House of Hatzfeld

The House of Hatzfeld, also spelled House of Hatzfeldt, is the name of an ancient and influential German noble family, whose members played important roles in the history of the Holy Roman Empire, Prussia and Austria.

Melchior von Hatzfeld (1593–1658), Imperial field marshal in the Thirty Years' War, became the first Count in 1635.

Franz Phillip Adrian became the first Prussian Fürst (Prince of Hatzfeld-Gleichen-Trachenberg) in 1741 (the branch extinguished in 1794).

The Hatzfeld-Wildenburg-Weisweiler branch inherited Crottorf, Schönstein, Kalkum as well as numerous other properties in 1794 and became Prussian Princes of Hatzfeld-Wildenburg in 1870 (the branch extinguished in 1941 and was inherited by Count Hermann von Dönhoff who took on the name of his mother's family as Count von Hatzfeldt-Dönhoff).

[1] He is one of the largest landowners in Rhineland-Palatinate, also owning the castles of Crottorf and Schönstein.