Georg von Meyendorff (General)

Georg von Meyendorff, portrait of Woldemar Hau (1846/49)

Georg von Meyendorff , actually Georg Otto Wilhelm Freiherr von Meyendorff ( Russian Егор Фёдорович Мейендорф , Yegor Fyodorovich Meiendorf * 26. December 1794 on Ocht, Governorate of Estonia , today Ohtu, rural community Keila , Estonia ; † 25. October 1879 in Saint Petersburg ) was a German-Baltic, Russian officer, most recently General of the Cavalry, Adjutant General of the Tsar and President of the Evangelical Lutheran General Consistory in Imperial Russia.

Live and act

Meyendorff came from the wealthy Estonian branch of the German-Baltic noble family von Meyendorff and was the eldest son of Baron Berend Friedrich Reinhold vom Meyendorff (1762–1836) and his wife Anna Brigitta (1770–1841), née. from Stackelberg .

He entered Russian military service and distinguished himself in the battles against Napoleon Bonaparte . He was wounded in the Battle of Borodino , but soon recovered and took part in several battles of the Wars of Liberation . For his courage in the battle of Kulm he was awarded the Order of Vladimir 4th class; he was also one of the recipients of the Kulm Cross . As a lieutenant, he took part in the Battle of Leipzig and the battles of Brienne , Arcis-sur-Aube and Fère-Champenoise .

In 1825, he became the Supreme promoted and given command of the cuirassier regiment Little Russia . With this regiment he was involved in the suppression of the Polish uprising ( November uprising ) in 1831 . In the Battle of Grochów he undertook a famous cavalry attack, for which he was promoted to adjutant and awarded the Order of St. George, 4th class. In the summer of 1831 he also received the Order of St. Anne, 1st class and was promoted to major general. In February 1832 he was awarded the Prussian order Pour le Mérite .

In 1833 he was given command of the Chevalier Guard , which he held until 1837. In 1838 he became court stable master, in 1842 adjutant general, in 1843 lieutenant general and in 1845 chief stable master and chief of the stables of the imperial court. In 1853 he received the Alexander Nevsky Order .

In 1856 he was promoted to general of the cavalry. In 1862 he became an honorary colonel in the Prussian dragoon regiment "Prince Albrecht of Prussia" (Litthauisches) No. 1 . In 1868 he was awarded the Danish Elephant Order , and in 1873 he was finally awarded the Andreas Order .

Luther monument donated by Meyendorff

From 1845 until his death in 1879 Meyendorff was President of the General Consistory of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Tsarist Empire. He was the leading non-spiritual representative of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia. His administration fell during a period of intensified Russification in the Baltic States and has been made more difficult in recent years by his old age. In 1862 he donated the Luther monument in Keila . The 6 meter high statue by the sculptor Peter Clodt von Jürgensburg was supposed to be erected on the cathedral square in Reval , but this failed due to the resistance of the Russian authorities. Meyendorff then had it built on his own land.

Since January 1836 he was with Olga, geb. Briscorn († 1856), the widow of the general and governor of Kiev Jacob Potemkin († 1831), married. The couple had seven children, of whom the sons Nikolai (1835-1906), Bogdan Theophil (1838-1918), Fedor (1842-1911) and Alexander (1848-1907) all embarked on the Russian officer career and became generals.

literature

• Meyendorff barons of. (Protestant). In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 17, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1994,ISBN 3-428-00198-2, p. 287 f. ( Digitized version ). (Family article)

Web links

• Baltic Historical Commission (ed.): Entry on Georg von Meyendorff. In: BBLD - Baltic Biographical Lexicon digital
• Erik Amburger database at the Institute for East and Southeast European Studies

Individual evidence

1. ↑ For the family see [1] Genealogical Handbook of the Baltic Knighthoods , Part 2, 1.2 Estonia, pages 512-520; Goerlitz 1930