The counts of Clam

The family originates from west Austria and can be traced back to the 13th century. Before arriving at Clam Castle in 1454 the family was called Perger. This name was dropped when they became Counts of Clam.

Christoph Perger acquired the Clam castle and was therefore called Christoph of Clam.

In 1791 Carl Josef Count of Clam married Maria Anna Countess of Martinic Since she was the last living Martinic, the two names as well as the estates and the coats of arms were united and so they became the Counts of Clam-Martinic.

The Martinic family is one of the oldest and most important families of Bohemia. Over many centuries they held key positions in politics, the army and administration.

The defenestration of Prague in 1618 was the trigger for the Thirty years’ war. Jaroslav Borzita Count of Martinic was one of the 3 defenestrated catholic noblemen. This portrait shows him with a broken arm just after the event.

The most well known member of the family was General-Major Heinrich
Count of Clam-Martinic who was appointed Prime Minister by Emperor Karl of Austria.

	Heinrich was a close friend of the Habsburgs, especially to archduke Franz Ferdinand. They did a lot of shooting together and travelled around the world in 1892.
	Today Carl Philip Clam Martinic runs the estate. After he worked in Hong Kong for several years he took over the estate in the year 2003. It is now 550 years ago that the Clams arrived here.