The von Leonrod
The noble family von Leonrod (sometimes spelled “von Leonrodt”) dates back to XIV century at least.
The family’s ancestral seat was Leonrod Castle in Middle Franconia (currently Germany).
Our “Adriatic” branch descends from Theodor von Leonrod, a knight of the Teutonic order captured by the forces of Ivan IV of Russia
during the Battle of Ergeme (1560). The Tzar questioned the prisoners personally, and, tragically, was
infuriated by the behaviour of Theodor’s commander – Land Marshal Philipp Schall von Bell and ordered the latter’s execution, along with Land Marshal’s
brother and, as Russian chronicles say, “11 komturs” (the number is debated by some historians since it’s highly
unlikely that 11 Teutonic komturs – basically, commanders and castle governors – could be captured in one fairly small-scale battle).
Those knights who were not considered senior enough to be executed, were instead okholopleny (“peasantified”, not quite “enslaved”), i.e. stripped of
nobility and forced to stay in Russia as common-folk and marry common-folk women. German noble families made attempts to pay
some kind of ransom for their kin, but to no avail, since Ivan the Terrible simply ignored their appeals and pleas, wanting to make an example of the knights.
We know that Theodor von Leonrod was “assigned” to a village near Smolensk, but already his son Jermolai had to flee from
the Lithuanian invasion during the Time of Troubles with his little son Theodor, named after his father, and settled
in a village called Nikolskoe in the Tula governorate. All his descendants had their names and surname slavianized and lived in Nikolskoe for the following 300 years (9 generations), turning to Orthodox Christianity, of course, and praying, for centuries, in the local Church of The Hodegetria Icon of Virgin Mary (destroyed by the communists). Around 1915 my great-grandfather Nikolai moved to
Moscow, mingling with the beau monde and becoming a friend of the famous poet Sergei Yesenin. The years after the Revolution saw him falling from grace with the Communist Party, being sent to the killing fields of WWII to see the error of his ways, gaining two Medals of Valour and eventually becoming the director of Krestovsky market in Moscow, but this is a long story for another time.
His grandson – my father Jevgeni, 14th generation from Theodor von Leonrod, married a lady from House Glazov, an ancient Russian boyar dynasty. The
Glazov were first mentioned in 1440 – our direct ancestor Gabriel (rus. Gavrila) was mentioned as a major vojvode
(“warlord”, general) of the Grand Principality of Moscow. Through this dynasty (i.e. through our direct matrilineal
ancestors who married into house Glazov) we carry the blood of other major houses like von Strukoff, Oboljaninov and Chernyshev, some of them also mentioned on this website.
After more than 450 years in Russia, the male line our family moved to the Adriatic region for personal and business reasons.
We do, however, use the family crest for strictly non-commercial purposes as we firmly believe (and this opinion is confirmed by several scholars) that Tzar Ivan IV “The Terrible”
had no legitimate right to take away nobility from someone who was not even his subject/vassal and therefore we, as direct descendants
of Theodor von Leonrod through an uninterrupted male line (Theodor -> Jermolai -> Theodor -> Saveli -> Theodor -> Karp -> Leonti ->
Dementij -> Ivan -> Vasilij -> Denis -> Nikolai -> Juri -> Jevgeni -> Kirill -> Igor), are entitled to use our ancestor’s coat of arms – modestly, respectfully, and for internal matters primarily.
We DO NOT, and never will, in perpetuity, claim any rights to any possessions left by any other von Leonrod branch, but welcome all the
descendants of that great family to be friends and partners in commemorating the family’s legacy.
Cyril von Leonrod (Link)
Businessman, philantropist
Direct male descendant (15th generation) of Theodor von Leonrod
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Sources:
1. Russian State Historical Archive (fund 1343, catalogs 19 and 51)
2. Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts (fund 96 cat. 3)
3. State Archive of Tula Governorate
4. Numerous church registry books
5. L.M. Savelov. “Pedigree of the Russian ancient nobility” – Moscow, 1906-1909
6. Central Archive of the Teutonic Order
7. Fenske, Lutz / Militzer, Klaus (Hrsg.): Ritterbrüder im livländischen Zweig des Deutschen Ordens, 1993