About Us Family History
The von Aswegen family (known as The Aswegens or simply Aswegens) is an old German noble family renowned as captains, industrialists, politicians, bureaucrats and diplomats. The Aswegens’ history reaches back to the beginning of the 13th century. The origins of the family are in Aschwede in Ammerland in the north-west of Oldenburg in Germany.
The first known count of Oldenburg was Elimar I (d. 1108). Elimar’s descendants appear as vassals, though sometimes rebellious ones, of the dukes of Saxony; but they attained the dignity of princes of the empire when the emperor Frederick I dismembered the Saxon duchy in 1180. At this time, the county of Delmenhorst formed part of the dominions of the counts of Oldenburg, but afterwards it was on several occasions separated from them to form an appanage for younger branches of the family. This was mainly the case between 1262 and 1447.
During the early part of the 13th century, the counts carried on a series of wars with independent, or semi-independent, Frisian princes to the north and west of the county, which resulted in a gradual expansion of the Oldenburgian territory. The Free Hanseatic City of Bremen and the Bishop of Münster were also frequently at war with the counts of Oldenburg.
The Aswegens were ennobled around 1270 by Johann I von Oldenburg, the Count of Oldenburg for providing feudal- and liege services and war support.
In 1440, Christian succeeded his father Dietrich, called Fortunatus, as Count of Oldenburg. In 1448 Christian was elected king of Denmark as Christian I, partly based on his maternal descent from previous Danish kings. Although far away from the Danish borders, Oldenburg was now a Danish exclave. The control over the town was left to the king’s brothers, who established a short reign of tyranny.
In 1450, Christian became king of Norway and in 1457, king of Sweden. In 1460, he inherited the Duchy of Schleswig and the County of Holstein, an event of high importance for the future history of Oldenburg. In 1454, he handed over Oldenburg to his brother Gerhard (about 1430–99), a wild prince, who was constantly at war with the prince-bishop of Bremen and other neighbors.
As many noble families, The Aswegens made arrangements to move away from the dangerous influence of Gerhard and settled down in Arkenstedt in the territory of the Bishop of Münster in 1491. The ever-increasing taxes, duties and tributes requested by the Counts of Oldenburg in the following years challenged the assets and the noble status of the family enormously, especially during the period of the Thirty Years’ War from 1618 through 1648.
During the years, The Aswegens have spread from Germany to many other countries. Since 1800 family branches of The Aswegens have settled down in Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Denmark, The Netherlands, Belgium, United Kingdom, United States of America, Canada, Southafrica, Australia and other countries.
Today, where peerage is not a privilege anymore, especially the younger generations of the German family branch of The Aswegens focus their interests on the family’s heritage and the conservative management of selected family’s assets. The ASWEGEN DYNASTY TRUST (TBI) shall become the family’s new flagship for perpetual portfolio management for the benefit of dedicated future generations of the Aswegen family.
Assets Portfolio Management
The investment decisions of the Aswegen Family reflect mainly conclusions of successful long-term value-based investors:
When investing, reinvesting, purchasing, acquiring, exchanging, retaining, selling, managing property, the Aswegen Family acts with the utmost care, skill, prudence and diligence. In making investment decisions we consider general economic conditions, anticipated tax consequences of the investments and anticipated duration of the account as well as the needs of the specifically entitled beneficiaries.
Investment Focus
Family Assets
Legal Notice: The Aswegen Family does not offer any investment advice, asset management, legal- and/or tax advice, brokerage or any other services, with or without license requirements, to any third party. The content on this private website is non-commercial and for information purposes only.