Christian (Erbach-Schönberg)

Coat of arms of the Christians family as Counts of Erbach (three stars) and Lords of Breuberg (two bars)

Christian Graf zu Erbach-Schönberg, Herr zu Breuberg (born October 7, 1728 in Gedern ; † May 29, 1799 in Mergentheim ) was an Austrian general sergeant and major general , governor of the Teutonic Order in Mergentheim and ruling German imperial count from 1788 to 1799 .

family

Christian zu Erbach-Schönberg was a member of the Frankish noble family Erbach, the third son of the founder of the Erbach-Schönberg line, Count Georg August (1691-1758) and Ferdinande Henriette, née Countess zu Stollberg-Gedern (1699-1750). He was unmarried and died childless.

career

military

Christian began his military career at the age of 17 as an ensign in the Dutch service. In 1748 he entered the imperial Habsburg service as a captain in the "Christian zu Waldeck" dragoon regiment . In 1758 he was promoted to major , lieutenant colonel and colonel , and in 1773 to major general and sergeant general . As such, he was in command of the imperial bodyguard.

German medal

Coat of arms of the Teutonic Order at the Order Castle in Bad Mergentheim

In 1753 Christian converted to Erbach-Schönberg from the Evangelical Lutheran to the Catholic denomination. In 1754 he was made Knight of the Teutonic Order in the biconfessional Deutschordensballlei Hessen , which he had to leave again in 1773 due to his conversion. In Austria, he became Komtur zu Friesach and Sandhof within the purely Catholic Ballei , and he was the capitular of the Austrian Ballei of the Teutonic Order .

The Grand Master of the Order Maximilian Franz of Austria , from 1784 also Elector and Archbishop of Cologne and Prince-Bishop of Munster , made Christian zu Erbach-Schönberg in 1783, in succession to Johann Baptist von Eptingen, governor in the Mergentheim master class , and thus his deputy and head of government with the predicate "Honorable Excellency" at the seat and chamber property of the high and German master as the most important part of the "secular state" of the Teutonic Order. Count Christian became a " real secret council " and represented u. a. his employer as an authorized representative at the Rastatt Congress . As the ruling count, he remained in the governor's office until his death.

Governing Count of the Reich

The Graf-Christians-Bau (right) in the castle ensemble of (Bad) König around 1900

After the death of his older brother Franz Karl in 1788 Christian became the ruling Count of Erbach-Schönberg and Lord of Breuberg . At that time he lived longer in the König residence in the Odenwald and took care of the modernization of the administration in his sub-county: He had several new buildings erected, including the late Baroque "Kammerbau" as the administrative center in König; This later served as the residence of the Erbach-Schönberg family in addition to Schönberg Castle and the neighboring old castle and is now known as the “ New Castle” or “Graf-Christians-Bau”.

Others

Like his mentor Maximilian Franz, Count Christian was a supporter of the Enlightenment . After his eldest brother Georg Ludwig II died and his brother Franz Karl became the ruling count, he was the next eldest to sign a lapel in 1778 in which, despite his conversion to Catholicism, he assured the unaffected continued existence of the Lutheran denomination in his county in the event of a government takeover . As a private secretary he employed the writer, satirist and Freemason Karl Julius Weber . In the first volume of his book, Ritter-Wesen, he devoted several pages to a detailed description of the burial ceremonies between May 29 and June 2, 1799 for the governor and imperial count Christian zu Erbach, under the title The Last Knight's Body in Mergentheim. Schönberg in Mergentheim, who found his final resting place in a crypt in the parish church there.

literature

Frithjof Sperling: Christian Graf zu Erbach-Schönberg. Deputy of the Grand Master in the residential town of Mergentheim . In: Udo Arnold (ed.): Contributions to the history of the German Order 2 , Marburg 1993 (= sources and studies on the history of the German Order 49), pp. 135–150.
Gustav Simon: The history of the dynasts and counts of Erbach and their country. Frankfurt a. M. 1858, especially p. 475 f. ( Digitized version )

Web links

Image of Christian zu Erbach-Schönberg in the digital holdings of the Hessian State Archives Darmstadt (accessed November 8, 2017)
Erbach-Schönberg, Christian Graf too. Hessian biography. In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).

Individual evidence

↑ Klaus Oldenhage: Elector Archduke Maximilian Franz as high and German master 1780–1801 . Bad Godesberg 1993 (= sources and studies on the history of the Teutonic Order 34), p. 73.
↑ Cf. Franconian Address Book for the year 1797 , p. 225. ( digitized version )
↑ corpse in the South German meaning 'funeral service'
↑ Karl Julius Weber: The knight being and the Templars, Johanniter and Marianer or German knights in particular . First volume, 2nd edition, Stuttgart 1836 (= all works 12), pp. 365–368. ( Digitized version )

personal data
SURNAME	Christian
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Erbach-Schönberg, Christian Graf zu (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Count zu Erbach-Schönberg, governor of the Teutonic Order
DATE OF BIRTH	October 7, 1728
PLACE OF BIRTH	Gedern
DATE OF DEATH	May 29, 1799
Place of death	Mergentheim

[1] Klaus Oldenhage: Elector Archduke Maximilian Franz as high and German master 1780–1801 . Bad Godesberg 1993 (= sources and studies on the history of the Teutonic Order 34), p. 73.

[2] Cf. Franconian Address Book for the year 1797 , p. 225. ( digitized version )

[3] corpse in the South German meaning 'funeral service'

[4] Karl Julius Weber: The knight being and the Templars, Johanniter and Marianer or German knights in particular . First volume, 2nd edition, Stuttgart 1836 (= all works 12), pp. 365–368. ( Digitized version )