Ferdinand Wedel-Jarlsberg

Ferdinand Count Wedel-Jarlsberg (1781-1857)

Ferdinand Wedel-Jarlsberg , Ferdinand Carl Maria Wedel-Jarlsberg, Ferdinand Carl Maria Graf (von) Wedel-Jarlsberg, (born December 1, 1781 in Naples , † April 16, 1857 in Christiania ) was a Norwegian lieutenant general and commander in chief of the army.

Life

family

His parents were the envoy Frederik Anton Graf Wedel -Jarlsberg (1748-1811) and his first wife Catharina, née Storm (1756-1802). The Norwegian politician and statesman Hermann Graf von Wedel-Jarlsberg (1779-1840) was his brother. He came from the German nobility Wedel , originally resident in Stormarn , which has been documented there since 1212.

On November 16, 1805 he married Juliane Wilhelmine von Benzon (* November 15, 1783; † October 24, 1853), daughter of the bailiff Peter Ulrich Friedrich von Benzon (1760-1840) and his wife Juliane Wilhelmine Wedel-Jarlsberg (1753-1802 ).

Career

He was born in Naples, where his father was the Danish envoy. In 1799 he and his brother Hermann fled from their violent father, first to Copenhagen and from there to the ancestral home of the Jarlsberg family in Norway.

In 1790 he became a cornet in the Danish army . In 1801 he became a lieutenant and in 1804 a captain . In 1807 he fought against the British when they bombed Copenhagen. After his departure had taken from the Danish army, he was in the November 1814 Norwegian cavalry to Major and appointed in 1817 to lieutenant colonel promoted and commanded the Mounted Rifle Corps of Akershus. In 1819 he took command of Akershus Fortress . In 1823 he became major general and was given command of the entire cavalry. In 1833 he became lieutenant general and in 1836 the commander in chief of the Norwegian army, while his brother became governor.

Wedel-Jarlsberg became known because on June 17, 1829, the constitutional day , he used mounted soldiers against the celebrating citizens on the market square in Christiania, because the king had banned all celebrations on that day as separatist. This event became famous as " Torvslaget " (market battle ).

Wedel-Jarlsberg played a major role in the national orientation of the Norwegian defense during the Union era. He had the Oscarsborg fortress built at the entrance to Christianiafjord . In 1850 he contributed to a decisive modernization of the defense by reorganizing the General Staff according to the Prussian model, but which was not to have permanent posts. Rather, it was occupied by detached officers who returned to their unit after completing their service in the General Staff. This was to prevent the emergence of an isolated elite of officers. Politics kept control of the officer corps. Gradually the training was scientifically oriented and standardized. Maneuvers were organized, with various attackers (even Swedes) assumed, whose roles had to take over certain units. In addition, a military lobby with a propaganda center was set up to counter the budget refusal of the storting. In the 1890s such a strong armament came about.

His military occupation did not prevent him from participating in Christiania's social life. From 1840 to 1851 he was director of the Christiania Theater and in 1826 helped found the Christiania Sparebank. As the commander of Akershus Fortress, which was the largest penitentiary in the country, he sat on many penal reform commissions.

In addition to his military career, he also made a career as a court official. In 1814 he became head of the new Norwegian court administration to King Charles II and adjutant to Crown Prince Karl Johann . In 1828 he became court marshal and in 1839 head of the adjudicant corps and chief chamberlain. From 1844 until his death he was head of the Norwegian court of Oskars I.

On the day of the foundation of the Saint Olav Order on August 21, 1847, he received its Grand Cross and in 1850 the Borgerdådsmedalje in gold. He was a knight of the Swedish Order of the Seraphines and Grand Cross of the Order of the Swords .

literature

Roald Berg: Ferdinand Carl Maria Wedel Jarlsberg. in: Norsk biografisk leksikon. Retrieved March 10, 2010.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Genealogical handbook of the nobility. Volume GX, CA Starke-Verlag, Limburg, 1981, p. 483.