Coudenhove-Kalergi is a noble

Nobility

Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...

 Bohemia

Bohemia

Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...

n family of mixed European descent formed when Franz Karl Coudenhove (1825-1893) married Maria Kalergi (1840-1877)

Marie Kalergi (1840-1877)

Marie Kalergi was a Polish noblewoman. She was the daughter of Jan Kalergi and the pianist Marie Nesselrode, founding the Coudenhove-Kalergi family. On 27 June 1857, she married Franz Karl Coudenhove in Paris...

. The Coudenhoves had been Reichsgrafs

Graf

Graf is a historical German noble title equal in rank to a count or a British earl...

 since 1790 and rose to great estate in The Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 and Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

. After the upheaval of the French Revolution

French Revolution

The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

 they followed their dukes

Duke

A duke or duchess is a member of the nobility, historically of highest rank below the monarch, and historically controlling a duchy...

 from the Low Countries

Low Countries

The Low Countries are the historical lands around the low-lying delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers, including the modern countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and parts of northern France and western Germany....

 into Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

. Maria's family had a great name in Grecian Crete

Crete

Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...

.

History

The Coudenhove family dates back to the Duchy of Brabant

Duchy of Brabant

The Duchy of Brabant was a historical region in the Low Countries. Its territory consisted essentially of the three modern-day Belgian provinces of Flemish Brabant, Walloon Brabant and Antwerp, the Brussels-Capital Region and most of the present-day Dutch province of North Brabant.The Flag of...

 nobleman and crusader Gerolf I de Coudenhove (died 1259) and, after it fought beside the Habsburg

Habsburg

The House of Habsburg , also found as Hapsburg, and also known as House of Austria is one of the most important royal houses of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian Empire and...

s in the Dutch Revolt

Dutch Revolt

The Dutch Revolt or the Revolt of the Netherlands This article adopts 1568 as the starting date of the war, as this was the year of the first battles between armies. However, since there is a long period of Protestant vs...

, it moved to Flanders

Flanders

Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...

 before the Habsburgs and Coudenhoves were both driven to Austria by that war.

The Kalergis were descended from Nikophor Phokas

Nikephoros Phokas the Elder

Nikephoros Phokas the Elder was one of the great generals in the service of the Eastern Roman Emperor Basil I.Descended from the Phokas family, one of the large land-holding families of Anatolia, Nikephoros Phokas rose to the positions of patrikios and domestikos ton scholon. He succeeded in...

 (from the Byzantine Empire) and were at one stage rulers of Crete

Crete

Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...

. They created their surname of Kalergis (later changed to Kalergi) in the 13th century, from kalon (beautiful) and ergon (action).

The two families united when, on 27 June, 1857 in Paris, Count Franz Coudenhove married Marie Kalergi, only daughter of Polish pianist Marie Nesselrode and her husband Johann or Jan Kalergi. The lands thus combined included the Zamato estate in the Carinthian mountains

Duchy of Carinthia

The Duchy of Carinthia was a duchy located in southern Austria and parts of northern Slovenia. It was separated from the Duchy of Bavaria in 976, then the first newly created Imperial State beside the original German stem duchies....

, the castle of Ottensheim

Ottensheim

Ottensheim is a municipality in the district of Urfahr-Umgebung in Upper Austria, Austria. In July 2008 it hosted the World Rowing Championships.- History :...

 and the Ronsperg estate and castle. Franz and Marie's daughter had 6 children, including Heinrich

Heinrich von Coudenhove-Kalergi

Heinrich Johann Maria von Coudenhove-Kalergi , also known as Heinrich Coudenhove-Kalergi and until 1903 Graf von Coudenhove, was an Austrian traveller and diplomat of the Coudenhove-Kalergi family. He was born in Vienna and died in Poběžovice...

, the first graf to use the double-barrelled name.

Family members

• Gerolf Coudenhove-Kalergi / Count Gerolf von Coudenhove-Kalergi
  • Barbara Coudenhove-Kalergi
    Barbara Coudenhove-Kalergi
    Barbara Coudenhove-Kalergi is a Czech-Austrian journalist. A member of the Coudenhove-Kalergi family, she is the daughter of Gerolf von Coudenhove-Kalergi and thus the niece of Count Richard Nikolaus von Coudenhove-Kalergi. She was awarded the Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, Class IV, in 2001.-...
    
     (* 1932), Czech-Austrian journalist, Gerold's daughter
• Count Heinrich von Coudenhove-Kalergi, who married Mitsuko Aoyama and had:
  • Count Richard Nikolaus von Coudenhove-Kalergi (1894–1972), Austrian writer, politician and founder of the International Paneuropean Union
    International Paneuropean Union
    The International Paneuropean Union claims to be the oldest European unification movement and is also referred to as the Paneuropean Movement and the Pan-Europa Movement...
    
    
  • Ida Friederike Görres
    Ida Friederike Görres
    Ida Friederike Görres , born Elisabeth Friederike, Reichsgräfin Coudenhove-Kalergi was a Czech-Austrian writer...
    
    , sixth child of Heinrich, Reichsgräfin of Coudenhove-Kalergi
• Max von Coudenhove (1865–1928), Austrian diplomat
• Maximilian von Coudenhove (1805−1889), Austrian feldmarschallleutnant
• Michael Coudenhove-Kalergi, painter