Joseph von Stichaner

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Joseph von Stichaner as President of the Palatinate Government; Lithograph after a painting by Joseph Kellerhoven

Joseph von Stichaner ; with full name Franz Joseph Wigand Edler von Stichaner (born October 22, 1769 in Tirschenreuth , Upper Palatinate , † April 6, 1856 in Munich ), was a Bavarian administrative officer and statesman, in various places one of the most important government presidents in the Kingdom of Bavaria; Historian, founder of the Historical Society of the Palatinate, member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences , commander and Grand Cross holder of the Order of Merit of the Bavarian Crown , Grand Officer of the French Legion of Honor .

Life

Origin and education

Coat of arms of the "Noble von Stichaner" from the grave stone of the grandson Philibert (1841–1863), Old Cemetery Speyer

Joseph von Stichaner was the only son of Franz Joseph August Stichaner (1726-1802) magistrate of the Wiesau monastery as well as captain of the Waldsassen monastery and his wife Franziska Pauer from Falkenberg (Upper Palatinate) . The paternal family originally came from Bohemia. Father Stichaner was raised to hereditary nobility as the “Elector of Bavarian Real Councilor” on December 17, 1788, by Elector Karl Theodor , as “Edler von Stichaner”.

The boy attended the Latin school in Amberg , then until 1785 today's Wilhelmsgymnasium in Munich and then completed the two-year basic course (= philosophy) at the adjoining lyceum. Afterwards, Stichaner studied law and political science at the University of Göttingen , where he made many friendships with well-known personalities. a. also with the English Prince Adolph Friedrich, Duke of Cambridge . In 1788 he began his practical work at the Reich Chamber of Commerce in Wetzlar , and in 1789/90 he completed his studies in Bavarian constitutional and administrative law at the University of Ingolstadt . Joseph von Stichaner passed the legal state examination before the electoral court counselor in Munich with distinction and was described as a “very well founded, learned and excellent subject”.

Bavarian civil servant

In the same year he wrote a legal treatise "On the right of the Count Palatine to decide on a disputed German royal election". The profound knowledge of the extremely complex legal relationships of the German Empire, which was proven by this, and the warm advocacy of the rights of his Bavarian elector, drew the attention of the ruling circles even more to him. The young lawyer also impressed with his stately appearance, fine demeanor and great diligence, so that on May 10, 1791, at the age of only 21, he got his job as an accessist with the regional government in Munich.

In 1795 he was given the task of regulating the border with Tyrol , which made him a profound expert on the Bavarian Alps. In 1796 the French occupied Munich under General Moreau and Stichaner became a member of the war deputation; In 1798, as "Chief Police Commissioner" under Count Rumford, he had to organize the police in the state capital of Munich.

The new elector Max IV Joseph (later King Max I Joseph ) valued Stichaner even more than his predecessor. His first minister, Maximilian von Montgelas , soon recognized the excellent qualities of the administrative officer and placed him in important positions.

On February 27, 1799, Stichaner was promoted to trainee lawyer in the Secret Justice Department, in 1800 the French invaded Bavaria again and the elector fled to Bamberg . Now he became a member of the court commission for the administration of the country. In 1805, Stichaner had to regulate the catering of the French troops in Bavaria; from 1806 he was employed in the newly established Ministry of the Interior, with his direct involvement in creating the basic organizational laws of the young Bavarian state, which remained in force for about half a century.

District President

Joseph von Stichaner, painting around 1840

At the age of 38, the king appointed him regional president (general commissioner) of the newly formed Lower Danube region in Passau in 1808 . In 1809, Stichaner had a dispute with Emperor Napoleon I because he protested against the behavior of the French, who lived in the allied Bavaria like an occupying power. He had to answer for it in a personal audience before the emperor and fell out of favor with him. King Max then transferred him to the same official position, first in the Regenkreis in Straubing , then in the city of Augsburg .

In 1811, in a few months, Stichaner drafted a new police penal code for the kingdom; In 1813 he was appointed "General Commissioner" of the Illerkreis in Kempten . In 1814 the king commissioned him to carry out the administrative handling of the return of Vorarlberg to Austria. Since he did this to his full satisfaction, he was assigned the same task when the Bavarian State Association took over Würzburg and Aschaffenburg. In addition, he published a draft for the procedure in police criminal cases as part 2 of his earlier draft law.

On March 19, 1817, Joseph von Stichaner was transferred to his most important position to date, as government president of the newly acquired Rhine district , i.e. the Palatinate . He held the office of a Councilor of State with the title "Excellency" and replaced the hapless and unpopular predecessor, Baron Franz Xaver von Zwack . Stichaner was to work here from 1817 to 1832, longer than in any of his earlier positions. The newly acquired Rhine district, which politically belonged to Bavaria, but was enclosed as an enclave with no geographical connection to the motherland or other states, consisted of around 50 independent rulers before the French occupation. During the French era, the area belonged to four different departments, and the population suffered greatly from war and occupation. Almost everything had to be newly created and prescribed. Joseph von Stichaner went to work carefully and expertly, but full of energy. He treated the people with the utmost benevolence and maintained a good relationship with all religious communities, especially with the resurrected Speyer diocese and its dignitaries. In a relatively short time he succeeded in increasing the prosperity of the province; To revitalize culture and education. He consolidated the Bavarian rule on the left bank of the Rhine, which the king from there registered with great satisfaction. While the Bavarians were previously mocked as "Zwackel" or " Zwockel " , in corruption of the unpopular district president Freiherr von Zwack-Holzhausen, the name Stichaner has now become a synonym for good administration. Even years after Stichaner was replaced, a capable, friendly official said in the Palatinate that he was a "Stichaner".

He divided the province into the four district directorates Frankenthal (Pfalz) , Landau (Pfalz) , Kaiserslautern and Zweibrücken , on November 6th, 1817 the establishment of twelve Landkommissariats (districts) took place, which remained unchanged for 70 years and roughly until today persists. Also in 1817 the Rhine district was divided into cantons (districts), each with a peace court (today the district court), a judicial structure that continues to exist almost unchanged. With the approval of the monarch, Stichaner also formed an elected district administrator from the citizenship and passed a corresponding law on it. The district president reorganized the forestry, created exemplary medical care and an official building commission to promote the infrastructure. The French coins were withdrawn and replaced or exchanged for Bavarian ones; fundamentally reformed the school system. Stichaner had many churches and schoolhouses that were close to decay restored or rebuilt. The venerable imperial cathedral in Speyer , which was still used as a straw and hay store in 1820, was restored under the direction of Joseph von Stichaners. During the French rule, as a result of the incessant wars, the debts of the communities rose to an unbearable level, and even the communities began to take away their property, especially their valuable forests. Stichaner succeeded in paying off almost the entire war debt of 7 million guilders. He laid new roads, had massive dams built against the permanent floods and made 13 Rhine piercings (straightening) to promote shipping . In Frankenthal, the large "district poor and mental institution" was built; the central prison in Kaiserslautern.

The border between the Bavarian Palatinate and France was definitively established under Stichaner's aegis in 1825/26, and any remaining uncertainties were resolved. For this, King Charles X of France appointed him Grand Officer of the French Legion of Honor .

In 1829 the new royal couple Ludwig I and Therese went on a tour of the Palatinate and saw for themselves the upswing in the province under the excellent administration of Stichaner. The Majesties gave him their full appreciation.

When the French July Revolution in 1830 caused unrest and, in part, uprisings to almost all of Europe, there were also fears of violent unrest in the Palatinate bordering France. That is why people in Munich believed that they had to replace the rather mild Stichaner with a "sharper" man. On February 10, 1832, Joseph von Stichaner was transferred to the Franconian town of Ansbach as President of the Government . The district capital of Speyer granted its outgoing president honorary citizenship on February 17, 1832 , gave him a magnificent torchlight procession and gave him the honorary escort with many carriages beyond the border of the Palatinate, to Mannheim . In view of the worsening political situation, his direct successors ruled strictly but haplessly.

District President Joseph von Stichaner (center foreground, with tailcoat, sword, official hat and white knee breeches) opened the 1st German Railway between Nuremberg and Fürth on December 7, 1835 as the king's representative.

Even as the district president in the Rezat district (Middle Franconia), the king remained undiminished in his favor. At his seat in Ansbach he frequented the famous court president Anselm von Feuerbach , received the enigmatic Kaspar Hauser in his house and had a memorial stone placed for him after his alleged murder in December 1833. On December 7, 1835, he opened the first German railway connection between Nuremberg and Fürth as the king's representative . The history painter Heinrich Heim designed this scene in 1906 as a monumental painting for the German Museum in Munich.

Old age activity

Finally, King Ludwig I appointed the almost seventy-year-old to his side as a personal advisor and state councilor in regular service.

Joseph von Stichaner retired on December 8, 1846, at the age of 77, and was appointed to the "Council of State in extraordinary service". He spent the years remaining to him on scientific work. At the age of 85 he withdrew completely from public life. In March 1856 he became seriously ill and died on April 6, 1856 in Munich.

Family relationships

Since May 14, 1798, Stichaner was married to Maria Bauer Freiin von Heppenstein, daughter of the Higher Regional Government Councilor Freiherr Bauer von Heppenstein and his wife Franziska geb. Baroness von Weinbach, with whom he lived happily for 42 years († 1840 in Munich). There were five children from this marriage. The son Joseph August died in Speyer in 1861 as a Bavarian councilor. His son Joseph Philipp achieved a position similar to that of his grandfather as district president in Strasbourg in 1886 . The daughter Caroline married the regionally important Freiherr Friedrich von Gienanth (1805–1842), son of Ludwig von Gienanth and foundry owner of Eisenberg (Palatinate) . Another daughter, Lina (also Lilla ) von Stichaner, maintained a friendship with the aforementioned Kaspar Hauser, who also immortalized her in a self-made watercolor.

Awards

Stichaner received the Knight's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Bavarian Crown , in 1810 the Commander's Cross and in 1825 the Grand Cross of this highest civil merit . In 1844 King Ludwig I personally awarded him the Cross of Honor of the Order of Ludwig for 50 years of loyal public service. As already mentioned, he was also a Grand Officer of the French Legion of Honor .

historian

Joseph von Stichaner was interested in historical research throughout his life. The many Roman antiquities in Bavaria aroused his particular interest. On this subject he published two booklets with lithographic images in 1808, whereupon the Royal Academy of Sciences in Munich made him an honorary member. In Augsburg, too, he later found a rich field of activity in this regard.

Stichaners Antikenhalle in Speyer, today a memorial of the 2nd Bavarian Pioneer Battalion.

As President of the Palatinate government, he initiated a “Kreis-Intellektivenblatt” from January 1, 1818, in which, over the years, he wrote more than 50 articles about found antiquities (especially from Roman times), about Roman roads, burial mounds, entrenchments, some even with drawings by hand provided, brought to the print. He was constantly striving to research history and the preservation of its relics and also tried to inspire others. In 1826, north of the Speyer Cathedral, he had the still-existing “ Antikenhalle ” built by Weinbrenner's student and government building officer Johann Philipp Mattlener , in order to representatively store the many finds. After a short time, however, the space was no longer sufficient and Stichaner sought to found a state museum, which was delayed until 1907. In 1827 he founded the “Historical Association of the Palatinate” , of which he was the first chairman. When Stichaner was transferred to Ansbach, the association fell asleep, but it was revitalized several times, most recently in 1869, and it still exists. The University of Erlangen awarded the civil servant an honorary doctorate in both rights. The Bavarian Academy of Sciences made him a full member in 1838 and elected him as secretary of the historical class in 1842, at whose meetings he regularly attended and in whose publications he published several papers. The district president was also an honorary member of the historical associations in Speyer , Würzburg , Augsburg , Bayreuth , Wiesbaden , Hanover , Sinsheim , the Albrecht Dürer association in Nuremberg and a member of the royal society for Nordic antiquities in Copenhagen . The Historical Association of Upper Bavaria appointed Stichaner to the board in 1838, second chairman in 1840 and first chairman in 1847, which he remained until the year of his death. He was in close contact with the Swiss historian Heinrich Zschokke , who discussed the publication of his “Bavarian History” with him in detail and placed great emphasis on his judgment. His extensive activity made him known to many outstanding personalities of his time. He also had a close friendship with the canon Johannes von Geissel in Speyer, who later became a cardinal, because he was also very interested in history.

Others

In 67346 Speyer and in 86551 Aichach there is a street named after Joseph von Stichaner; in his place of birth 95643 Tirschenreuth even a Stichanerstraße and a Stichanerplatz.

literature

Web links

Commons : Joseph von Stichaner  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Leitschuh, Max: The matriculations of the upper classes of the Wilhelmsgymnasium in Munich, 4 vols., Munich 1970–1976; Vol. 3, p. 178
  2. ↑ Website on Kaspar Hauser ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Stichaner, Joseph von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Stichaner, Franz Joseph Wigand Edler von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bavarian district president in various districts, historian
DATE OF BIRTH October 22, 1769
PLACE OF BIRTH Tirschenreuth
DATE OF DEATH April 6, 1856
Place of death Munich