Ernst Ahasverus Heinrich von Lehndorff

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Ernst Ahasverus Heinrich Graf von Lehndorff (* May 7, 1727 in Landkeim ; † May 19, 1811 at Steinort Castle ) was a Prussian chamberlain and court master .

Life

origin

Parents Ernst Ahasver Graf Lehndorff and Marie Louise Henriette von Wallenrodt at the time of the birth (reproduction from 1778)

His father, Count Ernst Ahasver von Lehndorff (* January 4, 1688, † May 9, 1727) died two days after his birth. The mother, Marie Louise Henriette von Wallenrodt (* October 2, 1695; † February 12, 1773), widowed at the age of 28 and mother of six children, did not remarry. She went to her Steinort estate to take care of the economic issues. She gave her son to her mother until he was six years old († 1736) on her estate in Landkeim (East Prussia). When he was four years old, an incident occurred with his right foot that left his leg lame. Looking back, he saw in this a reason why his mother preferred the older brother. After spending the first few years with his grandmother, Ernst Ahasverus Heinrich stayed with his mother until he was twelve.

His grandfather was Ahasverus von Lehndorff (* February 9, 1637, † February 14, 1688), Polish lieutenant colonel and Danish lieutenant general , married in 1683 Königsberg i. Pr. With Maria Eleanore von Dönhoff (* March 15, 1664; † April 12, 1723), who in 1683 from Great Elector to Prussian Oberburggrave and in 1687 from Emperor Leopold for himself and his descendants with the salutation "High and well-born" and with Coats of arms association with which von Eulenburg was raised to the status of imperial count.

Career

At the age of 19 he came to Berlin and was initially a legation councilor , only to be appointed chamberlain to Queen Elisabeth Christine of Prussia , wife of Frederick II of Prussia.

He served the court for almost 30 years - in the end very bitter, as he felt capable of higher service. In 1775 he left the court and lived at his Steinort Castle, where, among other things, he maintained his close friendship with Ignacy Krasicki , the Prince-Bishop of Warmia . The French Dieudonné Thiébault characterizes the Imperial Count as follows: "Incidentally, Lendorf was such a terrible compliment maker that he was nicknamed 'Grand confiturier de la Cour'."

His "notes" became known as the Chamberlain of Queen Elisabeth Christine, originally in French, in which he wrote down the events at the royal court and annoyed comments. In 18 folios he described in detail  the court life in the rococo palace Schönhausen in today's Pankow district of Niederschönhausen , the summer residence that Friedrich II had assigned to his wife. Here she lived most of her life and outlived her husband by eleven years. A selection of the diaries have been reissued.

family

On February 7, 1759, Lehndorff married 17-year-old Marie von Haeseler, daughter of the late Gottlieb von Haeseler , entrepreneur and royal Prussian government and privy councilor. In January 1760, the couple had a son, who only lived a few weeks. In his diary, Lehndorff reported another stroke of fate under the date May 1765. Within a few weeks his two other children die of "coughs and cramps". After his first wife died on July 23, 1766, he married Amalie Karoline Countess von Schmettau on September 25, 1769 in Stonsdorf in Lower Silesia (* April 9, 1751; † September 12, 1830). The couple had the following children:

literature

  • Wieland Giebel (Ed.): The diaries of Count Lehndorff. The secret records of Queen Elisabeth Christine's Chamberlain . Story, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-929829-52-5 .
  • Karl Eduard Schmidt-Lötzen: Thirty years at the court of Frederick the Great : From the diaries of Count Ernst Ahasverus Heinrich von Lehndorff, Chamberlain of Queen Elisabeth Christine of Prussia, Friedrich Andreas Perthes AG, Gotha, 1907, ( online ).
  • Dieudonné Thiébault : Frederick the Great. His family, his friends and his court or twenty years of my stay in Berlin .
First part. HF Hartmann, Leipzig 1828, ( digital , Bavarian State Library).
Second part, CHF Hartmann, Leipzig, 1828, ( digital , Bavarian State Library).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Detlev Schwennicke (Ed.): European Family Tables, New Series , Volume XX, Brandenburg and Prussia 1 , Verlag Vittorio Klostermann, Frankfurt / Main 2002, Tfl. 150.
  2. ↑ Wieland Giebel (ed.): Die Tagebücher des Graf Lehndorff , 2007, p. 16 f.
  3. ^ Wieland Giebel (Ed.): The diaries of Count Lehndorff. The secret records of Queen Elisabeth Christine's Chamberlain. Story, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-929829-52-5 , p. 15.
  4. ↑ Genealogical Handbook of the Baltic Knighthoods (New Series) , Volume 3, Hamburg 2013, p. 174.
  5. ^ Dieudonné Thiébault: Frederick the Great. His family, his friends and his court or twenty years of my stay in Berlin. First part. HF Hartmann, Leipzig 1828, p. 125.
  6. ^ Haug von Kuenheim (ed.): From the diaries of Count Lehndorff , Severin and Siedler, Berlin 1982, p. 115, ISBN 3-88680029-6 .
  7. ↑ From the diaries of Count Lehndorff, p. 130.
  8. ↑ From the diaries of Count Lehndorff, p. 170ff.
  9. ^ From the diaries of Count Lehndorff, p. 195.
  10. ^ Genealogical Handbook of the Baltic Knighthoods (New Series) , Volume 3, Hamburg 2013, pp. 182-183.
  11. ↑ Review in the Jenaische Allgemeine, Nov. 1827, No. 205, p. 200 ( digital , Thuringian University and State Library Jena).
personal data
SURNAME Lehndorff, Ernst Ahasverus Heinrich von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lehndorff, Ernst Ahasverus Heinrich Graf von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian chamberlain and court master in Prussia
DATE OF BIRTH May 7, 1727
PLACE OF BIRTH Land germ
DATE OF DEATH May 19, 1811
Place of death Steinort Castle