What was MvR Baron of?

What was MvR Baron of? In England Earls/Lords/Dukes/Viscounts/Barons are mostly named with a town e.g The Earl of Stafford or Lord Scarsdale. What was the Richofen's Baron of and did they live in a castle or large house?

Thanks,

Ben

MvR's title goes back to the 1600's, when his ancestors were raised to the minor nobility. His actual title, Freiherr, in German, refers to the fact that his family was of the landed class in Silesia, now part of Poland. His father was a military officer, so it was natural in turn of the century Germany for him to follow that career.
AFAIK, German titles of nobility don't necessarily
refer to the area of the country where the person originated. Anyone know anything more?

i forgot to say that the photos I've seen of his house show that it was by no means a castle. It seems to be a large house, but not incredibly large.

I believe Richthofen in English would mean "righteous court" or "court of righteousness".

HORRIDO!

[PeterL]

Just as an aside, my ears pricked up when I heared a European Commissioner being interviewed about the BMW/Rover debacle on the BBC this morning. His name? Baron von Richthofen.

Peter L

[leo]

Prior to Frederick the Great the family lived in Austrian Silesia and bore the Latin name Praetorius. After Silesia was annexed by Prussia the family was given a barony and the name von Richtoffen by Frederick. Frederick died in 1786 so the ennobeling took place sometime between that date and the beginning of Frederick's reign in 1740.

The BBC did do a documentary about aviation called Aviators. The first of 3 episodes was about the Red Baron. There were 3 descendants of MvR youngest brother, one was in his 70's the other 50's and the last was about 19 whose name was Maximillon. One of them was a Baron. The BBC showed this series about May 1998.

Regards,

Ben

MvR's youngest brother died about 25 years ago,so I don't think he could have a 19 year old son.

Sorry, THe Gentlemen who was in his 70's must have been the son of the person who died 25 years ago, and the Great Grandad of the 19 year old.

Regards,

Ben