Maximilian Karl Theodor von Holnstein

Count Max von Holnstein, Royal Bavarian Colonel Master (called the "Roßober")

Count Maximilian Karl Theodor von Holnstein from Bavaria (born October 19, 1835 in Munich , † February 1, 1895 in Schwarzenfeld Castle ) was a Bavarian landowner and diplomat. As Reichsrat and Oberststallmeister of King Ludwig II , he had considerable influence on the politics of that time in the Kingdom of Bavaria and also played an important role in the creation of the " Kaiserbrief " . He was also involved in the incapacitation of the king in 1886.

origin

Family coat of arms of Count Holnstein

Max von Holnstein was the son of the Bavarian landowner and royal chamberlain Karl Theodor von Holnstein (1797–1857) and his wife Caroline, née. Baroness von Spiering (1815-1859) . He was the great-grandson of Count Franz Ludwig von Holnstein (1723–1780), the illegitimate son of the Elector and later Emperor Karl Albrecht of Bavaria (1697–1745) and his lover Maria Caroline Charlotte von Ingenheim . The family coat of arms of the Counts of Holnstein indicates their descent from the Wittelsbach family . The coat of arms has as motif a red baton sinister of it as Bastard crest features. Since 1794, the family was based in what is now the market town of Schwarzenfeld in Upper Palatinate , where they owned extensive estates in addition to the Schwarzenfeld family seat .

Landowner in the Upper Palatinate

Max von Holnstein was one of the confidants of the Bavarian princes Ludwig (from 1864 King Ludwig II.) And Otto (from 1886 King Otto I) , whom he had known from childhood and whose playmate he was. Since 1857 he had his main residence at Schwarzenfeld Castle in the Upper Palatinate , from where he managed his property. After the death of his father, Holnstein became a hereditary imperial councilor and lord of the major . He took over the property of his family in Schwarzenfeld, Rauberweiherhaus , Thanstein and Pillmersried in the Upper Palatinate and in Thalhausen and Palzing in Upper Bavaria . In 1863 Holnstein was due to a discharged with guns, legally prohibited honor duel condemns Hugo Wenzel von Sternbach and to imprisonment convicted, but in 1866 by Ludwig II. Pardoned and the Royal Bavarian Oberststallmeister appointed. Max von Holnstein was married to Maximiliane von Gumppenberg, who was fifteen years his junior (* May 14, 1850, † September 3, 1937).

Worked at the Bavarian court and as a diplomat

As the royal stableman, Holnstein had been a member of the Bavarian court since 1866 . He had been appointed to this court office as the successor to Freiherr Otto von Lerchenfeld-Aham, whom Ludwig II had dismissed at the end of 1865 because Lerchenfeld had reported a groom, who was considered a lover of the king, to the public prosecutor for an alleged moral offense remove from the yard. Holnstein was seen as ambitious, dominant and hands-on.

Holnstein had his most important political role as confidante of the Bavarian king and later as a diplomat. He enjoyed Ludwig's full confidence, which he only lost three years before his incapacitation because of his resistance to the king's increasing waste of money. As advisor to the monarch, Holnstein was directly involved in the creation of the " Kaiserbrief " written in Hohenschwangau Castle, which proposed the Prussian King Wilhelm I the imperial dignity of the newly founded German Empire .

Holnstein and the Kaiserbrief

Before the " Kaiserbrief " was written, Holnstein negotiated with Otto von Bismarck on behalf of the king . The letter to the German federal princes , drawn up by Bismarck in his capacity as North German Chancellor on November 27, 1870 and signed by King Ludwig II on November 30, 1870, made the Prussian King Wilhelm the imperial dignity of the newly founded German Empire and thus gave the impetus on Wilhelm I's proclamation as emperor in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles . The southern German kings of Bavaria and Württemberg were initially critical of the establishment of an empire, so that Prussian diplomacy was very keen to reach an agreement. The fact that Ludwig II was in a tight financial situation due to his expensive palace buildings - especially his private fortune - was known and was ultimately used to persuade the king to give in.

On November 19, 1870, the Prussian ambassador, Count Werthern, sent a telegram to Bismarck with the following wording: “Very secret. The King of Bavaria got into a big financial embarrassment because of buildings and theaters. Six million guilders would be very agreeable to him, provided the ministers did not find out. For this sum he would also decide to proclaim the emperor and travel to Versailles. The purpose of Count Holnstein's trip is to be with Ew. Your Excellency to speak about this. "

Holnstein played the central role in handling the agreements. The details of the settlement of the promised payments were determined with him, and he received 10% of the money flowing to Ludwig for his services. In fact, there was no one-off payment of the required sum, but a kind of annuity from the interest income of the Welfenfonds , from which the king received 300,000 marks annually from 1871 until his death in 1886 (today approx. 2 million euros). These payments, which were kept strictly secret from the Bavarian government, were always processed via Holnstein. For this he received the one-time "gratuity" of 164,000 marks as well as an annual commission of 17,000 marks from Bismarck and, what Bismarck did not know, had also agreed with Ludwig an annual commission of 10%, i.e. 30,000 marks. Not least because of this annuity, King Ludwig never called a government under the leadership of the anti-Prussian Bavarian Patriot Party until his death .

As early as November 23, 1870, Bismarck had reached an agreement with the representatives of the Bavarian government to join the German Reich, whereby Bismarck made major concessions to Bavaria (own postal and telecommunications system, own railways and in peacetime an own army ), and declared as he returned from this negotiation: “Now the Bavarian contract would be ready and signed. German unity has been achieved, and so is the Kaiser. ” His employees found the contract signed, with two empty champagne bottles next to it. Colonel stable master Count Holnstein arrived two days later on November 25, 1870 in Versailles, where he was immediately received by Bismarck without first contacting the Bavarian negotiating delegation. Nothing is known about the course of the conversation, only the result of an agreement between the parties involved. On November 26, 1870, Bismarck announced this to his employees, albeit in a somewhat alienated form, in a confidential note that he added to the official letter to the head of the Delbrück State Chancellery about the agreement with the Bavarian government representatives on November 23, 1870 Enclosed contracts, noted: “Following my letter today, I am sharing Ew. pp. still confidently with the fact that I also discussed the imperial question with the Bavarian ministers and stated that they were willing to initiate the same at the suggestion of Bavaria. According to your hints, I assume that a letter from His Majesty the King of Bavaria to His Majesty the King, in which the application is being made, is already on the way. ” In fact, however, he had only just come to an agreement with Ludwig's representative about his claims for money, and the alleged one As a precaution, he himself formulated the expected letter, the later imperial letter, on November 27, 1870. He had refrained from his original demand that Ludwig should come to Versailles in person. He sent the draft of the imperial letter together with a personal letter to Ludwig, which he began with exuberant words of thanks: “Most Serene and Most Powerful King! For the gracious openings made to me by Count Holnstein on the orders of Your Majesty, I ask the very highest of you to graciously accept the reverent expression of my thanks. ” He then came to speak of the Kaiserbrief:

“With regard to the German imperial question, in my reverent judgment it is above all important that its suggestion does not come first from any other party such as your majesty and especially not from the parliament. The position would be falsified if it did not owe its origin to the free and well-considered initiative of the most powerful of the princes joining the league. I have taken the liberty of handing Holnstein a draft of a declaration to be addressed to my most gracious king and, with the necessary changes to the version, to the other allies at his request. "

Holnstein took the train back to Munich with the Bavarian State Ministers, who had represented Bavaria in the conclusion of the Bavarian Accession Treaty, and had brought Bismarck's draft to their attention there. On November 30, 1870, Holnstein arrived at Ludwig's Hohenschwangau Palace with this letter and was only received by the king when he informed him that he would have to return to Versailles at 6 p.m. He then explained to the king that in any case he would go back to Versailles, be it with or without a result, but then it was to be expected that the troops standing in front of Paris would proclaim William I emperor. Ludwig Bismarck's draft was copied with minor changes and handed over to Holnstein, who brought it to Munich for sealing. In an accompanying letter, Ludwig asked his cabinet secretary to check the letter and, should a differently worded letter seem more appropriate to him, "the matter will fall apart and I authorize you to tear up the letter to the King of Prussia." The cabinet secretary, meanwhile, sealed it the letter on December 1st, and Holnstein reached Versailles the next day, where he delivered the letter to Ludwig's uncle, Prince Luitpold of Bavaria . On December 3, 1870, Bismarck cheered in a telegram to Count Werthern, the Prussian ambassador in Munich: “Tell Count Bray that His Majesty the King received the letter from His Majesty the King Ludwig with lively thanks from the hands of His Royal Highness the Prince Luitpold from 11/30 accepted and thank King Ludwig for the renewed activity of his majesty's patriotic sentiments. The difficulties feared at the Reichstag because of the treaties will, I hope, be overcome. "

Holnstein's influence on Ludwig II.

Bismarck recognized Holnstein's services to German unification as follows: “Count Holnstein has made a considerable contribution to the formal conclusion of our national unification by eliminating the external one through the double journey he made in one sleepless week and the skillful execution of his assignment in Hohenschwangau Obstacles to the imperial question acquired. ” On December 24, 1870, Count Werthern, the Prussian ambassador in Munich, recommended to Bismarck, in connection with the seemingly uncertain ratification of the Bavarian accession treaties by the Bavarian parliament, to discuss the king’s position on this question “ also to discuss with Count Holnstein who is best informed of the intentions and views of the king. "

At the Bavarian court in Munich, Holnstein - who at the time was known outside Bavaria as "Horse Excellency" and was usually dubbed "Roßober" by the Bavarian people - was considered a gray eminence whose influence on King Ludwig II was proverbial. Count Hugo von Lerchenfeld-Köfering, the royal Bavarian State Councilor and ambassador to the royal Prussian court (he was the father of the later Bavarian Prime Minister Count Hugo Lerchenfeld-Köfering ) judged: “Only one man has a certain role in the life of Ludwig II besides Richard Wagner . played, that was the chief equerry, Count Max von Holnstein. Holnstein was a remarkable personality of Herculean build and great energy. He did not know fear ... He had a strong tendency to be angry and could then be brutal ” .

Prince Philipp zu Eulenburg reported an observation in 1882: "Holnstein must know some strange thing about the king and use it as a weapon - the king no longer loves him and still obeys him." Claims of a possible homophile connection between the "fairy tale king" and his stable master in a book by the author Alfred Wolfsteiner were the subject of a legal dispute with the descendants of Holnstein in 2005. This seems impossible, but Ludwig feared the count not only because of his unscrupulousness and intrigue, but in fact Holnstein seems to have taken possession of Ludwig's love letters to his former lover Paul von Thurn und Taxis and thus blackmailed the king. Above all, however, the king was dependent on him because of the secret Prussian payments.

Injustice and later career

In 1883, Holnstein fell out of favor with King Ludwig II almost overnight. One alleged reason for this was the former favorite's refusal to raise any more money for Ludwig's excessive and guilty eagerness to build (for example for Herrenchiemsee Palace ). It was true, however, that Count Holnstein had bribed people since 1870 and had false main witnesses act against the king. He had servants bribed who served him as informers, and he tightened up verbal reports, tweaked their hair and thus collected materials that were later brought to the doctor by Gudden. Count Holnstein played a double game during his service at the Bavarian court.

When Ludwig II was finally declared on June 8, 1886 at the instigation of the government by the doctors Bernhard von Gudden , Friedrich Wilhelm Hagen , Hubert von Grashey and Max Hubrich (1837-1896) in an expert opinion for "mentally disturbed" and "incurable", Max von Holnstein was also significantly involved in the incapacitation. In addition to Count Clemens Maria zu Toerring-Jettenbach , Holnstein was also appointed guardian ( curator ) of the king. Both belonged to the commission that was to take the king into custody on the night of June 10, 1886 at Neuschwanstein Castle and bring him to Linderhof , but which was instead locked up in the castle's gatehouse by the police and angry farmers. There Holnstein scratched his name and the date on the wall of the dungeon, still visible today. He returned to Munich the next afternoon, after the government had sent new police officers, and organized the king's accommodation at Berg Castle , where Ludwig was to find death three days later after being successfully arrested by a medical committee.

“If I harm the king, I will go blind,” according to tradition, Holnstein is said to have once said. After the death of King Ludwig II, he remained Colonel Master of the Prince Regent Luitpold until 1892 , and as fate would have it, at the end of his life he was completely blind.

As a diplomat and courtier , Holnstein received numerous Bavarian and international honors and awards in the course of his life. Among other things, he was major general à la suite of the army , knight of honor of the sovereign Order of Malta and chairman of the royal Bavarian court hunting dance.

Entrepreneur and old age

Schwarzenfeld Castle , Upper Palatinate

After the end of his activity at the Bavarian court, Max von Holnstein retired to his castle in Schwarzenfeld in 1893, which he had lived in since 1857. He was also economically successful and was one of the co-founders of the Bayerische Vereinsbank and was chairman of the founding supervisory board of Tonwarenfabrik Schwandorf AG . In Schwarzenfeld, he had Julius Hofmann expand the palace building in the years 1890 to 1892 to include the outbuilding and the two towers in the style of the then popular architectural style of historicism. At times, up to 160 workers were involved in the renovation, which now gave the castle its final appearance. The surrounding buildings were also demolished to reveal the castle. Shortly after its completion, the count used the castle as a resting place, where he died completely blind in 1895. Max von Holnstein was buried in the mausoleum on the Schwarzenfeld cemetery, built between 1882 and 1884 at his behest , where his family also found their final resting place.

His widow Maximiliane († 1937) and his descendants lived in Schwarzenfeld Castle for only a few years, and after Countess Maximiliane moved out in 1907, the castle remained unused for a long time, except for brief leases. Economic and financial hardships forced Maximiliane von Holnstein to sell it to the NS-Volkswohlfahrt Berlin in 1936.

Web links

• Maximilian Karl Theodor von Holnstein in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The only obelisk (Fronberg Castle Online)
2. ↑ Oliver Hilmes, Ludwig II. , Munich 2013, p. 122ff.
3. ↑ Manuel Ruoff: How Ludwig II made Wilhelm I emperor ("Preußische Allgemeine Zeitung", December 3, 2005)
4. ↑ Herre, Franz, Bayerns Märchenkönig Ludwig II., 6th edition, Munich, 2001, Heyne, ISBN 3-453-08509-4 , p. 268
5. ↑ Otto Plant, Bismarck the Reichsgründer , CH Beck, Munich, 1997, ISBN 3-406-42725-1 , p. 503; Heinrich August Winkler, The long way to the west , Vol. I, CH Beck, Munich, 2002, ISBN 3-406-46001-1 , p. 503; Herre, p. 269; Lothar Gall, Bismarck , Ullstein, Berlin, 1997, ISBN 3-548-26515-4 , p. 518
6. ↑ According to Oliver Hilmes, Ludwig II. , Munich 2013, pp. 199f
7. ↑ Otto von Bismarck, Works in Selection , Vol. IV, The Foundation of the Reich , Part Two: 1866–1871, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt, 2001, ISBN 3-534-14465-1 , p. 576, No. 327
8. ↑ Herre, p. 268f.
9. ↑ Bismarck, Werke, Vol. IV, p. 583, No. 331
10. ↑ Bismarck, Werke, Vol. IV, p. 584, No. 333; see. Document [1]
11. ↑ Herre, p. 274
12. ↑ Herre, pp. 270-271
13. ↑ Herre, p. 274
14. ↑ Bismarck, Werke, Vol. IV, p. 592, No. 339
15. ↑ Herre p. 274
16. ↑ Bismarck, p. 612 Document N ° 350
17. ↑ ^{a b} People around Ludwig II: Max Karl Theodor Graf von Holnstein (Koenig-ludwig.org)
18. ^ Letter from Eulenberg to Herbert von Bismarck dated August 26, 1882, in: Philip Fürst Eulenberg-Hertefeld, Das Ende König Ludwigs II. , Ed. Klaus von See, Insel, Frankfurt am Main, 2001, p. 135
19. ^ The fairy tale king and the stable master: Munich court discusses the sex life of Ludwig II of Bavaria (Welt Online, September 29, 2005)
20. ↑ According to Oliver Hilmes, Ludwig II. , Munich 2013, pp. 169f. In 1903 the widow of the Prussian ambassador in Munich, who was very familiar with Holnstein, told Georg von Werthern to the literary figure Harry Graf Kessler .
21. ↑ At the court of Ludwig II - Max Graf von Holnstein from Bavaria ( Memento of the original from October 25, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Report on a lecture by Holnstein expert Martin Irl)