Carl Friedrich Hermann von Freystedt

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Carl Friedrich Hermann von Freystedt

Baron Carl Friedrich Hermann von Freystedt (* December 18, 1749 in Karlsruhe ; † December 20, 1795 ), margravial colonel of Baden and commander of the entire Baden military, is considered to be the reorganizer of the Baden military in the 1780s and pioneer of general conscription .

origin

Freystedt was the child of the illegitimate relationship between Margrave Karl Friedrich von Baden-Durlach - later Grand Duke of Baden - and Elise Barbara Schlutter († June 27, 1795). The Baden court arranged a marriage between Elise Barbara Schlutter and the chief hunter Johannes Mono in January 1750 (one month after his birth).

On April 17, 1777, Margrave Karl Friedrich officially recognized him as his son. At the instigation of the margrave and the corresponding payment, Emperor Joseph II. Freystedt raised to the imperial nobility on December 30, 1777, who was thus allowed to call himself baron . He founded the Baden sideline that of Freystedt .

In the historical literature, the name is sometimes given in a different spelling: Freistedt, Freistädt.

Military career

Freystedt grew up in Badenweiler and then entered the Baden military service at a young age. The privy councilor Caspar von Saldern , who was in Russian service , stood up for the future Baron von Freystedt and provided him with a letter of recommendation in 1771 to Major General von Bauer, who was in Russian military service. Freystedt entered Russian military service in 1773. He was captain of a Russian regiment in the Russo-Turkish War , where he was badly wounded and returned to Germany. In 1778 he was a major in the Prussian army and commanded a battalion in the War of the Bavarian Succession . In 1780 he became a colonel in the Baden troops and commander of the newly established body regiment.

Margrave Karl Friedrich had very little military, which was composed on the one hand of the contingent that the margraviate had to raise within the Swabian district contingent for the imperial army and on the other hand of contingents of the Princely House (bodyguard). The financial situation of the margraviate did not permit a large standing army, the geographical location on the French imperial border and the constant threat from Austria's territorial claims triggered considerations for a significant strengthening of the military. The margrave envisioned an effective militia system that would be supported by qualified officers and non-commissioned officers who, as engineers, could also make a contribution to the development of the country in peacetime. With a general decree of December 10, 1781, he ordered the formation of two land battalions, which should be the beginning of a Baden national militia. Wilhelm von Edelsheim and Freystedt are seen as the driving forces behind and next to the margrave . Freystedt is therefore also seen as a pioneer of general conscription because the Baden militia system was based on - almost - general conscription in the Baden Unterland. Freystedt was sharply criticized for the introduction of the militia from parts of the Baden civil service.

As colonel and inspector of the Baden troops, Freystedt rewrote the Baden war articles - military law - in 1782, whereby the militiamen were also largely to be protected from arbitrary violence by their superiors.

In the First Coalition War in 1793/94, Freystedt led the Baden contingent in the Netherlands against the French troops. The troops from Baden at that time were financed by England, but complained about the bad treatment and there were many desertions . His margrave Karl Friedrich von Baden later changed fronts and became the first Grand Duke of Baden 9 years after the death of Baron Carl Friedrich Hermann von Freystedt. The grandson Karl of this fresh Grand Duke married the adopted daughter of Napoleon Bonaparte and daughter of Claude de Beauharnais, the Imperial Princess Stéphanie de Beauharnais (1789–1860) on April 8, 1806. At the end of 1813 he also changed fronts, resigned from the Confederation of the Rhine and thus saved his Grand Duchy for another 100 years. The male descendants of Baron Carl Friedrich Hermann von Freystedt served the grand ducal house of Baden until they died out in 1917.

Marriage and offspring

Freystedt married Sophia Sabine Barbara Götz in Karlsruhe on April 27, 1775, with whom he had eight children:

literature

  • Edmund von der Becke-Klüchtzner: Stamm-Tafeln of the nobility of the Grand Duchy of Baden: a newly edited nobility book. Baden-Baden 1886.
  • Gerald Maria Landgraf: "Moderate et prudenter" - studies on the enlightened reform policy of Karl Friedrich von Baden (1728-1811). Inaugural dissertation from the University of Regensburg, Landsberg aL 2008. online (PDF; 7.1 MB)
  • Karl Stiefel: Baden 1648-1952. 2 volumes, Karlsruhe 1978.
  • Fritz Hirsch : 100 years of building and looking. A book for everyone who deals with architecture out of love or because their job wants it to be. At the same time a contribution to the art topography of the Grand Duchy of Baden with special consideration of the royal seat of Karlsruhe. Badenia, Karlsruhe 1932, pp. 185 ff. Digitized at the Badische Landesbibliothek

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ s. Hirsch p. 185 (footnote 256) claims the place of birth was Badenweiler and the birth was not recorded in the church registers there.
  2. ↑ s. Hirsch p. 186 (footnote 248)
  3. ↑ s. Landgraf p. 869; also Muno or Monno (* March 23, 1719 - † October 3, 1770) s. Hirsch p. 186 (footnote 248)
  4. ↑ s. Hirsch p. 186 and 189
  5. ↑ s. Landgrave p. 869
  6. ↑ s. Stiefel Vol. I, p. 1064
  7. ↑ s. Stiefel Vol. I, p. 1008
  8. ↑ s. Hirsch p. 188 (footnote 252)
personal data
SURNAME Freystedt, Carl Friedrich Hermann von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Freystedt, Carl Friedrich Hermann Freiherr von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Baden colonel
DATE OF BIRTH December 18, 1749
PLACE OF BIRTH Karlsruhe
DATE OF DEATH December 20, 1795