Friedrich Ludwig von Munchausen

Friedrich Ludwig von Münchhausen (born August 11, 1758 at Gut Hainspitz near Altenburg ; † September 14, 1827 in Braunschweig ) was a German lawyer and during the so-called Braunschweig French period from 1809 to 1813, the city's second and last mayor .

Life

From 1807 to 1813 Braunschweig was the capital of the French Département de l'Ocker as part of the Kingdom of Westphalia .

The Evangelical Lutheran Friedrich Ludwig von Münchhausen was born as the son of the Braunschweig Privy Councilor and Court and Ceremonial Master Albrecht Edmond Georg von Münchhausen (1729–1796) and his wife Gertrude Melusine von Adelebsen (1733–1798).

Münchhausen initially lived on the parental estate to which Vahlberg and Oldendorf also belonged. In Vahlberg he was court judge and president of the judiciary. During the French period (1807-1813) Munchhausen was politically active as a member of the electoral college of the French department of the Oker and as an election witness at its meetings in April 1808. In addition, he was a landowner member of the Department Council and from 1808 to 1813 the imperial estates of the Kingdom of Westphalia .

After the first “Maire” of Braunschweig, Wilhelm Albrecht Christian von Mahrenholtz , died unexpectedly on December 18, 1808 after only seven months in office, Münchhausen was appointed his successor on January 31, 1809. From then on - until the end of French rule on German soil at the end of 1813 - he was responsible for the fortunes of the city of Braunschweig and the Oker Department, of which it was the capital. It was not always easy to reconcile the conflicting interests of Brunswick with those of French King Jérôme Bonaparte , Napoleon's youngest brother , who lived in Kassel .

As early as the summer of 1809, only three kilometers from the city center, in the nearby village of Ölper (today a district of Braunschweig), a dramatic event occurred between the French occupiers and the Braunschweig people - the battle at Ölper . Duke Friedrich Wilhelm von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel , known as the Black Duke , who had been deposed and expelled by the French , appeared in Braunschweig , coming from Halberstadt , where his Free Corps , the Black Squad , had liberated the city from French occupation on July 29th and demanded quarters , Weapons and food. Münchhausen succeeded in persuading the Black Duke to leave the city quickly before the king in Kassel could respond with punitive measures against the city and the department. On August 1, there was a battle near Ölper with Westphalian troops, which was victorious for the Freikorps. The Black Company then moved further north.

The events in the summer of 1809 did not have a detrimental effect on Münchhausen's administration - on the contrary: on February 5, 1810, Münchhausen was appointed first class knight of the Order of the Westphalian Crown . The following year, the city also received the nearby Salzdahlum Castle as a gift.

After the fall of French rule in Germany as a result of the Battle of the Nations near Leipzig in October 1813, Munchausen was confirmed in office by Major Johann Elias Olfermann , the governor of the Black Duke , and continued his business until his return.

After the Duke of Brunswick returned to Brunswick on December 22nd, 1813, Münchhausen was put into service as Lord Chamberlain and Court Marshal . In 1815 he finally made a contribution to the repatriation of the city's art treasures, including the Brunswick lion , that had been brought to Paris by the French .

Other honors that Munchausen were bestowed were that of a knight of the Order of St. John and in 1819 the appointment as commander of the Order of Guelph .

Marriages and inheritance

Münchhausen was married three times: In his first marriage he married Caroline Lydia Dewar (1768–1800) in Braunschweig in 1791; in second marriage 1801 Caroline Auguste von Preen († 1806) in Braunschweig Cathedral and in third marriage 1808 Sophie Marie Charlotte von Praun (1784–1863), who after his death in 1832 with Hilmar Ludwig Wilhelm Graf von Oberg (born April 25, 1776 ; † October 26, 1861), married the last Count Oberg.

Since all of Münchhausen's marriages had remained childless, he adopted Ludwig Karl Heino von Münchhausen (* November 15, 1802, † February 4, 1879), son of his brother Karl Ludwig August Heino von Münchhausen , who eventually became his heir .

Ludwig Friedrich Freiherr von Münchhausen was buried on September 18, 1827 in the hereditary funeral in Vahlbeck.

literature

• Heidi Mehrkens: Ludwig Friedrich Freiherr von Münchhausen. In: Henning Steinführer , Claudia Böhler (Hrsg.): The Braunschweiger Mayors. From the establishment of the office in the late Middle Ages to the 20th century. oeding print GmbH, Braunschweig 2013, ISBN 978-3-941737-68-6 , pp. 329-332.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Albrecht Friedrich v. Münchhausen: Gender history of the House of those von Münchhausen from 1740 up to the most recent time: a continuation of that published by GS Treuer in 1740. Gender history of the house. Hahn, Hanover 1872, p. 21.