Wedel

The House of Wedel was a German noble family from Stormarn in Holstein. Its line ran back to a monastery vogt named Heinrich, documented at Ottenbüttel in 1149, and three brothers called Heinricus, Hasso and Reimbernus de Wedele appeared as witnesses in a charter of 1212.

In 1306 a family member was captured after the second battle of Uetersen and broken on the wheel. The house spread into three branches, and in 1328 Emperor Louis IV enfeoffed the lords of Wedel with castles in the Brandenburg Neumark, tying its fortunes to the Margraviate of Brandenburg.

Later members included Lupold von Wedel, a travel writer and mercenary leader, and Gustav Wilhelm von Wedel, a Danish general who received the Norwegian countship of Jarlsberg in 1684. An East Frisian branch built the Evenburg and inherited Schloss Gödens by marriage in 1746.