Ambrosius Franz von Virmont

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Ambrosius Franz Friedrich Christian Adalbert Count of Virmont and Bretzenheim (* December 15, 1682 or 1684; † November 19, 1744 in Wetzlar ) was baron, from 1706 Count, of Neersen and the last male member of the Lower Rhine noble family Virmond-Neersen .

Life

youth

Ambrosius Franz was still a minor when his father, Ambrosius Adrian Freiherr von Viermund zu Neersen , died in 1688 and he was enfeoffed with the castle and rule of Neersen. Therefore, he was initially under the tutelage of Baron Roest von Wers and the Cologne Council of Solmacher. His mother was Johanna Margaretha von Spee. In 1699 he came of age and in the following year bailiff of Kempen and Oedt .

Marriage coat of arms of Ambrosius Franz ( Virmond-Neersen and Bentheim-Tecklenburg ) on the gable of Neersen Castle
Coat of arms of Ambrosius Franz from 1706 to 1734
Coat of arms of Ambrosius Franz from 1734 (in the heart shield increased around Bretzenheim)

Social advancement

On November 25, 1705, he married Eleonore Magdalena Wilhelmina (* February 6, 1687, † March 10, 1727), daughter of Count Ernst Wilhelm von Bentheim-Tecklenburg- Steinfurt in Anrath. This marriage paved the way for him to join the European nobility. At the brave achievements of his uncle Damian Hugo in the war against the Turks was also next to this Ambrosius Franz on September 8, 1706 by Emperor Joseph I in the imperial counts charged. His family name was changed to the French "von Virmont", following the fashionable taste of the time.

From 1712 he was also the owner of the Clörath estate , which his mother had acquired in 1693.

In 1723 he bought the Hülsdonk manor from Theodor von Bodden. Also in 1723 he received from his wife's inheritance the rule of Zoppenbroich , with which he was enfeoffed in 1724, as well as income rights at the Schüttorf court .

He was also a Grand Cross bearer and Commander of the Order of St. Michael , which is why he added a red order cross to his coat of arms in the golden field of the Neersen coat of arms.

His wife Eleonore died on March 10, 1727. Soon afterwards, his daughter Maria Isabella Augusta Ernestine (September 12, 1706 - January 9, 1728) and his son Joseph Damian Max (1707 - 1730) also died. All three were buried in the family crypt in Neersen. Their monumental black marble tombstone has been preserved to this day. Another son Johann Ludwig (* 1710; † around 1720) died at a young age.

After the death of Count Alexander IV of Velen in 1733, Ambrosius Franz was also able to obtain enfeoffment from the Archbishop of Cologne with the direct imperial rule of Bretzenheim (at that time including Winzenheim ). Ambrosius Franz was able to assert himself against Count Otto Leopold Ernst von Limburg-Styrum (* 1680; † 1754), who had been installed as heir by Alexander IV and who tried to seize power in 1736. Since 1688, not only in the Upper Rhine Reichskreis , but also in the Westphalian Reichsgrafenkollegium , seat and vote were connected with the rule Bretzenheim . On August 22, 1738 he was even elected Catholic director of this Westphalian Imperial Counts College at the Grafentag in Cologne . From then on he called himself “Reichsgraf von und zu Virmont and Bretzenheim” and made Bretzenheim Castle next to Neersen Castle his residence. Bretzenheim Castle, however , had been largely devastated by French troops in the Palatinate War of Succession in 1688 and had not yet been repaired, so that he hardly stayed there.

On April 9, 1741, he married the much younger Maria Elisabeth, daughter of the Royal Hungarian General Field Marshal Johann Hermann Franz von Nesselrode († 1751) and his cousin Maria Ludovica von Virmont in Vienna . Maria Elisabeth was previously a maid of the widowed Empress Wilhelmine Amalie .

Career at the Reich Chamber of Commerce

In 1731 Ambrosius Franz was appointed President of the Reich Chamber Court in Wetzlar . He was the second judge of the Holy Roman Empire behind chamber judge Franz Adolph von Ingelheim . As President, he headed a Senate and ran the business there; in particular, he had to monitor the assessors making their decisions and, in the event of a tie, to pass the verdict. His career peaked on October 24, 1742 when he was appointed Imperial Chamber Judge.

Attempt to regain lost family property

Like some of his ancestors, Ambrosius Franz strove all his life to regain his family's former estates and lands in Hesse. As a lawyer , he was particularly vigorous about this feudal affair. In 1742 he applied to the Hessian Landgrave Friedrich I , who was also King of Sweden, for enfeoffment with half the court in Viermünden . After leaving him humble I. repeatedly turned down Friedrich, he turned for the investiture in 1743 with an appeal to the Reichshofrat in Vienna. His death should ultimately prevent a final decision.

death

On November 19, 1744, after a masked ball in Wetzlar, Ambrosius Franz died suddenly. Since the children from his first marriage all died early and the second marriage remained childless, the Viermund family died out with his death. After a long process, his widow finally ceded the rule of Neersen, along with Anrath and castle , to the Electorate of Cologne for 110,000 guilders in 1763 . The rule of Bretzenheim was awarded by the Archbishop of Cologne to Baron Ignaz Felix von Roll zu Bernau in 1744 .

The strange circumstances of his death have been handed down as follows: On November 19, 1744, on the name day of the young Countess Elisabeth von Virmont, the President of the Chamber of Commerce, Philipp Karl Anton von Groschlag zu Wetzlar, gave a party with a masked ball in her honor. Elisabeth appeared there in the ominous black dress of a young widow. After old Ambrosius Franz had danced a few dances with the President, he complained of nausea and went outside to cool off, but then asked for a car to go home. When he arrived at the market, he fell dead into the lap of his young wife with a sigh: "Jesus, Maria, Joseph". On November 21st he was buried in Wetzlar Cathedral .

The woman von Groschlag, with whom the count had danced the dance of death, was born von Bicken and also the last of her family, who, as the chronicler Gerstenberger noted, had the same coat of arms as von Viermund's in olden times.

His widow later married Otto Heinrich Freiherr von Gemmingen zu Hornberg .

title

In 1744 he had the following titles:

literature

References and comments

  1. ^ Peter Vander: Clörath House. Home book of the Kempen-Krefeld district. Thomas Druckerei, Kempen 1973, pp. 240-253.
  2. ↑ Lentzen, p. 256.
  3. ↑ Lentzen, p. 292.
  4. ↑ a b Virmond, Viermund, an Adeliche family. In: Johann Heinrich Zedler : Large complete universal lexicon of all sciences and arts . Volume 48, Leipzig 1746, column 1771–1773.
  5. ↑ a b Lentzen, p. 294.
  6. ↑ Cf. Konrad Eubel: History of the Cologne Minorite Order Province. J. & W. Boisserée, 1906. pp. 161 f.
  7. ↑ a b Günther Ebersold: Karl August imperial prince of Bretzenheim. The political biography of an apolitical . BoD, Norderstedt 2004, ISBN 3-83341350-6 , p. 40.
  8. ↑ Winfried Dotzauer: History of the Nahe-Hunsrück area from the beginnings to the French Revolution . Franz Steiner, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-51507878-9 , p. 377.
  9. ^ Johann Jacob Moser: Teutsches Staats-Recht. Vollrath, Leipzig 1749, p. 361
  10. ^ A b Johann Jacob Moser: Constitutional law of the imperial count houses von der Leyen, von Plettenberg and von Virmont. Vollrath, Leipzig 1744, p. 28.
  11. ↑ a b c pure titular claim to lost family possessions
  12. ↑ a b c d e Electoral Cologne fiefdom
  13. ↑ a b imperial immediate manor
  14. ↑ a b c d free aristocratic, allodial knight's seat
predecessor Office successor
Ambrose Adrian Lord von Neersen
1689–1744 		to Kurköln
Alexander IV of Velen Lord of Bretzenheim
1734–1744 		Ignaz Felix von Roll zu Bernau
personal data
SURNAME Virmont, Ambrosius Franz von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Virmont and Bretzenheim zu Neersen, Ambrosius Franz Friedrich Christian Adalbert Count von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German nobleman
DATE OF BIRTH 1682 or 1684
DATE OF DEATH November 19, 1744
Place of death Wetzlar