Tiesenhausen

Bishops Albert of Riga and Herman of Tartu had a sister whose husband Engelbertus de Tisenhuse was the progenitor of the family in the Baltic.

After some time in southern Livonia in the early stages of occupation, Engelbertus joined his brother-in-law bishop Herman to obtain the northern Livonian country of Ugaunia around Otepää and Tartu.

Engelbertus' son married a daughter of the castellan of Koknese in Latgale and through this marriage, the family claims descent from indigenous princes of the Latgalians.

Some branches of Tisenhusen clan settled later to the Latvian Vidzeme holdings of Ergli and Berzaune.

During the changeful history of Livonia several members of the family served under various suzerains, first under the Livonian Brothers of the Sword and the Teutonic Knights and later in Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth ("Tyzenhauz"), Swedish and Tsarist Russian ("Тизенгаузен") service.