Emmanuel, count of Mensdorff-Pouilly (24 January 1777 – 28 June 1852) was an army officer in the Imperial and Royal Army of the Austrian Empire

Imperial and Royal Army during the Napoleonic Wars

The Imperial and Royal Army was that of the Austrian Empire, formed on 11 August 1804 preceding the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire ruled by the Habsburgs, under Emperor Francis II .-Background to the army:...

, and vice-governor of Mainz

Mainz

Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...

.

The Mensdorff-Pouilly family originated from the Baronie Pouilly

Pouilly-sur-Meuse

Pouilly-sur-Meuse is a commune in the Meuse department in Lorraine in north-eastern France.-See also:*Communes of the Meuse department...

 in Stenay

Stenay

Stenay is a commune in the Meuse department in Lorraine in north-eastern France.It was one of the last villages to experience fighting during World War I. Stenay was captured on 11 November 1918 by the American 89th Division under General William M. Wright only hours before the Armistice went into...

 on the river Meuse in Lorraine

Lorraine (région)

Lorraine is one of the 27 régions of France. The administrative region has two cities of equal importance, Metz and Nancy. Metz is considered to be the official capital since that is where the regional parliament is situated...

. Albert-Louis, Baron de Pouilly et de Chaffour, Comte de Roussy (1731–1795) and his wife Marie Antoinette (1746–1800) emigrated together with their children during the French revolution

French Revolution

The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

. Their sons, Albert (1775–1799) and Emmanuel (baptised at Nancy on 24 January 1777), took the name Mensdorff from a community in the county of Roussy, Luxembourg.

The brothers entered military service against revolutionary and Napoleonic France, and Albert was killed in battle. Emmanuel married Princess Sophie of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld

Princess Sophie of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld

Princess Sophie Fredericka Caroline Louise of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld was a princess of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and the sister of Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and King Leopold I of Belgium, and aunt of Queen Victoria...

, the daughter of Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, on 22 February 1804 at Coburg

Coburg

Coburg is a town located on the Itz River in Bavaria, Germany. Its 2005 population was 42,015. Long one of the Thuringian states of the Wettin line, it joined with Bavaria by popular vote in 1920...

. One of their sons, Alexander von Mensdorff-Pouilly, was Austrian Foreign Minister and Prime Minister of Austria in the 1860s.

Emmanuel was created Count of Mensdorff-Pouilly in Vienna on 29 November 1818. In 1838, Emmanuel purchased Schloss Preitenstein in the Plzeň Region

Plzen Region

Plzeň Region is an administrative unit in the western part of Bohemia in the Czech Republic. It is named after its capital Plzeň .- Communes :...

 of Bohemia

Bohemia

Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...

, which remained the property of the Mensdorff-Pouilly family until 1945.