Charles of Abel

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Carl August von Abel
Abel's birthplace in Wetzlar

Carl August Abel , from 1830 Ritter von Abel (born September 17, 1788 in Wetzlar ; † September 3, 1859 in Munich ) was a German politician and Bavarian State Minister.

Life

Abel was the son of the procurator at the Reich Chamber of Commerce in Wetzlar, Jacob Adam Abel . From 1806 to 1809 he studied law at the Wetzlar School of Law and the University of Gießen . Like his brother, he became a member of the expired Corps Franconia II (1807) and Guestphalia (1808). After his exams, he initially worked as an intern at the Dillingen Regional Court , and in 1810 he entered the Bavarian civil service. He was secretary in the Hofkommission to completion of the Paris Agreement , assessor and Councilor with the Government ofIsarkkreis and city ​​commissioner in Bamberg .

In 1819 he was Councilor in Munich, 1827 Councilor in the Ministry of the Interior . In 1832 he went to Greece with Prince Otto of Bavaria , who had been elected king of Greece , but was still a minor , where he earned considerable service in administrative terms. With Georg Ludwig von Maurer he worked for liberal institutions.

Influenced by his first wife, Karl von Abel changed from a liberal Protestant to a conservative Catholic in 1832. As a result of the quarrels with the President of the Regency , Count Joseph Ludwig von Armansperg , he returned to the Ministry of the Interior in 1834, the administration of which was transferred to him in 1837, first provisionally and then definitely as Minister. In the state parliament in 1837 he represented the rights of the crown with regard to the increase of monasteries very effectively and in the same year was initially provisionally and soon afterwards appointed minister of the interior in place of Prince Ludwig von Oettingen-Wallerstein . His new direction was soon shown through the toleration of anti-Prussian press polemics on the occasion of the Cologne turmoil , the promotion of missions, the elevation of the position of the clergy and the extensive religiousization of the educational system. In 1840 the Ministry of Finance was also subordinated to him, so that he was now Finance and Interior Minister. Abel's defenses against his predecessor in the office of interior minister, Prince Ludwig von Oettingen-Wallerstein, led to a pistol duel between him and the prince on April 11, 1840 in the English Garden . Although it ended bloodlessly, it resulted in unpleasant public discussions about the point of honor for both sides . It was popularly said: “Cain once killed Abel; but now Abel does not kill anyone ” .

On March 12, 1844, Abel was ennobled and was considered the political head of the so-called ultramontanes . King Ludwig I (Bavaria) called him his "first statesman". Abel disabled a. a. also the formation of Protestant communities, favored converts to Catholicism and emphasized monarchical authority. Nevertheless, in a certain way he also ruled over the Catholic Church itself, because his political decisions were based almost unconditionally on the will of King Ludwig I. Between 1844 and 1845 he was knighted by the Holy Sepulcher .

Fought by liberals and Protestants, Abel lost the new Ministry of Education in 1846. Finally, Ludwig I withdrew his responsibility for ecclesiastical affairs and from January 1, 1847 transferred it to the newly formed Ministry of the Interior for ecclesiastical affairs , which was subordinate to Karl von Schrenck , a member of the Corps Palatia Munich . Abel was dismissed from grace by Ludwig on February 17, 1847; because he had denied Lola Montez , his dramatic and highly political love affair , citizenship and given his memorandum to the press .

As a result, he was appointed envoy extraordinary in Turin , the then capital of the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont . However, he did not take up this post until King Maximilian II . In 1848 he was elected to the Second Chamber of the Bavarian State Parliament, but found himself exposed to relentless attacks by opponents and was unable to gain influence. In 1848 he returned to the circle of the abdicated king and advised the young King Maximilian II Joseph (Bavaria) on important decisions. He was recalled and retired in March 1850. After his fall, his ultramontane followers showed him "black infidelity" and denied him as if he had never belonged to them. He withdrew from public life and lived on his Stamsried estate in the Upper Palatinate .

The national liberal historian Heinrich von Treitschke characterized Abel as "of brutal severity, tough, domineering, ruthless, feared in the state parliament because of his quick-witted, fiery eloquence" . Hans von Hopfen considered him to be "the greatest student trafficker like none of them ever existed in Würzburg or Erlangen" .

Abel died two weeks before his 71st birthday in Munich.

tomb

Grave of Karl Abel on the old southern cemetery in Munich location

The burial place of Karl Abel is on the old southern cemetery in Munich (Wall Links Course at 222/223 cemetery 7) Location .

family

In 1832, Karl von Abel married Countess Maria Magdalena von Fugger-Göttersdorf (1787–1835), widow of Moritz Gabriel Graf Fugger-Göttersdorf (1768–1816). She was a daughter of Baron Ignaz von Pfetten and his wife Maria Magdalena von Horneck von Hornberg .

After the death of his first wife, Abel married Fridericke Rinecker (1808–1877), the daughter of the lawyer Heinrich Gallus von Rinecker (1773–1852) and his wife Josephine von Stengel, whose father was the well-known privy councilor Stephan von Stengel .

Awards and honors

For his services to the Bavarian state Abel was raised to personal nobility in 1830 and hereditary nobility on March 12, 1844 . Since 1839 he was an honorary member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences .

literature

Web links

Commons : Karl von Abel  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource Wikisource: Karl von Abel  - Article of the 4th edition of Meyers Konversations-Lexikon

Individual evidence

  1. ^ "Abel, Karl August von". Hessian biography. In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).
  2. ^ Corpslist of Franconia , No. 93, in: Einst und Jetzt , Vol. 7 (1962), p. 69.
  3. ↑ a b E. Weiss, 1988.
  4. ↑ a b c see F. Stahler, 1978.
  5. ↑ a b ( page no longer available , search in web archives: Dr. Max Joseph Hufnagel: famous dead in the southern cemetery in Munich (1983) ).@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.alter-suedfriedhof-muenchen.info
  6. ↑ Dieter Weiß: The Order in the Middle Ages and in the Early Modern Age , as of April 20, 2012.
  7. ↑ Federal Archives .
  8. ^ Heinrich von Treitschke, quoted from E. Weiß.
  9. ^ Necrology of a son of Heinrich Gallus von Rinecker, with mention of the grandfather, Pastoralblatt for the Archdiocese of Munich-Freising , No. 3, 1864; Scan from the source .
personal data
SURNAME Abel, Karl von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Abel, Carl August von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bavarian politician
DATE OF BIRTH September 17, 1788
PLACE OF BIRTH Wetzlar
DATE OF DEATH September 3, 1859
Place of death Munich