Frederik von Haxthausen

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Frederik von Haxthausen
Coat of arms of the von Haxthausen family

Frederik Gottschalk von Haxthausen (born July 14, 1750 in Copenhagen , † July 6, 1825 in Christiania ) was a Danish-Norwegian officer and member of the Norwegian government.

Life

His parents were Major General Friederich Gotschalck Maximilian von Haxthausen (1705–1770) and his wife Juliane Dorothea von Eldern (1719–1790).

At the age of six and a half, he became a cadet in 1756 . In 1761 he became an ensign in the regiment of Prince Frederik , in 1763 a sub-lieutenant , in 1771 a lieutenant . In 1773 he became a lieutenant in the "Søndenfjeldske gevorbne infantry regiment". He stayed with this regiment for 15 years, in 1779 became a captain and company commander and in 1788 a major . In that year he took part in the so-called " cranberry war " against Sweden under the Danish governor Karl von Hessen-Kassel . After this bloodless campaign, Haxthausen became a member of the generals and commissariat college that commanded the defense forces of Norway. From 1789 to 1809 he was General War Commissar for the tendering of soldiers to be drafted for the land forces, 1803 to 1809 for the naval forces. In 1793 he traveled abroad to study replenishment technology, because the disastrous supply of the troops during the cranberry war was the cause of a deadly epidemic among soldiers. For this he visited the Prussian, Austrian and other armies. From 1802 to 1814 he was director of "Det norske militære institutt", the war school. In 1803 he became major general. In the same year he was appointed to head the “Feltkommissariat” in Denmark. From 1806 to 1810 he was first provisional in command of Akershus Fortress , then its actual commander until 1814. From 1808 to 1810 he was chief of supplies for the Danish army in Denmark, which did not prevent him from carrying out his duties in Norway. In 1809 he became the first representative in the general college in Norway. In 1810 he returned to Norway.

During the period of the governor and later Norwegian King Christian Friedrich from 1813 to 1814, Haxthausen gained great influence. He took part in the meeting of notaries in Eidsvoll in February 1814 and was on March 2nd until his replacement by Marcus Gjøe Rosenkrantz in June 1814, First Councilor of State. From May 19, 1814 to mid-August, he was also State Councilor for Finance . During this time he also became a lieutenant general . But he was now strongly attacked. He was accused of not having led the unfortunate war against Sweden in 1814 , which ended in the Peace of Moss , with the necessary vigor. After the Peace of Moss, which regulated the implementation of the provisions of the Peace of Kiel and sealed Norway's personal union with Sweden, the people raged against Haxthausen and stormed his offices in Christiania and his villa in Lille Frogner. After Christian Friedrich's resignation, Haxthausen resigned as State Councilor, joined the Swedes as the new masters and was removed from the list of the Danish army.

In order to justify himself against the allegations made, he demanded a legal investigation and was acquitted by the Higher War Commission. Nevertheless, he was brought before the Norwegian Imperial Court in 1816 and charged with violating his official duties as a State Councilor during the war by making the supply situation worse than it actually was. His pessimistic assessment, which only took into account what was available in Østlandet, would have helped initiate negotiations with Sweden. With a judgment of December 17, 1816, Haxthausen was acquitted again, but had to bear the legal costs. A year later he said goodbye to the army.

On September 23, 1783, he married Catharina von Oldenburg (May 8, 1765– April 14, 1843), daughter of Major General Adam Christopher von Oldenburg (1735 / 36–1803) and his wife Maria von Schøller (1741–1770). His brother Christian Friedrich von Haxthausen (1754–1790) was raised to the Danish count status, but not himself. His title of nobility came from the old Westphalian noble family "von Haxthausen" , white line, Lutheran branch. He therefore does not belong to the Danish-Norwegian nobility and is therefore often listed in Norwegian reference works without a nobility predicate.

Honors

Haxthausen became commander of the Dannebrog Order in 1809 and received the Grand Cross in 1811. In the last two years of his life he was master of ceremonies of the Seraphine and the North Star orders .

Remarks

The article is essentially based on the Norsk biografisk leksikon . Other information is given separately.

  1. ↑ a b Sørensen p. 177.
  2. ↑ A distinction was made between national and recruited regiments. The national regiments consisted of soldiers who were to be provided and equipped from a certain number of farms (initially four (1628), three later (1644) and finally two (1647)). The recruited regiments consisted of soldiers who were specially recruited. According to the Dansk biografisk lexikon he was a lieutenant only in the Frederiks Regiment and came as a first lieutenant to the "Søndenfjældske Infantry Regiment".
  3. ↑ Sørensen describes his career somewhat differently: 1771 lieutenant, 1779 first lieutenant in the "Søndenfjældske Infanteriregiment", in the same year captain (captain), in the following year he received the rank of adjutant general, 1788 major and on duty adjutant general to Prince Karl of Hesse, commander in chief of the Norwegian Army that entered Sweden.
  4. ↑ The "cranberry war" (Tyttebærkrigen) is a campaign carried out from Norway to Bohuslän in 1788 because Sweden had attacked Russia and Denmark-Norway had entered into a defensive alliance with Russia. The campaign was meaningless and the deaths were due not to acts of war but to disease.
  5. ↑ The "Feltkommissariat" was responsible for replenishing the army.
  6. ^ "Council of State" was the name for a minister. "First Council of State" was the name of the head of government in Christiania. Initially he was also Minister of Finance.
  7. ↑ Sørensen p. 179.
  8. ↑ Ski Slekthistorielag at the end.

literature

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personal data
SURNAME Haxthausen, Frederik von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Haxthausen, Frederik Gottschalk von; Haxthausen, Frederik Gottschalck from
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Norwegian-Danish officer, first head of government and finance minister of Norway
DATE OF BIRTH July 14, 1750
PLACE OF BIRTH Copenhagen
DATE OF DEATH July 6, 1825
Place of death Christiania