Conrad zu Rantzau

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Conrad zu Rantzau

Imperial Count Conrad zu Rantzau , completely Andreas Conrad Peter Graf zu Rantzau (-Breitburg) (born September 2, 1773 in Breitenburg ; † August 3, 1845 in Wiesbaden ) was a Holstein landowner and Danish Minister of State.

Life

Conrad zu Rantzau came from the (younger) Breitenburg family of the Schleswig-Holstein Equites Originarii family Rantzau . He was the youngest son of Count Friedrich zu Rantzau (1729-1806) and his wife Louise Amoene von Castell-Remlingen (1732-1802), through the Breitenburg after the death of her brother Christian Adolf Friedrich Gottlieb zu Castell-Remlingen back to the The Rantzau family had come. The canon and bailiff August zu Rantzau (1773-1845) and the Danish general war commissioner Hans zu Rantzau were his brothers. His sister Friederike Christiane Marie (1762–1831) was married to Heinrich von Holstein-Holsteinborg (1748–1796) on Gut Waterneverstorf and was the mother of Heinrich Christoph von Holstein . Although he was the youngest of the brothers, his mother made him the heir of the Breitenburg family affide, over which she had retained the right to determine.

He first studied from 1792 at the University of Kiel and from October 1794 at the University of Göttingen . Then he went on a grand tour .

With the death of his mother in 1802, he took over the inheritance as Fideikommissherr in Breitenburg and became the largest landowner in Holstein with around 9,400 hectares in nine bailiwicks . His father withdrew to the Rosdorf (Holstein) ancillary estate with an appanage .

Conrad von Rantzau became a member of the royal land commission for the duchies; 1804 King named him Christian VII. To Chamberlain . After further trips, he became a member of the royal commission for the reoccupation and reorganization of the duchies ( Kommissions til hertugdømmernes genbesættelse og reorganization ) in 1814 .

In 1826 the Crown Prince appointed him travel marshal to Prince Friedrich on his journey to the south. After returning in 1828, Rantzau was appointed Oberhofschenk . As the successor to the late Ernst Heinrich von Schimmelmann, he was promoted to the Council of State in 1831 and became secret minister of state. He supported the reforms of Frederick VI. like the introduction of the assemblies of estates in the duchies and tried to balance the interests of the entire Danish state .

With Christian VIII's accession to the throne and the associated radicalization of the Schleswig-Holstein question , his influence became weaker. In 1840 he asked to leave for health reasons; the king, however, left him rank and seat in the Council of State.

Thorvaldsen's bust by Rantzau (plaster model 1805), Thorvaldsen Museum

Rantzau was very interested in science and the arts. He visited Bertel Thorvaldsen in Rome in 1805 , had his marble bust made and acquired the marble relief Achilles and Briseis . Hans Christian Andersen became his friend and was a frequent guest at Breitenburg. The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and Det kongelige nordiske oldskriftselskab made him an honorary member . Breitenburg Palace, which he had Christian Frederik Hansen remodeled from 1807 , furnished it with numerous works of art that he had acquired on his travels.

He invested large sums in emergency aid and the reconstruction of the villages under his rule, which were particularly hard hit by the devastating storm surges of the winter of 1824/25 (November flood 1824, February flood 1825 ).

Conrad zu Rantzau remained unmarried and died without offspring. The Fideikommissherrschaft Breitenburg came to his next younger brother Carl zu Rantzau (1769-1847) and after his death in 1847 to August zu Rantzau . On the other hand, bankruptcy had to be opened for his allodial property , especially the Erfrade estate (now a part of Tarbek ), and lengthy negotiations that were not concluded until 1850 with the (renewed) purchase of the property by August zu Rantzau.

Awards

Grand Cross (July 31, 1815)
Dannebrogmann (January 28, 1813)

Works

  • Louis Bobé (ed.): State Minister Conrad Greve Rantzau-Breitenburgs erindringer fra Kong Frederik den sjettes tid. Copenhagen: Det Nordiske Forlag 1900 ( digitized version )

literature

  • New Nekrolog der Deutschen 23 / II (1845), Weimar: Voigt 1847, pp. 676–685 ( digitized version )
  • Biographical lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck. Volume 8, p. 291

Web links

Commons : Conrad Rantzau  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See on the Iris Carstensen family: Friedrich Reichsgraf zu Rantzau auf Breitenburg (1729-1806): on the self-thematization of a Holstein nobleman in his diaries. (= Kiel Studies in Folklore and Cultural History 6) Münster; New York; Munich; Berlin: Waxmann 2006 ISBN 978-3-8309-1741-0 , zugl. Kiel, Univ., Diss., 2004
  2. ^ Pütter / Saalfeld: Attempt at an academic history of scholars at the University of Göttingen, second volume, Hanover 1820, p. 25
  3. ↑ Iris Carstensen: Friedrich Reichsgraf zu Rantzau auf Breitenburg (1729-1806): on the self-thematization of a Holstein nobleman in his diaries. (= Kiel Studies in Folklore and Cultural History 6) Münster; New York; Munich; Berlin: Waxmann 2006 ISBN 978-3-8309-1741-0 , zugl. Kiel, Univ., Diss., 2004, p. 74 note 268
  4. ↑ Else Kai-Sass: Thorvaldsen's portrait busts of Count Adam Gottlob Moltke-Nütschau and Conrad Rantzau-Breitenburg , in Nordelbingen 24 (1956), pp. 93-106; it is still in Breitenburg today; see Dirk Luckow : Privatissimo: Art from Schleswig-Holstein aristocratic property. Dumont 2009, ISBN 978-3-83219263-1 , p. 149f and p. 108f (fig.)
  5. ^ Henning Oldekop: Topography of the Duchy of Holstein. Volume 2, Kiel: Mühlau 1908, p. 7
  6. ↑ Order according to the Royal Danish Court and State Calendar 1844, p. 9f
personal data
SURNAME Rantzau, Conrad too
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rantzau, Andreas Conrad Peter Graf zu (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Holstein landowner and Danish Minister of State
DATE OF BIRTH September 2, 1773
PLACE OF BIRTH Breitenburg
DATE OF DEATH August 3, 1845
Place of death Wiesbaden