Frydag


Frydag family is a noble German family, known since the beginning of the 14th century, and who originated from the Uradel of Westphalia and were first documented between 1198 and 1217 with the person of Wecelo Vriedach. At the end of the 13th century, Westphalian aristocrats, among them also members of the Frydags, moved to Prussia and Livonia to fight with and in the Teutonic Order for the spread of Christianity. By marrying in 1574 with the heiress of the Gödens Castle in East Frisia, the Frydag's gained great prestige and wealth. Since 1644 some family lines have been using the title Baron and since 1692 other lines have been using the title Count.
The Freytag family has played an important role in German history, especially in the form of high-ranking knights of the Livonian Confederation, but also in the person of the supplier of the bomb to assisinate Hitlier as part of the 20 July plot, Wessel Freytag von Loringhoven. In addition, the general Hugo von Freytag-Loringhoven is cited more frequently as a military writer on questions of the Worlar. The same applies to the lawyer Axel Baron von Freytagh-Loringhoven in the Weimar Republic.

Name Forms

The spelling of the different branches of the Freiherr family diverges:
Additional name additions were:
Furthermore, the following spellings were used as well: Vriedach, Fridagh, Frydag, Freydag, Frejdag.
The Baltic born members of the family lead as part of the name the former predicate "Baron", provided that no substitution was made by "Freiherr".

History

Westphalia

In the 1199, the first instance of the name Wecelo Vriedach is found in a document from the library of Count Gottfried of Arnsberg and again 1217 as mentioned as witness in a document belonging to the Otto I of Oldenburg, Bishop of Münster. In the first half of the 13th century, the family is found as the Ministralen of the bishops of Münster and Bishopric of Minden, in the second half they are with the Archbishop of Cologne and in the pens of the abbeys of Essen and abbeys of Herford.
In 1326, a Goswin of Datteln called Fridag, was sealed with the Heraldric Coat of arms, consisting of Three Rings Crest. To the other first tangible carriers of this name, Johann von der Berswordt in his Westphalian family tree leads from 1624 belong to Theodericus Frydag, meles et castelanus in Recklinghausen, who witnessed in 1366 in a document of the monastery of Oelinghausen and Konrad Frydag 1316 his house and farm sold in Dortmund to the Dominicans to build a monastery. It is believed that the abbot Meinerus Frydag to Deutz, who died in 1330, was a brother of the above. Probably Hermann Frydag was a son or grandson of Konrad Frydag who stood in court of Count Engelbert II of the Mark in his feuds and as a witness often confirmed the documents issued by Count Engelbert in 1370. An Eberhard von Frydag was from 1385 to 1390 the 21st abbot of the former monastery of Cappenberg Castle. Arnold and Golfried Frydag signed the union of the Margrave nobility on the Laurentiustage 1419. In 1421 the uninterrupted genealogy of the Frydag family begins, when Eberhard Frydag acquired the estate of Loringhoven near Recklinghausen, and assumed the name of the estate as his surname. His descendants still bear the name Freytag von Loringhoven. This Eberhard also possessed estates in the Duchy of Jülich, which he received from the Palatinate Counts.
House Buddenburg was from the 14th century to 1902 owned by the line Frydag to Buddenburg, with the name becoming extinct in 1908, which also had Loxten in the 17th century. House Grevel came into possession of the family in 1350, the local line went out 1546. House Wischlingen came in the second half of the 14th century two daughters in equal parts to the families of Frydag and Ovelacker; the Frydag part came over the family of Plettenberg in 1511 to that of Syberg. Godert and Arnt Frydag married the heirs Aleke and Belke von Husen and thus came into the possession of the Niederhofes and the Oberhofes in Husen in Syburg, today Castle Husen and House Husen, that remained in possession until 1655.
In 1421, Diederich Frydag van den Husen acquired the house Schörlingen and in acquired the house Löringhof south of Datteln, which until the 17th and 18th Century remained in the possession of the family, but which was later demolished in 1961. Around 1450, two brothers of the family, went to the Baltics, this seat being named for the Baltic branches. From 1550 to 1719 Sandfort Castle was owned by the family. A line sat on Hockerde, Pentling and Drenhusen. In 1574, the East Frisian Gödens came to the family as a marriage estate, which built a Baroque palace there, Schloss Gödens which was passed on to its present owner, Count Wedel, in 1746. Georg Wilhelm Freiherr von Frydag from Gödens inherited the estate Daren in 1742 from his first wife Sophia Johanna von Schade and who built a new mansion there in 1752. Of all Westphalian branches flourishes until today only the line of barons of Frydag on Daren. Since 1907, the brickyard Olfry in Vechta, founded by August Freiherr von Frydag on Daren, has been family-owned.

German Order

In 1445, Johann Frydag zu Talberg was one of the knights who assisted with Dietrich II von Moers Archbishop of Cologne in the Soest Feud. The archbishop was captured by some of his knights, including Johann Frydag. They had to buy their freedom with 32,000 gold florins. But this did not bow Dietrich and in the following year of 1446 he sent with several others from the nobility to the Duke Reinold von Geldern a feudal letter.
The brothers Andreas Frydag and Johann Frydag from Löringhoff moved to Prussia in the middle of the 15th century to assist the Teutonic Order in its wars against Poland. The latter entered the German Order of Knights. His courage and valour combined with spiritual gifts earned him the post of army commander of the Livonian Order, whom he practiced for 37 years. In 1489 he appointed Wolter von Plettenberg Country Marshall. In 1491, he was able to end the 200-year civil war in Terra Mariana, so that until 1561 a time of cultural prosperity could exist. His brother Andreas became a merchant and a father. The third brother Melchior is the common progenitor of the line in Prussia in the provinces of the Mark and Münster.
The existence of German-Baltic and German-Baltic branches of the family that existed for many centuries, i.e., in the original home of settled lines and the descendants of mostly younger sons, who had already emigrated to the Order in the Middle Ages and settled there, is also recorded in other noble families, the Vietinghoff, the Korff, the Wenge/Lambsdorff, the Grotthuß/Grothaus or the Waldburg-Capustigall families.

East Frisian line to Gödens

With the brothers Franz and Bertold, the family divided in the middle of the 16th century in the East Frisian and Westphalian line.
Franz Frydag married Almuth von Olden-Bockum, Almuth Boing and heiress of Gödens's daughter. So the family received the glorious Gödens and Uiterstewehr castles in East Frisia in 1574. He was a founder of several lines, of which one was raised soon after in baronial and Ducal status, but ceased in 1746.
Franz held the position of a court judge in Aurich, after he had received the approval for the establishment of a Court of Justice by Count Johan II of East Frisia. When he died, he left behind a daughter Margaret, who was married and had four sons, of whom the oldest Oldenbockum was the family name of his mother as a baptismal name John on the mountains to Rephorst. He lost his life during the Siege of Rees. Other sons were Haro and Melchior Ernst, who shared the glories of the Gödens and Uiterstewehr lines and thus were heirs too two further family lines.
The root coat of arms shows in blue three silver rings. On the helmet with blue-silver blankets is a bilateral open signposted flight.

Bearers of the family name