Franz Egon von Fürstenberg (Prince-Bishop)

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Franz Egon Freiherr von Fürstenberg (born May 10, 1737 at Herdringen Castle near Arnsberg ; † August 11, 1825 in Hildesheim ) was the last Prince-Bishop of Hildesheim and Paderborn .

Franz Egon von Fürstenberg (oil painting around 1790)

Origin, education and advancement

Franz Egon von Fürstenberg was the son of Christian Franz Dietrich von Fürstenberg and his third wife Anna Helene von Galen, daughter of Wilhelm Goswin Anton von Galen . His older brothers Ferdinand Joseph , Friedrich Karl  and Franz Friedrich Wilhelm were canons . As a later son, he was destined for a spiritual career from the start. First he received his school education from a private tutor before he switched to the Dreikönigsgymnasium in Cologne . He then studied at the universities in Cologne and Mainz . During his training he had relatively little contact with the ideas of the Enlightenment , as it was strongly influenced by Jesuit teachers and professors. Franz Egon completed his studies during a stay in Rome from 1761 to 1763.

At the age of eleven he was eligible for a canon position in Halberstadt in 1748 and one in Münster and another in Hildesheim in 1764 . This is also where his ecclesiastical career began. In 1768 he was appointed councilor there and in 1769 he was elected dean. As early as 1776 he was elected provost there and also appointed vicar general and official. At the same time he became a Privy Councilor and President of the Government and thus held important secular offices in the Hildesheim Monastery in addition to his clerical offices . When Prince-Bishop Friedrich Wilhelm von Westphalen fell ill, von Fürstenberg had a good chance of becoming a coadjutor with the right of succession due to his position and the support of Prussia . On March 7, 1786, Franz Egon prevailed against the opposing candidate Friedrich Moritz von Brabeck , who was mainly supported by the Spiegel von Desenberg family from Sauerland, and he was appointed titular bishop von Derbe . This position was officially limited to Hildesheim, but due to the longstanding personal union, confirmation in Paderborn was only a matter of form. On January 27, 1788, von Fürstenberg received the episcopal ordination in Hildesheim Cathedral and, after the death of his predecessor, took over the management of both dioceses on January 6, 1789.

Reforms and their Limits

The situation in the Prince Diocese of Paderborn was unfavorable. The country suffered from a great financial hardship and Franz Egon therefore did without the usual expensive celebrations for his inauguration. However, he did not make many friends with the subjects and this earned him the reputation of a curmudgeon. A really comprehensive reform work was hardly to be expected due to the bad financial situation and the expected resistance of the estates. However, Franz Egon tried at least to reduce the debts that had been burdening the two dioceses since the Seven Years' War . However, the first coalition war against revolutionary France put a quick end to this goal. From the outset, the poor financial situation limited all efforts to establish a business promotion policy. After all, von Fürstenberg has loosened the hitherto strict guild barriers somewhat. Other measures, such as the promotion of rational forest management, no longer had any effect during his reign. The reforms in the school system were more important. Franz Egon was partly based on the example of his brother Franz von Fürstenberg in the bishopric of Münster . School regulations were issued that were praised as particularly progressive by the pedagogy of the time. A normal school was also set up to improve the training of teachers. In the grammar schools, the Latin language was replaced by German as the general language of instruction.

Of course, hardly anything has changed in the overall poor economic position. Therefore, the prince-bishop increasingly had to reckon with criticism and rebellion from the subjects. In the diocese of Hildesheim in particular, reports of the French Revolution caused a ferment in the population. Franz Egon reacted calmly to this, but also deployed the military if necessary to put down tumults. Since the forces of the diocese were insufficient, he resorted to the troops of the neighboring Landgraviate of Hesse .

secularization

The end of the old empire and the secularization of the spiritual states in 1802 were not entirely unexpected for Franz Egon. He tried to stop this development, but when the decision was made he tried to work with the new Prussian authorities . Although the prince-bishop lost his secular powers, he retained his spiritual office. As a result, there was then considerable disagreement between the Prussians and the bishop, for example in questions of priests' salaries or the right to supervise schools. In 1807, with the establishment of the Kingdom of Westphalia , the sovereign changed again and Franz Egon had to take an oath on King Jérôme Bonaparte . After the end of Napoleonic rule in 1815, Franz Egon was one of the few remaining bishops and was again subject to Prussia for Paderborn and to the Kingdom of Hanover for Hildesheim . In the last years of his life he still had a considerable influence on the new demarcation of the dioceses that was due after his death. Both dioceses were to be dissolved according to plans from Berlin and Hanover and their responsibilities were to be transferred to the dioceses of Osnabrück and Münster , respectively . It was not least thanks to Franz Egon's efforts in Rome that both bishoprics remained and Paderborn was strengthened by the annexation of the former Sauerland region of Cologne and the responsibility for the former bishoprics of Magdeburg , Halberstadt and others.

Franz Egon died in the prince-bishop's residence palace in Hildesheim , where he had had his permanent home since 1802. He was buried in the central nave of Hildesheim Cathedral.

literature

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predecessor Office successor
Friedrich Wilhelm von Westphalen Bishop of Hildesheim
1789 - 1825 		Karl Klemens von Gruben
(as diocese administrator)
Friedrich Wilhelm von Westphalen Prince Bishop of Paderborn
1789 - 1825 		Friedrich Clemens von Ledebur-Wicheln
(as bishop, not as sovereign)
personal data
SURNAME Fürstenberg, Franz Egon von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fürstenberg, Franz Egon Freiherr von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prince-Bishop of Paderborn and Hildesheim
DATE OF BIRTH May 10, 1737
PLACE OF BIRTH Herdringen Castle near Arnsberg
DATE OF DEATH August 11, 1825
Place of death Hildesheim