The Genealogy of Upper Austria
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Die Löbliche Herren Herren Stände Des Ertz-Hertzogthumb Oesterreich ob der Enns. Als: Prälaten, Herren, Sitter [! Ritter], und Städte, Oder Genealog- Und Historische Beschreibung von deroselben Ankunfft, Stifft, Erbau- und Fort-Pflantzung, Wapen, Schild und Helmen, Ihren Clöstern, Herrschaften, Schlössern, und Städten, &c. &c. Mit sondern Fleiß zusammen getragen durch dero Mitglid und gewesten Verordneten Johann Georg Adam Freyherrn von Hoheneck, Herrn zu Schlißlberg, Prunhoff, Trätteneck, Gallspach und Rechberg. Erster Theil. - Passau : Maria Margaretha Höllerin, 1717. Austrian National Library, shelfmark: 309.528-D.1.Alt-Mag From the preface to this book, the reader learns how Johann Georg Adam von Hoheneck (1669-1754) used to spend his „idle hours“: Gathering material for his Historische Beschreibung „as a pastime“. By and by he filled three substantial volumes on the genealogy and history of the Herren Stände deß Ertz-Hertzogthumb Oesterreich ob der Enns, the monasteries, cities and gentry of Upper Austria. As a very young man Hoheneck had already compiled a detailed manuscript Genealogia des alten Hauß der Hoheneckher wie solche auß alten Originalen gezogen worden – a genealogy of the house of Hoheneck, extracted from old original sources. His untiring document research paid in 1716 when it enabled him to prove his family’s rightful belonging to the rank of barons, a right guaranteed to them long before by the Habsburgs but hitherto not recognized by the other barons of the region. The present proof copy of the first volume of the Herren Stände clearly testifies to the effort Hoheneck, after all quite a busy squire, representative to the state assembly and official of the county, put into his „pastime“. The print has been worked through meticulously, most certainly by the author himself. Printing and spelling errors, especially those in proper names, have been corrected in red chalk, corrections and additions added between the lines, on the margins and on paper strips affixed to the pages. For several coats of arms, new copperplate prints have been pasted over the misprint or incorrect versions. Our example shows the Bornimb family’s coat of arms. The tournament helmet should – according to Hoheneck – be depicted with three chamois antlers at its top. The first engraving, however, shows an erroneous version: „Instead of the antler in the middle, Sibmacher, on fol. 36 of his Wappenbuch, puts the image of a white phial or vessel, which is false as the original sigils show a different image.“ The red-chalk drawing puts this error right, the newly engraved coat of arms has been mounted over the old one as a flexible „flag“. The first volume of the Herren Stände was eventually published in 1727 in Passau by Gabriel Mangold who had inherited the Höller print shop some years earlier.
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