The
Coudenhove family dates back to the
Duchy of Brabant nobleman
Gerolf I de Coudenhove (died 1259). After the religious conflicts of the 16th and 17th centuries, the Catholic family moved southwards to the
Prince-Bishopric of Liège, acquiring the estate of
Fraiture (now in the Belgian
province of Liège) in 1661. By the marriage of Maximilian François de Coudenhove (1700–1742) and baroness Maria Adolphina Reuschenberg, the family also inherited the estate of Setterich (near
Aachen) in the
Duchy of Jülich. Their eldest son George Louis de Coudenhove (1734–1786) married the countess Sophie von Hatzfeldt (1747–1825). She was a close confidante and counsellor of her uncle
Friedrich Karl Joseph von Erthal, archbishop and
prince-elector of Mainz. Sophie provided for her family's social advancement and was awarded the rank of
Imperial Count (Reichsgraf) for herself and her four sons in 1790. The social and political system in Central Europe was in upheaval after the French Revolution. The
Holy Roman Empire was dissolved in 1806, the prominent position of imperial counts was
mediatised and ecclesiastical states like the prince-archbishopric of Mainz were
secularised. The family's previous status was therefore obsolete. During the Napoleonic Wars, three of Sophie's four sons moved to the Austrian Empire, taking up positions in the military, imperial household, Catholic clergy and the
Order of Malta. The eldest son, Carl (1774–1838), sold the acres in Setterich in 1813 and acquired the estate of
Jindice (Inditz) in central Bohemia instead, marking the family's relocation from the
Rhineland to the
Habsburg monarchy. The
Kallergis family is a
Cretan Greek noble family originating from the 11th or 12th century, which claims descent from the
Byzantine Emperor
Nikephoros II Phokas. During the
Venetian rule over Crete, the Kallergis family was one of the most important
Greek Orthodox families on the island.
Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi describes in his book
An idea conquers the world the Kallergis name is composed of the Greek word
kalon (=beautiful) and
ergon (from ergō="work, task, deed, accomplishment, or purpose") [Greek: Καλλ(ι)έργης > Καλλέργης, known in many versions as Kalergis, Calergis, Kallergi, Callergi, Calergi]. Over the centuries, Polish, Norwegian, Baltic, French, and German lineages were absorbed into the Kallergis family. The two families united when, on 27 June 1857 in Paris, Count
Franz Karl von Coudenhove (1825–1893) married
Marie Kalergi (1840–1877), only daughter of Polish pianist
Maria Nesselrode and her husband, Jan Kalergis. The lands thus combined included the
Zamato estate in the
Carinthian mountains, the castle of
Ottensheim in
Upper Austria, and the
Ronsperg () estate and castle in western Bohemia. Franz and Marie had six children, including
Heinrich, the first count to use the double-barrelled name. In 1917 when Heinrich's eldest son, Johannes Evangelist Virgilio Coudenhove-Kalergi, was 24 years old, he asked Emperor
Charles I of Austria to give him the title Coudenhove-Kalergi of Ronspergheim (von Ronspergheim), and the Emperor granted this request. == Family members ==