Karl August von Reisach (publicist)

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Karl August Graf von Reisach (born October 15, 1774 in Neuburg an der Donau , † November 29, 1846 in Koblenz ) was an archivist, publicist and administrative officer of the Principality of Palatinate-Neuburg, the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Kingdom of Prussia. He was an uncle of the cardinal of the same name Karl August von Reisach (1800-1869).

family

Karl August von Reisach comes from a respected Palatinate-Neuburg family of officials. His father was Franz Christoph von Reisach-Steinberg, who was raised to the rank of imperial count in 1790. His mother was Helena von Hacke. In 1797 Karl August von Reisach married Maria Anna Freiin von Isselbach zu Bertoldsheim, widowed Countess von Bentzel-Sternau. From this marriage, which was divorced in 1810, there was only one child, Marie Helene († 1855), who was born in 1798.

Life

As his ancestors intended for the civil service career, Karl August von Reisach attended grammar school in Neuburg, then went to the court of the Eichstätt prince-bishop as a noble boy and then completed a law degree at the University of Ingolstadt , which he graduated with brilliantly. As early as 1795 he received the position of a government councilor in Neuburg and was allowed to take over his father's office as chief hunting officer. He successfully tried to be accepted into the order of the Knights of St. John or of Malta. This was followed by a steep career in civil service: in 1797 he took over the office of caretaker and district judge in Hilpoltstein and Heideck, in 1803/04 he was promoted to director and then to vice-president of the provincial administration in Neuburg and appointed to the council of the Palatinate-Neuburg landscape. He undertook numerous projects during these years, including the “Neuburg Pocket Book”, forced the creation of an English garden in Neuburg and created a country estate near Ried, which he called “Reisachsruhe” (today Arco-Schlösschen ). In 1808 he was accepted as a member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. In the same year Reisach rose to the position of general commissioner of the Lech district based in Augsburg. In 1809 he was transferred to Kempten as general commissioner of the Illerkreis . The Tyrolean uprising spread to parts of this group . The new General Commissioner was accused of not acting hard enough against it. Since Reisach used informers and kept secret correspondence, he was even suspected of having been involved in the insurgents' plans.

The Reisach affair

Reisach had already lived beyond his means in Hilpoltstein and Neuburg and accumulated debts. After moving to Augsburg, Reisach got increasingly into financial difficulties, which he tried to escape by getting money from the public purse. It was only gradually revealed that Reisach had not only incorrectly made accounts, but had embezzled large sums of money. He therefore fled across the Bavarian border to Prussia in 1813, where he was taken into service. In Bavaria he was tried in absentia. At the same time, a journalistic dispute developed ("Reisach Affair") in which Reisach sharply criticized the pro-France policies of King Maximilian I Joseph and his minister Montgelas and passionately advocated the national idea. In the heated mood of the Wars of Liberation against France, nationally minded authors supported Reisach. On the other hand, various publicists anonymously defended Bavarian politics and painted a devastating picture of the life and work of Karl August von Reisach. The mammoth trial against Reisach ended in his absence in 1818 with a sentence of twelve years imprisonment. Since Reisach did not return to Bavaria and Prussia prevented his extradition, he was spared imprisonment. In the coalition wars against Napoleon, he was employed by the Baron von Stein in Saxony as an administrator and as general commissioner in both Lusatia. In 1819 he got a job as archivist, first in Münster and then in Koblenz, where he was appointed archivist in 1829. There he died on November 29, 1846 at the age of 72.

Publications

  • Karl August von Reisach: Contributions to the knowledge of the new institutions in Bavaria , the causes of the resistance which some find and the expectations to which they justify. Lechner, Nuremberg 1802 digitized
  • Founder and co-editor of the Neuburgisches Wochenblatt (from 1803)
  • Author and editor of the Neuburg paperback for 1807 and 1808
  • [Anonymous = Karl August von Reisach-Steinberg]: Bavaria under the government of Minister Montgelas . Gallery of German national traitors. 1st issue. In the publishing house of the fighters for German freedom, Teutschland [i. e. Landshut] 1813 digitized
  • [Karl August von Reisach-Steinberg]: The Count Karl August von Reisach-Steinberg to the German people . [no location] 1814 digitized

Writings against Karl August von Reisach

  • [Anonymous]: Graf von Steinberg: A character painting . [no location] 1814 digitized
  • [Anonymous = Karl Heinrich von Lang]: The Minister Count von Montgelas under the government of King Maximilian von Baiern . [no location] 1814 digitized
  • [Anonymous = Johann Christoph von Aretin ?]: Count Karl August v. Reisach auf Kirchdorf, Count zu Steinberg Lord of the rule Reisachsruhe, Royal Bavarian Chamberlain, Landscape Commissioner General Commissioner of the Illerkreis and Knight of the Order of St. John General confession to the German people . [Landshut] 1815 digitized
  • [Otto Baier = pseudonym? = Johann Christoph von Aretin ?]: The Baierische Volk to the German Volk about the ex-Commissary General Count von Reisach : together with a letter to the publisher of some public papers, and a complicated illumination of the merits, suffering and innocence of the Count. [no location] 1815 digitized

literature

  • Karl Theodor von Heigel :  Reisach-Steinberg, Karl August Graf von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 53, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1907, pp. 661-667.
  • Otto Rieder: The von Reisach family. Historical overview with family tree. Mainly based on archival, previously unused sources. Grießmayer, Neuburg a. D. 1913
  • Otto Rieder: Karl August Graf von Reisach, the former general commissioner of the Lech and Illerkreis etc. With 2 portraits. Edited mainly from archival, previously unused sources. 2 volumes. [Munich] [1915-16]

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Otto Rieder: The family of Reisach. Historical overview with family tree. Mainly based on archival, previously unused sources. Grießmayer, Neuburg a. D. 1913, family tree after p. 88
  2. ^ Karl Theodor von Heigel: Reisach: Karl August Reichsgraf von Reisach-Steinberg. In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 53, Leipzig 1907, pp. 661-667 online version
  3. ↑ Prof. Dr. Karl August Graf von Reisach , member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences
  4. ^ Karl Theodor von Heigel: Reisach: Karl August Reichsgraf von Reisach-Steinberg. In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 53, Leipzig 1907, pp. 661-667 online version
  5. ^ Karl Theodor von Heigel: Reisach: Karl August Reichsgraf von Reisach-Steinberg. In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 53, Leipzig 1907, pp. 661-667 online version
personal data
SURNAME Reisach, Karl August von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Reisach, Carl August von; Reisach, Karl August Graf von; Reisach, Karl August Reichsgraf von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German archivist, journalist and administrative officer
DATE OF BIRTH October 15, 1774
PLACE OF BIRTH Neuburg on the Danube
DATE OF DEATH November 29, 1846
Place of death Koblenz