page_title: Merveldt family
section_title: Development
hierarchical_section_title: Merveldt family / History / Development
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Schloss Westerwinkel, Münsterland English: Westerwinkel Castle, Münsterland
context_page_description: Merveldt is the name of a Westphalian noble family, which belongs to the nobility of the Middle Ages. The Herrn [Lords] von Merveldt were among the oldest families in the Münsterland. Merfeld, the eponymous seat of the family, is now a neighborhood of the city of Dülmen in the District of Coesfeld in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany.
context_section_description: The grandson of the progenitor Hermann founded three lines. The first of them was derived from Johannes, the Ritter [knight] and Schenk [butler] of the Bishop of Münster and who later called himself only Schenk, and was established until 1400 in Dülmen. Hermann, the Burgmann of Stromberg, the second line, which became extinct in 1691 (based on the eponymous family seat, Merfeld). The third and still flourishing line began with Heinrich, the knight and, like his brother, Burgmann of Stromberg (later a resident at Schloss Westerwinkel). A branch of this line was later also established in Courland (now western Latvia).
  Numerous members of the family remained in the service of the Prince-Bishops of Münster and were canons in the Münster Cathedral. Later, they also appeared in the cathedral chapters of Hildesheim, Osnabrück and Paderborn. In St. Mauritz (now in the east side of Münster) and Xanten they were canons. Female members of the family performed as canonesses in Kanonissenstift (secular nunnery) Überwasser in Münster, Borghorst and the St. Boniface Frauenstift (secular nunnery) in Freckenhorst.
  Bishop Heidenreich of Münster granted Marshal Heinrich von Merveldt in 1389 the manor of Wolbeck (now in the southeastern part of Münster). There, the Herrn von Merveldt held the office of Drosten (bailiffs) until the Secularization. The goal of an independent Imperial estate was not achieved because of the disputes within the family and of the encroachments of the episcopal lords. With his efforts as the moderator, Hermann von Merveldt Hermann participated in the completion of the Treaty of Kranenburg (23 October 1457) to end the Münster Bishops Feud (1450-1457). During the Anabaptist Rebellion (1534–1535) in Münster, the Herrn von Merveldt went to the side of the Prince-Bishop of Münster. Dietrich von Merveldt (died 1564), Drost of Wolbeck, undertook in 1532 an unsuccessful attempt to restore the order of a levy on the farmers in the city.
  While the Westerwinkel Line therefore always stayed in contact with the sovereign of the Prince-Bishopric, the Merfeld Line looked in late 16th and early 17th Centuries to defend its domains against all sovereign influences.  Claiming its own jurisdiction, including the place of execution and the development of a Reformed church system in Merfeld was for Adolf III von Merveldt (1546–1604) and Johann Adolf von Merveldt (1580–1619) the appropriate tools for the defense of their local domination. The religious opposition against the Prince-Bishop - typical of many families of the Westphalian nobility at this time - after the Thirty Years' War and the inheritance of the House of Merfeld by the Herrn von Merode (1693) cost the family its importance, but the jurisdiction claimed by the House of Merfeld was kept for it until the end of the Prince-Bishopric (1803).
  From the Westerwinkel Line was Dietrich Hermann von Merveldt (1598–1658) the Lord Chamberlain of the Electorate of Cologne and minister at the Imperial Diets of Regensburg. Beginning with his son Dietrich Hermann II von Merveldt (1624–1688), all the hereditary heads of the family were (Obrist-)Hofmarschälle [(Colonel-) Court Marshals], members of the (Secret) Councils and Drosten of Wolbeck, all for the Prince-Bishops of Münster. Maximilian Friedrich von Merveldt (1764–1815), Austrian Feldmarschall-Leutnant [Lieutenant Field Marshal] and regimental commander, participated in the 1813 Battle of Leipzig and later became an ambassador in London.
caption: Schloss Westerwinkel [de], built in the second half of the 17th Century, one of the earliest Baroque castles in Westphalia
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