Frydag

Westphalia

In 1199, the first instance of the name Wecelo Vriedach was found in a document in the library of Count Gottfried of Arnsberg. In 1217, the same person is again mentioned as a witness in a document belonging to the Otto I of Oldenburg, Bishop of Münster. In the first half of the 13th century, the family worked as ministeriales for the bishops of Münster and Bishopric of Minden. In the second half, they were with the Archbishop of Cologne and in the abbeys of Essen and abbeys of Herford.

In 1326, in Datteln, a "Godwin Fridag" used a seal with a heraldric coat of arms, consisting of a three ringed crest. Among the other first identifiable carriers of this name, listed by Johann von der Berswordt in the Westphalian family tree in 1624, there are Theodericus Frydag, meles et castelanus at Recklinghausen, a witness in a 1366 document stored at the monastery of Oelinghausen, and Konrad Frydag who, in 1316, sold his house and farm in Dortmund to the Dominicans to build a monastery. It is believed that the abbot Meinerus Frydag zu Deutz, who died in 1330, was Konrad's brother. Hermann Frydag, who was probably a son or grandson of Konrad Frydag, accompanied Count Engelbert II of the Mark on his campaigns, and often acted as a witness to 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 Unification of the County of Mark on St Laurent's Day, 1419. In 1421, the uninterrupted genealogy of the Frydag family began, 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. Eberhard also possessed estates in the Duchy of Jülich, which he received from the Counts Palatine.

Buddenburg House was owned, from the 14th century to 1902, by the Frydag zu Buddenburg line, who also owned Loxten in the 17th century, but the line went extinct in 1908. Grevel House came into the family's possession in 1350, and the local line went extinct in 1546. In the second half of the 14th century, Wischlingen House passed, in equal shares, to the families of Frydag and Ovelacker, via two heiresses. The Frydag part passed to the Syberg family in 1511, via the Plettenberg family. Godert and Arnt Frydag married the heiresses, Aleke and Belke von Husen, and thus came into the possession of Niederhofes and Oberhofes in Husen in Syburg, today Castle Husen and Husen House, which remained in their possession until 1655.

In 1421, Diederich Frydag van den Husen acquired Schörlingen House and Löringhof House, south of Datteln, which, until the 17th and 18th centuries, remained in the possession of the family, but were demolished in 1961. Around 1450, two brothers of the family went to the Baltics, and their seat gave their name to the Baltic branches (see below, German Order). From 1550 to 1719, Sandfort Castle [de] in Olfen was owned by the family. One branch resided in Hockerde, Pentling and Drenhusen, near Syburg. In 1574, the East Frisian village of Gödens came to the family as a dowry, and they built a Baroque palace there, Gödens Castle which was passed on to its present owner, Count Wedel, in 1746 (see below, Ostfriesische line). Georg Wilhelm Freiherr von Frydag, from Gödens, inherited Daren House from his first wife Sophia Johanna von Schade in 1742 and built a new mansion there in 1752. Of all the Westphalian branches, only Freiherr von Frydag, in Daren, flourishes today. Since 1907, the Olfry brickyard in Vechta, founded by August Freiherr von Frydag of Daren, has been family-owned.

German Order

In 1445, Johann Frydag zu Talberg was one of the knights who assisted Dietrich II. von Moers [de], Archbishop of Cologne, in the Soest Feud. The archbishop and some of his knights, including Johann Frydag, were taken prisoner during the campaign. To gain their release, they bought their freedom with 32,000 gold florins. This did not deter Dietrich from further battle as, in 1446, he and several other nobles sent a feudal letter of dispute to Duke Reinold von Geldern.

The brothers Andreas Frydag and Johann Frydag moved to Prussia from Löringhoff in the middle of the 15th century, to assist the Teutonic Order in its wars against the Poles. Johann Frydag joined the Teutonic Order. His courage and valour, combined with his intellect, earned him the post of army commander of the Livonian Order, a position he held for 37 years. After appointing Wolter von Plettenberg as Country Marshall (German: Landmeister) in 1489, he was able, in 1491, to end the 200-year civil war in Terra Mariana. This resulted in a period of cultural prosperity and peace that existed until 1561. His brother, Andreas, became a merchant and a father. The third brother, Melchior (b. 1466) is the common progenitor of the line in Prussia in the provinces of Mark and Münster.

The simultaneous existence of German and German-Baltic branches of the family that existed for many centuries - that is, the original line that remained in the homeland and the descendants of mostly younger sons, who had already emigrated to the State of the Teutonic Order and settled there - can also be seen in other noble families, such as the Vietinghoff, the Korff, the Wenge/Lambsdorff, the Grotthus/Grothaus and the Waldburg-Capustigall families.

East Frisian line to Gödens

With the brothers Franz and Bertold, the family was divided, in the middle of the 16th century, into the East Frisian and Westphalian lines.

Franz Frydag (1555-1606) married Almuth von Olden-Bockum, Almuth Boing's daughter and heiress of the Lordship of Gödens (now Sande). The family thus received Gödens and Uiterstewehr castles in East Frisia in 1574. He was a founder of several lines, one of which was raised soon after to baronial and count status, but went extinct in 1746.

Franz held the position of 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 (1590). When he died, he left behind a daughter Margaret, who was married and had four sons, the oldest of whom, Oldenbockum, used his mother's surname as his baptismal name, a practice that was frequent in northern Germany. He died during the Siege of Rees (1602). His other sons were Haro (1578-1637) and Melchior Ernst (1579-1641), who shared the lordship of the Gödens and Uiterstewehr lines and thus were the originators of two further family lines.

Melchior Ernst (1579-1641) distinguished himself in the Dutch–Portuguese War and married Beate Sophia von Boineburg of the house of Hohnstein Castle. His great-granddaughter, Hendrina, was married to the East Frisian administrator of the Principality of Nassau-Siegen, Nicolaus Moritz Frese zu Hinte and thus was heir to Uiterstewehr manor. This branch of the family became extinct in 1748.

Haro Ernst (1578-1637) was chief of Gödens and Drost (Bailiff) of Leer and was sent, in 1624, to the imperial court in Vienna by the Lower Saxony Kreisständen to lodge a complaint about the invasion of the Catholic League troops under Field Marshal Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly and the war contributions he had imposed. Haro had a total of three sons and four daughters by two women, Katharina Freiin von Innhausen and Knyphause and Elisabeth von Haaren, including:

• Herbert, who died in unmarried in 1642 and was Drost to Emden.
• Johann Wilhelm, who married Johanna von Diepenbrock and became the founder of a line in Westphalia.
• Franz Hyko (born 9 January 1606), who lead the main family line as chief of Gödens. He inherited his father's job as Drost to Leer and converted back to Catholicism in 1639, after marrying Elisabeth von Westerholt, heiress of Castle Hackfort. He was promoted on 3 February, 1644, to Imperial Baron by Emperor Ferdinand II. Franz Hyko had several children:
  • Hedwig Orianna (1648-1694), who was the wife of Dodo von Knyphausen, lord of Lütetsburg.
  • Johanna, who was the wife of Count Jan von Beuren.
  • Haro Burchhard (1640-1692), who, along with his brother Franz Heinrich, devoted himself to the legal sciences at German, Dutch and French academies. According to the custom of the time, the two went on the Grand Tour of Europe. On his return, he was appointed chamberlain by Emperor Leopold I. Because of his knowledge, he received the post of Reichshofrat in Vienna and died unmarried in Hamburg as an imperial representative in the Lower Saxony circle. In 1671, he had Gödens Water Castle built in its current form.
  • Karl Philipp (1644-1698), who entered the Order of Malta. After serving in the Imperial Service against the Turks in Hungary, as well as some campaigns on the Mediterranean against the Barbarians, he became Grand Prior in Hungary and died in Valletta in 1698, while he was preparing a new campaign against Tunis.
  • Hico Wilhelm (1645-1711) and Johann Ernst (1649-1703), who chose the clerical profession and entered the Jesuit order. The former died as an excellent pulpit speaker in Mastricht and the latter as rector of the Jesuit College in Halle Brabant.
  • Franz Heinrich (1643-1694), who married Sophia Elisabeth von Aldenburg, the daughter of Count Anton von Aldenburg and his wife Auguste Gräfin zu Sayn-Wittgenstein. He followed the career of his older brother, Haro. He was appointed imperial chamberlain, then Reichshofrat and then, in 1656, ambassador to the court of the principality of the Margraviate of Brandenburg in Berlin. After the death of his brother, Franz inherited his place in the Lower Saxony circle. He and his brothers were promoted by Emperor Leopold, on 2 January, 1692, to the rank of Imperial Count. He had two sons and a daughter:
    • Franz Wilhelm (1686-1722), who entered the Royal Saxon Army. He died a lieutenant colonel in the Garde du Corps during a stay in Vienna in 1722.
    • Burkard Philipp (1685-1746), who followed the diplomatic career of his father and uncle. After returning from universities and travels, he entered the circle of Imperial Chamberlains and Privy Councilors and was accepted by Emperor Charles VI. As an envoy to the Nordic courts in Stockholm and Copenhagen, he developed his diplomatic skills. He kept his position until his death in Copenhagen, where he died in 1746 at the age of 61 years. He was married to Countess Edela Augusta Bielke, the daughter of the royal Danish Major General Count Christoph Bielke (1654-1704). His wife brought the fiefdoms of Lopkeld, Oberaha and Nederowe into the family. His son died shortly after birth. This extinguished the direct line.
    • Maria Juliane (1684-1727), who married the royal Danish general Erhard Friedrich von Wedel-Jarlsberg (1668-1740). Their son, Anton Franz von Wedel (1707-1788), inherited Göden, which has since been in the possession of the Counts of Wedel.