Moltke

Moltke coat of arms

Moltke is a noble family resident in Germany and Scandinavia, originally from Mecklenburg. Members of the family have been noted as statesmen and high military officers in Denmark and Germany.

The family is descended from Fridericus Meltiko, a knight of Mecklenburg who lived in the mid 13th century.^[1]

People

• Adam Gottlob Moltke (1710–1792), Danish courtier, statesman and diplomat
• Joachim Godske Moltke (1746–1818), Prime Minister of Denmark, son of Adam Gottlob Moltke
• Adam Wilhelm Moltke (1785–1864), Danish Prime Minister, son of Joachim Godske Moltke
• Helmuth von Moltke the Elder (1800–1891), Chief of the Prussian, and then German, General Staff
• Kuno von Moltke (1847–1923), German general
• Helmuth von Moltke the Younger (1848–1916), Chief of the German General Staff
• Hans-Adolf von Moltke (1884-1943), German diplomat
• Erik Moltke (1901–1984), Danish art historian
• Helmuth James Graf von Moltke (1907–1945), German jurist, pacifist, head of the anti-Nazi Kreisau Circle, executed for treason for hosting a group planning to create a democracy after the fall of the Third Reich.

References

1. Pommersches Urkundenbuch 593; Mecklenburgisches Urkundenbuch 734

Literature

• Ernst Heinrich Kneschke: Neues allgemeines deutsches Adels-Lexicon. Friedrich Voigt, Leipzig 1859
• Olaf Jessen: Die Moltkes. Biographie einer Familie. C. H. Beck, München 2010, ISBN 978-3-406-604997 (Rezension)
• Ernst Münch: "Die Moltkes im Ringen um ihr Stammgut Toitenwinkel bei Rostock". In: Herrschaft. Machtentfaltung über adligen und fürstlichen Grundbesitz in der Frühen Neuzeit. Böhlau Verlag, Köln Weimar 2003, S. 3–26
• Jochen Thies: Die Moltkes: Von Königgrätz nach Kreisau. Eine deutsche Familiengeschichte. Piper Verlag, München 2010, ISBN 978-3-492-05380-8
• Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Adelslexikon Band IX, Band 116 der Gesamtreihe, C. A. Starke Verlag, Limburg (Lahn) 1998, ISSN 0435-2408