Helfenstein

The House of Helfenstein was a German noble family during the High and Late Middle Ages. The family was named after the family castle, Castle Helfenstein, located above Geislingen an der Steige in the Swabian Alb region of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The family held the rank of Graf or Count and was very significant in the 13th and 14th Centuries, but fell into financial difficulties and the family lost his estate in 1627. Later the main branch of the family emigrated to America and even today they are successor members of this German dynasty. Currently the German-Argentinean Ernst Heinrich von Helfenstein have the honorary title by inheritance of Baron and Count by subsequent to his Father. Coat of arms The House of Helfenstein used an elephant on their coat of arms. According to one source, the elephant is a type of Namenwappen (German: Coat of Arms from a name), in this case Helfenstein became Elefanten or elephant because of similarity between the sounds. A more fanciful source claims that the elephant comes from the first ancestor of the family, Helfrich, a citizen of Rome in 225 AD, a captain of the 5th Legion of Veterans based in Germany and the Lord of the Fils River. Helfrich acquired an elephant for his coat of arms. Their emblem depicted an elephant and was awarded in 46 BC for bravery against a charge of elephants in the Battle of Thapsus. Known locations for leg V Alaudae. Chapter One: The Counts von Helfenstein]</ref> from the Legion's emblem.