Caroline von Satzenhofen

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Portrait of Carolines von Satzenhofen by Johann Heinrich Fischer

Maria Johanna Caroline Josepha Antonia von Satzenhofen (* 1728 ; † 23 January 1785 ), also written Satzenhoven , was abbess of the noble women's monastery Vilich from 1762 until her death and the lover of the Electorate of Cologne's First Minister Caspar Anton von Belderbusch .

Life

Caroline was born as one of six daughters of the Imperial Count and Privy Councilor Carl Martin Ferdinand von Satzenhofen zu Bechtolsheim and his wife Maria Anna von Bernsau , who came from the Bavarian aristocracy . Like many noble daughters of her time, she was cared for by getting a prebend in a noble pen . She received this in 1747 in the Nottulner Damenstift through the mediation of the later Emperor Karl VII. Her sisters came to the monasteries of Vilich, Schwarzrheindorf and Dietkirchen . At the instigation of her sister Odilia, who had sworn up in Vilich since 1736, Caroline also received a prebend there in 1751 and was able to move from Nottuln closer to her family who lived in Bonn and the surrounding area.

When the Vilich abbess Maria Antonetta von der Vorst zu Lombeck and Lüftelberg died in 1762 , Caroline was elected her successor and prevailed against her rival Maria Anna von Bylandt. In the same year she was confirmed in her new office by the Archbishop of Cologne, Maximilian Friedrich von Königsegg-Rothenfels . The father-in-law of her sister Johanna Ambrosina Franziska, Vincenz Philipp Anton von Belderbusch, congratulated the new abbess, but at the same time expressed his regret in his letter of congratulations that Caroline would not marry and have children. Perhaps this remark was also a cautious allusion to Caroline's liaison with another son of Vincenz Philipp Anton, Caspar Anton. At the latest at the wedding of Caroline's sister to Maximilian Wilhelm von Belderbusch on November 4, 1748, the 20-year-old Caroline and the six-year-old Caspar Anton von Belderbusch met. When Caroline's move to Vilich, the contact between the two of them could become closer due to the spatial proximity. It is not known when exactly the relationship between Caroline and the Teutonic Knight , who was obliged to be celibate, began. The love affair between the two was not a secret and widely known, but under the guise of relatives (their siblings were married to each other) etiquette was preserved.

As abbess, Caroline von Satzenhofen was very family-conscious. In 1763 she accepted Maria Augusta von Belderbusch, a niece of Caspar Anton, in Vilich, and in 1779 and 1783 her nieces Isabella and Johanna von Leerodt , both daughters of her sister Odilia, were accepted into Caroline's monastery. In Archbishop Maximilian Friedrich von Königsegg-Rothenfels she had an influential supporter who was always very fond of her. Possibly this was due to her connection to his now irreplaceable Minister Caspar Anton von Belderbusch. The archbishop made many decisions in Caroline's favor, for example he rejected the application of the arch- chivalry knighthood to amalgamate the women's pens of Vilich, Schwarzrheindorf and Dietkirchen. He also determined that in the event of a tie in the chapter of the monastery, the abbess's vote was decisive.

The collegiate church of St. Peter was extensively renovated under Caroline from 1763 to 1767 . This was made possible by a foundation of her mother Maria Anna. The architect for the renovation was the builder Johann Georg Leydel . After completing the work, he then worked for Caroline's lover and built for him from 1767 to 1772 Miel Castle in the subordinate rule of the same name, officially acquired by Caspar Anton's brother . The new building was to become Belderbusch's private refuge, in which Caroline had her own bedroom. The alliance coat of arms Belderbusch / Satzenhofen in the risalit of the castle is therefore ambiguous: It shows not only the coats of arms of the official owner couple Maximilian Wilhelm Belderbusch and Johanna Ambrosina Franziska von Satzenhofen, but also those of the actual builder and his lover. Caroline took an active part in the construction of the palace and inspected the construction site several times to inform the client about the progress.

After Belderbusch's unexpected death on January 2, 1784, diatribes about Caroline came into circulation. The minister's opponents now saw their chance to settle accounts with his long-term partner. This was previously impossible, because Belderbusch's position had been too powerful for his opponents to cannibalize the relationship between him and Caroline von Satzenhofen. When her lover died, she was already seriously ill with cancer, but she still supervised the inventory of his property - in accordance with Belderbusch's will. With the permission of the Archbishop of Cologne, she drew up a will for herself in which she made Anton von Belderbusch, a nephew of her long-time partner and son of her sister Johanna Ambrosina Franziska, her universal heir. She died on January 23, 1785 a very wealthy woman. At the time of her death her capital was more than 80,000  Rhenish guilders . In addition, there was valuable jewelry and real estate such as a house “Am Hof” opposite the Bonn Residence and a house on what was then Vierecksplatz (today “Berliner Freiheit”). Like her partner, who had died a year earlier, she was buried in the Church of St. Martin in Bonn , which was laid down in 1812 .

Caroline's picture among contemporaries

The pamphlets published after the unexpected death of Caspar Anton von Belderbusch paint a consistently negative picture of the abbess of Vilich. She described the hateful and scornful diatribes as greedy and accused her of being involved in rascals and frauds. She has enriched herself through buying offices , clubbing and bribery. The anonymous authors of the writings called her the “minister's broker” and a thief, although this reputation can be traced back to the usual purchase of offices and prebends at the time. It is at least questionable whether the allegations of dubious business dealings and exchanges of office were actually correct, because they were only raised by those contemporaries who had come to Caroline in vain in this regard. In fact, however, it was the case that Caroline von Satzenhofen probably regulated access to the minister during the more than 20-year relationship. The French charge d'affaires at the Electoral Cologne court, Chalgrin, reported that the one who wants to achieve something in Belderbusch, had to first acquire the favor of the abbess.

Little is known about the appearance of the Vilich abbess and her appearance. A portrait of Carolines made by the court painter Johann Heinrich Fischer from the Electorate of Cologne, shows a pleasant appearance, whereas the French ambassador to the Electorate of Cologne court, François de Monteynard, described her appearance in 1772 as unappealing. On the other hand, the opinion of Caroline's spiritual gifts was more unanimous: all sides considered her to be keen. Her large fortune and the financial independence that came with it allowed her to be independent and to be extremely decisive for that time.

literature

  • Max Braubach: The Minister Belderbusch and his nephews. In: Max Braubach: Kurköln. Figures and events from two centuries of Rhenish history. Aschendorff, Münster 1949, pp. 335-400.
  • Wolf D. Penning: Caroline von Satzenhoven - Abbess of Vilich (1728–1785) and partner of the Landkomtur and Minister of the Electorate of Cologne, Caspar Anton von Belderbusch. Documents and materials for a biography. In: Annals of the Historical Association for the Lower Rhine . Volume 217. Böhlau, Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 2015, ISSN  2194-3818 , pp. 149–191 ( digitized from De Gruyter (subject to a charge)).
  • Wolf D. Penning: Caspar Anton Belderbusch (1722–1784). Personality and politics in the vicinity of three electors. A contribution to the history of »Enlightened Absolutism« in Kurköln. In: Frank Günter Zehnder (Ed.): In the interplay of forces. Political developments of the 17th and 18th centuries in Kurköln (= The crack in the sky. Volume 2). DuMont, Cologne 1999, ISBN 3-7701-5004-X , p. 122 ff.
  • Wolf D. Penning: A casa di delizie for the Minister Caspar Anton von Belderbusch and Miel. A prosopographic contribution. In: Annals of the Historical Association for the Lower Rhine. Volume 196. Rheinland-Verlag, Pulheim 1994, ISSN  2194-3818 , pp. 98-102 ( digitized from De Gruyter (subject to a charge)).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b W. D. Penning: Caroline von Satzenhoven. 2015, p. 150.
  2. ^ A b W. D. Penning: Caroline von Satzenhoven. 2015, p. 151.
  3. ↑ a b Wolfgang Löhr: Not out of fear of certain death. The will of Maria Anna von Bylandt (1711-1787), Seniorissa of the Vilich Canon Church near Bonn. In: Heinz Finger, Reimund Haas, Hermann-Josef Scheidgen (eds.): Local Church and Universal Church in History: Cologne Church History between the Middle Ages and the Second Vatican Council. Ceremony for Norbert Trippen on his 75th birthday (= Bonn contributions to church history. Volume 28). Böhlau, Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 2011, ISBN 978-3-412-20801-1 , p. 417 ( digitized version ).
  4. ^ A b W. D. Penning: Caroline von Satzenhoven. 2015, p. 152.
  5. ^ WD Penning: Caroline von Satzenhoven. 2015, pp. 152–153.
  6. ^ A b W. D. Penning: Caroline von Satzenhoven. 2015, p. 154.
  7. ^ WD Penning: Caroline von Satzenhoven. 2015, p. 153.
  8. ^ A b c W. D. Penning: Caroline von Satzenhoven. 2015, p. 156.
  9. ^ A b W. D. Penning: Caroline von Satzenhoven. 2015, p. 157.
  10. ^ WD Penning: Caroline von Satzenhoven. 2015, p. 162.
  11. ^ WD Penning: Caroline von Satzenhoven. 2015, p. 162, note 43.
  12. ^ WD Penning: Caspar Anton Belderbusch (1722–1784). 1999, p. 152.
  13. ^ WD Penning: Caroline von Satzenhoven. 2015, p. 160.
  14. ^ WD Penning: Caroline von Satzenhoven. 2015, p. 174.
  15. ↑ a b M. Braubach: The Minister Belderbusch and his nephews. 1949, p. 360.
personal data
SURNAME Satzenhofen, Caroline von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Satzenhofen, Maria Johanna Caroline Josepha Antonia von (full name); Satzenhoven, Caroline von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Abbess of the Vilich women's monastery
DATE OF BIRTH 1728
DATE OF DEATH January 23, 1785