Querfurt

The lords of Querfurt were imperial free nobles named after their castle at Querfurt, west of Merseburg in the Saale valley. The first documented member, Bruno of Querfurt, became a monk and missionary bishop. He was killed with eighteen companions while preaching to the Old Prussians in 1009 and remembered as the Second Apostle of the Prussians.

The Querfurts held the burgraviate of Magdeburg for centuries. Conrad of Querfurt, son of Burgrave Burchard II, became imperial chancellor and bishop and joined the Crusade of 1197. A younger branch inherited the County of Mansfeld in 1229, while the houses of Schraplau and Vitzenburg sprang from the same stock.

In 1337 the main line still held Querfurt and its surrounding lands. It died with Bruno XI in 1496, when the territory passed to the archbishopric of Magdeburg as the Amt of Querfurt.