Johann Friedrich von Seilern

Portrait of Johann Friedrich Seilern in Lešná Castle

Johann Friedrich Adam Count von Seilern and Aspang (* 1646 in Ladenburg ; † January 8, 1715 in Vienna ) was Austrian court chancellor and imperial count . He is considered to be the author of the Pragmatic Sanction .

Life

Johann Friedrich Seiler was born in Ladenburg am Neckar in 1646 as the son of master dyer Johann Jacob Seiler (1600–1667). The father was born in Speyer around 1600 and there is evidence that he lived in Ladenburg between 1636 and 1648 and died in Heidelberg around 1666 .

The origin of the imperial count from the craftsmen's class was later veiled: According to Constantin von Wurzbach , the ropers, according to old heraldic books, belonged to the Swabian knighthood of the 14th century, with offices in Pforzheim , St. Gallen , Upper Palatinate and Nuremberg . In the Bibliographical Lexicon of the Austrian Empire, the actual origin is not mentioned with reference to "only very sketchy and inadequate news".

The further path of life is precisely described there:

"In his youth Johann Friedrich came to the court of Karl Ludwig , Elector of the Palatinate, and there, having previously professed Lutheranism, converted to the Reformed Church. With his ability he soon became a secret state secretary and councilor. A disagreement with his prince caused him to ask for his release, but the elector became so indignant that he had him arrested and closely guarded in a room in the castle at Heidelberg . After six months in prison, he released him and had him say: "He may now go wherever he wants". Johann Friedrich did not allow himself to be given this decision in vain, and immediately went to Vienna, where, soon after he had now exchanged the Reformed religion for the Roman Catholic, he was graciously accepted and employed. From the imperial council he soon advanced to the real secret council, then to the conference council and finally to the supreme court chancellor. In this position he was able to gain the full confidence of Emperor Leopold I , who also introduced him to the orders of his last will, which he was instructed to write down. He enjoyed the same favor with Leopold's I successors Joseph I and Charles VI. The latter raised him to the rank of imperial count on November 4, 1713 at the same time as his nephew and adoptive son Johann Friedrich (II.). About his conversion to Catholicism it is said that the enjoyment of the h. Chalice caused the same. For Johann Friedrich could not stand any wine, or even the smell of it; and since the Reformation is customary to enjoy the chalice, he was once in a position to have to give the communion he had enjoyed, whereupon, in order to forestall unpleasant repetitions, the way out of the change of faith had to help, since with the Catholics the h. Last Supper [22] consists only of the administration of the host. Count Johann Friedrich (I.) died a sudden death at the age of 70. He had remained undiscovered and had adopted his nephew Johann Friedrich (II.), Son of his brother Christian Ritter von Seilern, and with his own elevation to the rank of count had obtained the transfer of the same to him. Johann Friedrich (I.) is buried with the Capuchins in Vienna, where his epitaph is: Cum illis, in illis et sub illis. "

- Constantin von Wurzbach : Seilern, Johann Friedrich (I.) . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 34th part. Imperial and Royal Court and State Printing Office, Vienna 1877, p. 21 f. ( Digitized version ).

In fact, the adopted nephew was a son of his half-sister, Johann Friedrich Kichelier (or de Keuckelier) (1676–1751). His great-grandfather was Arnold de Keukelier (around 1550–1615), who came from Bruges and came to Heidelberg as a court wallpaperer .

On October 28, 1684 Johann Friedrich Seiler received as von Seilern the knight, 1693 the baron and on November 4, 1713 the imperial count . He founded the noble family Seilern, which still exists today .

Both in Heidelberg and in Vienna, his work had far-reaching effects:

While he was still in Heidelberg in 1671, the unfortunate relationship between Elector Karl Ludwig's daughter Liselotte of the Palatinate and Duke Philip I of Orléans came about . Philip's brother Ludwig XIV took this marriage in 1688 as the occasion for the beginning of the War of the Palatinate Succession .

In 1697, Seilern took part as the third imperial envoy in the Peace of Rijswijk , which ended the War of the Palatinate Succession, and then became court and state chancellor.

Certificate of the Pragmatic Sanction of Emperor Charles VI. (1713)

On April 19, 1713, Baron von Seilern read the Pragmatic Sanction to the secret councilors in Vienna , which he probably had written himself on behalf of Emperor Karl and which was supposed to enable his only daughter Maria Theresa to succeed the throne in the Habsburg lands. A few months later he became a count.

In 1711 he had acquired the castle in Aspang-Markt and was therefore designed as von Seilern and Aspang in 1713 . Just one year after his death, in 1716, the nephew and heir Johann Friedrich (II.) Sold it back to the original owner family, the Counts of Pergen. In 1724 he instead acquired the lords of Freistadtl and Luckow - Kralitz in Moravia, from which he established a Primogenitur - entails commission in 1751 , which remained in the possession of the Seilern-Aspang family until 1945. The son of Johann Friedrich (II.), Christian August von Seilern , in turn became a diplomat and statesman.

literature

• Gustav Turba (ed.): Reichsgraf Seilern from Ladenburg am Neckar (1646–1715) as an electoral Palatinate and Austrian statesman. A picture of life and time on behalf of the city of Ladenburg. Winter publishing house, Heidelberg 1923.
• Karl Klaus: Johann Reichsgraf von Seylern: Born in Ladenburg, creator of the Pragmatic Sanction . In: Our country. , Heidelberg 2008.
• Klaus Döpfer: Reflections on the birthplace of Count Johann Friedrich Adam von Seilern in Ladenburg . In: Ladenburg Yearbook 2012 , Ladenburg 2012.

Web links

• Constantin von Wurzbach : Seilern, the counts, genealogy . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 34th part. Imperial-Royal Court and State Printing Office, Vienna 1877, p. 19 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Constantin von Wurzbach : Seilern, Johann Friedrich (I.) . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 34th part. Imperial and Royal Court and State Printing Office, Vienna 1877, p. 21 f. ( Digitized version ).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ R. Beedgen, B. R. steel and Ziegler: local history . March 19, 2008. Retrieved April 17, 2018.
2. ↑ Seilern-Aspang family tree (PDF; 76 kB) March 14, 2013. Accessed on April 21, 2013.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ Biographical Dictionary of German History , Volume 3, 2014, p. 2616
4. ↑ Seiler, Johann Jakob
5. ^ Counts of Seilern and Aspang
6. ↑ GHdA , Adelslexikon , Volume XIII, Limburg an der Lahn 2002, p. 278 f.
7. ↑ Biographical Lexicon of the Empire of Austria
8. ^ Peter Fuchs:  Karl Ludwig. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 11, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1977, ISBN 3-428-00192-3 , pp. 246-249 ( digitized version ).
9. ↑ Pragmatic Sanction (1713) . November 5, 2012. Retrieved April 21, 2013.