Joseph Johann of Ferraris

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Portrait of Joseph Johann von Ferraris (1784)

Joseph Johann Graf von Ferraris (born April 22, 1726 in Lunéville , † April 1, 1814 in Vienna ) was an imperial or Austrian field marshal (1808), cartographer of the Austrian Netherlands and a freemason .

Life

Joseph Johann Graf von Ferraris was the son of Louis Graf von Ferraris (* 1685; † 1733) and his wife Anne-Thérèse de Fontette (* September 20, 1692 in Frouard; † March 26, 1754). The father's family came from the Italian Piedmont. The mother was illegitimately descended from the Valois family . Her grandfather's grandfather, Henri de Valois de Fontette, was the son of King Henry II of France from his relationship with Nicole de Savigny de Fontette. Count Louis Ferrari's father was in the service of the Duke of Lorraine. The mother was the Duchess's lady-in-waiting. The family had a magnificent palace built in Lunéville. Empress Maria Theresa married Franz I Stephan, Duke of Lorraine in 1736. This was closely familiar to the old noble house of Saint-Rémy de Fontette, which came from the same Duchy of Brabant. The birthplace of the future Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire is Nancy, which is only 30 km from Lunéville. When he moved to Vienna, he took Ferrari, who was only 9 years old and whose father had died three years earlier, to the Vienna Imperial Court. Joseph Johann Graf Ferraris was appropriately accepted into the Habsburg family association. He was treated kindly, raised and trained as an officer. His best career was based not least on the special trust of the emperor. Graf Ferraris never disappointed this and justified it with special achievements.

In the summer of 1736 Ferraris appeared as a Page in the imperial court in Vienna at the service of Empress Amalia , the widow of Emperor Joseph I took Ferraris at As such, the Austrian War of Succession in part and was in on 17 May 1742 battle of chotusitz very seriously wounded. In the same year Ferraris was promoted to captain and in 1750 to major because of his wounding .

Since the beginning of the Seven Years' War , Ferraris fought in various theaters of war. In 1757 Ferraris was promoted to lieutenant colonel and in the following year he was transferred to the rank of colonel in the infantry regiment Carl Prince of Lorraine . With this regiment , Ferraris played a significant part in the Battle of Hochkirch on October 14, 1758 . For these deeds, Ferraris was publicly commended on December 4, 1758 and awarded the Order of Maria Theresa .

On November 3, 1760 Ferraris fought in the Battle of Torgau and was promoted to major general in early 1761 . In 1763, after the end of the Seven Years' War, Ferraris was active in the imperial military administration. 1767 Kaiser called him Joseph II. To Director of Artillery in the Austrian Netherlands and in 1775 Ferrari was as governor of Dendermonde ( East Flanders sent). When the Brabant Revolution broke out in October 1789 , Ferraris played a key role in its suppression.

In 1784 Ferraris was promoted to Feldzeugmeister and took part in several battles in the coalition wars in the following years . For his bravery in the battles of the Battle of Famars and Valenciennes ( Nord-Pas-de-Calais ) he was awarded the Commander's Cross of the Order of Marie Theresa. In this period was Friedrich Karl von Fürstenwärther , one from the Bavarian Palatinate- dynasty Wittelsbach -derived Baron , his personal aide. In 1773 Ferrari was appointed lieutenant general and in 1807 privy councilor and field marshal .

With effect from August 27, 1793, Emperor Franz II. Ferraris appointed deputy chairman of the Imperial and Royal Court War Council . In October of the same year Ferraris left the army and devoted himself to the creation of accurate maps of the Austrian Empire.

He conducted the first topographical survey of the Austrian Netherlands. The Ferraris map named after him (in 25 sheets), which follows on from César François Cassini's map of France, was completed in 1777 and presented to Emperor Franz II in a solemn act.

Since Ferraris had lost all of his property in Lorraine as a result of the political events of the coalition wars, the emperor compensated him by transferring St. Hubert in Noord-Brabant . The right of inheritance was also enshrined in this transfer, since it was a personal concern of Emperor Franz II to ensure that Ferrari's only daughter later also had a right to St. Hubert.

Field Marshal Joseph Johann von Ferraris died on April 1, 1814 in Vienna at the age of 88.

Ferraris was married to Henriette, a daughter of Duke Charles d'Ursel , and had a daughter with her. Field Marshal Lieutenant Franz Graf Zichy-Ferraris became his son-in-law on May 6, 1799.

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personal data
SURNAME Ferraris, Joseph Johann von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ferraris, Joseph Graf von; Ferraris, Joseph of
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian field marshal and freemason
DATE OF BIRTH April 22, 1726
PLACE OF BIRTH Luneville
DATE OF DEATH April 1, 1814
Place of death Vienna