Ludwig Siegfried Vitzthum von Eckstädt
Ludwig Siegfried Count Vitzthum von Eckstädt (* July 14, 1716 in Dresden ; † December 5, 1777 there ) was a Saxon diplomat and administrator of the electoral art collections of the Electorate of Saxony . He was a real Privy Councilor and, in the end, Lord Chamberlain.
Career
Ludwig Siegfried was the youngest son of the Saxon cabinet minister Friedrich Graf Vitzthum von Eckstädt and his wife Rahel Charlotte, nee. Countess von Hoym and grew up on his parents' estates, primarily at Wölkau Castle near Leipzig.
After studying law at the University of Leipzig , he graduated in 1736 with the dissertation "De feudis legiis". In 1739 he was appointed chamberlain by the Saxon Elector Friedrich August II and in 1742 chamberlain. Ludwig Siegfried turned to a diplomatic career, which he began as attaché of the Kingdom of Saxony at the French court in Paris . Soon, in 1743, he received his first independent post and, at the age of 27, became envoy to the Sardinian royal court in Turin . Through his successful work in Turin, he was rewarded with the post of Russian ambassador in St. Petersburg in 1746 and elevated to the rank of secret council by the Elector of Saxony.
Due to the politically tense situation, his time as a Russian envoy turned out to be difficult. But since his father, Count Friedrich Vitzthum, had already maintained friendly contacts with Elisabeth's father, Peter the Great , and he had already been to the Vitzthum Palace in Dresden and Wölkau Castle as his father's guest , Ludwig Siegfried hoped to build on this bond can. He partially succeeded in doing this. On August 14, 1746, Ludwig Siegfried received his first audience with Empress Elisabeth of Russia , which revealed mutual sympathies. As early as 1747, the Russian Empress awarded him the Alexander Nevsky Order . For health reasons he was only able to fulfill his services in St. Petersburg until 1749 and asked to be recalled as Russian ambassador back to Dresden. When Ludwig Siegfried was not in Dresden, he lived with his family at Otterwisch Castle near Leipzig, which his mother Rahel Charlotte Countess Vitzthum von Eckstädt had built from 1727–1730 by the master builder David Schatz .
In 1749 he was appointed envoy to the Bavarian royal court in Munich , where he steered the political situation with great skill. In 1751 he returned, again mainly for health reasons. After being recalled from Munich, he initially devoted himself to the management of his estates until, in October 1755, after the death of the Saxon ambassador to France , Count Bellegarde d'Entremont, he again assumed the post of ambassador and was sent to Paris until 1757.
After his return to Saxony, Vitzthum worked as administrator of the electoral art collections in Dresden from 1768 until his death in 1777.
He was buried on December 8, 1777 in the Frauenkirche in Dresden.
Private
On October 4, 1748, he married his first cousin, Christiane Caroline Countess von Hoym. She was the daughter of Count Carl Siegfried von Hoym , his mother's brother. From this marriage there were four children, of which the name of the son who died as a toddler is not known:
- Friederike Antonie Louise Josepha (1753)
- Erdmuthe Charlotte Sophie (1754–1755)
- Louise Constanze (1757–1759)
After the death of his first wife in 1760, he married Auguste Erdmuthe von Ponickau and Pilgrim (1738–1775) for the second time . This marriage in turn had six children:
- Johann Ludwig (1763–1764)
- Friedrich August (1765–1803)
- Carl Alexander Nicolaus (1767–1834)
- Heinrich Carl Wilhelm (1770–1837)
- Erdmuthe Louise (1772–1844)
- Josefa Auguste Amalie (1775–1809)
In his third marriage, Ludwig Siegfried married Amalie Sybille Eleonore von Stammer (1749–1795) shortly before his own death in 1776.
He is considered to be the founder of the three Vitzthum lines, which existed through the sons Friedrich, Carl and Heinrich and their descendants until 1945. After the 1st line died out, the 2nd and 3rd line still exist today.
literature
- Woldemar Lippert : Empress Maria Theresia and Electress Maria Antonia von Sachsen , Leipzig 1908, pp. CXCV ff ( limited preview in the Google book search).
Web links
- Judith Matzke: Ludwig Siegfried Vitzthum of Eckstädt . In: Institute for Saxon History and Folklore (Ed.): Saxon Biography .
Individual evidence
- ^ Rudolf Graf Vitzthum v. Eckstädt: Contributions to a Vitzthum family history . Ed .: Central Office for German Personal and Family History. Leipzig 1935, p. Plate 24 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Vitzthum von Eckstädt, Ludwig Siegfried |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Vitzthum von Eckstädt, Ludwig Siegfried Graf (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German diplomat and administrator of the electoral art collections of the Kingdom of Saxony |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 14, 1716 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Dresden |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 5, 1777 |
| Place of death | Dresden |