Detlev Schwennicke:
Europäische Stammtafeln

In 1935, Wilhelm Karl Prinz von Isenburg published the first volume of Europäische Stammtafeln titled Die deutschen Staaten (the German states). One year later, a second volume: Die außerdeutschen Staaten (the non-German states) followed. Encouraged by the enormous interest in this work, clearly presented in genealogical trees, Frank Baron Freytag von Loringhoven put together two more volumes on the families of the German and Austro-Hungarian high nobility in 1955 and 1957. In 1977, two further volumes were found in his estate: A revised volume I and a new volume V, continuing in form and content volumes III and IV. At the request of J.A. Stargardt publ., Detlev Schwennicke edited these posthumous volumes in 1978 and 1980.

In 1977, in reply to the growing interest of both professional historians and amateur genealogists, Detlev Schwennicke developed a new direction that subsequently took shape in the volumes of the Europäische Stammtafeln Neue Folge (new series). He aimed at integrating publications of official documents of the past 250 years as well as historical and genealogical publications in book and periodical form into the family trees and at drawing, as much as possible, on archival material. These efforts correspond to a broader, European horizon: from Emperor Lothar I's middle empire to the Regnum Francorum and its ruling classes, the Anglo-Norman families as well as the dynasties of the crusaders, of Byzantium and, under its influence, of the Balkans with their confusing sequence of persons and families, hard to penetrate in the Middle Ages as well as in the present. Burgundy was the culmination at the end of the Middle Ages, the Carolingian Empire at its beginning. What was left was the Holy Roman Empire with the families that shaped it and with it Europe: The principal dukedoms of the high and late Middle Ages, the territories developing from them with their reigning families, and their transition to the German Confederacy. Bavaria, Swabia, and Frankonia, the German South and West are published, Saxony and Thuringia are to follow. Like the borders to the West, the critical zones of the East, too, are highly fascinating. The author will turn to them during the next years: Brandenburg-Prussia and the imperial royal double monarchy. Here, the picture of the families and of the politically and culturally dominating classes changes. Since new insights into historical knowledge continually come to light, some of the earlier volumes of this standard work will be published in considerably revised form within the next years.

The Europäische Stammtafeln Neue Folge are presented in tabular form and thus offer easy access für users interested in the genealogical history of Europe or who seek to trace the history of specific noble lines but do not have a reading knowledge of German. In addition to this tabular format, each volume of this series offers a complete index for each volume as well as a general index which encompasses all of the volumes published to date.

In October 1997, Vittorio Klostermann publ., Frankfurt am Main, took over the publication of the work. Earlier volumes that are still in print can be ordered here, too.

For free online access to the general index of Europäische Stammtafeln Neue Folge, please click here.