Franz von Spaun

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Franz von Spaun (actually: Franz Seraph Ritter von Spaun ; born December 19, 1753 in Vienna , Austria , † March 3, 1826 in Munich ) a lawyer, was a mathematical, free-spirited philosophical and aesthetic writer after his failed administrative career.

Life

Franz Seraph Ritter von Spaun received careful training in his hometown of Vienna, first from the private tutor Abbé Chabert, then at the Theresianum . Although he studied jurisprudence in Vienna, his doctorate in 1776 had the title Dissertatio de successione foeminarum in feudo , he chose mathematics as a preferred science and achieved particular perfection in it. After completing his studies, Spaun entered the service of the administrative authority in Freiburg im Breisgau in 1776 and was employed as a civil servant in Upper Austria in 1783 , where he advanced to the Gubernialrat. According to J. Ansüsser, it was already close to the existing Freemason and Illuminati societies during its use in Freiburg . From 1783 until November 1787 he held the position of forest bailiff in Waldshut . His conflict-prone demeanor and idiosyncratic legal quibbles caused one or the other disagreement. Between 1783 and 1787 Franz von Spaun repeatedly attended societies at Johann Kaspar Lavater's house in Zurich , where he soon distanced himself from Lavater's ideas.

In 1788 he was supposed to take up a position as assessor of the Reich Chamber Court in Wetzlar , but before this happened he was relieved of his duties. The reasons for the withdrawal are obscure. Spaun was accused of partiality and embezzlement. The posthumous claim that Spaun wrote a Jacobean pamphlet cannot be proven. Since Spaun first made statements critical of the government in a company of his family in Linz, then several times in public, made a provocative appearance and openly advocated the French Revolution , he was arrested on December 8, 1792 and after a police investigation without a court verdict, he had to do one no less than ten Served years of prison sentence in solitary confinement, first in Munkács Mukaceve in Hungary and then in Kufstein Fortress . During his imprisonment, he studied his favorite science, mathematics, and in fact was concerned with solving mathematical problems in his mind, since he was deprived of books and writing materials. This gave him an admirable speed in solving the most difficult mathematical problems. Through the mediation of the former State Secretary Hugues-Bernard Maret , who was interned with Spaun, the latter received a pension, on which he lived when he left his custody.

His brother Franz Xaver von Spaun had earned some merit during the occupation of Linz. In a private audience with the emperor in May 1801 he was offered a promotion. Franz Xaver refused this and only asked for his brother's release. On condition that he would leave the country in the event of a relapse, he was released from captivity, lived for a while with his family in Linz and took care of the upbringing of their sons, including Joseph von Spaun and Anton von Spaun . Spaun's character made medium-term rehabilitation impossible. At first he emigrated to France, where he could not gain a permanent foothold.

Spaun spent the last part of his life in Munich. Here, too, Spaun showed himself to be a multi-faceted, keen mind, but coarse and powerful in his utterances, especially in the polemical field. His character was much less displeasing in Bavaria, his adopted home, and eventually became socially acceptable. His peculiar views may illustrate the fact that he had a particular aversion to Goethe's poems and fought them in word and writing, whereby the coarseness of his expression often had an almost comical character. Even Schelling was criticized by Spaun.

Works (mathematics)

  • Attempt to facilitate the study of mathematics by expediently explaining some basic terms and methods. 1805.
  • Letters on the first principles of mechanics. 1807.
  • Introduction to the geometrical construction of all problems of spherical trigonometry. 1811.
  • Guide to straight line trigonometry. 1818.
  • My mathematical instrument. Passau 1824.

Works (politics, society, literature)

  • The Sarmatian Lykurg or about the equality of the Jews and the influence of the popular festivals . Political novel, Nuremberg 1811.
  • The tenets of common sense in relation to the negative and the impossible Munich 1816.
  • Political and literary fantasies 1817.
  • Staberl's doctorate as a magnetizing doctor. A posse and the ladies' hats. Comedy, 1817.
  • About the basic relationship between the state and the church. 1818.
  • About the change and the right to change. 1819.
  • Dreams of one who is awake. 1819.
  • Gloßen over the course of time. Passau, 1821.
  • About the thaumaturges of the nineteenth century. Munich 1821.
  • About privileged activities. 1821.
  • Something about ownership. 1822.
  • Mixed writings Munich, 1822.
  • About the guild establishment and the lifting of compulsory trade in Bavaria. Munich 1822.
  • About the credit association and the loan bank project of the Frhn. v. Aretin. Munich 1823.
  • About the religious fantasies of recent times. Munich 1824.
  • Malleus Ferrus. o. 0., 1825.
  • Ms. v. Spaun's political will. Erlangen 1831.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Kunze, Wolf-Ulrich: Franz Seraph Ritter von Spaun, Journal for Bavarian State History, 64, Issue 2, p. 404f.
  2. ^ Kunze, Wolf-Ulrich: Franz Seraph Ritter von Spaun, Journal for Bavarian State History, 64, Issue 2, pp. 406f.
personal data
SURNAME Spaun, Franz von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Spaun, Franz Anton von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian mathematician and free-spirited political writer
DATE OF BIRTH December 19, 1753
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna , Austria
DATE OF DEATH March 3, 1826
Place of death Munich