Heinrich Ernst von Schönburg-Rochsburg

Heinrich Ernst von Schönburg-Rochsburg (born April 29, 1760 at Rochsburg Castle , † April 19, 1825 there ) was a German farmer and sheep farmer .

Life

family

Count Heinrich Ernst von Schönburg-Rochsburg came from a family that went back to Alban von Schönburg, whom Emperor Otto I called to Zwickau in 937 to protect the country against the Sorbs . He was the fourth and youngest son of his father of the same name Heinrich Ernst von Schönburg-Rochsburg (* September 18, 1711; † June 2, 1778) and his wife, Countess Magdalene Louise (born Freiin von Elster) (* March 17, 1723; † March 27, 1798). His siblings were:

• Friedrich Ernst (1748–1770);
• Ludwig Ernst (1750–1806), married to Caroline von Wittgenstein;
• Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst (* 1751 - January 17, 1816);
• Caroline Antoinette Louise (* December 8, 1752; † June 15, 1818), married to Heinrich Gustav Gottlob von Reichenbach (1731–1790);
• Wilhelmine Eleonora Sidonie (1756-1822);
• Albert Gottlieb Ernst († 1758);
• Magdalena Louise (1762–1835), married to Freiherr Joseph Michael Judtmann, ennobled by Ehrenfels (1767–1843).

Heinrich Ernst von Schönburg-Rochsburg was first married to Countess Sophie Wilhelmine (born January 14, 1764; † July 4, 1795), daughter of Prince Johann Carl Friedrich zu Carolath-Beuthen ; the marriage remained childless. In his second marriage he was married to Countess Ernestine Wilhelmine (* April 15, 1768; † December 27, 1837), sister of the Real State Councilor Heinrich Karl Ernst Köhler (1765-1838), whose illegitimate and later legitimized daughter was:

• Adolfine Sophie Wilhelmine Henriette Ernestine (* December 30, 1809; † March 12, 1880), married to Adolph Friedrich von Wilucki (1803–1890).

In 1815 he became deaf and could only communicate in writing.

In 1816 his brother Heinrich died, so that he became the sole owner, but as a result he was no longer economically successful and went into debt.

When Heinrich Ernst von Schönburg-Rochsburg died, the Schönburg-Rochsburg line became extinct and the territory fell to the Schönburg-Hinterglauchau line, so Heinrich von Schönburg inherited half of the Rochsburg rule after the death of his father in 1842.

The Wroclaw camera scientist Friedrich Benedict Weber wrote part of his necrology and published all of his writings posthumously in two volumes.

education

He received his school education through private lessons from his court master Christian Gabriel Lebrecht Wimmer (1748–1798), who later became pastor in Burgstädt .

1778 enrolled him at the University of Leipzig and began to study law , graduating Easter 1782; then he worked in Dresden as a government assessor . However, he gave up this activity again after a short time when the opportunity arose to continue running the estate business with his brother Count Heinrich von Schönburg-Rochsburg after the death of his eldest brother and after the second oldest brother after a legal dispute over his rights had waived.

Agricultural operation

He dealt intensively with the operation of agriculture and studied the writings of Christian Friedrich Germershausen , the bailiff Johann Georg Leopold from Sorau , the Leipziger Ökonomische Hefte , Johann Christian Schubart , who was particularly concerned with clover building and stable feeding, as well as the writings of Agricultural scientists Johann Nepomuk Hubert von Schwerz and Albrecht Daniel Thaer .

He introduced the intensive cultivation of various products on the estate, such as clover, vetch and pea cultivation as well as potato cultivation . With the introduction of new plowing methods and the use of fertilization methods , he achieved considerable increases in yield on his goods.

Rochsburg Castle

Schoenburg County - Northern Part (1795/1796)

County of Schönburg - southern part (1795/1796)

In the course of time he also initiated the romantic gardens around the castle, which were modeled on the English parks . In keeping with the style of its time, paths led down the hollow through consciously designed nature with dendrological and botanical features.

In 1792 he acquired the manor Bertholdsdorf near Lunzenau , where he later ran his sheep farm with 2,000 to 3,000 sheep and, for a short time, a cloth factory; for this he abolished cattle farming in his area, which his brother continued to operate in his own area. In the course of time he also acquired numerous properties in the villages of Mohsdorf and Helsdorf near Burgstädt . A few years before his death, on December 12, 1820, he acquired the Mittelfrohna manor ; there he ran a brandy distillery .

Sheep farming

Of outstanding importance were his efforts in merino sheep breeding , which he started in 1792 and which led to his fame throughout Europe. He read the research by Louis Jean-Marie Daubenton on the improvement of wool production in sheep , and crossed very fine- wool merino sheep and Saxon country sheep; this resulted in a wool which the English, wherever he exported the wool , called Elektoral wool (electoral wool), from which the designation Elektoral sheep (electoral sheep) was derived.

In the last year of his life, however, there was a dispute with the sheep farmer Rudolf André , whose writings he initially valued, but who denied him the quality of his wool.

Because of sheep farming and his economic diary from 1799-1819 (published in 1828), he was one of the most important German economists of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He wrote many essays and writings in which he dealt extensively with sheep breeding, field management in general, with fertilization and the growth of plants. However, he did not publish his writings under his name, but under a pseudonym and under the name of his inspectors.

In March 1825, at the request of Emperor Alexander I, he wrote a detailed report on the sheep farm, which is called the first in the world .

Peasant riot

Due to the large game population, which repeatedly destroyed the peasant harvests, and against which the population was not allowed to take action because this was reserved for the nobility, there was unrest among the peasants, who were promoted by the French Revolution of 1789. This presumably led to the Rochsburg rule being most strongly involved in the Saxon peasant uprising of 1790 of all Schönburg areas . Attempts to storm the castle could only be put down with a bloody military operation. A lieutenant fired his pistol and gave the order to ride into the crowd with his saber drawn; this resulted in twenty injuries and one death.

Fonts (selection)

• Johann Georg Eck ; Heinrich Ernst von Schönburg-Rochsburg: De Vi Poeseos In Mores Hominum: Dissertatio Prior Quam The XVI Maii MDCCLXXXI Defendet . Lipsiae: Officina Klaubarthia, 1781.
• Some remarks by a practical farmer on the whole of E. Petri's sheep-raising . Leipzig, with JB Fleischer 1817.
• Economic plans and drafts for the Rochsburg farms for the years 1803–1825 . Halle: Hemmerde & Schwetschke, 1828.
• Economic diary for the years 1799–1819 . Hall: Hemmerde u. Schwetschke, 1828.
• Handwritten messages from Count Heinrich Ernst von Schönburg-Rochsburg about his economic management in Rochsburg in Saxony , ed. by Friedrich Benedict Weber. Hall 1828.

literature

• Heinrich Ernst von Schönburg-Rochsburg . In: New Nekrolog der Deutschen , 3rd year, 1825, 1st issue. Ilmenau 1827. p. 456 f.
• Alexandra Thümmler: Known throughout Europe. The Rochsburger Schäferei, in: Imperial estate, splendor and piety, forms of representation of the counts and princes of Schönburg in the 18th century (dissertation), writings on Saxon history and folklore, volume 59, Leipziger Universitätsverlag, Leipzig 2019, pp. 547-551 and p 559; Michael Wetzel: The model farms of the Counts of Schönburg in Rochsburg, in: Knowledge - Wool - Change, Merino sheep breeding and agricultural innovation in Saxony in the 18th and 19th centuries. Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle (Saale) 2016, pp. 63–73.

Web links

• Michael Wetzel: Heinrich Ernst von Schönburg-Rochsburg . In: Institute for Saxon History and Folklore (Ed.): Saxon Biography .
• Schönburg-Rochsburg, Heinrich Ernst Graf von . In: Index entry: German biography .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Georg Hassel: Genealogical-historical-statistical almanac . P. 331 f. published by the Landes-Industrie-Comptoirs., 1831, p. 334 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
2. ^ Family tree of Heinrich Ernst von Schönburg. Retrieved January 10, 2020 . 
3. ^ William Löbe:  Ehrenfels, Josef Michael Freiherr v. In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 5, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877, p. 711 f.
4. ^ Karl Morgenstern: Heinrich Carl Ernst Köhler: With portrait . 1839 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
5. ^ Johann Georg Heinrich Hassel: Genealogical-historical-statistical almanac . Landes-Ind. -Comptoir, 1848 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
6. ↑ Saxony pastors ' book. Retrieved January 10, 2020 . 
7. ^ Journal of and for Germany . P. 598 f. Hermann, 1791, p. 605 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
8. ^ The Rochsburg - pearl in the Muldental. Retrieved January 10, 2020 . 
9. ↑ Manors and castles in the kingdom of Saxony: Mittelfrohna - Wikisource. Retrieved January 10, 2020 . 
10. ^ Johannes Eichenthal: Advent in the manor - alternative event in Niederfrohna. In: Litterata. January 3, 2011, accessed January 10, 2020 . 
11. ↑ Saxony Read: The famous Saxon sheep breeding. Retrieved January 10, 2020 . 
12. ^ Economic news and negotiations . 1825, p. 598 and 604 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
13. ↑ Johann Gottlieb Fichte: Contribution to the correction of the public's judgments on the French Revolution (1793): The review by Friedrich von Gentz ​​(1794) is attached . Felix Meiner Verlag, 1973, ISBN 3-7873-2610-3 ( limited preview in Google book search).
14. ↑ Erhard Zschage: "Stand up, if you are a farmer!" From the peasant uprising in Rochsburg in 1790. (PDF) In: Lunzenauer Heimatblatt. 2011, accessed January 10, 2020 .