George of Toggenburg

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Georg Ritter of Toggenburg

Georg Otto Aloys Udalricus Diethelm Ritter von Toggenburg ( January 24, 1810 in Rhäzüns , Canton of Graubünden ; † March 8, 1888 in Bozen ) was an Austrian privy councilor , lawyer and politician, minister for trade and public works, governor of Tyrol and Vorarlberg and twice in the Kingdom of Lombardy-Veneto .

Life

Origin and family

Sargans Castle
George of Toggenburg
Toggenburg Palace in Bolzano

Georg Otto came from an aristocratic family from Graubünden who claim an illegitimate descent from the Count of Toggenburg , who died in 1436 . The mother was Josepha von Jost zu St. Görgen (* November 4, 1784, † December 1, 1862). His father Johann Georg (born October 8, 1765; † June 6, 1847 in Feldkirch ) received the right to use the title Viscount from King Louis-Philippe I of France in 1832 and bought Sargans Castle in 1834. Since then he has called himself "Count of Toggenburg-Sargans". The addition of Sargan therefore referred to a property and had nothing to do with the title of nobility. His funerary inscription in Lefis reads: "Sergens, count of the French Empire, imperial Austrian administrator of Razuns, president and member of the government in Graubünden". Georg was a son of said Georg Johann Vicomte de Toggenburg, but only had the knight title.

Georg Otto von Toggenburg married Maria Adelheid Countess of Sarnthein (* April 2, 1822, † 1855), a daughter of Count Maria Ludwig von Sarnthein (* 1792, † 1867), Imperial Chamberlain , Herr zu Rottenbuch , and Kellerburg Kränzelstein , who was ordained for the gentry and knighthood in Tyrol, and Annette von Menz ("Anna"; * 1796; † 1869). The sons Paul Maria (senior pastor; * 1852; † 1902), Ludwig (* 1853) and the daughter Maria (* 1854) came from that marriage. His second marriage was on February 12, 1858 in Bozen, the sister of his deceased wife, the later Maltese nun Maria Virginia Countess of Sarnthein (born May 31, 1833 in Bozen; † October 7, 1905 there) from which marriage the sons Friedrich (* 1866; † 1956) and Heinrich (* 1872) and three daughters, Antonie (* 1861), Adelheid (* 1865) and Ida (Itha) (* October 19, 1867 in Innsbruck ; † May 12, 1915 ibid), sprouted.

His eldest son from his second marriage, Count Friedrich von Toggenburg (1866–1956), was also governor of Tyrol and Vorarlberg for many years. In 1917/1918 he became the kuk interior minister and was still active in South Tyrol politics after the war.

Career

Toggenburg graduated from high school in St. Gallen and in Feldkirch and then studied philosophy and law at the University of Freiburg . In September 1838 he was promoted to redundant unpaid district commissioner in Tyrol. Until 1848 he held the post of gubernial secretary at the Lieutenancy of the Kingdom of Illyria , but then received the dignity of district president in Trento .

After the re-conquest of Lombardy-Veneto, which was completed with the capture of Venice on August 22, 1849, Lieutenancies were established in both crown lands that took over the function of the former gubernia. Georg followed Anton Freiherr von Puchner in office on July 22, 1850 and became governor of Veneto for the first time. He was not subordinate to the Vienna Ministry of the Interior, but to the "Civil-General-Gouvernement" in Verona , which was headed by Field Marshal Radetzky at the time . He had to share the office with a military governor, at that time Karl von Grohowski.

On February 7, 1855, after the resignation of Andreas Freiherr von Baumgartner, he was appointed Imperial and Royal Minister of Commerce, which he held until 1859. As such, he issued, among other things, on behalf of the emperor on March 8, 1856, the "Concessions-Urkunde" for the railway from Vienna via Linz to Salzburg and / or. to the Bavarian border there next to Kleßheim including the wing railway from Linz to Passau . But he also implemented important reforms to regulate domestic industry and maintain trade relations with the Kingdom of Lombardy-Veneto and Hungary . He also ensured that weights and measures were equal in the empire, and he also established the Austrian post and telegraph system. On July 22, 1857 he became an honorary citizen of Trieste .

On February 9, 1860, he was again appointed governor in Lombardy-Venetia, in one of the greatest times of crisis for Austrian rule in northern Italy. He immediately went to work to get rid of any abuses that had crept in and remove people who were not worthy of trust from their posts. The knight was regarded as a just as well as energetic man, who let everyone do their justice, but rigorously opposed all activities.

In 1861 he had to sign the armistice and the cession of Lombardy to the Kingdom of Sardinia, which broke up the Kingdom of Lombardy-Veneto as a result of the defeat at Solferino . Only Veneto remained in Austrian hands for the time being. Veneto was lost to Austria despite the military successes in the third war of independence . Since Prussia, allied with Italy ( Prussian-Italian Alliance Treaty ) , had defeated Austria in the Battle of Königgrätz , Austria had to cede the area to France, which then passed it on to Italy. As a result, as the last governor of that region, he left Venice on October 18, 1866.

After returning to his homeland, Toggenburg was governor of Tyrol and Vorarlberg from December 6, 1866 to February 21, 1868. He was supposed to be confronted again with the Piedmontese when they tried to invade Trentino under the leadership of Giuseppe Garibaldi . After serious disagreements with the Tyrolean parliament over his administration, he asked for resignation, which was finally granted to him (February 4, 1868). In gratitude for his work, Emperor Franz Joseph I decorated him with the Order of the Iron Crown, 1st class.

death

Death picture of Georg Otto Ritter von Toggenburg-Sargans

After he had decided on his will on March 6th, Georg Otto von Toggenburg died on March 8th, 1888 in the Palais Sarnthein in Bozen, from where two days later the honorable and solemn funeral procession began with the lively participation of the population the Bolzano cemetery in the Count's Sarnthein family crypt.

Sarnthein-Toggenburg family crypt in the Bolzano cemetery

By the “highest resolution” of Emperor Franz Joseph on July 9, 1892 (diploma in Vienna on September 10, 1892) his son Friedrich von Toggenburg and his siblings (as well as their mother Virginie, née Countess Sarnthein) became counts in Austria as a foreign one unlimited prevalent . Georg von Toggenburg's descendants still live in the Palais Sarnthein in Bozen, Austria and Switzerland, which subsequently became known as the "Palais Toggenburg".

Awards

His most important decorations included:

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Vorarlberger Landes-Zeitung. No. 9, Bregenz, January 23, 1872, p. 1.
  2. TO Weigel: German count houses of the present. , Volume 2, Leipzig 1853, p. 346 f.
  3. ^ A b Constantin von Wurzbach : Toggenburg-Sargans, Georg Otto Ritter von . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 46th part. Kaiserlich-Königliche Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Vienna 1882, pp. 2–4 ( digitized version ). P. 3 f.
  4. Her baptismal name served in addition to the possession of Sargans Castle to underline the traditional descent from the medieval Toggenburg counts, because it is modeled on Saint Ida of Toggenburg , who was the wife of a Toggenburg resident. See also Franz Josef Waitzenegger , Itha, Gräfinn von Toggenburg: A very beautiful and instructive story , Augsburg 1816 ( digitized version )
  5. geneall.net
  6. ^ Theodor Brückler: Heir to the throne Franz Ferdinand as a curator. Böhlau Verlag, Vienna / Cologne / Weimar 2009, p. 601.
  7. ^ Andreas Gottsmann: Venetia, 1859–1866: Austrian administration and national opposition. (= Central European Studies. Volume 8). Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 2005, p. 25.
  8. ^ Joseph Kudler, Moritz Fränzl (ed.): Journal for Austrian legal scholarship and political law studies. Volume 3, JP Sollinger Verlag, Vienna 1839, p. 195.
  9. a b Jurende's illustrated patriotic pilgrims for 1859. 46th year, printing and publishing house of the typographical - literary - artistic establishment, Vienna 1859, p. 183.
  10. Waltraud Heindl, Edith Saurer, Hannelore Burger, Harald Wendlin (eds.): Border and State: Passport Management, Citizenship, Home Law and Aliens Legislation in the Austrian Monarchy (1750–1867). Böhlau Verlag, Vienna / Cologne / Weimar 2000, p. 383 f.
  11. ^ Supplement to the Innsbrucker Nachrichten. No. 91, April 23, 1870, p. 63.
  12. Joseph Pollanetz, Heinrich Edler von Wittek: collection of the relevant the austrian railways laws, regulations, treaties and constitutive-urkunden. Volume 2, Issue 1, KK Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Vienna 1871, p. 331 ff.
  13. Innsbruck News. No. 170, July 29, 1857, p. 1340.
  14. Innsbruck News. No. 47, February 27, 1860, p. 1.
  15. ^ Peter Truhart: Eastern, Northern & Central Europe. Annex: International Organizations. Volume 2, Part 4, KG Saur Verlag, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-598-21549-5 , p. 865.
  16. anno.onb.ac.at Farewell greeting as governor of Tyrol
  17. Vorarlberger Volksblatt. No. 5, January 17, 1868, p. 3.
  18. ^ Report in the Innsbrucker Nachrichten . March 15, 1888.
  19. ^ Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Adelslexikon Volume XIV, Volume 131 of the complete series, Limburg an der Lahn 2003, p. 476
  20. sterbebilder.schwemberger.at