Fickelmon

According to family legends , the Fikelmon come from the time of the Merovingians , and some authors consider ^{[6] the} ancestor of the genus “ Konrad Fikelmon, who lived in 781 ” ^[7] . However, the Fickelmons, who became counts in the XIV century ^[8] , are formally known since the beginning of the XI century thanks to Gerard Fickelmon, who became a knight in 1030, and a reliably established family tree is derived from the descendants of the knight Erard Fikelmon, 1277 ^[9] .

Since the Fickelmons of Lorraine origin, they have a double nobility - French and German. According to the classes of the French nobility , they come in two classes - the Knightly Nobility ( Noblesse chevaleresque ) ^[10] and the Nobility of the Sword ( Noblesse d'épée ) ^[11] . According to classes of the German nobility, they are included in the Ancient Nobility ( Uradel ) ^[12] and the High Nobility ( Hochadel ). The family received its name from the name of the ancient locality of Fickelmon ^[13] in the modern area of ​​French Lorraine , where they built the castle. From there they spread their influence and intermarried with many noble houses of Lorraine, France, Austria and Germany.

House Fikelmon belongs to a very ancient knightly nobility of Lorraine, where it was one of the most influential, due to its origin and dynastic alliances ^[14] . At various times, family members held such titles as Count Fickelmon, Parrois , Chaumont , Batlemont , the imperial count of the Holy Roman Empire, as well as the baron and knight of Lorraine ^[15] . For centuries, family members occupied the highest crown ranks at the court of the Duke of Lorraine: chamberlains and commandants . In the XVII-XVIII centuries they were:

• Count Leonard Fickelmon - Colonel in the army of Charles IV , commander of the elite detachment Blenville.
• Count Robert Fickelmon is a great chamberlain at the court of Charles III , Duke of Lorraine.
• Count Jean-Francois Fickelmon is a great chamberlain and colonel in the guard of Leopold I , commander of the ducal cavalry ^[16] .
• The imperial count Karl Fickelmon is a great chamberlain at the court of Franz I , emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, colonel of the cuirassier detachment of His Imperial Highness and commander of the guard of the imperial cavalry ^[17] .
• The imperial count Jacques-Karl Fickelmon is a great chamberlain at the court of Franz I, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, colonel of the guard and commander of the cavalry detachment in Calchreite and then in Thun .

The Fickelmons, faithful to knightly traditions, were members of several knightly orders, including the Maltese , the Order of the Golden Fleece ^[18] and the Order of the Dragon . They also often took part in wars as field commanders in the service of France , Spain and the Pope ^[19] . A striking example is Count Leonard Fikelmon, a colonel in the service of the King of Spain, Philip V , who died in 1709 in Catalonia during the Spanish Succession War .

After the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria married Franz I , Duke of Lorraine, the Fickelmons became part of the Austrian nobility, serving the Habsburgs . Under the Vienna Peace Treaty, the Duchy of Lorraine became part of France. As members of the higher nobility, the Fickelmons, according to a special royal decree , were allowed to choose whom they would like to serve in the future - France or the Empire .

Only a small part of the family that followed Franz I to the imperial court decided to settle in Austria. The Austrian line was called the Counts of Fikelmon, and by the end of the 18th century they had extensive possessions in the territory of the Austrian Netherlands .

However, most of the family decidedly chose France. Earl Karl Heinrich Fickelmon in 1777 and 1789 introduced all his children to the king of France at Versailles . Such a privilege was granted only to representatives of noble dynasties, which actually meant the entry of Fikelmon in the circle of the French nobility ^[20] . Since that time, they began to live alternately in Versailles and in their personal possessions in the territory of Lorraine, where they occupied a hereditary place in the upper house of the Parliament of Nancy , which was the governing body of French Lorraine. The family had residences in the castles of Dieuze and Parrois , as well as in the Nancy mansion . They patronized St. Stephen's Cathedral and Remyrmons Abbey .

During the French Revolution, the Fickelmons lost many of their possessions, and after the fall of the old regime, some members of the family were beheaded on the guillotine ^[21] .

As a result of the French Revolution, the Fickelmons dispersed throughout Europe, and their clan was divided into three main lines. ^[22]

Austrian Empire

The Austrian line owned a number of estates on the territory of the empire and enjoyed the constant support of the Habsburgs ( Archduke Maria Cristina asked Emperor Leopold II to assist Count Joseph Fickelmon in a letter dated January 30, 1792 ^[23] ).

The most prominent representatives:

• Count Karl Ludwig Fickelmon , born in Dieuze Castle on March 23, 1777. He became one of the most influential Austrian diplomats and statesmen of his time, as well as Metternich's successor as Minister of President of Austria . In 1821, he married Countess Tiesenhausen , granddaughter of Field Marshal Kutuzov . Their only daughter is Elizabeth-Alexandra-Maria-Teresa (November 10 or December 12, 1825, Naples - February 14, 1878, Venice) - the godmother of Empress Elizabeth Alekseevna and Emperor Alexander I. In honor of the imperial couple received the first two names. Maria Theresa was named in honor of the Austrian Empress . The home name is Elizalex. December 15, 1841 in Vienna, married Prince Edmund Klari y Aldringen (1813-1894). In marriage with him, she had three sons and one daughter. Son - Manfred - a major politician in Austria-Hungary . Direct descendants lived in Frankfurt, Hanover and Salzburg .

Netherlands and Belgium

The last descendants of the Austrian family line settled on the territory of modern Belgium ( Austrian Netherlands ) in the period before the French Revolution. They left the country when it was occupied by the French army during the revolutionary wars , but then joined the nobility of the Napoleonic empire . Later, when the First Empire fell and, according to the decisions of the Vienna Congress, the Austrian Netherlands became part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands , the Fickelmons decided to return and become part of the higher nobility of the new kingdom. This line had two branches:

• the first was founded by Count Antoine-Karl Fickelmon (1753–1833), who was allowed to bear the title of Count Fickelmon. The Dutch counts Fickelmon, already dying away, remained loyal to King William I during the Belgian revolution .
• the second line, founded by Florimon Alois Fikelmon (1763-1838), who was allowed to bear the title of Count Fikelmon de Ville, decided to join the Belgian nobility after the events of 1830. The direct male line died out at the beginning of the 20th century.

France

The French branch of Fickelmon is the only one existing at the moment. It originates from those of Count Fickelmon, who decided to stay or return to France, despite the French Revolution and the wars accompanying it. Interestingly, each generation of the family was awarded the Legion of Honor ^[24] . This line includes:

• Countess Clotilde de Vaux (1815-1846), nee Countess Maria Fickelmon;
• Count Maximilian Marie Fickelmon (1819–1891), French mathematician , Officer of the Legion of Honor;
• Count Arman Marie Fickelmon (1909-1998) engineer and French physicist , worked on the concept of heavy water , Officers of the Legion of Honor;
• Count Eric Marie Fickelmon (born 1954), CEO and French businessman , Knight of the Legion of Honor.

Marriages

Fickelmons are connected by bonds of kinship with many representatives of the European nobility, including the Lorraine House , Zalms , Hohenzollern , Liny , Yusupov and many others.

Residences

Fikelmon's palaces are in Vienna , Venice and St. Petersburg . The family castle in the area of ​​Fickelmont, in the Thumereville region ( Lorraine province, France) was burned in 1877. However, many wonderful residences and mansions of Fikelmon remained in France, including the castles of Parrois and Dieuze (they both served as the residence of Fikelmon at the end of the 18th century), Mars-la-Tours, Batlemont , Mustier, Chaumont , Pyuks and wonderful mansions in Nancy , Karlsruhe , Prague and Strasbourg .

Titles

Fickelmons have been known as counts since the 14th century ^[25] , and in the 18th century they were awarded the title of Imperial Counts by Emperor Franz I with the right to appeal to them as “ Radiant ” ( Erlaucht ).

• Baron Fickelmon and Crown Knights of Lorraine (known until 1130);
• Count Fickelmon (1346);
• Count of Mars-la-Tours (1473);
• Baron Moutier (1507);
• Count Chaumont-virgo-Damville (1605);
• Count of Parrois (1709);
• Count Fickelmon and the Imperial Count (1736).
• For Count Antoine-Karl Fickelmon (1753-1833) and his descendants:
  • Count Fickelmon (The title was created in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands on July 16, 1816), faded along the male line in 1909; used as a courtesy title (France and Belgium);
• For Count Florimond Alois Fikelmon (1763-1838) and his descendants:
  • Count Fikelmon de Ville (The title was created in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1822, then became part of the Belgian nobility after the revolution of 1830 ), died away on the male line in 1948; was used as a courtesy title (France and Belgium).

Coat of Arms

Coat of arms of Fikelmonov: gold, with three red wide coal stakes (pickets), decorated with a sable wolf with a raised right front paw ^[26] .

The family motto is “Nul ne m'atteint” (literally, “No one will reach me”), which may mean “No family is nobler than me” or “Nobody can defeat me”.

• Alain Petiot, Au service des Habsburg , 1999.
• Alain Petiot, Les Lorrains et l'Empire , 2005.
• The French Nobility Book: Régis Valette, Catalog de la noblesse française . - P .: Robert Laffont , 2007.
• Jougla de Morénas, Grand armorial de France, n ° 15355.
• Woelmont de Brumagne, Notices généalogiques, 7e série, p. 340.
• Poplimont, La Belgique héraldique: recueil historique, chronologique, généalogique et biographique ... , t. IV. - P. , 1866.