Friedrich Ludwig von Berlepsch
Baron Friedrich Ludwig von Berlepsch (born October 4, 1749 in Stade , † December 22, 1818 in Erfurt ) was a high official in the Electorate of Hanover and a publicist. His commitment to the interests of the population and against the arbitrariness of the state led to a dispute between him and the Hanover government that lasted for decades.
Life
Career
Berlepsch, a member of the Berlepsch family , an old Hessian aristocratic family , grew up in good circumstances and was raised by a private teacher. After studying law in Göttingen from 1766 to 1769, he was initially an auditor at the stepfather's law firm. In 1771 he was appointed extraordinary councilor of the Duchy of Lauenburg . In 1774 he was appointed Real and in 1783 as First Councilor. In the same year he was also court judge of the principalities of Calenberg , Grubenhagen and Göttingen and thus rose to one of the most important people in the Electorate of Hanover.
The discharge
When the First Coalition War began in 1792 and the Kingdom of Hanover, which was then ruled in personal union with Great Britain, was threatened with an attack by the French, Berlepsch submitted the following application in 1794 in the Calenberger Landschaft :
“To disapprove of the measures taken by the King of England as Elector of Hanover in relation to the Revolutionary War as unconstitutional and to issue the declaration that the inhabitants of the provinces of Calenberg and Grubenhagen should not take part in the Imperial War ; with the addition of even the demand that the elector should send a declaration of neutrality from France for the Calenberg nation (!), otherwise one would feel compelled to negotiate a neutrality treaty with France for one's own protection ”.
As expected, the application was rejected and received little attention from the government. As a result, Berlepsch had it published in several magazines to increase the pressure on the government. As a result, he was removed from office in 1795 without giving any reason. He went to the Reich Chamber of Commerce in Wetzlar to sue for his reinstatement. His defender in this process, which was to drag on for years, was the then highly respected constitutional lawyer Karl Friedrich Häberlin . On January 30, 1798, the court announced that Berlepsch's dismissal was unlawful and that he was to be reinstated in his offices. When the Hanover government refused to recognize the verdict, King Friedrich Wilhelm III. , commissioned by Prussia and Duke Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand of Braunschweig to ensure that Berlepsch was reinstated. While the Duke refused this from the outset for political reasons, Friedrich Wilhelm's attempt was unsuccessful. Instead, Berlepsch was banned from the principality as a " traitor " because of an interview with a French general .
French occupation
The process was followed closely by educated people in Germany. Berlepsch had many sympathizers and received support from numerous newspapers and magazines. The conflict got an abrupt interruption in 1803 when the Electorate of Hanover was occupied by French troops. In 1808 Berlepsch became prefect in the Werra department of the newly founded Kingdom of Westphalia . In 1808 he was also elected to the imperial estates of the Kingdom of Westphalia before he became a member of the Council of State in 1809 and therefore left parliament. He campaigned for a reduction in taxes and called for more law and justice, as well as less arbitrary government. He succeeded in preventing the University of Marburg from being closed , as well as preventing a special tax from being levied after the fire in the Kassel City Palace in November 1811. Nevertheless, he was dismissed from civil service in 1813 after a public complaint about tax increases and the resulting dispute with Finance Minister Karl August Malchus .
Death and aftermath
After the restoration of the old conditions and the reconstitution of the Kingdom of Hanover in 1814, Berlepsch aimed at a new edition of the process. However, his efforts were unsuccessful, as Hanover did not move from its position and also upheld the state ban. In 1816 he moved to Erfurt, where he received an honorary doctorate and was accepted into the Royal Prussian Academy of Useful Sciences in Erfurt . He died on December 22, 1818 at the age of 69.
Years later, his offspring were finally able to achieve partial success. A compromise was reached with the new British King Wilhelm IV , which guaranteed Berlepsch's sons a sum of 12,000 thalers .
Marriage and offspring
In 1771 he married Dorothea Friderika Emilie von Oppel (born November 26, 1755 in Gotha ; † July 27, 1830 in Lauenburg ), daughter of the former Chancellor of Saxe-Altenburg and Saxe-Gotha and the Württemberg secret councilor and governor of the County Mömpelgard , Carl Georg August von Oppel , and his wife Amalie geb. Countess Dönhoff . The marriage had two daughters and one son:
- Charlotte Luise (born April 26, 1771) ⚭ 1798 August Ernst von Lichtenberg-Niederfüllbach
- Friedrich (Fritz) Carl Emil (March 1, 1773 - January 11, 1802), Drost von Herzberg
- Caroline (1777-1780)
Emilie von Berlepsch, who appeared as a writer as early as the 1780s, lived in Switzerland from 1793 to 1795, and in 1795 she filed for divorce from her husband, with whom she had only lived for a short time during the years of their marriage . Friedrich Ludwig von Berlepsch then married their chambermaid Anna Dorothea Helene Siever (1767-1811), with whom he had a son.
- Karl Ludwig (born January 5, 1791; † January 26, 1848), Herr auf Berlepsch and Fahrenbach, District Administrator of Langensalza ⚭ 1813 Henriette von und zu Gilsa (born January 26, 1796; † December 26, 1862), parents of Karl Friedrich from Berlepsch
From a relationship with his cook Wagner, he had a son, the Swiss travel writer Hermann Alexander von Berlepsch.
Works (selection)
- Pragmatic history of the rural finance and taxation of the principalities of Calenberg and Göttingen and collection of some important files on the history of the rural financial and taxation of the principalities of Calenberg and Göttingen , 1799 ( digital copy )
- The most important pieces of files in my service horror and proscription thing , 1801
- Collection of important documents and documents relating to the knowledge of the financial conditions of the Kingdom of Westphalia , 1814
- Contributions to the Hesse-Kassel country negotiations , 1815–1816
- Appeal to public opinion in two complaints rejected by the Federal Assembly , 1817
literature
- Article Berlepsch, Friedrich Ludwig von . In: Joachim Rückert and Jürgen Vortmann (eds.): Lower Saxony lawyers . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2003, pp. 74-77.
- Gothaisches genealogical pocket book of noble houses 1904. Fifth year, p.65
- Bernd Ulrich Hucker, The "Calenberg Nation", Friedrich Ludwig von Berlepsch and "Truth and Law", In: Constitutional history from an international and diachronic perspective, ed. from Fr.-J. Arlinghaus, BU Hucker and E. Kotte, Munich 2010, pp. 83–93
- Heiko Leerhoff: Friedrich Ludwig von Berlepsch, Hanoverian court judge, district and treasurer and publicist, 1749-1818 . Dissertation Hildesheim 1970
- Jochen Lengemann : MdL Hessen. 1808-1996. Biographical index (= political and parliamentary history of the state of Hesse. Vol. 14 = publications of the Historical Commission for Hesse. Vol. 48, 7). Elwert, Marburg 1996, ISBN 3-7708-1071-6 , p. 71.
- Adolf Schaumann : Berlepsch, Friedrich Ludwig von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1875, p. 403 f.
- Günter Sieske: Berlepsch, Friedrich Ludwig v .. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1955, ISBN 3-428-00183-4 , p. 95 ( digitized version ).
- Arthur Wunsch: Contributions to the reform activities of the court judge and district administrator Friedrich Ludwig v. Berlepsch . Goettingen 1909
Web links
- Biography on www.v.berlepsch.de
- Literature by and about Friedrich Ludwig von Berlepsch in the catalog of the German National Library
- Berlepsch, Friedrich Ludwig von. Hessian biography. (As of February 12, 2020). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).
Individual evidence
- ↑ General German biography . Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1875-1912, Vol. 2, p. 403
- ^ Günter de Bruyn: The life of Jean Paul Friedrich Richter . Fischer, Frankfurt am Main, 1976, p. 195.
- ↑ https://kobra.bibliothek.uni-kassel.de/bitstream/urn:nbn:de:hebis:34-2010042132604/1/TennstedtKurzbiographien.pdf
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Berlepsch, Friedrich Ludwig von |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Berlepsch, Friedrich Ludwig Freiherr von |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German nobleman, court judge, district and treasurer in the Kingdom of Hanover and publicist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 4, 1749 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Stade |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 22, 1818 |
| Place of death | Erfurt |