The Berchtold family came from Tyrol, Austria. The dynasty legend says that one of the forefathers was the knight who delivered the first lethal strike to the Czech king Přemysl II Otakar (Ottokar II of Bohemia) in the battle on the Marchfeld in 1278. The descendants of the broad dynasty first settled in the southern Moravia after the battle of White Mountain in the first half of the 17th century. In 1628 Jakub Berchtold from Trient, a skilful provincial solicitor who wasraised to knighthood, bought the estates in Vratěnín, Pulice and Uherčice. Based on the emperor’s order, these estates gavethe name to the Czech branch of the Berchtold dynasty. 

The Berchtolds from Uherčice successfully multiplied their wealth and the second generation acquired the Count title. The Buchlov manor came into the Berchtold’s possession due to a marriage of Marie-Therese of the House of Petřvald, an heiress to the Buchlov manor, with Count Prosper Antonín Berchtold, an owner of the South-Bohemian estate Strážnad Nežárkou. Apart from the introduced owners of the castle, Dr. BedřichVšemírBerchtold, Leopold I’s stepbrother, represents another significant member of the Berchtold family. He went down in history as a famous scientist,traveller and co-founder of the National museum in Prague.