von Hahn    History of the von Hahns in the Baltics  

Coat of Arms: Striding red rooster (Hahn)  on a silver shield
Motto: " primus deum laudat"   (the first to praise God)

Origin and Early History: Genealogical handbooks give the origin of the Hahn's as Mecklenburg in Northern Germany.  The first time the family name appears on a document is in 1230 when Egkehardus Hane witnesses an agreement between Prince Johann of Mecklenburg and Count Gunzelin of Schwerin.  The name of this Hane (Hahn) appears in a number of documents in a Latin version: Eccehardus Gallus.  One document dated 1237 IX 6 refers to him as a Knight.

    The origin of the Hahns is somewhat debatable.  Some claim Konrad Hane from Westphalia accompanied Henry the Lion in 1150 on his campaign against the Obotrites and settled in Mecklenburg.  Others believe the Hahns are descendants of Obotrite (a Slavic tribe) nobles, who kept their lands and positions and became Germanized.

    Nikolous I, a knight who died in 1297 is given as the son of Egkehardus Hane.  He had a number of sons, of which Nikolous II, knight, established the Line Basedow in Mecklenburg.  Not proven at this time is the claim another son, Heinrich, accompanied Prince Henry of Mecklenburg (Henry the Pilgrim) on his crusade to Livonia, where he acquired lands in Ehstland (Estonia), at the time owned by the Kings of Denmark.

First Hahns in the Baltics:  

  In 1318 King Erik Manved of Denmark bequeathed to Johann Hane lands, which were possibly the lands acquired by his father Heinrich, "for knightly and praise worthy deeds".  More prominent at that time was Johann's brother Reimar Hane, who after serving the Teutonic Order as Komthur of the castles at Goldingen, Weissenstein and Wenden, the most important castles in Courland (Kurland), Estonia  (Estland) and Livonia (Livland), was Master of the Order in Livonia from 1324 to 1328.  He signed treaties with the Russians and some feuding bishops.

    In 1347 King Waldemar of Denmark sold Estland to the Teutonic Order.  A Nikolous Hane signed as recipient of a partial payment for the King.  After a gap of nearly two generations, the name Nikolaus Hane, rector parochialis at Wenden, appears again 1392 II 19 as a witness on a document.  He is also mentioned in a letter from the Master of the Order to the Promoter of the Order in Rome.  The above document is also signed by a Goswin Hane.  A Heinrich Hahn, vassal of the Diocese of Reval, witnesses 1415 XII 14 the transcript of two papal bulletins.  Other Hahn signatures appear on documents in 1425, 1435 and 1459.

The Hahns in Kurland:

    In 1476 Master of the Order, Berndt von der Borch, bequeathed to Heinrich Hahn and all his heirs the estate and lands Postenden in the district of Talsen which until 1939 remained continuously in Hahn hands.  The longest uninterrupted ownership of any lands in Kurland by the same family.  Beginning with this Heinrich the family flourished in Kurland.  His son Juergen carried on the Postenden line of the Hahns and grandsons of his son Friederich established the Litauische Linie (Heinrich) and the Haus Memelhof (Hermann).  Some Hahns lived and had property in Livland, Estland and Oesel, but by the end of the 16th century, not having male descendants, these branches died
out.
 .

Political developments in Kurland:

     By 1561 the reign of the Teutonic Order in Livland (Livonia) came to an end.  To avoid being annexed by the ever increasing Russian power, the vassals and towns in Estland subjugated themselves to the King of Sweden, while Livland and Kurland put themselves under the protectorate of the King of Poland.  The last Grand Master of the Order in Livonia, Gotthard Kettler, accepted the duties of liege to the King of Poland, and in return was created Duke of Kurland.  He also renounced his vows of celibacy and obedience to the Church, married and founded a family on the large ducal domains.  While juridically a suzerainty of Poland the internal administration of Kurland remained autonomous with a Duke and a House of Nobles, the later wielding the final power of decisions under the Duke.  The so called "Privilegium Sigismundi Augusti" granted them the Lutheran religion and German language and law.  To exclude "newcomers" from acquiring administrative positions of importance the nobility created a Ritterbank (Bench of heraldic proof) to which families had to submit their credentials.  The genealogists of the Ritterbank  then decreed as to the category to which family belonged, based on ancientness of origin and pedigree.  In 1620 the first findings were published, with the Hahns and families like Fircks and Grotthuss appearing in the first list.  More recent families were entered in a second or third list.

    The Nordic war between the Swedes under Charles XII and the Russians under Peter the Great ended with a battle at Poltawa 1706 and Peter's victory, after which Russia occupied Estland and Livland.  After the third partition of Poland between Russia, Austria and Prussia, the writing was on the wall and the Landtag of Kurland decided on March 17, 1795 to acknowledge the Russian sovereign as their liege lord.  On the same day Duke Peter Biron, the last Duke of Kurland, abdicated and went into exile.  Philipp George Friedrich von Hahn was a member of the delegation from Kurland received by Katharina II.  She granted the Kurlanders free religion and their previous rights and privileges.  

    An ukase of the Russian Senate in 1862 recognized that 71 families from Kurland (including the Hahns) had the right to use the title Baron.  World War I brought the end of the Russian monarchy, revolution and independence to the new states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.  When the Bolsheviks tried in 1919 to reoccupy the Baltic states many Kurlaenders, amongst them at least 15 Hahns, fought in the Baltische Landeswehr for their home land.  Two of the Hahns died in battle.  By 1920 the Reds had been driven from Latvia.  The new Latvian government, politically motivated to satisfy their people, expropriated all the estates, land and inventory,  without compensation, leaving the previous owners each 50 hectares of land.  In 1912 the Hahns had owned 33 estates, 10 of which were fiduciary estates, 74,514 ha in total.  Some Hahn's left Latvia, other struggled on until the German-Russian pact in the fall of 1939 gave the Baltic states and most of Poland to Russia.  Part of the agreement was that ethnic Germans could leave the Baltics.  Most did, thus ending over 700 years of history in a land they had shaped and which had shaped them.  The Hahns returned to Germany, some to not survive the war. 

   
Prominent Hahns:

    In Kurland it was accepted by the members of the nobility that it was an honour and duty to take on the various administrative and judicial positions to govern the country.  The Hahns were no exception, though the Genealogical Handbook of the Kurlaendische Ritterschaft states that they considered to take care of their lands and inhabitants their main task.  The Hahns supplied 1 Landmarschall, 2 Oberhauptmann, 5 Hauptmann, 1 Landesbevollmaechtigte, 3 Stellv. Landesbevollmaechtigte, 6 Residierende Kreimarschall and 13 Kreismarschall.  

    Two brother from Postenden Theodor and Paul deserve special recognition.  Theodor was born in 1788.  After serving as "Kreismarschall" and "Residierende Kreismarschall" he was elected as "Landesbevollmaechtigte" in 1836 and held this position until 1857, the longest this office was held by the same individual, representing the interests of his peers in Saint Petersburg.  He was socially progressive and the first landowner in all of Russia to change the peasants rent for their land from compulsory  labour to rent paid in money.  He was instrumental in having a school established to train Latvian teachers.  He was a founding member of the Couronian Society of Literature and Arts.  Paul, born in 1793, after serving in the war against Napoleon was secretary of the Russian embassy in Rome, Civil Governor of Kurland 1824-1827, Civil Governor of Livland 1827-1829, Senator and member of the Imperial State Council, honorary member of the Academy of Sciences in Saint Petersburg, and had a PhD phil and jur. 

              
                   Theodor von Hahn                               Paul von Hahn

The von Hahns (from Kurland) in the Year 2000 and beyond:

    The new millennium finds the Hahn family from Kurland widely dispersed.  Family members live in Germany,  Canada,  USA, Switzerland,  Argentina, Italy, Austria, Zimbabwe, New Zealand and China.  In June of 2000  48 Hahns and relatives traveled to Latvia to follow the footsteps of their forefathers.  A full week spent in Kurland gave all the participants a better understanding of their roots and family history. 

    This picture shows the travelers on the porch of the former estate Blankenfeld, Latvia in 2000.