The Studnitz family is of the German ancient nobility with origins in western Moravia taking it's name from the village of Studnitz (Studnice) just South of Groß-Meseritsch (Velki-Meserici). In the Slavic languages Studnice means fountain, and sometimes well.  The first recorded ancestor of the family is Philipp Hrb, Lord of Lovcouvitz and Horenitz near Jemnitz in Moravia, whose son Johann Hrb acquired Studnice no later than 1373, when the ownership was recorded in the Moravian Land-tables of the County of Brünn (Brno). The name Studnitz was adopted by this Johann no later than 1377 and by his descendants. Hrb, or Hrbov (Herbau in German), is another village just west 
of Groß-Meseritsch. The Studnitz were one of a group of noble families, all interrelated and of the same origin, that bore similar arms and had estates  in the same area of Western Moravia, that were already widely distributed in the 13th Century. These families included the z Heraltic, z Racic,
z Olferic, z Ratiboric, and the z Odunec (the "z" being the Czech equivalent of the German noble predicate "von", usually abbreviated "v."), but the oldest of them was the z Cimburg. There were also a number of families in Bohemia that belonged to this noble clan, but of them all only the Studnitz survive to this day. The oldest example of our arms still in existence is a seal of Andreas v. Studnitz (abt. 1390-1475) dated 12 June 1446 which is today in the Archives of the Princes of Liechtenstein in Vienna. This Andreas acquired the large estate of Bistritz in eastern Moravia and for some generations this branch of the family called itself "Bistritz von Studnitz".

The first Studnitz to come into what came to be considered Germany was Georg (1478-1531), arriving in Silesia to take service under the Jagellon rulers of Poland, and fighting with them against the Knights of the Teutonic Order in Prussia. He married in 1499 a daughter of the House of Strachwitz who brought the estate of Jeroltschütz with her, which remained in the hands of our 
family until the debacle of 1945. Those Studnitz who remained in Moravia continued to prosper, but died out in the 1700's. A branch also went to Friuli in what is now Northern Italy and acheived the rank of Counts, but also died out centuries ago.

The family gained a number of estates in Silesia and were mainly lords of estates, some taking military and more rarely civil positions with their monarchs. Though often very numerous the family never became huge in number like some other noble houses such as the von Bülow, and the vicissitudes of fate often interfered with it's growth.  For example Kaspar-Albrecht von Studnitz (1682-1743) had 15 children, 9 sons and 6 daughters. Of the daughters only one lived above the age of two, and never married.  Of the sons two died young, and two though becoming very old never married, two others fell as officers in the Battle of Kunersdorf without marrying, and 
only the remaining three married. One of these had no children, and the other two each had only one daughter, neither of whom had further descendants. Of Kaspar-Albrechts's 3 brothers the same thing happened, though with fewer children, and by 1802 this once so numerous group was extinct. 

Today the family, after the loss of it's Silesian estates and many of it's sons as officers in battle as a result of World War II, counts some 29 male members, and 33 females, many of whom no longer carry the name due to marriage. They are situated mainly in Germany, though some live in Austria or England, and even a very few like myself in the US.  Their occupations range anywhere from psychologist to businessman, teacher to university professor, physician to lawyer, bank executive to government administrator or diplomat, the most prominent of this last group being Dr. Ernst-Jörg von Studnitz, the current German ambassador to Russia.