Heinrich of Testa

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Baron Heinrich Hubert von Testa , also called "the Elder" (born October 14, 1807 in Pera near Constantinople ; † October 1, 1876 in Baden-Baden ) was an Austrian interpreter and diplomat , active in Constantinople, Hamburg and Athens.

Life

Origin and family

Family coat of arms , from: Tyroff: Book of Arms of the Austrian Monarchy , 1831–1868

Heinrich von Testa (in Turkish and Greek sources also Henri ) belonged to the Austro-Ottoman diplomatic family Testa, who came from Constantinople. His father was Johann Anton von Testa (1768–1839), head of the chancellery at the grand ducal Tuscan embassy in Constantinople, his grandfather was the Austrian court advisor and Internuntius Bartholomäus von Testa (1723–1809). His older brother Bartholomew III. von Testa (1804-1859) was also a diplomat in the Austrian service. On August 17, 1842 he married Maria née von Minciaky.

Career

Testa attended the Theresianum in Vienna from 1817 to 1820 , worked as an interpreter and dragoman at the Austro-Hungarian Embassy in Constantinople from 1828 , and from 1851 to October 1855 as Consul General in Iași , which at the time was nominally still part of the Ottoman Empire Principality of Moldova . In the summer of 1856 he was appointed envoy and plenipotentiary minister to the three free Hanseatic cities in Hamburg , where over the course of the following year he played a key role in the local economic crisis of 1857 . This crisis broke out in New York in August 1857 and hit the Hanseatic city in November 1857. As an important capital market and a hub for international trade in goods, a number of Hamburg's large money and trading houses (including Merck , Gossler and Donner ) were substantially affected by the crisis affected. Since the crisis could not be solved privately, but Hamburg, as a city-state, could not raise the necessary foreign currency on its own, the Senate was forced to seek state loans abroad. The first requests failed in Berlin because of the indifference of the Prussian government towards the Hamburg situation, in Copenhagen because of a reference to Hamburg's obligations on the Sundzoll and in London because of a government loan that was impossible to pay abroad.

At the beginning of December, the Hamburg Senate finally contacted the Austrian government via Freiherr von Testa, which was already well informed about the Hamburg financial situation, had 98 million guilders in silver in the National Bank and would “certainly like to give money”. On December 8, the Hamburg syndic Carl Hermann Merck instructed his envoy in Vienna, Johann Gustav Heckscher , to inquire directly with the emperor whether the National Bank would “give the Hamburg state ... up to 10 million in cash by the end of the month or how much less inclined to stay ”; the conditions meanwhile exceeded "any description", as almost every house appeared threatened by financial distress. Austria granted 10 million marks, or 90 tons of silver consisting of 2,825 bars , which reached Hamburg on December 15th. At the turn of the year '57 / 58 the financial situation had improved so much that half of the bond could already be repaid. Merck told Testa on January 26 "in the tone of joyful self-confidence":

"[...] the Senate is very happy to prove to the world through the quick repayment that the Hamburg crisis was not based on an actual lack of money, but only on a 'momentary stagnation'."

In November 1860 Testa was transferred as envoy and plenipotentiary minister to the royal Greek court in Athens . Still Count Blome , Testa's successor in Hamburg, was brought from several quarters thanks to the Hanseatic City of expression. Testa retired in 1868 and died in Baden-Baden in 1876 .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d R. Agstner:  Testa, Heinrich . In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 . 2nd revised edition (online only).
  2. ↑ a b Rudolf Agstner : Austria in Istanbul: K. (below) K. Presence in the Ottoman Empire . LIT, Münster 2010, p. 49 ISBN 3-643-502-303
  3. ^ Ernst Heinrich Kneschke : New general German Adels Lexicon . Vol. 9, Voigt, Weimar 1870, p. 167 f.
  4. ^ Max Freiherr von Gemmell-Flischbach: Album of the KK Theresianische Akademie (1746-1913): Directory of all members . Theresian Academy, Vienna 1913, p. 124
  5. ^ Marie de Testa, Antoine Gautier: Drogmans et diplomates européens auprès de la porte ottomane . Isis, Istanbul 2003, ISBN 9-754-282-587
  6. ↑ a b Erwin Matsch: The Foreign Service of Austria (Hungary) 1720–1920 . Böhlau, Vienna 1986, p. 132 u. 151, ISBN 3-205-07269-3
  7. ↑ a b c d Ernst Baasch : On the history of the trade crisis of 1857 . Reprint from: Journal of the Association for Hamburg History , Vol. 30, Hamburg 1929, pp. 81–105 ( online )
predecessor Office successor
Ferdinand von Mensshengen Austrian envoy to the Hanseatic cities
July 10, 1856 to November 7, 1860 		Gustav von Blome
Adolph von Brenner-Felsach Austrian envoy to Greece
November 7, 1860 to December 18, 1868 		Karl von Eder
personal data
SURNAME Testa, Heinrich von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Testa, Heinrich Hubert von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian interpreter and diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH October 14, 1807
PLACE OF BIRTH Pera near Constantinople
DATE OF DEATH October 1, 1876
Place of death Baden-Baden