Konrad Detlev von Dehn
Konrad Detlev Graf von Dehn (* 1688 in Preetz ; † January 28, 1753 in The Hague ) was a German minister, diplomat and favorite of Duke August Wilhelm von Braunschweig .
Life
Dehn was born as the son of a Danish officer from the von Dehn family in Preetz, Holstein . He went to the Wolfenbütteler Hof as a page to Duke Anton Ulrichs and was confirmed in 1703 in the castle church there . Dehn was promoted to a large extent by Hereditary Prince August Wilhelm, who made it possible for him to study and travel several times.
Rapid career at the ducal court
After August Wilhelm took over the government in 1714, Dehn was appointed chamberlain. As early as 1716 he was appointed to the State Council. In 1718 he became a Privy Councilor and, as a member of the highest governing body, received the rights of representation of the sovereign, so that he can be described as one of the most powerful men at the Brunswick ducal court. The Duke raised him to Gandersheim's inheritance on February 20, 1720. Diplomatic missions took him to the courts of Versailles, London, Hague and Vienna as the “envoyé extraordinaire” of his sovereign. Emperor Charles VI. elevated him to the rank of imperial count in Vienna on September 27, 1726. He was a splendid and ambitious man.
Marriages
Dehn married Ilse Luise von Imhoff, born on September 7, 1718. Stisser , wife of Privy Councilor von Imhoff who died in 1717, divorced in 1708, and granddaughter and sole heir of the ducal chancellor Philipp Ludwig Probst von Wendhausen († November 17, 1718). On March 30, 1719, Dehn signed a contract of inheritance with her and, following her death in childbirth shortly thereafter, on April 27, she became the sole heir of the important property, including Wendhausen Castle with the estate and the associated lands. He had an extensive baroque garden laid out in Wendhausen Castle . In 1722 Dehn married Benedict Hedwig von Cramm on Sambleben for the second time .
Disempowerment
As a result of favoritism and embezzlement, Dehn was released from grace under his patron August Wilhelm († 1731) in 1730. Under the new sovereign Ludwig Rudolf , he had to leave the country in 1731. In the same year he switched to the Danish service and was the Danish envoy in St. Petersburg, Madrid and The Hague.
Collector and builder
The art-loving collector owned a collection of paintings with more than 500 pictures and a private library of more than 3000 volumes. For his pronounced need for representation, Dehn had Hermann Korb build a luxurious city palace at the Magnitor in Braunschweig ( Dehn'sches Palais ) between 1725 and 1727 (today the site of the Gaußschule ), which had extensive gardens based on the French model. The building came into ducal ownership in 1751 and was demolished in 1857. In Wolfenbüttel around 1720 he had an older half-timbered house converted into a representative city apartment in a baroque style by Hermann Korb. This court officials' house at Harzstrasse 27 has been preserved. From 1719 to 1722 the widow's house Wendhausen was built as a foundation by the Dehn couple . The half-timbered building is attributed to Hermann Korb.
Dehn died in The Hague in 1753 at the age of 64 and was buried in Wendhausen, Brunswick .
Two portraits of Count Dehn are now in the possession of the Duke Anton Ulrich Museum . A portrait created in 1722 by the important French court painter Hyacinthe Rigaud shows him as ambassador extraordinary at the court of Versailles . The well-known French portraitist Nicolas de Largillière painted it in 1724.
Anecdotes
An episode from Dehn's private life depicts the seduction of a conventual from the Braunschweig Kreuzkloster , which he himself described as follows:
That I ended up signing the Jgf. Eleonoren Louisen Stiessern promised half of my goods, whereupon you then left me so much freedom that you can no longer count yourself among the virgins here in the closter: such testimony with 18th day. January 1727 CD Count von Dehn.
Dehn only knew how to defend herself against her lover, who was stalking him and already called herself Eleonore Louise de Dehnen, by imprisoning her.
At the time of his disempowerment in 1730, the following derisive verse was circulating in the Principality of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel about Dehn and one of his favorites:
The Count von Dehn and Lutterloh
These are two rascals in folio.
This involves using Folio , the historical large book format of mismanagement indicated that extent.
literature
- Manfred Garzmann , Wolf-Dieter Schuegraf (Ed.): Braunschweiger Stadtlexikon . Supplementary volume. Joh. Heinr. Meyer Verlag, Braunschweig 1996, ISBN 3-926701-30-7 , p. 37 .
- Gotthardt early care: Dehn, Konrad Detlev Graf von . In: Horst-Rüdiger Jarck , Dieter Lent et al. (Ed.): Braunschweigisches Biographisches Lexikon - 8th to 18th century . Appelhans Verlag, Braunschweig 2006, ISBN 3-937664-46-7 , p. 169-170 .
- Museum in Wolfenbüttel Castle and the Building History Department of the TU Braunschweig (ed.): Hermann Korb and his time - Baroque building in the Principality of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel. Appelhans, Braunschweig 2006, ISBN 3-937664-51-3 .
- Paul Zimmermann : On the life and characteristics of Count Konrad Detlev v. Stretch . In: Yearbook of the History Association for the Duchy of Braunschweig , 14th year, 1915 and 1916, Julius Zwissler, Wolfenbüttel 1916, pp. 77–99. ( Digitized version )
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Friedrich Wagnitz : Duke August Wilhelm von Wolfenbüttel (1662-1731). Princely life between family and finances. Wolfenbüttel 1994, p. 158
- ^ Paul Zimmermann: On the life and characteristics of Count Konrad Detlev v. Stretch . In: Yearbook of the History Association for the Duchy of Braunschweig , 14th year, 1915 and 1916, Julius Zwissler, Wolfenbüttel 1916, p. 96.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Dehn, Konrad Detlev von |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Dehn, Konrad Detlev Graf von (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German diplomat and minister |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1688 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Preetz |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 28, 1753 |
| Place of death | The hague |