ancient Greek religion, hermetism and Gnosticism. He is described by Kurt Rudolph as “one of the most stimu ...

(1861–1931), German classical philologist and scholar of Ancient Greek religion, hermetism and Gnosticism * Sigismund von Reitzenstein (1766–1847), minister and ambassador for Baden

External links

{{Authority control German noble families Franconian nobility