Georg von Schele

Coat of arms of the
Schele family in Schelenburg

Georg Victor Friedrich Diedrich Freiherr von Schele zu Schelenburg (born November 8, 1771 in Osnabrück , † September 5, 1844 in Schelenburg ) was a German politician in the Kingdom of Hanover . As such, he was instrumental in the Hanover coup of 1837.

origin

The family belonged to the knighthood of the Diocese of Osnabrück . His parents were the Chamberlain and Landdrost Ludwig Clamor von Schele († 1825) and Clara Freiin von Münster, sister of the well-known Hanover statesman Ernst zu Münster . His brother Friedrich von Schele (1782–1815) was married to Friedericke Wilhelmine Reil (1789–1868), a daughter of Johann Christian Reil (1759–1813). His sister Wilhelmine (1775–1836) married the Prussian Field Marshal Karl von Müffling (1775–1851).

Life

He was raised at home until he was 16. From 1787 to 1789 he attended the Knight Academy in Lüneburg and studied in Göttingen from 1789 to 1792 .

When the King of England and Hanover, William IV (1765–1837), died in 1837 without leaving heirs, and Queen Victoria ascended the throne in England, the female succession to the throne in England was not readily applicable to Hanover and it came to the separation of the personal union. The Queen's uncle, Ernst August, Duke of Cumberland (1771-1851), became King of Hanover. He grew up in England and was not very familiar with German conditions.

After the death of King Wilhelm IV, Georg von Schele made his successor Ernst August I available for an anti-constitutional coup. Ernst August's first official act was the appointment of Osnabrück nobleman Georg von Schele, a reactionary leader of the Hanoverian aristocracy and opponent Stüves , as Minister of State and Cabinet and Minister of Foreign Affairs. Schele was the closest political advisor to the new King Ernst August I and is considered to be the intellectual author of the Hanoverian constitutional breach of 1837, as a result of which the Hanoverian Assembly of Estates was dissolved and the liberal constitution of 1833 (constitutional constitution) declared invalid and suspended. The resulting long-standing constitutional dispute and its biggest event, the protest of the Göttingen Seven and their dismissal, concerned the German Federal Assembly and a large part of the German public. Schele initially insisted on his political course, but finally had to bow to the king and external pressure and to accommodate the opposition in 1840 with a new state constitutional law.

Schele was open to economic reforms, but for him, influenced by his early impressions of the French Revolution , only a class structure under the leadership of the nobility was considered as a model of social order .

Awards

Georg von Schele received the following awards:

• 1831 - Grand Cross of the Hanoverian Guelph Order
• 1838 - Grand Cross of the Prussian Order of the Red Eagle
• 1843 - Grand Cross of the Hanoverian Guelph Order with diamonds

Marriage and children

At the age of 24 he married Charlotte von Ledebur, daughter of the Hanoverian chamberlain Ernst August von Ledebur (1745–1804) and Karoline von Nehem (1755–1781). His children were:

• Ludwig Ernst Unico Georg (June 4, 1796 - December 1, 1870), Major a. D., District Administrator

⚭ 1832 Adelheid von dem Bussche-Ippenbüren (* December 30, 1808; † May 7, 1834)

⚭ 1835 Philippine von dem Bussche-Hünefeld-Streithorst (born January 25, 1810 - † December 28, 1842), parents of Baldwin von Schele

⚭ 1845 Mathilde von Landesberg (born February 19, 1822), parents of Arnold von Schele

• Klara Charlotte Karoline Luise Julie (* August 15, 1798; † September 16, 1832) ⚭ Ferdinand von Reden (* May 30, 1792; † March 30, 1852), Herr von Hastenbeck
• Adolph Friedrich (1800–1800)
• Eduard von Schele zu Schelenburg (1805–1875), Hanover Prime Minister, Foreign and Justice Minister and Minister of the Royal House of Hanover.

Works

• History of the Barons von Schele auf Schelenburg from the earliest times to 1774; Hanover, 1829–47

See also

• Schele - Westphalian-Lower Saxon noble family

literature

• Gustav Zimmermann : Denkstein for the Hanoverian Minister of the State, Cabinet and Foreign Affairs Freiherr Georg Victor Friedrich Diedrich von Schele.
• M. Bertram: The correction of the career kink. Georg von Schele as a deputy to the first general assembly of the Kingdom of Hanover 1814-1819, in: Osnabrücker Mitteilungen (OsnMitt) 95, 1990, pp. 149–168
• Hans-Joachim Behr: Georg von Schele 1771-1844. Statesman or doctrinal? Osnabrück 1973
• Ferdinand Frensdorff :  Schele, Georg Freiherr von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 30, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1890, pp. 751-755.
• Hans Joachim Behr:  Schele, Georg von. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 22, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-428-11203-2 , p. 642 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Wilhelm Rothert : General Hannoversche Biography , Volume 2: In the Old Kingdom of Hanover 1814–1866 ; Hanover: Sponholtz, 1914, pp. 424-432
• Anton Fahne, History of the Westphalian families , p.349

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Gothaisches genealogical pocket book of the baronial houses for the year 1855. Fifth year, p.523
2. ↑ Genealogical pocket book of the knights and Aristocratic families 1878. Third year. P. 409
3. ^ Gothaisches genealogical pocket book of noble houses 1903. Fourth year, p.759