Franz Wilhelm Caspar von Hillesheim

Coat of arms of the Counts of Hillesheim

Franz Wilhelm Caspar von Hillesheim (* May 12, 1673 , Sinzig , Ahrenthal Castle ; † October 11, 1748 in Mannheim ) was an imperial count from the von Hillesheim family , President of the Electorate of the Palatinate and Minister .

biography

He was the son of Baron Franz Dietrich von Hillesheim (1641–1681), councilor of the Palatinate-Neuburg region and chief steward of the widowed Countess Palatine Maria Franziska , who lived in Sinzig , and his wife Anna Maria Ursula von Hillesheim, née. von Cortenbach († 1713).

Franz Wilhelm Caspar of Hillesheim came in 1696 in the court chamber to Dusseldorf , 1697 elector appointed him Johann Wilhelm to Chamberlain , 1702 to the Privy Council, from 1703 he worked as a steward of Porz and Breisig . On April 9, 1712 he was raised to the rank of imperial count . From his father he inherited the rule and castle Ahrenthal , as well as the village of Franconia . Ahrenthal Castle had Count von Hillesheim rebuilt according to plans by Johann Adam Breunig . In 1722 he acquired part of the Reipoltskirchen rule in the Palatinate , and in 1730 another share. Since then he has called himself Count von Hillesheim, Freiherr von Reipoltskirchen and Lord von Ahrenthal . In 1737 the rule of Kalenborn (near Altenahr) was added.

On November 24, 1723, Franz Wilhelm Caspar von Hillesheim married Countess Maria Catherina Elisabeth von Hatzfeld , daughter of Count Sebastian von Hatzfeld-Gleichen-Rosenberg. It came from Crottorf Castle .

From 1716 onwards, Count von Hillesheim held office in Mannheim as head president of all courts of the Electorate of the Palatinate and was the imperial real secret council . From 1706 until his death he was President of the Secret State Conference (Government President), from 1726 to 1743 he also held the office of Minister of Conference and State of the Electoral Palatinate. He stayed with his family mainly in Mannheim and had owned the Palais Hillesheim, named after him, on the market square since 1737. On June 24, 1714, von Hillesheim, on behalf of the Palatinate Elector, laid the foundation stone for the Bürgerhospital and the St. Anna Church in Heidelberg .

Franz Wilhelm Caspar von Hillesheim had been a knight since 1708, later commander of the Order of St. Hubert , at times he also acted as its chancellor. In Franconia (Sinzig) , Count and Countess von Hillesheim had the Catholic parish church and the rectory renovated. After the death of her husband, Maria Catherina Elisabeth von Hillesheim nee lived. von Hatzfeld still in Mannheim. She outlived her husband by 25 years.

progeny

The daughter Anna Elisabeth von Spee b. von Hillesheim (1725–1798)

Epitaph inscription from the Thesaurus Palatinus

The couple had four children who reached adulthood:

• Carl Caspar Anton Hugo Franz (1726–1779), Catholic priest, canon in Trier .
• Ernst Wilhelm Gottfried (1732–1785), Electoral Palatinate Privy Councilor and Chamberlain . With him, the noble family von Hillesheim died out in the male line.
• Charlotte Elisabeth Regina (1728–1807), unmarried canon lady in Vilich , died as the last of her family in Mannheim.
• Anna Elisabeth Augusta (1725–1798), married to the Vice-President of the Jülich-Bergisch Hofkammer, Imperial Count Ambrosius Franziskus von Spee (1730–1791). Both were the great-great-grandparents of Admiral Count Maximilian von Spee , who had become famous in recent German history, who perished in 1914 with his two sons in a sea ​​battle near the Falkland Islands . Via this connection, the property of the Counts of Hillesheim came to the Counts of Spee , some of whom still own it today (e.g. Ahrenthal Castle).

The sons Franz Joseph (1727–1733), Gustav Wilhelm (1727–1739) and Johann Christian (1730–1735), who died young, are buried in the Mannheim parish church of St. Sebastian . There was a no longer preserved epitaph for them, the inscription of which is handed down in the Thesaurus Palatinus by the regional historian Johann Franz Capellini von Wickenburg .

literature

• Leopold Freiherr von Zedlitz: New Prussian Adels Lexicon , Volume 2 (E – H), Leipzig, 1836, pages 393 and 394; Scan from the source
• Christian von Stramberg: Memorable and useful Rhenish antiquarian , III. Department, Volume 9, Koblenz, 1862; Pages 35 and 36 Scan from the source

Web links

• Biographical website on Franz Wilhelm Caspar von Hillesheim
• PDF document on the history of the Count families von Hillesheim and von Spee, with detailed information on Franz Wilhelm Caspar von Hillesheim
• Genealogical website about Franz Wilhelm Caspar von Hillesheim
• Genealogical website with details of date and place of birth

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Website with the timetable for the history of Reipoltskirchen
2. ↑ Website on the history of the Kalenborn rule ( Memento of the original from December 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ^ Reinhard Graf von Neipperg: Publications of the Commission for Historical Regional Studies in Baden-Württemberg: Research , Volumes 119-120, 1991, page 464; Excerpt from the source
4. ^ Website on the Hillesheim Palace in Mannheim
5. ^ Website of the Heidelberg History Association
6. ↑ Gottlieb Schumann: Annual genealogical hand book , 1741, page 152; Scan from the source
7. ^ Sophie Mathilde Gräfin zu Dohna: The class situation at the cathedral chapter of Trier from the 16th to the 18th century , self-published by the study group for regional history and folklore of the Trier area, 1960, page 138; Excerpt from the source
8. ^ Genealogical website on Ernst Wilhelm Gottfried von Hillesheim
9. ^ Gottlob Friedrich Krebel: European genealogical manual , Leipzig, 1786, page 211 scan from the source
10. ^ Genealogical website on Charlotte Elisabeth Regina von Hillesheim
11. ^ Genealogical website about Anna Elisabeth Augusta von Hillesheim
12. ↑ digital scan