Ernst Magnus Dönhoff
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Magnus Ernst or Ernst Magnus Dönhoff (Denhoff) (1581-1642) was a Baltic-German and eastern Prussian noble (Reichsfürst) of the Holy Roman Empire since 1633 and noble (szlachcic) in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth; also Castellan of Parnawa (from 1635), voivode of Parnawa from 1640, starost of Derpsk, Telszew and of Waldau in the Pregel valley in eastern Prussia. He was the brother of Gerhard Dönhoff and Kaspar von Dönhoff. He was married to baroness Katarina von Dohna; they had four children. Three of their sons were born at Waldau.
Always referred to as Magnus Ernst by Marion Gräfin Dönhoff, who wrote an extensive genealogy and history study of all the family branches, Magnus Ernst Dönhoff was the founder of the eastern Prussian (later East-Prussian) line of the Dönhoff Family. He came from Livonia and for services to the Prussian duke and Kurfürst of Brandenburg George William he established his residence in Waldau.
Magnus Ernst belonged to the commission, which from 1625 worked for a peace agreement between Sweden and Poland. He was also instrumental in the negotiations at the peace of Altmark and at Stuhmsdorf.
His son Friedrich Graf Dönhoff, born 1639 in Waldau, took up service for the Brandenburg electoral court.
