Franz Ludwig von Erthal

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Franz Ludwig Karl Philipp Anton Freiherr von und zu Erthal-Elfershausen, Prince-Bishop of Bamberg and Würzburg
Front of the coin with a portrait of the Bamberg and Würzburg Prince-Bishops (20 Kreuzer 1785)
Coat of arms of the Prince-Bishop on the altar of the Catholic Church of Absberg
Epitaph of the Prince-Bishop in the Würzburg Cathedral

Franz Ludwig Freiherr von und zu Erthal (born September 16, 1730 in Lohr am Main , † February 14, 1795 in Würzburg ) was Prince-Bishop of Würzburg and Bamberg . He came from the family of those from and to Erthal . His older brother Friedrich Karl Joseph von Erthal was penultimate elector-archbishop of the archbishopric of Mainz . The father of the two “prince-bishop” sons was the Lohr bailiff Philipp Christoph von und zu Erthal , who was entrusted with numerous special missions to European courts between 1740 and 1745 by the Archbishop of Mainz, who was particularly challenged during these years as Imperial Chancellor. Through his life's work, the father paved the way for his sons to attain these high spiritual dignities.

Studies and career

Erthal studied law and theology in Mainz , Würzburg , Vienna and Rome and then entered the cathedral chapters of Würzburg and Bamberg . In 1763 he was appointed President of the secular government of the Würzburg Monastery by his predecessor, then Prince-Bishop Adam Friedrich von Seinsheim . In 1768, Emperor Joseph II appointed him Privy Councilor and Visitator of the Imperial Court of Justice in Wetzlar . In 1776 he became imperial commissioner at the Reichstag in Regensburg .

Erthal as bishop

From 1779 until his death he ruled the monasteries Bamberg and Würzburg as prince-bishop very carefully. Erthal ruled on the principle of everything for the subjects, but everything through the prince. He was imbued with the ideas of the Enlightenment and promoted the education of the clergy. With the expansion of "industrial schools" (Latin industria , diligence), the government of Ansbach and Bayreuth followed with the introduction of the subjects of sewing, spinning and knitting in the teaching of both sexes, an ordinance issued by Erthal on May 26, 1789, "at the literary education of the children not to let them waste their time on the side ”. In Bamberg he had the first modern hospital built and introduced the first public social insurance. In 1786, Franz Ludwig von Erthal was the first Jew to allow Isaak Bamberger from Heidingsfeld to study medicine at the University of Würzburg (the year before the first Jewish student had been accepted at the grammar school). The University of Bamberg received a chair for veterinary medicine under his government. Politically, he was loyal to the House of Habsburg and stood by Emperor Joseph II.

With Erthal and his manner disdaining all splendor, the days of splendid court rulings in the Würzburg residence, which was finally completed and splendidly furnished under his predecessor, came to an end. Unlike Adam Friedrich von Seinsheim , Erthal was not a fan of worldly pleasures, there were no more hunts and operas at court. He abolished the lottery because it spoiled the character, had pictures removed from the residence and closed the court theater. He had the theater fund sold in favor of an orphanage.

Erthal was buried in the Würzburg Kilians Cathedral.

coat of arms

In the crossing the symbols for the Diocese of Bamberg and the Diocese of Würzburg , as a heart shield the family coat of arms of those of Erthal.

Honors

  • Monument in Bamberg, first erected on Domplatz, dismantled in 1938, erected in 1959 in front of the former AOK at today's Synagogenplatz, moved around 1985 in Pödeldorfer Straße in front of the new AOK.
  • In 1974 the grammar school there in his birthplace Lohr am Main was renamed Franz-Ludwig-von-Erthal-Gymnasium.
  • In 1965 the new grammar school in Bamberg was renamed the Franz Ludwig grammar school .

Works

  • Leo Bambergicvs: Symbolicis Principum virorum Leonibus adumbratus, et… Francisco SRI Principi Bambergensi Et Herbipolensi Episcopo, Franciae Orientalis Dvci, & c. a Collegio Societatis Iesv Coloniensi, In faustae gratulationis, debitiq [ue] significationem obsequij, Dicatvs, Consecratvs . - Coloniae: Kempens, 1633. Digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf

literature

Web links

Wikisource: Franz Ludwig von Erthal  - Sources and full texts
Commons : Franz Ludwig von Erthal  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Max Döllner : History of the development of the city of Neustadt an der Aisch until 1933. Ph. CW Schmidt, Neustadt ad Aisch 1950, p. 590.
  2. Ursula Gehring-Münzel: The Würzburg Jews from 1803 to the end of the First World War. In: Ulrich Wagner (Hrsg.): History of the city of Würzburg. Volume III / 1–2: From the transition to Bavaria to the 21st century. 2007, pp. 499-528 and 1306-1308, here: p. 511.
predecessor Office successor
Adam Friedrich von Seinsheim Prince-Bishop of Bamberg
1779–1795
Christoph Franz von Buseck
Adam Friedrich von Seinsheim Prince-Bishop of Würzburg
1779–1795
Georg Karl von Fechenbach