The family traces its main line back to one knight Godofridus de Bulowe, mentioned in a 1229 deed. He was named after the village of Bülow near
Königsfeld, then part of the
Bishopric of Ratzeburg. The family made great donations to nearby
Rehna Abbey.
As Bülow was also a word for
oriole in the local dialect based on
Wendish roots[citation needed], the bird is depicted as a
crest in the family's coat of arms.
In Mecklenburg the family acquired around 110 estates, castles or villages from 1229 onwards, nine of which remained in its possession until the confiscations in communist East Germany in 1945. From 1470 to this day the family holds the manor of
Gudow in
Saxe-Lauenburg (today part of the former West-German state of
Schleswig-Holstein), and in the 19th century it acquired three more estates nearby, also still owned by family members.
In the 14th century, four members officiated as
Bishops of Schwerin; one Dietrich von Bülow was
Bishop of Lebus from 1490 onwards. Numerous female members joined the convent of
Dobbertin Abbey. In 1383 the Mecklenburg knight
Heinrich von Bülow burnt down the village and church of
Wilsnack; thereafter, the rebuilt Church of the
Holy Blood of Wilsnack became a destination of medieval religious pilgrimages.
The most notable family members are
Hans von Bülow (1830–1894), pianist, conductor and composer who married Liszt's daughter
Cosima, who later left him for
Richard Wagner, and Prince
Bernhard von Bülow (1849–1929), Chancellor of Germany from 1900 to 1909.
Notable members
Andreas von Bülow (born 1937), German politician, former government minister and author of a 9/11 conspiracy book
Babette von Bülow (1850–1927), German author of short stories, comedies and farces under the male pen name Hans Arnold
Bernhard Ernst von Bülow (1815–1879), Danish and German statesman, father of the Bernhard von Bülow (below)
Bernhard von Bülow, Prince (1849–1929), Chancellor of the German Empire from 1900 to 1909
Dietrich Heinrich von Bülow (1757–1807), a.k.a. Heinrich Dietrich Bülow, Prussian officer during the Napoleonic Wars, military theorist, and brother of Friedrich Wilhelm von Bülow
The
blazon of the family's coat of arms is: Azure, fourteen
bezants in pile, displayed four, four, three, two, one. The family's
heraldic animal is the
oriole, which can be seen in the armorial crest below.