Friedrich von Fürstenberg (diplomat)

Friedrich V von Fürstenberg (Imperial Baron since 1660) (born October 31, 1618 in Königstein ; † July 7, 1662 at Herdringen Castle ) was first canon , later heir to the family estate and councilor of the Duchy of Westphalia and diplomat from Cologne.

Friedrich von Fürstenberg

family

He was the son of the father of the same name of the country drosten Friedrich von Fürstenberg and Anna Maria von Kerpen. His siblings include Dietrich Caspar, later Cathedral Provost in Mainz , Wilhelm Cathedral Provost in Münster , Ferdinand Prince-Bishop of Paderborn , Franz Wilhelm Landkomtur of the Teutonic Order and Johann Adolf Cathedral Provost in Paderborn .

In 1645 Friedrich married his first wife Anna Katharina von der Leyen. With this he had eight children. Anna Katharina died in 1658 and was buried in the Franciscan Church in Attendorn . After the death of his first wife, Friedrich married Maria Elisabeth von Breidbach a year later. There were two children from this marriage.

Early years

Because of his weakness at birth, he received an emergency baptism . Friedrich was initially earmarked for the clergy by his family. He received his first tonsure in Mainz in 1629. Since 1639 he received a position as canon in Würzburg . In 1641 he accompanied Prince-Bishop Franz Wilhelm von Wartenberg on a trip to Loretto and Rome . There he met his brother Dietrich Caspar.

After his return in 1642 it was clear that Friedrich would become the family's secular heir. Thereupon he renounced his canon position. Together with his brother Wilhelm he took a trip to France to continue his education .

In the following years he served Franz Wilhelm von Wartenberg as chamberlain and accompanied him to the peace negotiations in Münster in 1644 .

In the service of Cologne

Maria Elisabeth von Fürstenberg, born von Breidbach zu Bürresheim (1623–1679)

Elector Ferdinand of Bavaria appointed Frederick as a councilor in the government of the Duchy of Westphalia . After the death of his father, Friedrich took over the inheritance. Associated with this was concern for his siblings. In order to be able to finance their education, he even had to move his wife's jewelry at times and run into high debts.

In the service of the Electorate of Cologne, Friedrich was entrusted with various important missions. In 1649 he negotiated with Amalia Elisabeth von Hessen-Kassel about the withdrawal of her troops from the Duchy of Westphalia. Since this did not lead to success, he traveled to Nuremberg in 1650 . Elector Maximilian Heinrich von Bayern sent him to Münster for the election of bishops in 1650 with the aim of making the elector's candidacy for this post a success. This mission failed. Instead of Maximilian Heinrich, Christoph Bernhard von Galen was elected bishop. A year later, Friedrich von Fürstenberg was commissioned to receive Cardinal Mazarin, who had fled from the Fronde , and to escort him to his exile at Schloss Brühl . Also in 1651 he traveled as envoy to Düsseldorf to offer the electoral mediation in the re-flaming Jülich-Klevischen succession dispute. Together with the elector, Friedrich took part in the Reichstag in Regensburg in 1653 . In April 1654 he was commander of the kurkölner troops with units from Kurmainz and Kurtrier the Burg Hammerstein revenue.

In 1654 in the Duchy of Westphalia, together with the then Landdrosten Dietrich von Landsberg, he was involved in the creation of the Recessus perpetuae concordiae - an agreement between the estates of the knights and cities. He also had political influence in the prince-bishopric of Paderborn, after his episcopal brother had appointed him to the Paderborn council.

Family policy

In the family area, he called the Reich Chamber Court to clarify the ownership of the pledges of the offices of Bilstein and Waldenburg. After the result for the Fürstenberg family was positive, Friedrich was enfeoffed with the two offices by the elector in 1647. However, in 1652 he had to accept a settlement in this matter. The estates of the Duchy of Westphalia were ready to redeem the loan once made by the Fürstenberg family with a total of 42,000 Reichstalers. However, the Fürstenbergers had a limited right of use until the debt was fully paid off.

Friedrich, however, succeeded in settling an equally old dispute over the bailiwick rights of the Grafschaft monastery . Subsequently, in 1660 , Emperor Leopold approved the coat of arms of the von Fürstenberg family with that of the former noblemen of Grafschaft in a diploma . In the same year Friedrich and his brothers were raised to the hereditary imperial baron status.

In addition to his various political activities, he tried to mine coal in Herdringen with the help of miners from the Essen area . However, given the local geology, this attempt had to fail.

After a long period of suffering, Friedrich died in the presence of his brother Ferdinand von Fürstenberg on July 7, 1662 at Herdringen Castle. His body was transported by mules to Attendorn, where he was buried in the Franciscan Church.

literature

• Manfred Schöne: Friedrich (V.) [von Fürstenberg]. In: Helmut Lahrkamp u. a .: Fürstenberg's story. Volume 3: The history of the von Fürstenberg family in the 17th century. Münster, 1971 pp. 84-88.