The House of Plettenberg is a Westphalia

Westphalia

Westphalia is a region in Germany, centred on the cities of Arnsberg, Bielefeld, Dortmund, Minden and Münster.Westphalia is roughly the region between the rivers Rhine and Weser, located north and south of the Ruhr River. No exact definition of borders can be given, because the name "Westphalia"...

n noble family of the Uradel

Uradel

The German and Scandinavian term Uradel refers to nobility who can trace back their noble ancestry at least to the year 1400 and probably originates from leadership positions during the Migration Period.-Divisions of German nobility:Uradel : Nobility that originates from leadership positions held...

. It dates back at least to 1187, when Heidolphus de Plettenbrath was mentioned in a document by Philip I (Archbishop of Cologne). Two branches of the family still exist today: the Counts of Plettenberg-Schwarzenberg (Protestant) and the Counts of Plettenberg-Lenhausen (Roman Catholic).

Notable members

• Wolter von Plettenberg
  Wolter von Plettenberg
  Wolter von Plettenberg was the Master of the Livonian Order from 1494 to 1535 and one of the greatest leaders of the Teutonic knights. He was an important early Baltic German....
  
   (around 1450–1535), Master of the Livonian Order
• Friedrich Christian von Plettenberg (1644–1706), Prince-Bishop of Münster
• Ferdinand von Plettenberg (1690–1737), Prime Minister of Archbishop-Elector Clemens August of Bavaria
  Clemens August of Bavaria
  Clemens August of Bavaria was a member of the Wittelsbach dynasty of Bavaria and Archbishop-Elector of Cologne.-Biography:...
  
  
• Joachim van Plettenberg (1739–1793), Governor of the Cape of Good Hope and founder of Plettenberg Bay
  Plettenberg Bay
  Plettenberg Bay, nicknamed Plet or Plett, is the primary town of the Bitou Local Municipality in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. As of the census of 2001, there were 29149 population...
  
  
• Karl von Plettenberg (1852–1938), General of the Infantry
  General of the Infantry (Germany)
  General of the Infantry is a rank of general in the Imperial Army, Reichswehr or Wehrmacht - the second-highest regular rank. The same rank spread to the Imperial Russian Army and the Defence forces of Finland between the world wars...
  
  , Commandant-General
  Commandant-General
  Commandant-General is a rank in several counties and is generally equivalent to that of Commandant.-Italy:Comandante generale , in Fascist Italy's MVSN, was the title of the head of the Blackshirts, held by Benito Mussolini from 1922 to 1943.Nowadays, is the title held by the commander of the...
  
   of the Guards Corps and Adjutant General
  Adjutant general
  An Adjutant General is a military chief administrative officer.-Imperial Russia:In Imperial Russia, the General-Adjutant was a Court officer, who was usually an army general. He served as a personal aide to the Tsar and hence was a member of the H. I. M. Retinue...
  
   of the German Kaiser
  Kaiser
  Kaiser is the German title meaning "Emperor", with Kaiserin being the female equivalent, "Empress". Like the Russian Czar it is directly derived from the Latin Emperors' title of Caesar, which in turn is derived from the personal name of a branch of the gens Julia, to which Gaius Julius Caesar,...
  
  
• Kurt von Plettenberg (1891–1945), plenipotentiary of the House of Hohenzollern
  House of Hohenzollern
  The House of Hohenzollern is a noble family and royal dynasty of electors, kings and emperors of Prussia, Germany and Romania. It originated in the area around the town of Hechingen in Swabia during the 11th century. They took their name from their ancestral home, the Burg Hohenzollern castle near...
  
   (the royal house of Prussia), one of the inner circle of the July 20th plot against Hitler