Claude de Saint Martin

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Tomb in the Mannheim Heilig-Geist-Kirche , created by Theodor Wagner

Claude de Saint Martin (born October 23, 1729 in Seyssel (Ain) , France ; † November 30, 1799 in Munich ) was an ennobled banker, imperial count , entrepreneur from the Electorate of the Palatinate and a real privy councilor .

biography

His early life is largely in the dark. According to the epitaph, he came from Seyssel in the Bugey region . He was not a nobleman and appeared in Mannheim in 1764 . Stephan von Stengel calls him in his memorabilia a “failed banker who escaped from Amsterdam ” and a “rude adventurer” . Karl Theodor von Traitteur narrates that it was said about him that he was a “baptized Jew” or a “failed merchant from Lyon ” .

Saint Martin planned the introduction of a state lottery which had just come into fashion in Mannheim and the Electoral Palatinate , for which he was able to win over Minister Peter Emanuel von Zedtwitz , who in turn inspired Elector Karl Theodor . The elector financed the company, received the majority of the profit and the rest of the income was shared by Zedwitz and Saint Martin. The lottery center was located in the Mannheimer Palais L 1, 2, right next to the Augustinian Choir Women Church.

The game of chance brought in considerable profits, which Elector Karl Theodor used mainly to care for his natural children. The other two partners also made a fortune with it. Claude Saint Martin advanced to the lottery general administrator, in 1770 to the real secret council, as well as to the court chamber and commerce councilor . In 1776 he was ennobled and in 1785 raised to the rank of imperial count. In 1792 he bought an estate in Mutterstadt and one in Friesenheim .

Claude de Saint Martin died in Munich in 1799, he was transferred to Mannheim and buried first in the Capuchin Church and finally in 1802 in the Augustinian Choir Women . There he subsequently received an artistic epitaph by the Stuttgart sculptor Theodor Wagner (1800–1880), which has been in the Mannheim Heilig-Geist-Kirche since the church was profaned in 1898 .

Family relationships

Tomb of the first wife, in the Heilig-Geist-Kirche Mannheim, made by Peter Anton von Verschaffelt

On November 24, 1769, Saint Martin married Ursula von Verschaffelt (1749–1780), the daughter of the Electoral Palatinate court sculptor Peter Anton von Verschaffelt (1710–1793). The Mannheim court librarian Nicolas Maillot de la Treille married the couple, Minister Zedwitz and the bride's parents acted as witnesses.

From the marriage came a son and daughter Josepha Ursula de Saint Martin , who died early and married Baron Nikolaus Casimir von Herding , former adjutant general of the elector Karl Theodor, later Bavarian chamberlain , lieutenant general and chief steward of Queen Caroline of Bavaria .

Their daughter Maria Magdalena (1789-1859) joined in 1808 with Prince Karl Theodor von Isenburg, son of the Bavarian Lieutenant General Friedrich Wilhelm zu Isenburg and Büdingen (1730-1804) and his wife Karoline Franziska Dorothea von Parkstein (1762-1816), one natural daughter of Elector Karl Theodor.

After Claude de Saint Martin's first wife Ursula nee von Verschaffelt had already died in 1780, he secretly married the widow of Minister Peter Emanuel von Zedtwitz , who died in 1786 , Magdalena nee. from Herding. She was the sister of his son-in-law and could only marry Saint Martin in secret, otherwise she would have lost her ministerial wife's pension and the title of "Excellency" from her deceased husband. This connection remained without offspring.

The tomb for Saint Martin's first wife, Verschaffelt's daughter, made by Peter Anton von Verschaffelt, is now also in the Heilig-Geist-Kirche Mannheim.

literature

  • Hugo Drös: The grave monuments of the Heiliggeistkirche in Mannheim , in: Mannheimer Geschichtsblätter. - Volume 29, 1928, No. 4. Columns 75 - 81; The article as a PDF document
  • Stephan von Stengel : Memories ed. v. Günther Ebersold (writings of the friends of Mannheim and the former Electoral Palatinate, Mannheimer Altertumsverein, issue 23), Palatium Verlag, Mannheim 1993, ISBN 3-920671-06-6 , pp. 91, 92, 107 and. 153
  • Yearbook of the Institute for German History , Volume 13, 1984, page 69; (Detail scan)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Minutes of the German Federal Assembly of 1829 , Frankfurt am Main, 1829, p. 573 and 574; (Digital scan)
  2. ↑ Zeitung des Großherzogtums Frankfurt , No. 286, of October 13, 1811 and No. 291, of October 18, 1811; (Digital scans)
  3. ↑ Genealogical website about Maria Magdalena von Isenburg geb. from Herding
personal data
SURNAME Saint Martin, Claude de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Saint Martin, Claude of
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Reichsgraf, entrepreneur and court official from the Electoral Palatinate
DATE OF BIRTH October 23, 1729
PLACE OF BIRTH Seyssel (Ain)
DATE OF DEATH November 30, 1799
Place of death Munich