Alexander Ferdinand of Lilien

Alexander Ferdinand von Lilien (born July 14, 1742 in Nuremberg , † November 1818 in Regensburg ) was a general manager of the Imperial and Dutch Post.

Life

Von Lilien was the eldest son of Franz Michael Florenz von Lilien and his wife Christine Ludovika von Schack. Benefiting from the high position of his father, who at that time represented the interests of Prince Von Thurn und Taxis at the imperial court in Vienna, he was eligible for the Maaseik post office as a teenager. He later became postmaster here and finally head post office director. The ownership of this upper post office went hand in hand with a special position of power and trust in the Thurn and Taxische Post. After the death of his father in 1776 he was awarded the title of general manager of the imperial and Dutch posts by the emperor. In addition to this title, von Lilien was also a Bavarian Chamberlain and Thurn and Taxischer Privy Councilor . On behalf of the Prince of Thurn und Taxis and the Hereditary Prince, he conducted important negotiations with Europe's ruling houses. Later he was entrusted with solving the most personal problems of the members of the Thurn und Taxis family.

As von Lilien left in writing, he resigned from the post of general manager in 1787 for undeniable reasons , but remained chief post office director and closest advisor to Prince Carl Anselm . During the turmoil of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars , he managed to avert the worst consequences for the imperial mail. With huge financial losses he had to move to Essen , where he set up his post office, which he moved to Düsseldorf in 1802 . From there he negotiated so-called post conventions of the House of Thurn and Taxis with newly founded secular principalities to the right of the Rhine until the summer of 1806. These principalities came into being after the fall of former rulers through French annexations to the left of the Rhine. Or emerged from secularized ecclesiastical territories through the entry into force of the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss of 1802/03. As an example, he acted in May 1803 with the Duchy of Arenberg , which had taken over the rulership in Vest Recklinghausen , which was formerly part of the Electorate of Cologne . In the summer of 1806 the Rhine Confederation was founded and the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation was dissolved .

Private

Von Lilien married Klara Countess von Ligneville from Lorraine on September 20, 1769 in Regensburg. From this marriage there were four daughters. The only son, Karl Wilhelm Freiherr von Lilien, comes from his second marriage. Von Lilien died, bitter and lonely, from loss of property and the ongoing struggle for pensions to which he was entitled.

literature

• Heinrich Mathias Kruchhem: The bridge of the Erbsälzer. European and Westphalian Post Documentation 1600 - 1900. A. Stein'schen Buchhandlung, Werl, 1975. ISBN 3-9209-8009-3 .