Heinrich Rüdiger von Ilgen

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Heinrich Rüdiger von Ilgen, copper engraving from 1706

Heinrich Rüdiger Ilgen , from 1701 von Ilgen (born September 30, 1654 in Petershagen , † December 6, 1728 in Britz [today in Berlin]), was a statesman from Brandenburg or royal Prussia . He was one of the most important Brandenburg diplomats of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Life

origin

His father Johann Rudolf Ilgen (* 1622, † 1679) was a kurbrandenburgischer Privy Councilor of Minden . His mother Margarete Ursula († 1659) was the daughter of Jacob Barth, Swedish privy councilor and war commissioner from Naumburg .

Professional background

After completing his legal and political studies, he accepted a position as an adjunct of his father in the government of Minden. At the end of 1678, presumably on the recommendation of Leibniz , Ilgen was offered a position as legation secretary at the side of Franz von Meinders , the representative of the Berlin government in the peace negotiations with France. As the Brandenburg ambassador, he was active in Paris until the Peace of St. Germain was concluded in 1679 .

On his return to Berlin , Elector Friedrich Wilhelm appointed him secret secretary and in 1683 promoted him to secret chamber secretary while simultaneously transferring one of the four great law firm expeditions, the Prussian and Polish. The son and successor of the Great Elector Friedrich III. gave him the title of a councilor in 1693 and a privy councilor in 1699. After Frederick I was crowned king in Prussia in 1701, Ilgen was raised to the hereditary Prussian nobility for his services and was appointed a real secret council. He was directly involved in the foreign and domestic political preparations for the coronation.

From 1698 to 1713 he worked on reforming the judiciary. The General Order owes its final form to the improvement of the judiciary on June 21, 1713, thanks to his appraisal . He also played an active part in reforming the domain administration , the main basis of public finances. In foreign policy, Ilgen initially adopted a pro-Sweden stance during the Northern War . He sought a vote with King Karl and the most powerful North German princes in order to be protected against possible attacks in the rear and to obtain territorial expansion from the collapse of Poland that he expected . The aim was to acquire West Prussia or an area to connect Pomerania with the Kingdom of Prussia.

After the fall of Kolbe von Wartenberg in the summer of 1711, he was able to occupy the first position in the cabinet and was protected and promoted by Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm . Even after Friedrich Wilhelm I took office in 1713, Ilgen remained the king's most important foreign policy advisor, who also made him landscape director of Kurmark , Neumark and Magdeburg . Organizationally and personally, he was one of the founders of the Foreign Office in Prussia. King Friedrich Wilhelm concluded the Herrenhausen Treaty of September 3, 1725 in his presence, but against Ilgen's intentions.

Heinrich Rüdiger Ilgen died on December 6, 1728 on his Britz estate ( Britz Castle ) at the age of 74. Just two days after his death, King Friedrich Wilhelm I issued instructions in which he took up his minister's suggestions for the future organization of the foreign department.

Family and offspring

Ilgen married Marie Louise, née von Droste , in Königsberg in 1693 , a daughter of the mayor of Königsberg Carl von Droste. They had a son and two daughters. His son Heinrich Rüdiger entered the civil service early on, in a similar position to his father, as a secret secretary. In 1740 he received the Prussian-Polish expedition from King Friedrich Wilhelm I, which his father had led until his death, and made him head of the secret court and state archives. With his death in 1750, the male line died out . His daughter Charlotte Luise (* July 14, 1702; † April 20, 1751) was married to the Prussian Minister Friedrich Ernst zu Innhausen and Knyphausen (1678–1731). The second daughter Charlotte Gottliebe Constantia (* July 14, 1702; † September 18, 1747) was married to Count Erdmann von Pückler (* September 10, 1687; † September 5, 1742), after his death she married Sigismund von Bronikowski († August 29, 1765).

Bust in the Siegesallee

Bust of Heinrich Rüdiger von Ilgen in the garden of Britz Castle

For the former Berliner Siegesallee , the sculptor Rudolf Siemering designed a marble bust of Ilgens as a side figure of monument group 27 to the central statue for the "soldier king " Friedrich Wilhelm I , unveiled on December 22, 1900. The bust has a cloak-like draped cloak and tied Scarf equipped. The clear expression on his face identifies Ilgen as a diplomat who is conscious of his power. The allonge wig identifies him as a high public servant. The bust was in the park of Britz Castle , which Ilgen had bought in 1719, between 1954 and 1988 . A copy of the bust has been there since 1988 (see picture). The damaged original (among other things, the nose is missing) was stored with other Siegesallee figures in the Lapidarium in Berlin-Kreuzberg until 2009 and has been kept in the Spandau Citadel since May 2009 .

literature

Web links

Commons : Heinrich Rüdiger von Ilgen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ European Family Tables, New Series Vol. VIII, West, Central and North European Families, 123
  2. ^ Original nobility letter for Constantia von Droste in the Wilderich von Droste zu Hülshoff archive
  3. ↑ Uta Lehnert: The Kaiser and the Siegesallee. Réclame Royale . Dietrich Reimer Verlag, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-496-01189-0 , pp. 198f.
personal data
SURNAME Ilgen, Heinrich Rüdiger from
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ilgen, Heinrich Rüdiger
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian minister and diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH September 30, 1654
PLACE OF BIRTH Petershagen
DATE OF DEATH December 6, 1728
Place of death Berlin-Britz