Heinrich Cerrini de Monte Varchi (General)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Family coat of arms of the Cerrini

Heinrich Cerrini de Monte Varchi (* 7. January 1740 , † 23. February 1823 ) was a Saxon lieutenant general of infantry , Kabinetts- and Minister of War , managed on an interim basis , the foreign affairs and was last governor of Dresden .

Life

origin

He came from an old aristocratic Florentine family, which begins its line with Cerrino de Monte Varchi around 1300. Fabrizio Cerrini followed the call of Empress Eleonore in 1671 and moved to Austria, where he was appointed court chamber councilor and director of all imperial museums and galleries in Vienna. He is the progenitor of an Austrian and a Saxon line. One of his sons was Ferdinand Cerrini de Monte Varchi (founder of the Saxon line) and Heinrich Cerrini de Monte Varchi was his eldest son.

The father Ferdinand, born in Vienna in 1685 and raised in the imperial page house , accompanied the Archduchess Maria Josepha , daughter of the emperor, to Dresden, since she had been married to the electoral prince in 1719, who would later become King August III. from Poland . As chamberlain and maître de la cloakroom , the father finally remained in the service of the Habsburg princess and in 1733 married a von Manner girl.

Military career and political activity

Heinrich was the first son and, barely 15 years old, began his career in 1755 as a cadet in the Rutowsky Dragoon Regiment . Since 1806 the Saxon major general and general inspector of the infantry , Heinrich Cerrini fought in 1806 in the battle of Jena .

In 1807 he was appointed cabinet minister and state secretary for the affairs of the military command, and was awarded the Commander's Cross of the Military Order of St. Henry by his king . At the same time, King Cerrini subordinated the Singer Infantry Regiment , whose chief position had become vacant and which he had commanded as a colonel until 1806 . In 1809, Cerrini de Monte Varchi was governor of the royal residence in Dresden and commander in chief of the troops . After the dismissal of the Saxon Minister of War von Low , he became his successor and accompanied King Friedrich August in 1813 on the escape to Regensburg and Prague .

After the return and dismissal of Count Senfft von Pilsach (known as Laun), Cerrini also administered the Foreign Ministry on an interim basis until Count Einsiedel joined the company. Due to the cession of half of Saxony to Prussia, which was decided at the Congress of Vienna , Cerrini was reappointed governor of Dresden and cabinet minister in 1815 when the Saxon monarch returned. In 1817 he was recognized by his king with the Grand Cross of the Military Order of St. Henry for 60 years of service.

Last years

In 1820, the 80-year-old broke his leg while getting out of a car. It healed, but he was disabled. In his final years, the elderly man had to endure constant pain. When he suffered a stroke at the beginning of 1823 , he ended his life after a short sick leave on February 23 and had loyally served the House of Saxony for 66 years. Heinrich Cerrini de Monte Varchi died with the rank of lieutenant general and governor of Dresden.

family

The later Supreme Commander of the Saxon Army , Clemens Cerrini de Monte Varchi , was his nephew, the son of his younger brother, also named Clemens. Heinrich Cerrini had brought his nephew to the cadet corps in 1799, and so he also took part in the Battle of Jena in 1806, but was temporarily taken prisoner by the French.

In 1781 Heinrich Cerrini married a Silesian nobleman, Antonia von Friedenberg, with whom he was married until her death in 1804. She was the daughter of a widowed von Friedenberg, née Baroness von Roth, and stepdaughter of the Silesian state elder and royal Prussian secret judge Franz Joseph von Mutius (1704–1788), on Berthelsdorf , Ober- and Nieder- Altwasser with Bärengrund and Börnchen, Ober- and Nieder-Thomaswaldau, Bischdorf and Eilau. The marriage with Antonia von Friedenberg, who still had an unwed sister Josepha, had remained childless.

However, Heinrich Cerrini also took care of the orphaned three sons of his youngest brother Franz, who died in the siege of Danzig in 1807, with paternal care. Among them was the future field marshal lieutenant , who had the same name as the uncle: Heinrich Cerrini de Monte Varchi (1801-1870).

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ In contrast, Heinrich Theodor Flathe ( Cerrini di Monte Varchi, from. In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie . 1876, p. 90 ( online version )) mentions November 13 of the same year 1823.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Friedrich August Schmidt (Ed.): New Nekrolog der Deutschen , Volume 1, Ilmenau 1824, pp. 141–148
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Heinrich Theodor Flathe : Cerrini di Monte Varchi, from. in: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie . 1876, p. 90 ( online version )
  4. ↑ GHdA , Adelslexikon Volume II, Volume 58 of the complete series, Limburg an der Lahn 1974, p. 267
  5. ^ Heinrich August Pierer , Pierer's Universal Lexicon of Past and Present , Volume 3, Altenburg 1857, p. 828 f.
  6. ↑ a b c d e Verlag Walter de Gruyter : Deutsche Biographische Enzyklopädie 2, p. 314
  7. ↑ Churfürstlich-Sächsischer Hof- und Staatscalender (1800), p. 226
  8. ^ Dresden advertisements 1806, advances and promotions. From the military budget ( digitized version )
  9. ^ A b Leopold von Zedlitz-Neukirch , Neues Prussisches Adelslexicon , Volume III, Leipzig 1837, p. 439
personal data
SURNAME Cerrini de Monte Varchi, Heinrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cerrini, Heinrich; Cerrini, Heinrich von; Cerrini de Montevarchi, Heinrich; Cerrini di Monte Varchi, Heinrich von; Cerrini de Monte Varchi, Heinrich Freiherr
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Saxon Lieutenant General, Cabinet and War Minister, Governor of Dresden
DATE OF BIRTH January 7, 1740
DATE OF DEATH February 23, 1823