Hans Detlef von Hammerstein

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Hans Detlef Freiherr von Hammerstein (born March 18, 1768 in Kastorf , Duchy of Saxony-Lauenburg ; † July 29, 1826 in the Rhine near Rüdesheim ) was Oldenburg regional president of the Principality of Lübeck , envoy and officer from Hanover .

Life

Early years and activity in Eutin

Hans Detlef von Hammerstein came from the originally Berg , in the second half of the 17th century Lower Saxony resident, Uradelsgeschlecht Hammerstein and was one of his younger Loxtener line at. His father was the landowner Hans Christian von Hammerstein (* May 15, 1741, † May 14, 1771), his mother was his wife Caroline Agnes Luise nee. von Schräder (April 19, 1744 - December 28, 1801).

Gut Petersdorf in Ostholstein, acquired by Hammerstein in 1804, who had the manor house redesigned in a classical style.

He attended the Knight Academy in Lüneburg , from 1784 the pedagogy in Ilfeld and matriculated on May 10, 1786 to study law at the University of Göttingen . Then he entered the Hanoverian judicial service, where he first manorial court - Assessor in Stade was. In 1799, at the suggestion of the Hanover government, he was appointed assessor at the Reich Chamber of Commerce in Wetzlar , where he only stayed for two years. Since he did not immediately find a suitable job in Hanover afterwards , he made a spontaneous decision in 1801 and with the help of the family connections of his wife in Danish services and became Vice Chancellor of the Glückstadt Chancellery and Danish Chamberlain . From 1802 he became a canon in the Lübeck bishopric for a short time and already entered the Oldenburg service, as the prince-bishop of Lübeck Friedrich August had been assigned the counties of Oldenburg and Delmenhorst , which belonged to the Holy Roman Empire , in the Treaty of Tsarskoe Selo in 1773 . The parts of the country were raised to the Duchy of Oldenburg by Emperor Joseph II . The Hochstift was converted into a hereditary secular principality in the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss 1803 , which made a civil administration necessary. Accordingly, Hammerstein was appointed regional president of this principality on May 26, 1804. Hammerstein proved himself in this office and was able to quickly eliminate the deficiencies of the previously church administration through his energetic intervention. Duke Peter Friedrich Ludwig , who was said to have a preference for noble officials, valued Hammerstein as a “capable” and “skillful man”.

In Oldenburg

In May 1806, the minister in charge, Count Holmer of the Duchy of Oldenburg, died and Hammerstein was consequently appointed as his successor. However, on this occasion the Duke severed the connection between the highest ministerial office and the position of Oberlanddrosten von Oldenburg, since this dual function had not proven itself under Holmer due to the frequent change of the court from Oldenburg to Eutin . At the request of Peter Friedrich Ludwig, Hammerstein also remained President of the Government of the Principality of Lübeck. As a minister, Hammerstein could not excel very well in the following years. The Duke of Oldenburg mostly reserved the government himself. Therefore, Hammerstein's main task was the - unsuccessfully - defense against the French attacks. He led the negotiations about the entry of Oldenburg into the Rhine Confederation and took part next to the Duke in October 1808 at the Erfurt Prince Congress, where the signing of the certificate of accession took place. As early as December 1810, the incorporation of Oldenburg into the French Empire was announced and in February 1811 it was carried out. Hammerstein's sphere of influence was now limited to the northern part of the Principality of Lübeck, which was excluded from the French occupation. He took this as an external reason for his resignation, submitted in February 1811. The real reason, however, was Hammerstein's shattered financial situation, as he had lost his large fortune over time due to his gambling addiction, which could not be suppressed. Reluctantly, the Duke accepted the resignation in May 1811.

Wars of liberation and activity for Hanover

He went to England , where he accompanied the Crown Prince of Sweden Count Bernadotte to Germany as Lieutenant Colonel in 1813 through the mediation of the Hanoverian Minister, Count Ernst Friedrich Herbert zu Munster, who was closely related to him. He should urge them to vigorously conduct war in northern Germany and represent the interests of Hanover in the conquered areas.

After the war he entered the Hanoverian service, first as a privy councilor, later as a privy councilor . From 1814 to 1818 he was a deputy of the city of Buxtehude in the assembly of estates , in which he advocated the abolition of the outdated tax exemption of the nobility and demanded an even distribution of taxes among the individual provinces of the country elevated to a kingdom in order to allow them to grow together facilitate.

As an outspoken conservative reformist , he endeavored to eliminate traditional privileges and to adapt the state organization to the new requirements through careful reforms and to consolidate them in this way. As a result, he often got into sharp arguments with the reactionary aristocratic group in the meeting of the estates and also came into conflict with the arch-conservative ministers in Hanover . Under these circumstances, he finally asked for a transfer to a provincial magistrate's position , which he thought was worth striving for to compensate for further gambling losses due to lower representation expenses. The government in Hanover, which did not want to forego his skills, instead appointed him in 1822 as the Bundestag envoy in Frankfurt am Main , where he stood up for Hanoverian interests with the usual energy and efficiency. His gambling addiction finally became his undoing here. When he was unable to replace the matriculation fees embezzled to cover his debts , he saw the only way out, according to the code of honor of the time and his class, in suicide . On July 30, 1826, he searched for and found death in the Rhine near Rüdesheim.

See also

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wolfgang Prange : Directory of the Canon. In: Ders .: Bishop and cathedral chapter of Lübeck: Hochstift, principality and part of the country 1160-1937. Lübeck: Schmidt-Römhild 2014 ISBN 978-3-7950-5215-7 , p. 422 No. 432
predecessor Office successor
Georg Friedrich von Martens Hanoverian envoy to the German Confederation
1822–1826 		Carl Friedrich von Strahlheim
personal data
SURNAME Hammerstein, Hans Detlef from
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Politicians in Oldenburg and Hanover
DATE OF BIRTH March 18, 1768
PLACE OF BIRTH Kastorf , Duchy of Saxony-Lauenburg
DATE OF DEATH July 29, 1826
Place of death Rhine near Rüdesheim