On the 14th December of the year 1562, all the Bismarcks had met together at Letzlingen with the Prince, and the agreements were here executed by which they surrendered Burgstall for Crevese and Schönhausen. The grandchildren of the first Claus von Bismarck might well be sorry at this surrender. The exchange expressly excluded the Hospital of St. Gertrude at Stendal, as well as their possessions at Wolmirstädt, Burg, and other remote places in the Archbishopric of Magdeburg. The Permutation, as it was called, did not alter the vassaldom of the Bismarcks; they continued to be lieges of Magdeburg for the fiefs abandoned with Burgstall, and vassals of Brandenburg, as before, belonging to the Alt Mark nobility in respect of Schönhausen and Fischbeck.
The Bismarcks still remained a very considerable family after the permutation, but their original position was lost by the cession of Burgstall, and their former wealth much decreased. That the permutation also had its effect in manifold ways on the character of the family can not be denied. It was a great sacrifice to bring to the governing house, although the Bismarcks very likely under-estimated the magnitude of their sacrifice.
By the Easter of 1563 the Bismarcks had quitted Burgstall, and taken possession of Crevese. The Electoral Prince had hurried their departure in consequence of the breeding season of the game and the advance of spring. On the third day after Easter he granted them Schönhausen, in the name of his son, the Bishop of Havelberg, having obtained the consent of the Chapter on the previous day.[9]
CHAPTER IV.
THE BISMARCKS OF SCHÖNHAUSEN.
[1563-1800.]
Further Genealogy of the Bismarcks.—Captain Ludolf von Bismarck.—Ludolf August von Bismarck.—His remarkable Career.—Dies in the Russian Service 1750.—Frederick William von Bismarck.—Created Count by the King of Würtemberg.—Charles Alexander von Bismarck, 1727.—His Memorial to his Wife.—His Descendants.—Charles William Ferdinand, Father of Count Otto von Bismarck.
Of the four families of the race of Bismarck, who quitted Burgstall at the Easter of 1563, three had perished in the male line in the first generation; the youngest branch had completely died out with Jobst and George; and in the elder, Henry had left behind his only daughter, Anna Ottilie, who married Fritz von der Schulenburg at Uetz. Frederick alone perpetuated the race, and all the property of the elder and younger branches at Crevese and Schönhausen fell to his line. He was known in early days as the Permutator. Perhaps he had represented his family in the negotiations with the Electoral Prince respecting Burgstall; we have seen that the two brothers of the elder line preceded the younger ones in conceding the property. But the designation is unfitting, as he was rather permutated (bartered) than a permutator.