Schwarzwald family
The Schwarzwald family was a wealthy patrician merchant family established in Danzig from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century.
Last updated August 31, 2026
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Overview
The Schwarzwald, or von Schwarzwald, family was a wealthy patrician and merchant dynasty associated with the Hanseatic city of Danzig, now Gdańsk, Poland. The family traced its origins to the Black Forest region of southwestern Germany. Its recorded Danzig history began when Georg von Schwarzwald settled in the city in the early fifteenth century. Over the following centuries, members of the family participated in commerce, civic administration, and the cultural life of Danzig. The family’s social position was reflected in the public offices held by several members. Hans I, also known as Johann Schwarzwald, was a merchant, became a juror in 1504, and served as an alderman from 1514. His descendants continued the family’s commercial and civic activities. Heinrich II von Schwarzwald was a merchant and juror and received a letter of nobility from Emperor Charles V in 1556. Other family members entered marriage alliances with prominent merchant and civic families in Danzig and beyond, including connections to London’s mercantile community. The family is also associated with portraits attributed to Hans Holbein the Younger and Andreas Stech. Two portrait miniatures traditionally linked to the Schwarzwald family have generated continuing art-historical debate. One miniature, inscribed as showing a twenty-four-year-old man in 1543, was long identified with a member of the family, although the proposed identifications do not align consistently with the surviving genealogical evidence. Later scholarship has suggested that the sitter may instead have been Gregory Cromwell, the son of Henry VIII’s minister Thomas Cromwell. The attribution and identity therefore remain matters of interpretation rather than settled family history. The family’s cultural legacy is particularly associated with Heinrich IV Schwarzwald, a seventeenth-century merchant, legal scholar, and collector. He assembled a library of more than three thousand manuscripts, incunabula, and printed books, including many Polish works, as well as collections of coins and art. In 1669 he left the library to the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Danzig. After the male line died out, additional family possessions, including books, coins, and portraits, were transferred to the same church in 1708. Several works connected with the family or its former collections were displaced during the Second World War. A Holbein miniature formerly associated with the Danzig museum was taken by German occupation forces in 1943 and later claimed by the Soviet Red Army in 1945. It is now held by the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow and has been included among works for which the Polish government has sought restitution. The Schwarzwald family is therefore remembered not as a contemporary commercial brand but as a historical Danzig merchant and patrician house whose significance survives through genealogy, civic records, libraries, portraits, and contested cultural property.
History
The Schwarzwald family was a prominent merchant and patrician family of Danzig, a major Baltic port and Hanseatic city. Family tradition and historical accounts place its origins in the Black Forest of southwestern Germany. Georg von Schwarzwald is identified as the family member who settled in Danzig in the early 1400s, establishing the basis for several centuries of local commercial and civic influence. Hans I, or Johann, Schwarzwald was among the earliest well-documented members. Born in 1468, he worked as a merchant, served as a juror in 1504, and became an alderman in 1514. His family relationships connected the Schwarzwalds to other merchant households in Danzig and to English commercial circles. His son Hans II remained unmarried and has traditionally been linked to a portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger, although the identification is disputed. Another son, Heinrich II, continued the family’s commercial and civic role. Heinrich II was a merchant and juror and was ennobled by Charles V in 1556. He died in 1561 and was buried in the Reesen chapel of St. Mary’s Church in Danzig. The family remained active in the seventeenth century. Heinrich IV Schwarzwald, born in 1619, studied law at the University of Groningen and combined mercantile work with collecting. He became a juror in 1650 and received a letter of nobility in 1658. His interests extended to books, manuscripts, incunabula, coins, and art. At his house on Langgasse, now Długa Street, he created a library containing more than three thousand volumes. In 1669 he endowed the collection to the Church of Saints Peter and Paul, where it became associated with the Petrischule. He died in 1672 and was buried in St. Mary’s Church. His nephew Heinrich V Schwarzwald, born in 1642, studied at Leiden University and later became a councillor of Danzig in 1691. He married Maria von Heemskirk in 1677. His portrait, painted by Andreas Stech in 1682, is held by the National Museum in Gdańsk. After the male line of the family ended, further property was transferred to the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in 1708. This bequest included a library, coin collection, and portraits. The family’s historical reputation is closely connected with portraiture. One miniature traditionally associated with the family was first documented in the Danzig museum’s collection in the early twentieth century. An inscription dates the sitter as twenty-four years old in 1543. Earlier scholars proposed various Schwarzwald identifications, including Heinrich II, Hans II, and Berend von Schwarzwald, but the ages and other visual or heraldic details do not fit all of those candidates. Later researchers proposed Gregory Cromwell, who was of the appropriate age and social standing, as a possible alternative sitter. A second miniature, sometimes linked to the same individual, has further complicated the question. The portrait history also reflects the twentieth-century disruption of Danzig’s cultural collections. German occupation forces removed the miniature from the Danzig Stadtmuseum in 1943. The Soviet Red Army then took it in 1945, and the work is now in Moscow at the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts. Its provenance has contributed to Polish restitution claims. The Schwarzwald family consequently remains relevant to the study of Danzig’s mercantile elite, early modern collecting, Holbein portraiture, and the unresolved ownership of displaced cultural heritage.
- 1945
Portrait taken to the Soviet Union
[1]The miniature is claimed by the Soviet Red Army as wartime spoils and later enters the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts.
- 1943
Portrait removed from Danzig
[1]German occupation forces remove a Holbein miniature historically associated with the family from the Danzig museum.
- 1708
Family collections enter the church legacy
[1]After the male line dies out, the family library, coin collection, and portraits are left to the Church of Saints Peter and Paul.
- 1669
Heinrich IV bequeaths his library
[1]Heinrich IV leaves his extensive library to the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Danzig.
- 1658
Heinrich IV receives a letter of nobility
[1]Collector and merchant Heinrich IV Schwarzwald receives a letter of nobility.
- 1556
Heinrich II receives a letter of nobility
[1]Heinrich II von Schwarzwald is ennobled by Emperor Charles V.
- 1514
Hans I becomes an alderman
[1]Hans I is recorded as serving as an alderman, reflecting the family’s standing in Danzig civic life.
- 1504
Hans I serves as a Danzig juror
[1]Merchant Hans I Schwarzwald enters the civic administration of Danzig as a juror.
- 1400
Georg von Schwarzwald settles in Danzig
[1]Georg von Schwarzwald is identified as the family member who established the family in Danzig after arriving from the Black Forest region.
Products and positioning
Historical Danzig patrician and merchant family
Library and book collection · 1669
Heinrich IV Schwarzwald library
A collection of more than three thousand manuscripts, incunabula, and printed books assembled by Heinrich IV Schwarzwald at his Danzig residence. The holdings included numerous Polish books and were bequeathed in 1669 to the Church of Saints Peter and Paul, later becoming associated with the Petrischule.
Art and numismatic collection · 1708
Schwarzwald art and coin collection
The family’s documented cultural possessions included coins, portraits, and other works of art. Following the extinction of the male line, parts of the collection were transferred to the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in 1708.
Portrait miniatures · 1543
Holbein miniatures associated with the family
Portrait miniatures by or attributed to Hans Holbein the Younger have traditionally been connected with members of the Schwarzwald family. The identities of the sitters remain contested, and later scholarship has proposed that at least one sitter may have been Gregory Cromwell rather than a Schwarzwald.
Recent events
- 2016
Schwarzwald portrait identification challenged by later scholarship[1]
Other
Research by Teri Fitzgerald and Diarmaid MacCulloch proposed that a Holbein miniature traditionally identified as a Schwarzwald family member may instead depict Gregory Cromwell, highlighting unresolved questions about the sitter’s identity.
- 1945
Holbein miniature associated with the Schwarzwald family remains subject to restitution claims[1]
Other
A portrait miniature historically connected with the Schwarzwald family was removed from Danzig during the Second World War, subsequently taken to the Soviet Union, and later placed in the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts. The work has been among objects connected with Polish restitution requests.
Sources1 sources
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