Franz Sales von Greiner

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Franz Sales Ritter von Greiner (born February 2, 1732 in Vienna , † June 2, 1798 in Hernals ) was an Austrian civil servant.

Life

Franz Sales von Greiner was a son of the accountant Franz Joseph Greiner. After completing his school education and studying the fundamentals of jurisprudence in Vienna, he entered the civil service as an accessist in 1752 at the age of 20. After ten years at the Bohemian court chancellery without a salary, he was appointed draftsman in 1761 and secretary at the court war council in 1765. His abilities and tireless diligence prompted him to be employed as court secretary at the Bohemian and Austrian court chancellery in 1768. In particular, he was entrusted with keeping the minutes of the meetings that were held at that time on important changes in church institutions and on the end of many abuses. The law that forbade both sexes to be admitted to a monastery before the age of 25 caused a stir. When, however, many objections were raised, Greiner defended this decree and translated the French occasional publication Vayers de Boutigny : Treatise on the power of the king with the intention of determining the age of his subjects required to take the solemn religious vows (Vienna 1771).

As a result, Greiner rose in the government's respect and the Chancellor Johann Rudolph Chotek von Chotkow entrusted him with the secret presidential affairs. In 1771 he was raised to the knighthood and in 1773 he was appointed court counselor and secret adviser to the court chancellery. He was also assigned to the Studienhof Commission and the German School Commission and in his hands was the handling of the most important matters in these branches of administration. The position of trust he held towards Empress Maria Theresa , with whom he corresponded on many important state affairs, was of great influence . This correspondence, consisting of 129 letters, was presented to the Imperial Academy of Sciences in 1859 by H. v. Arneth submitted. The letters show what part Greiner played in many of the dispositions. Above all, this includes those who prevented the rise in prices that threatened Vienna during the war in the middle of the 18th century. Partly through his efforts, the consumption tax was also introduced, through which the abolition of other taxes that weighed on individual classes in Lower Austria should be made possible. He consistently fought for the abolition of the merry in Bohemia .

These praiseworthy actions did not protect Greiner from harsh accusations, however, which always turned out to be malicious slander and contributed to the increase of his reputation. Even after the death of the empress, who was benevolent to him, Greiner remained in office and lived through many of the reforms he had planned and prepared, which could only be implemented by Emperor Joseph II . Emperor Franz I also rewarded the restless effectiveness of this official with the Knight's Cross of the Order of St. Stephen.

Greiner, who painted and composed himself, was also a patron of the arts and sciences. His house was considered the center of famous strangers as well as respected writers and artists in Vienna; it was visited by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Joseph Haydn , among others . Greiner was also a member of the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts. From 1789 he had his own house theater. His wife Charlotte (Karoline) Hieronymus (1739–1815), whom he married in 1766, was Maria Theresa's maid and reader. Greiner had two children with her, a son who died in 1804, and their daughter Caroline Pichler , who became a well-known writer and poet. Greiner died on June 2, 1798 at the age of 66 in Hernals, which was then a suburb of Vienna.

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