August David zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein

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Count August David zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein , in the literature Count August Wittgenstein (* April 14, 1663 ; † August 27, 1735 ), comes from the aristocratic family Sayn-Wittgenstein and was regent of the county from 1723 until his death in 1735 Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein based in Wittgenstein Castle near Bad Laasphe in what is now North Rhine-Westphalia. His parents were Count Gustav Otto zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein (* April 14, 1633; † June 22, 1700) and his wife Auguste Helena de la Place (* 1634; † February 24, 1705).

In addition, he was from December 1701 to December 27, 1710 Oberhofmarschall at the court of the Prussian King Friedrich I. On January 19, 1703 he was appointed Knight of the Order of the Black Eagle .

There he formed together with the Prussian Prime Minister Graf Wartenberg (1643-1712) and the Privy Council of War and Governor of Berlin Graf Wartensleben the " Three Counts Cabinet ", also known as "The Three Bad Wehs". This trio determined Prussian politics for 8 years (1702 to 1710), as a result of which Prussia was completely plundered and state bankruptcy was imminent.

Live and act

After the fall of Prussian Prime Minister Danckelmann in 1697 through the intrigues of the Prime Minister who followed him, Count Wartenberg , he wanted to secure and expand his newly won influence at the Berlin court by placing docile, willing accomplices in the influential state posts. He chose the financially and humanly decrepit Imperial Count August von Wittgenstein as a particularly suitable tool for the office of Oberhofmarschall. At the time, Wittgenstein was completely in debt and was involved in a multitude of lawsuits with all possible creditors .

In addition, there was a case against him before the Reich Chamber of Commerce in which his own subjects claimed that they had completely repaid a loan taken by the count, but that they did not get the promissory note back from the count. On December 23, 1701, the count was found guilty of the matter. Instead of returning the promissory note, he had his county occupied by Prussian dragoons, who only withdrew after their own subjects had paid their debt to the count a second time, despite a valid judgment.

In December 1701 Wittgenstein was appointed Oberhofmarschall. His indebtedness and lack of money ensured that he became a loyal and unwilling servant of his patron Wartenberg. As court marshal , he was in charge of the domains and fire coffers from which he embezzled funds for himself. The special abilities of Count Wittgenstein lay in fundraising. His methods were usually credit and extortion. In the eyes of Prime Minister Wartenberg, Wittgenstein's talent predestined him to head the Prussian state finances, which was later transferred to him.

In the period that followed, a large number of types of taxes were introduced, which were often far from reality. (Carriage tax, coffee tax, tea tax, chocolate tax, wig tax, taxation of unmarried women under 40 years of age ( maiden tax), stamp tax) These special taxes were desperate money-raising measures in order to get rid of Frederick I's lust for luxury.

Wittgenstein also set up a “ fire fund” whose compulsory contributions led to real estate prices falling. The dizziness was suddenly noticed when the town of Crossen burned down in August 1708 and the fire box was empty. Wittgenstein harshly rejected all petitions by the injured party. On August 25, 1710 , the Crown Prince, who later became King Friedrich Wilhelm I , had an investigative commission set up to investigate financial behavior in the Land of Prussia. Aware of the impending danger, Wittgenstein presented a memorandum on September 24, 1710, which emphasized the merits of his own administration. That was of little help when the commission of inquiry published its damning report on state finances on December 23, 1710. The deeply disappointed and deceived king had Wittgenstein placed under house arrest on December 27, 1710 and deprived him of the Order of the Black Eagle . On December 29th, Wittgenstein was brought to the Spandau Citadel . The plundered people ran after the carriage with Wittgenstein and shouted: "To the gallows with the fire and salt thief!" He was only released from Spandau after he had paid the sums he had embezzled.

From 1719 he was made co-regent of the County of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein at his brother Henrich Albrecht's side. During his reign from 1723 he pursued a strict religious policy, as a result of which many people fled the county as religious refugees, increasingly to the neighboring county of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, where a tolerant religious policy was pursued. At his instigation, surveyors were brought into the county from 1724 in order to comprehensively survey the territory for fiscal reasons and to create a map series. The Wittgenstein Forest Atlas was completed in 1739, four years after his death.

family

He was married twice. His first wife was his cousin, Concordia Frederike von Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein-Vallendar (* 1679; † June 6, 1709), whom he married in 1703. She was the daughter of Count Friedrich Wilhelm zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein (1647–1685) and Charlotte Luise Countess zu Leiningen-Dagsburg-Hartenburg . The couple had the following children:

On January 3, 1715, August David married his second wife, Albertine Amalie (1686–1723), daughter of Count Heinrich Ernst zu Leiningen-Westerburg and his wife Albertine nee. Countess zu Sayn-Wittgenstein.

The son Heinrich Ernst August (* December 20, 1715, † May 19, 1792) emerged from this second marriage.

Count August David died on August 27, 1735 at the age of 72 at Wittgenstein Castle. His successor as regent of the county of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein was his 27-year-old son Friedrich.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Helmut Nuhn: General and special charts of the Reichsgrafschaft Wittgenstein 1739. A remarkable document on historical cartography, economic history and regional studies of the Hessian-Westphalian low mountain range. In: Reports on German regional studies, Federal Research Center for Regional Studies and Regional Planning, Volume 45, Issue 2, Bonn-Bad Godesberg 1971.
  2. ↑ Ulf Lückel, Andreas Kroh: The Princely House of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein , Börde-Verlag, Werl 2004, pp. 16-17.
personal data
SURNAME Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein, August David zu
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wittgenstein, Count August
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Regent of the County of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein
DATE OF BIRTH April 14, 1663
DATE OF DEATH August 27, 1735