Joseph von Sperges

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Joseph von Sperges

Joseph Freiherr von Sperges auf Palenz und Reisdorf , formerly von Spergs (born January 31, 1725 in Innsbruck ; † October 26, 1791 in Vienna or Udine ) was a Tyrolean lawyer , polyhistor and Austrian diplomat . He worked out the first precise map of South Tyrol and an administrative reform for Lombardy .

Training, activity in South Tyrol

He came from a large family of Tyrolean officials and was born on January 31, 1725 as the son of archivist and councilor Anton Dionys Spergser in Innsbruck. His father was raised to the nobility in 1732 with the title "von Spergs". He himself had it changed to von Sperges for easier pronunciation in 1766 when he became head of the Italian department in Vienna.

After high school, Joseph von Spergs studied law at the University of Innsbruck . In addition, he dealt with ancient inscriptions and local history and collected sources on the history of Tyrol. The theologian Martin Gabrielli and the painter Johann Grasmayr were important promoters of his worldview and sense of art . After completing his studies, he was appointed honorary secretary to the city governor of Trento in 1748 and in August 1750 as secretary of a commission that was supposed to settle the border disputes between Tyrol and Veneto through negotiations in Rovereto and to measure the border.

Due to his local knowledge, he was commissioned in 1754 to produce a map of South Tyrol for the first time , which was printed in 1762. The final measurements in the Bozen and Meran area were carried out by the farmer cartographer Peter Anich at the suggestion of Prof. Ignaz Weinhart SJ , who recorded an even more precise map, the Atlas Tyrolensis , in the following years .

Diplomacy, Administrative Reform, and Art

In 1759/60, Sperges was appointed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Vienna , where, as State Official, he worked out the concepts of State Chancellor Wenzel Anton Graf Kaunitz for archives and border matters with Italy. After the Seven Years' War he was promoted to court advisor in 1763 and to succeed Don Luigi Giusti as head of the Italian department of the State Chancellery in 1766 . Sperges now also designed the entire state correspondence in Italian and partly in Latin .

The increasing tensions with Italy required a tax reform in Lombardy , which he worked out with the authorized minister Carl Graf Firmian in Milan. There, a group of young radical aristocrats around Pietro Verri demanded the abolition of tax leases , with Sperges successfully mediating. When Emperor Joseph II visited Lombardy and Tuscany in 1769, where his brother had just abolished tax leases, tax and administrative reforms were also to take place in Milan . Kaunitz called Firmian and Verri to Vienna in 1771. Since Sperges was chairman of this conference, Kaunitz raised him to the status of hereditary baron .

After a difficult compromise, the administrative reform was successfully completed and subsequently proved its worth. The "triumvirate" Kaunitz-Sperges-Firmian, which was often cited in diplomacy at the time and was also interested in art, worked harmoniously and administered Lombardy not in a centralist and bureaucratic manner, but with the promotion of regional culture. Calling the best in the civil service ushered in a "golden age" that Italian literature still honors today. When the Viennese art schools were merged to form the "United Academy of Fine Arts ", Sperges was the State Chancellor's representative there and advised Empress Maria Theresa on art issues .

After her death, however, Joseph II made the Italian department a purely executive instrument and reserved all decisions. The administrative reform of 1786 took away much of Sperges' independence, it only remained partially for him in personnel matters. The former reformer became a conservative to whom the emperor's addiction to innovation seemed pernicious. He was compensated in the Vienna Art Academy, which elected him President in 1783 at the request of the State Chancellor . Together with Kaunitz, he was able to secure her independence and generously support the academy.

As a friend of learning and the arts, he set up a scholarship foundation for aristocratic Tyroleans. Along with other writings, in 1765 he published the "Tyrolean mining history, with documents". The historically and artistically trained diplomat also designed numerous commemorative coins and inscriptions.

He commissioned the archivist and poet Johann Friedrich Primisser to process his estate .

Honors

In its founding year 1759, he was accepted as a foreign member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Joseph von Sperges: Tyrolean mining history, with old documents and an appendix describing the Schwatz mine. JT Noble v. Trattnem, Vienna 1765. ( Digitized  - Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Sperges, Joseph von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Sperges on Palenz and Reisdorf, Joseph Freiherr von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH January 31, 1725
PLACE OF BIRTH innsbruck
DATE OF DEATH October 26, 1791
Place of death Vienna or Udine