Herman Cedercreutz

Herman Cedercreutz as Reichsrat. Contemporary engraving

Herman Cedercreutz (born February 13, 1684 in Stockholm ; † November 24, 1754 ibid) was a Swedish count , councilor and diplomat .

Life

Herman Cedercreutz's coat of arms

Herman Cedercreutz was born as Herman Tersmeden. He was the son of the factory owner Reinhold Tersmeden and his wife Christina Börstelia. When the father died in 1698, the mother married the governor Jonas Folkern. He was ennobled in 1711 under the name Cedercreutz , as was his stepson Herman. In 1719 both were raised to the baron status. Herman Cedercreutz married Märta Beata Posse (1691–1738) in 1721 and Maria Campbell (1721–1765) in 1750. His only child Christina was born in 1722 and died that same year. His estate had been in Kjuloholm, Finland , since 1746 ( Vanhakartano in Finnish , today Säkylä municipality ). In 1751 he was raised to the rank of count.

diplomacy

Herman Cedercreutz was first an intern ( auscultant ) at Svea Hovrätt (court court). He then held a diplomatic post in Berlin until 1707 . King Charles XII. then called him to Altranstädt , where Cedercreutz acted as private secretary for the correspondence between the Polish Prince Alexander Sobieski and the Swedish court. As a messenger from the Polish King Stanislaus I. Leszczyński , Cedercreutz traveled from Stralsund to Bender , where he lived in Karl XII. Court Chancellery entered. Diplomatic assignments took him to Constantinople and Adrianople .

Career

In 1715 Cedercreutz returned to Sweden. In 1719 he became a war councilor and a year later a chancellery. From 1722 to 1727 he was the Swedish envoy in Saint Petersburg . There he also gained the favor of the future Tsarina Elisabeth .

Back in Sweden, he became State Secretary for Foreign Affairs in 1727, President of the Financial Administration in 1736 and, from 1742, Imperial Councilor. Herman Cedercreutz had a moderate political stance and avoided any particular party at court. He usually supported the policy of the firm's president Arvid Horn .

Peace from Åbo

After the Russo-Swedish War (1741–1743), Cedercreutz was together with Eric Mathias von Nolcken Swedish plenipotentiary for the peace negotiations in Turku . A personal letter from Cedercreutz to Tsarina Elisabeth, which was connected to him from his time in Saint Petersburg, is said to have helped the moderate conditions in the Peace of Åbo . In 1744/45 Cedercreutz, one of the best Swedish experts on Russia of his time, was again the Swedish ambassador at the court of the tsars.

Awards

• Cederkreutz received the highest medals of his time. Among other things, he was the bearer of the Order of the Seraphins , the Russian Order of St. Andrew and the Order of Alexander Nevsky .

literature

• Herman Cedercreutz . In: Herman Hofberg, Frithiof Heurlin, Viktor Millqvist, Olof Rubenson (eds.): Svenskt biografiskt handlexikon . 2nd Edition. tape 1 : A-K . Albert Bonniers Verlag, Stockholm 1906, p. 172 (Swedish, runeberg.org ).
• Herman Cedercreutz . In: Nils Linder (Ed.): Nordisk familjebok konversationslexikon och realencyklopedi . 1st edition. tape 3 : Duplicate capitulum . Gernandts boktryckeri, Stockholm 1880, Sp. 123-124 (Swedish, runeberg.org ).

predecessor	Office	successor
?	Swedish envoy to Saint Petersburg 1722–1727	Josias Cederhielm