Karl Christian Ernst von Bentzel-Sternau
Karl Christian Ernst Graf von Bentzel-Sternau , pseud. Horatio Cocles , (born April 9, 1767 in Mainz , † August 13, 1849 Mariahalden / Lake Zurich , Switzerland ) was a German statesman , editor and writer .
Life
After legal studies was Bentzel to Sternau 1791 Electoral Mainz Government under Karl Theodor von Dalberg in Erfurt . In 1803 he was State Councilor of the Electoral Arch Chancellor in Regensburg and in 1804 he was a Privy Councilor of State. In 1806 he entered the service of Baden , became Ministerial Director in 1808 and President of the Court of Justice in Mannheim in 1810 .
Dalberg, meanwhile installed by Napoleon Grand Duke of Frankfurt, appointed him in 1811 as his Minister of State and Finance. He was also u. a. responsible for the emancipation of Jews and their civil equality.
After the Grand Duchy of Frankfurt was occupied by the German powers allied against Napoleon in the autumn of 1813 - it was only dissolved in the summer of 1814 - Bentzel-Sternau withdrew into private life. He lived alternately at Emmerichshofen Castle and his country estate on Lake Zurich. In the following years he worked as an editor and writer.
He proved his liberal, committed attitude again as a member of the Bavarian Chamber of Estates from 1825 to 1828. In 1832 he sympathized with the participants of the Hambach Festival and sent them a letter to express his support.
In 1827 he converted from the Catholic to the Protestant denomination .
plant
Bentzel-Sternau is best known to posterity as the editor of the magazine 'Jason' and as a novelist. In 1831 he founded the short-lived magazine Der Verfassungsfreund, a state parliament paper for Germany.
He became known for his work Anti-Israel Speech (1818), a pro-Jewish satire that made him hateful, especially among nationalist forces. His works were symbolically burned with other books during the Wartburg Festival .
This satire is a rare source for exploring the relationship between Jews and Christians in the 19th century. Only a small number of originals have survived today. His best-known work is probably the prose text “Das goldene Kalb”, published anonymously in four volumes from 1802 to 1804. A biography ".
In this satire, Bentzel takes up the arguments and demands of the literary rabble-rousing against Jews, which found fertile ground after the Congress of Vienna , and exaggerates them to the point of absurdity.
As a visionary, the author foresees a development that was caught up in the horrors of the anti-Jewish Hep-Hep riots in Germany soon afterwards. Apparently Bentzel was aware of the pronounced anti-Jewish dynamic and the great potential for violence against the Jews that had built up in the period after the Congress of Vienna - spurred on by inflammatory pamphlets and pamphlets that were published in many places. Examples are the inflammatory writings by Friedrich Rühs and Jakob Friedrich Fries .
In his literary publications he shows himself to be a "brilliant, frank and sensible humorous writer" (Meyer 1858), often compared to Jean Paul .
pseudonym
The pseudonym chosen by Bentzel-Sternau refers to Horatius Cocles (cocles: Latin for "one-eyed man"), who was a folk hero in Roman mythology. In 507 BC he is said to have defended the bridge over the Tiber leading to Rome against the Etruscans alone.
Quotes
"The mixture, called human, is probably the greatest ragout that ever slipped out of a heavenly cookbook."
swell
- Der Verfassungsfreund, a state parliament paper for Germany. Hanau 1831.
literature
- Philipp Walther: Bentzel-Sternau, Karl Christian Ernst Graf von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1875, p. 348.
- Franz Anselm Schmitt: Benzel-Sternau, Karl Christian Ernst Freiherr von, Count of. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1955, ISBN 3-428-00183-4 , p. 59 f. ( Digitized version ).
- Ewald Grothe: Constitution and Constitutional Conflict. The Electorate of Hesse in the first Hassenpflug era 1830–1837 . (= Writings on constitutional history. 48). Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-428-08509-4 .
Web links
- Literature by and about Karl Christian Ernst von Bentzel-Sternau in the catalog of the German National Library
- Works by and about Karl Christian Ernst von Bentzel-Sternau in the German Digital Library
- Advance reference to the publication in Manutius-Verlag
Individual evidence
- ^ Johann GA Wirth : The national festival of the Germans in Hambach. Issue 1. Christmann, Neustadt a / H. 1832, p. 27 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
- ^ Ewald Grothe: Constitution and Constitutional Conflict. The Electorate of Hesse in the first Hassenpflug era 1830–1837 . Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1996, pp. 113, 229, 263.
- ↑ Horatius Cocles: Anti-Israel. A lecture held in the secret academy on the green donkey as an entry speech. Sauerländer, Aarau 1818, digitized , (Reprint: Anti-Israel. A pro-Jewish satire from 1818. In addition to the anti-Jewish treatises by Friedrich Rühs 'and Jakob Friedrich Fries' (1816) (= Exempla philosemitica. Vol. 4). Edited and with with an afterword by Johann Anselm Steiger, Manutius, Heidelberg 2004, ISBN 3-934877-31-1 ).
- ^ Also printed in the 2004 reprint by Manutius-Verlag.
- ↑ The mixture, called human, is probably the greatest ragout ever ... In: aphorismen.de. Retrieved January 20, 2015 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Bentzel-Sternau, Karl Christian Ernst von |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Bentzel-Sternau, Karl Christian Ernst Count von; Cocles, Horatio (pseudonym) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German statesman, editor and writer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 9, 1767 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Mainz |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 13, 1849 |
| Place of death | Mariahalden , Lake Zurich, Switzerland |