Carl August von Struensee

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Carl August von Struensee

Carl August Struensee , from 1789 Struensee von Carlsbach (born August 18, 1735 in Halle , † October 17, 1804 in Berlin ) was Prussian Minister of Finance.

Life

Struensee came from a family originally resident in the Mark Brandenburg region, whose name is first mentioned in a document in 1477 in Neuruppin . His father Adam Struensee (1708-1791) was pastor and professor of theology in Halle and later general superintendent of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein , his mother Maria Dorothea was the daughter of the physician and personal physician of the Danish King Johann Samuel Carl (1677-1757).

He studied from 1751 at the Friedrichs University Halle theology . In 1754 he finished his studies with a dissertation, which he defended before an examination committee chaired by his father. After that, however, he turned to the subjects of mathematics and philosophy , which he studied from 1755 at the University of Göttingen . In 1757 he became a professor at the Knight Academy in Liegnitz . Without having been a soldier himself, he wrote some military science textbooks for teaching purposes, including his work The Beginnings of Artillery , which developed into a standard work on strategic warfare and appeared in three editions well into the 19th century. Furthermore, between 1771 and 1774, his three-volume work The Beginnings of War Architecture was published, which, according to Struensee's biographer Johann August Nösselt, was described as the "best German work on engineering".

The brothers Struensee and Enevold von Brandt as state prisoners in 1772

When his younger brother Johann Friedrich Struensee (1737–1772) became the personal physician of the Danish King Christian VII and a little later became his most influential advisor and de facto regent of Denmark , on November 13, 1769 he appointed his brother to the judiciary . Carl August Struensee did not leave Liegnitz until April 1771 and moved to Copenhagen . There he supported his brother's reforms primarily with his knowledge of financial policy, for example by advocating central financial management in which a financial college replaced the interest chamber, the general chamber and the commercial academy. In addition, a state fund took over the administration of the kingdom's income, including the king's private chamber, consisting mainly of the income from the sound tariff , which had traditionally flowed to the king. The state budget could be balanced within a very short time. After his brother was overthrown on January 17, 1772, he was also arrested, had to answer a lawsuit, but was released from prison after a few months.

He then returned to the Liegnitz Knights' Academy, but did not take over his old school office again , as Friedrich II wanted, but dealt with economics . To this end, he wrote several treatises that moved the king to appoint him as a bank director in Elbing in 1777 . In 1782 he came to Berlin as the royal Prussian secret finance councilor and director of the Prussian maritime trade . In 1791 Friedrich Wilhelm II appointed him Minister of Accise, Customs, Commercial and Factories, an office that he also held under Friedrich Wilhelm III. held until his death. He was also appointed royal Prussian secret minister of state.

Struensee was close to the Berlin Enlightenment and wrote some articles in the General German Library edited by Friedrich Nicolai . He was also a member of the Berlin Wednesday Society and was in contact with Johann Georg Hamann and Immanuel Kant in Königsberg .

Ennoblement

He received the Prussian approval to accept the Danish nobility intended for him on March 1, 1789 in Berlin. The elevation to the Danish nobility with Carlsbach increasing his name , which varies according to his mother's family name, took place on May 15, 1789 at Christiansborg Palace .

His other brother Gotthilf Christoph Struensee , cand. Jur. and his successor as bank director in Elbing, was raised to the Prussian nobility on December 26, 1803 in Berlin.

Rating

According to Nösselt, Struensee stood out positively because of his acuteness, precision, clarity and order of his thoughts. The Prussian Finance Councilor Theodor von Schön even described him as "the greatest statesman the Prussian state has ever had". However, Struensee apparently had problems with his non-aristocratic origins, since he led an outsider existence in the government circles of the Prussian state. Increasingly conservative in later years, he opposed reform efforts in the Prussian financial system despite his previously successful reforms in the Danish financial administration.

family

Struensee was married to Karoline Elisabeth Müller (1748–1803), the daughter of the administrator of the Liegnitz Knight Academy . The couple had three daughters:

  • Henriette (* October 17, 1779 - March 3, 1832) ∞ Count Hans Valentin von Königsmarck (* June 7, 1773 † November 26, 1849), Hereditary Chief Steward of the Kurmark, parents of the envoy Hans von Königsmarck
  • Friederike Karoline (April 30, 1788 - May 1, 1863) ∞ Friedrich Wilhelm von Schütze (November 30, 1780 - January 13, 1844), Prussian Privy Councilor, heir of Schöneiche
  • Karoline Maria (* January 22, 1787; † February 23, 1858) ∞ Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig von Schütze (* 1782; † September 20, 1856), Herr auf Schönauf

Works

  • Master's thesis: De mediis cognotionem mortuam reddendi vivam. Publisher: Johann Justinus Gebauer , Halle / Magdeburg, 1756, ( online ).
  • Translation from the French and preface: The art of war of Count Moritz von Sachsen. Siegert, Liegnitz / Leipzig, 1767, ( online ).
  • Artillery origins. Siegert, Liegnitz / Leipzig, 1769, 2nd edition, ( online ).
  • The beginnings of war architecture. 3 volumes. Siegert, Liegnitz / Leipzig, 1771–1774.
  • Johann Christian Sinapius , Karl August von Struensee (both editors / author): Brief description of the actions of the most distinguished European states ; 1, 2.1 and 2.2, Siegert, Liegnitz / Leipzig, 1778.

literature

Web links

Wikisource: Johann Christian Sinapius  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Johann August Nösselt: Memories of the Königl. Prussia. Minister of State Carl August von Struensee. Published in: August Hermann Niemeyer: Life, Character and Merit of Johann August Nösselt. Halle / Berlin, 1809. pp. 233-234.
  2. ^ Johann August Nösselt: Memories of the Königl. Prussia. Minister of State Carl August von Struensee. Published in: August Hermann Niemeyer: Life, Character and Merit of Johann August Nösselt. Halle / Berlin, 1809. pp. 235 f.
  3. ^ Marie Hendel: Contributions to the appreciation of the Prussian Finance Minister CA v. Struensee. Göttingen, 1920. p. 6.
personal data
SURNAME Struensee, Carl August von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Struensee, Carl August
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian Finance Minister
DATE OF BIRTH August 18, 1735
PLACE OF BIRTH Hall
DATE OF DEATH October 17, 1804
Place of death Berlin