Erich Matthias von Nolcken

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Erich Matthias von Nolcken (born May 24, 1694 in Riga , † October 18, 1755 in Stockholm ) was a Swedish government official and diplomat.

Life

Erich Matthias von Nolcken came from a German-Baltic noble family . He grew up in Wismar, where his father Christopher Reinhold von Nolcken (1620-1732) was stationed as a Swedish officer from 1695 to 1715 Wismar . His mother Ingeborg Christina (1664–1747) was the daughter of District Administrator Matthias von Stackelberg and Ingeborg Grubbe.

After studying at the Universities of Uppsala and Göttingen , he joined the Swedish diplomatic service in 1716. He traveled to Holland and in the same year was sent by Minister Georg Heinrich von Görtz to Stockholm with an urgent dispatch. He was first extraordinary, then in 1718 a full chancellor in the royal chancellery for foreign affairs. In 1719 he accompanied Johan Paulinus Lillienstedt to the peace congress in Åland . From 1720 to 1725 and from 1726 to 1730 he was legation secretary at the Prussian court. In 1725 he stayed under the ambassador Cederhielm at his own expense in Saint Petersburg and provided important information about the situation in Russia . In 1726 he was introduced to the Swedish nobility.

In 1730 he was appointed to the government of the Swedish government in Pomerania . By marriage he belonged since 1731 to the relatives of the Chancellery President of the Reichsrat Arvid Horn , with whom he entered into a confidential correspondence. Horn exercised through Nolcken, who informed him about events in the province, influence on the domestic politics of Swedish Pomerania. For example, the appointment of Timotheus Lütkemann as general superintendent was informally clarified beforehand by Nolcken in Stralsund . In addition, he conducted the inheritance dispute between Horns and the Königsmarck family . When in 1732 he had received a salary bonus of 200 Reichstalers a year, he was accused of carrying his own affairs through Horn. Arvid Horn was probably very committed to Nolcken when in 1732 the knighthood of Swedish Pomerania reported concerns about its enfeoffment with the Wiepkenhagen estate , because it was not part of the register of the West Pomeranian nobility. In the following year Nolcken campaigned in Stockholm for the establishment of a noble virgin monastery in Barth , for the construction of which sovereign funds were made available.

Even before Horn, who had pursued a pro-Russian policy, was ousted from power, Nolcken was sent to the Russian tsar's court as ambassador extraordinary in 1738. He proved to be a skilled diplomat, made connections to influential circles and provided information about the conditions in the country. Among other things, he provided the Swedish government with an original map of the Russian border fortresses directed against Sweden and information about their war strength. After the death of Tsarina Anna and the overthrow of her favorite Ernst Johann von Biron in 1740, he and the French ambassador Jacques-Joachim Trotti de la Chétardie established secret contacts with the Grand Duchess Elisabeth in order to lead them to a coup d'état against the boy supported by France and Sweden Ivan VI and to encourage the regent Anna Leopoldowna . His real task was the diplomatic preparation of an attack by Sweden on Russia, which should prevent the Tsarist Empire from supporting Austria in the war against France. However, he did not succeed in getting Elisabeth to write a request for support. He was recalled some time before the war began. He wrote the declaration of war with which the commander-in-chief Ch. E. Lewenhaupt opened the Russian-Swedish war in 1741 . While the Swedish attacks failed, Elisabeth succeeded in gaining the throne of the tsar without outside help and thus escaping the fulfillment of promises. In February 1742 he traveled to Moscow via Tornio in order to negotiate peace with France as an intermediary. There he attended Elizabeth's coronation as a representative of Sweden. As second envoy alongside Herman Cedercreutz , he led lengthy negotiations with Russia, which were concluded in 1743 with the signing of the Peace of Åbo .

He was appointed Deputy Secretary of State in 1743 and the Ordinary Secretary of State in the Foreign Affairs Office the following year. In 1747 he was made court chancellor and in the same year raised to the status of a Swedish baron. In 1748 he was appointed commander of the North Star Order . His motto was: "Simplex Recti Cura". As President of the Court of Justice (Swedish Göta hovrätt ) in Jönköping, he most recently held a lucrative position outside of Swedish imperial politics.

family

Erich Matthias von Nolcken married Christina Margaretha Lode (1708–1739), daughter of the Livonian district administrator and vice-president Gerhard Lode and his second wife Margaretha Elisabeth Horn af Kanckas in 1731. The two had three sons and four daughters, including:

  • Arvid Reinhold (1732–1802), first stable master
  • Gustav Adam von Nolcken (1733–1812), Minister
  • Johan Fredric (1737–1809), envoy at the Russian tsarist court and imperial court in Vienna

From his second marriage to Anna Regine Freiin Horn af Åminne (1718–1796) came a daughter and a son who died as a child.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Gabriel Anrep : Svenska adelns Ättar-Taflor. Verlag PA Norstedt & Söner, Stockholm, 1862, volume 3, p. 38, ( Google books , Swedish)
  2. ↑ a b c Nolcken, Erik Mattias von . In: Theodor Westrin (Ed.): Nordisk familjebok konversationslexikon och realencyklopedi . 2nd Edition. tape 19 : Mykenai-Norrpada . Nordisk familjeboks förlag, Stockholm 1913, Sp. 1130 (Swedish, runeberg.org ).
  3. ↑ Nolcken, Erik Mattias from . In: John Rosén, Theodor Westrin (ed.): Nordisk familjebok konversationslexikon och realencyklopedi . 1st edition. tape 11 : Military Convention - Nådaval . Gernandts boktryckeri, Stockholm 1887, Sp. 1187 (Swedish, runeberg.org ).
personal data
SURNAME Nolcken, Erich Matthias von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Nolcken, Erik Mattias from; Nolcken, Eric Mathias von; Nolcken, Erich Matthias Freiherr von; Nolcken, Erik Mathias Baron von; Nolcken, Erich von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swedish government official and diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH May 24, 1694
PLACE OF BIRTH Riga
DATE OF DEATH October 18, 1755
Place of death Stockholm