Georg Ernst Levin from Wintzingerode

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Georg Ernst Levin (Reichsgraf since 1794) of Wintzingerode (born November 27, 1752 in Walsrode , † October 24, 1834 in Stuttgart ) was a Württemberg state minister, heir and court lord of Bodenstein in Eichsfeld.

Origin and youth

Stained glass window (stained glass) with the image of Georg Ernst Levin von Wintzingerode in the chapel of Bodenstein Castle

Wintzingerode was the son of the Hanoverian officer Achaz Philipp von Wintzingerode -Bodenstein (1722-1758), who fell in 1758 . His mother Marie Eleonore, b. von Wintzingerode-Adelsborn (1733–1780), was chief steward at the Hessian court in Kassel, where in 1768 he entered the service of Landgrave Friedrich II . His grandfather was Major General Wasmuth Levin von Wintzingerode from Kurmainz .

Philippine of Hessen-Kassel

Philippine von Brandenburg-Schwedt , Landgraveess of Hessen-Kassel

At his death in 1785 he was chamberlain and captain. In 1786 he was appointed chief steward of the Landgrave's widow Philippine von Hessen-Kassel (1745–1800), b. Princess of Brandenburg-Schwedt appointed. At their instigation, he was raised to the rank of imperial count in 1794 and married the landgravine as a second marriage. In 1800 he became her sole heir. With her he had an illegitimate son Georg Philippson (born March 1, 1777, † October 8, 1834)

Württemberg statesman

In 1801 his friend, Duke Friedrich von Württemberg , a nephew of his second wife, appointed him President of the Secret Council and Minister for Foreign Affairs. In the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss 1803 Württemberg received large areas in the course of secularization and mediation as compensation for its lost possessions on the left bank of the Rhine. In 1805 he advised forestall through France by an alliance the current Elector Friedrich, the enemy occupation Württemberg and acted the corresponding contract with Napoleon I of. In 1806 Friedrich von Württemberg accepted the royal dignity. Wintzingerode overturned the old state constitution and established an absolutist central state out of old and new Württemberg, which was administered by a collegially run state ministry , headed by the state minister for foreign affairs as cabinet minister. In 1806 and 1807 Wintzingerode was on various missions in Paris and in Napoleon's headquarters, where he won the emperor's special trust and respect. Talleyrand called him “un géant dans un entresol” during these years. At that time he negotiated the marriage between Princess Katharina von Württemberg and Jérôme Bonaparte , who became King of Westphalia in 1807 .

In the service of Jérôme Bonaparte

At the end of 1807 there was a break with King Friedrich I of Württemberg . Wintzingerode initially retired to his Bodenstein Castle in Eichsfeld , but was asked by Napoleon to attend the Prince's Day in Erfurt . There he turned down the Westphalian Ministry of the Interior that was offered to him, but accepted the post of Ambassador Jérômes in Paris, also because of the unusually high remuneration of 100,000 francs a year.

Return to ministerial office and old age

In 1814 he returned to Württemberg, reconciled with King Friedrich through the mediation of his son and became cabinet minister again. He represented the kingdom at the Congress of Vienna and in 1815 and 1816, as head of the royal constitutional committee, led negotiations with the newly convened assembly of estates on the new constitution of Württemberg, which King Friedrich wanted to grant the country. With the death of the king he resigned and became chief steward of the new Queen Katharina Pavlovna . After her death he was the Württemberg ambassador in Berlin , Hanover, Kassel and Dresden until 1825 and was Grand Chancellor of the Württemberg order until the end of his life. He then lived on his property around Bodenstein Castle , at times also in Gotha and from 1832 back in Stuttgart.

family

In 1777 he married Juliane von Fabrice-Westerfeld (1762–1794). His only son Carl Friedrich Heinrich Levin (1778-1856) was also a Württemberg diplomat and Minister of State.

Honors

literature

  • Paul Sauer : Napoleon's eagle over Württemberg, Baden and Hohenzollern - Southwest Germany in the time of the Confederation of the Rhine . Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1987, ISBN 3-17-009595-1 .
  • Eberhard von Wintzingerode: Family tree of the von Wintzingerode family. Set up with biographical explanations . Dieterich, Göttingen 1848.
  • Heinrich Jobst Graf von Wintzingerode: Doing right always keeps its price. The story of the Wintzingerode family and Bodenstein Castle . Gallery in the castle, Großbodungen 2004, ISBN 3-00-013996-6 .
  • Heinrich Jobst Graf von Wintzingerode: Würtembergs way to the kingdom and the two ministers Wintzingerode . In: Journal for Württemberg State History . 66, 2007, ISSN  0044-3786 , pp. 239-248.
  • New Nekrolog der Deutschen , Volume 12, pp. 900ff digitized

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Juliane von Fabrice-Westerfeld at geneall.net
  2. ↑ Royal Württemberg Court and State Handbook 1808 , p. 18
  3. ↑ Royal Württemberg Court and State Handbook 1808 , p. 28
  4. ↑ Royal Württemberg Court and State Handbook 1828 , p. 30
predecessor Office successor
Ministry established on January 1, 1806 Head of the Württemberg Ministry (Department) of Foreign Affairs
1806–1807 		Ludwig von Taube
Ferdinand Ludwig von Zeppelin Head of the Württemberg Ministry (Department) of Foreign Affairs
1814–1816 		Ferdinand Ludwig von Zeppelin
personal data
SURNAME Levin von Wintzingerode, Georg Ernst
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Levin, Georg Ernst
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Württemberg state minister, heir and court lord of Bodenstein in Eichsfeld
DATE OF BIRTH November 27, 1752
PLACE OF BIRTH Walsrode
DATE OF DEATH October 24, 1834
Place of death Stuttgart