Heinrich von Brühl, who indirectly controlled Saxony and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth during the 18th century, was a powerful statesman in the Holy Roman Empire.

[1] One of the most important branches of the Brühl family uses the spelling Brüel or Bryll and mainly resides in Denmark, Sweden, Poland, and United States.

In 1464, the manor of Pakosław (Greater Poland) was bought by one Johannes Brühl (senior), whose son Johannes Brühl (junior) left Poland for Saxony in 1496 with his wife Balice Banarowna, heiress of Oświęcim, accompanying the king's daughter, Barbara Jagiellon (later the wife of George, Duke of Saxony).

At the end of the 17th century, the family seat was owned by the Oberhofmarschall and Wirklicher Geheimer Rat Hans Moritz von Brühl.

His fiscal policy, unchecked by a weak ruler, almost led Saxony to financial disaster, but it made Brühl extremely wealthy.

Born at Wiederau in the Electorate of Saxony, he studied at Leipzig and there formed a close friendship with Christian Gellert, who corresponded with him for some years.

Brühl built (probably in 1787) a small observatory at his villa at Harefield and set up there, about 1794, a two-foot astronomical circle by Jesse Ramsden, one of the first instruments of the kind made in England.

He also gave attention to political economy, and made a tour through the remoter parts of England early in 1783 to investigate the state of trade and agriculture.

The family was thus joined with the British aristocracy and intellectual elite, and offspring went on to possess significant influence in the United Kingdom.

Georg Wilhelm de Brüel (von Brühl) was sent to Denmark in the late 18th century to establish an operational plan of the forests in the stock houses Krenkerup on Lolland.