Friedrich von Hartenberg

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Friedrich von Hartenberg (* probably at the beginning of February 1781 in Löffingen in the Principality of Fürstenberg ; † April 14, 1822 in Schaffhausen ) was a pupil of the historian Johannes von Müller , who later cheated him out of his property.

Life

Friedrich von Hartenberg was born (as the second eldest son of Schaffhausen's Johann Baptist von Hartenberg) in Löffingen in the Principality of Fürstenberg . From 1796, Johannes von Müller, who was then in Vienna , tried to bring Hartenberg up in line with his status. Müller obtained a scholarship for Hartenberg, but after studying in Prague in 1797/98 and after about a year at the Theresianum in Vienna , Hartenberg avoided further studies in 1799, allegedly because of epileptic seizures.

In June 1802, Hartenberg began to exchange letters with Müller under the bogus name of a Hungarian count named Louis Batthyány Szent-Iványi , as well as under the name of his mother and his servant. Batthyány pretended to enter into a partnership with Müller and to raise Hartenberg as an adoptive son with him. Müller did not see through the game and in eleven months wrote around 130 letters, often multi-page, to the count, which Fritz claimed to be serving. Müller also did not become suspicious when a meeting never took place that repeatedly failed due to new circumstances. Müller gave Hartenberg large sums of money and also a property entrusted to him, since Batthyány wanted Hartenberg to be appropriately furnished.

When the fraud was discovered, Mueller reported to Hartenberg, whereupon this Mueller tried to compromise by accusing him of criminally forbidden same-sex acts, including with him. While Hartenberg was in custody for six months and then sentenced to three months' imprisonment for fraud, the investigation was stopped against Müller, who swore on oath that he had never committed unlawful sexual acts. However, the affair damaged his reputation and also compromised him politically. After this scandal, known as the so-called "Hartenberg Affair", von Müller went to Berlin in 1804 .

Hartenberg left Vienna after serving his sentence and was forced to seek refuge in Schaffhausen because of similar impostures in 1807, joined the French army and was sentenced to eleven years of forced labor in the Bagne of Toulon for theft . In 1819 he went to his father's hometown, Schaffhausen, where he died of emaciation in 1822.

Müller's letters to “Batthyány Szent-Iványi” have been preserved in the Schaffhausen ministerial library ; Hartenberg's letters to Müller had mostly burned before the trial began.

reception

In 1990, Paul Derks Müller dedicated a comprehensive cultural-critical essay A believable man, Johannes Müller, in his compendium on the discourse of "Homosexuality and the public sphere in German literature 1750-1850" ( The Shame of the Holy Pederasty ) .

In 2014 a complete and annotated edition of Müller's letters was published by André Weibel.

literature

  • André Weibel (Ed.): Johannes von Müller »You have found a mirror that reflects you in everything«. Letters to Count Louis Batthyány Szent-Iványi 1802–1803. 2 volumes Wallstein, Göttingen 2014, ISBN 978-3-8353-1383-5 .
  • André Weibel (Ed.): Johannes v. Müller / Johann Georg Müller. Correspondence and family letters 1766–1789. 6 volumes Wallstein, Göttingen 2009–2011, ISBN 978-3-8353-0453-6 (numerous unpublished quotations from the originals in volume 6).
  • Paul Derks: The Shame of Sacred Pederasty. Homosexuality and the public sphere in German literature 1750–1850. Rosa Winkel, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-921495-58-X .
  • Matthias Pape: Johannes von Müller. His intellectual and political environment in Vienna and Berlin 1793–1806. Franke, Bern 1989, ISBN 3-317-01662-0 .
  • Karl Henking: Johannes von Müller. 2 volumes Cotta, Stuttgart / Berlin 1909–1928.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Hartenberg, Friedrich von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Batthyany Szent-Ivany, Louis (pseudonym); Hartenberg, Fritz von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Student and impostor, Johannes von Müller cheat
DATE OF BIRTH around February 1781
PLACE OF BIRTH Loeffingen
DATE OF DEATH April 14, 1822
Place of death Schaffhausen