Clemens August von Westphalen zu Fürstenberg

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Clemens August Reichsgraf von Westphalen zu Fürstenberg (born December 4, 1805 in Frankfurt am Main , † April 10, 1885 at Laer Castle near Meschede ) was a German Fideikommissherr and politician.

Clemens August Reichsgraf von Westphalen zu Fürstenberg

Origin and family

Von Westphalen came from a noble family that was raised to the rank of count in the 17th century. The lords of Westphalia had long been one of the court offices at the Prince Bishop of Paderborn held and led to the secularization on the title of "Erbküchenmeisters the Principality of Paderborn." In the 18th century, won the race on the circuit of the landed gentry in the Sauerland also important. Thus, Friedrich Wilhelm von Westphalen 1763 Prince Bishop of Hildesheim elected and later of Paderborn. Clemens August von Westphalen (* 1753) was for many years the imperial envoy with the rank of minister to the courts of the Rhenish electors and to the sovereigns in Westphalia and the Lower Rhine. Emperor Leopold II raised him to the rank of imperial count for his services . The sons of the first imperial count also retained their ties to Austria.

The younger Clemens August was the son of Friedrich Wilhelm von Westphalen and his wife Elisabeth Anna (born von Thun and Hohenstein). After his birth in Frankfurt, Clemens August grew up mainly at Schloss Fürstenberg and at Schloss Laer with his grandfather. Since 1816 he received lessons from a private teacher and lived mostly in Frankfurt. After the death of his grandfather of the same name, Clemens August inherited almost all of his property from him, with the exception of the Frankfurt holdings. This property was administered by a guardian until the age of majority. It comprised around 13,000 hectares of land, including in the Meschede district. Clemens August first studied law at the University of Leuven , later also in Göttingen and Berlin .

After completing his studies, von Westphalen first worked as a trainee lawyer at the Higher Regional Court in Münster in 1828 and was considered a wanted party for the daughters from the higher circles of the city. His marriage decision was unconventional, however, as Annette von Droste-Hülshoff described in a letter: “ A young Count von Westphalen, who played an important role this winter, mainly because of his money, as he has 60,000 Reichstaler revenue, didn't get through any of ours Let young beauties be captivated, but instead - he is only 24 years old - the pupil, pupil and respectful admirer of Countess Kunigunde Aicholt (...). Nobody thought about it, as Kunigunde is known to be over thirty until the engagement of the two was announced a few days ago . " Even the President Ludwig von Vincke and Baron von Stein expressed their displeasure.

Westphalen was a knight of the Order of Malta and was involved in the re-establishment of the German branch by August von Haxthausen .

Public work

In 1834, von Westphalen was elected district administrator by the Meschede district council and moved entirely to Laer Castle. Contrary to his hopes, he could not really play an independent role as district administrator, as the actions of the district administrators were closely monitored by the district president in Arnsberg . The count, disappointed, applied to be dismissed from civil service, which he was granted in 1839. In the same year the Crown Prince (who later became King Friedrich Wilhelm IV ) visited the Count and stayed at Laer Castle. Von Westphalen had a virile vote (i.e. a single vote as a member of the high nobility) in the Westphalian Provincial Parliament as the majordomo of the Counts of Westphalen's estates . However, von Westphalen did not take the associated obligations seriously for a long time and was represented at the meetings until King Friedrich Wilhelm IV ordered in 1843 that he would have to appear in person in the future.

During the confusion of Cologne , von Westphalen demonstratively sided with the Archbishop of Cologne, Clemens August Droste zu Vischering, who was imprisoned by the Prussian government, when he asked the prisoner to be the godfather of his son. He also visited the archbishop regularly while he was in custody in Minden . However, a family relationship on the part of Kunigunde also played a role. After Friedrich Wilhelm IV ascended to the throne, the Catholic Westphalian nobility hoped for an end to imprisonment, but a request to that effect at the state parliament of 1841 failed due to resistance from the Protestant nobility and city representatives. Von Westphalen nevertheless traveled to Berlin and spoke to the king about the Archbishop's affair, who felt that he was under pressure and rejected the request. Angry, the count returned and announced in public that he wanted to emigrate, as he was unable to serve the king in his country. In fact, the family moved to an estate in the Duchy of Nassau . After the end of the confusion in Cologne in the same year, the king again kindly invited the count to return to Prussia. This did not happen, however, because the family went to Milan to have the Countess treated for cancer. Von Wesphalen only returned after her death in 1843 and had to take his feudal oath again because of his temporary expatriation. This was perceived by the Catholic public in the Rhineland and Westphalia as a conscious attempt at humiliation and gave further impetus to the political Catholicism that rose after the turmoil in Cologne.

In 1846 von Westphalen became a participant in the "Hatzfeld Affair", a divorce between Sophie von Hatzfeldt and her husband. The proceedings were pending at the Arnsberg Regional Court . Sophie von Hatzfeld's lawyer was Ferdinand Lassalle . Von Westphalen also got involved in the matter. While Lassalle was concerned with a legal decision, the count tried to resolve the matter out of court out of concern about the loss of reputation of the nobility. Contact with Lassalle lasted into the 1860s, despite differing political positions.

At the beginning of the revolution of 1848 there were peasant riots in Westphalia, during which the residents of Fürstenberg destroyed the castle of the count there on March 25, 1848 and destroyed the archive when the latter refused to respond to their demands. A day later, the Prussian military moved into Fürstenberg and arrested 150 residents who were taken to the prison in Arnsberg .

In the 1850s von Westphalen again took part regularly in the Westphalian Provincial Parliament in Münster. In 1858 he was elected for the first time as state marshal of the assembly. The count held this office regularly until 1865. In addition, he was now also a member of the Prussian manor house . During one of his stays in Berlin von Westphalen met Countess Cäcilie Lucchesini, who was many years his junior, and married her. The children Otto , district administrator in the Lüdinghausen district and Franz , district administrator in the Münster district, emerged from the marriage . Politically, the Count was critical of the Liberals in the 1860s and was a supporter of a Greater German solution with regard to German unification . Therefore, in 1862, he also took part in the founding of the German Reform Association . From the beginning he was critical of Otto von Bismarck's appointment as Prime Minister. During the war of 1866 , the Prussian subject von Westphalen then openly sided with Austria. After the victory of Prussia, the count publicly revoked his feudal oath to the King of Prussia and accused him of destroying the German Confederation . Bismarck has prevented plans to prosecute lese majesty in order to avoid a lengthy legal battle with potentially negative consequences. The affair was then resolved. However, von Westphalen no longer took his hereditary seat in the manor house in protest. Instead, he continued to oppose the Prime Minister from Westphalia. He had not received an invitation to the Westphalian Provincial Parliament of 1868, but nevertheless took part in the first session without any resistance from the assembly. Only on the instructions of the Minister of the Interior Friedrich Albrecht zu Eulenburg was von Westphalen finally excluded from the state parliament. During the Kulturkampf , Westphalen was in close correspondence with Archbishop Wilhelm Emmanuel von Ketteler until his death . The Count had been refused a funeral in Meschede, so he was buried in Kulm .

Remarks

  1. ^ Vieweger, Counts of Westphalia, p. 124.

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Westphalen zu Fürstenberg, Clemens August von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Westphalen zu Fürstenberg, Clemens August Reichsgraf von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Fideikommissherr and politician
DATE OF BIRTH 4th December 1805
PLACE OF BIRTH Frankfurt am Main
DATE OF DEATH April 10, 1885
Place of death Schloss Laer in Meschede