Alfred von Croÿ

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Alfred Duke of Croÿ

Alfred Franz Friedrich Philipp X. Duke of Croÿ (born December 22, 1789 in Aachen , † July 14, 1861 in Dülmen ) was a Spanish grandee and German nobleman , businessman and politician. Today it is especially known to horse lovers through the creation of the Dülmen wild horse track in 1847, which was created through the purchase of the Emscherbruch horses.

ancestry

Alfred came from the old noble family de Croÿ , who originally came from the county of Ponthieu in Picardy and was first mentioned in a document in the 12th century. He was the son of Auguste Philippe Duke von Croÿ from the Solre line and Anne Victurienne Henriette de Rochechouart-Montemart. On June 21, 1819, Alfred von Croÿ married Princess Eleonore Wilhelmine Louise von Salm-Salm, the daughter of Prince Konstantin zu Salm-Salm . From this connection Rudolf (XI.) Duke of Croÿ emerged.

biography

Von Croÿ took over the state rule of Croÿ from his father in 1822, with a focus on the Prussian province of Westphalia . In a contract with the Prussian state of 1827, he renounced the rights of the Croÿ under the federal act of tax exemption as well as its own judicial and police administration. In the following years, the Duke bought back the French ancestral castle of the L'Hermitage family in Condé-sur-l'Escaut , Nord Département , France , from the French state, which had been lost after the French Revolution . After the July Revolution in 1830, von Croÿ refused to take the oath of the new King Louis Philippe . He also renounced a seat in the French Chamber of Peers and moved his residence to Dülmen. There he began in 1834 with the construction of the local castle and the creation of a park. The 10th Duke of Croÿ multiplied the inherited property. He bought land on a large scale, but also profited from the Prussian divisions . In addition to possessions in the Münsterland , the family also owned lands in the Warburg area and in Pomerania . Much of the farmland was leased. The Karthaus domain and extensive forests were successfully operated by the ducal administration itself. There was also a sugar beet factory at Karthaus. In the Dülmen area, the Duke also founded the Prinz Rudolph ironworks, with which the family tried to create new jobs in order to prevent the population from migrating to the Ruhr area . The hut became the largest employer in the Dülmen area. At the beginning of the revolution of 1848 , the tenants protested, mainly because of high reminder fees for leases paid too late. The Duke and his family fled to Münster while the demonstrators broke into the castle and destroyed the furniture in some rooms.

Political mandates

From 1826 to 1856, von Croÿ was a member of the Westphalian provincial parliament and in 1847 a member of the United Prussian state parliament . In 1850, as a member of the House of States (first chamber), he was a member of the Erfurt Union Parliament . Between 1854 and 1861 he sat in the Prussian mansion as the hereditary beneficiary of the Dülmen rule .

literature

  • Jochen Lengemann: The German Parliament (Erfurt Union Parliament) from 1850. A manual: members, officials, life data, parliamentary groups . Munich, 2000. ISBN 3-437-31128-X , pp. 111f.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Croÿ, Alfred von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Croÿ, Alfred Franz Friedrich Philipp X. Duke of
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Spanish grandee and German gentleman, entrepreneur and politician
DATE OF BIRTH December 22, 1789
PLACE OF BIRTH Aachen
DATE OF DEATH July 14, 1861
Place of death Dülmen