Maximilian von Waldburg-Zeil

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Prince Maximilian Wunibald von Waldburg zu Zeil and Trauchburg in the gold-interwoven brocade robe of the imperial inheritance that he had worn at the coronations of Emperors Leopold II (1790) and Franz II (1792) in Frankfurt

Prince Maximilian Wunibald von Waldburg zu Zeil and Trauchburg (born August 20, 1750 in Munich ; † May 16, 1818 at Zeil Castle ) was a territorial lord of the outgoing Holy Roman Empire . He came from the Zeil line of the old Upper Swabian noble family of Truchsesse von Waldburg .

Live and act

Maximilian was the son of Count Franz Anton von Waldburg (* 1714; † 1790) and Countess Maria Anna Sophia (* 1728; † 1782). In 1803 Maximilian became the first prince of Waldburg zu Zeil and Trauchburg as part of the elevation of the entire Waldburg house to the imperial prince status. The entire Waldburg house had paid 90,000 guilders for the process of raising the status. The company hoped that the investment would avoid the threat of mediatization . Nevertheless, the mediatization took place in 1806 and Maximilian became a civil lord in the Kingdom of Württemberg . He was very reluctant to take on this role, as he felt obliged to the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation and especially to the House of Habsburg throughout his life . The Princely House was not among the profiteers of secularization . The prospect of acquiring the town and abbey of Isny did not materialize. The baroque Catholic prince found the political and social climate in Protestant Altwuerttemberg with its pietistic and bourgeois respectability repulsive. His relationship with the autocratic ruling King Friedrich I always remained aloof. He referred to him as Stuttgart's fat Herod because of his stoutness and called the new state capital a purgatory of the class lords. In 1808 Maximilian was granted the dignity of Württemberg hereditary imperial court master, which he found less attractive compared to his traditional office as imperial hereditary assistant. At the Congress of Vienna Maximilian could not achieve a return to the territorial realities of 1805 for himself and the other mediatized noblemen. From 1815 to 1817 he was a member of the Württemberg state assemblies and from March 5 to June 4, 1817 their president. The old imperial guilt was still discussed in the Princely House. Count Maximilian Willibald von Waldburg-Wolfegg had successfully defended the cities of Lindau and Constance against the advancing Protestant Swedes with his army for the Catholic imperial troops during the Thirty Years' War , which cost him the castle in Wolfegg. The emperor had promised him a reward of 70,000 florins for this  , but only 9,200 florins were paid out. From 1777 he was an honorary member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences .

Marriage and offspring

Maximilian was married twice. On November 7, 1774, he married his first wife, Maria Freiin von Hornstein zu Weiterdingen (* 1751, † 1797) in Zeil. On February 18, 1798 Maximilian led his second wife, Bernhardine Freiin von Waldburg, Countess von Wolfegg (* 1772, † 1835) to the altar in Wolfegg. Maximilian belonged to the Roman Catholic Church.

Maximilian's first marriage (with Maria) had seven children, but only three of them grew up:

  • Franz Thaddäus (* 1778; † 1845)
  • Maria Theresia (* 1780; † 1832), married since 1800 to Baron Johann Franz von und zu Bodman († 1833)
  • Maria Josepha Crescentia (* 1786; † 1850), married since 1811 to Freiherr Nikolaus Leopold von Enzberg († 1855)

Maximilian's second marriage (to Bernhardine) had four children, two of whom reached adulthood:

  • Otto Sigismund Aloys (* 1798; † 1821)
  • Maximilian Klemens, Count of Waldburg-Zeil-Hohenems (* 1799; † 1868)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Volker Himmelein (ed.): Old monasteries, new masters. The secularization in the German southwest 1803. Large state exhibition Baden-Württemberg 2003 ; Ostfildern: Thorbecke, 2003; ISBN 3-7995-0212-2 (exhibition catalog and essay volume), p. 929

literature

  • Casimir Bumiller (Ed.): Adel im Wandel, 200 years of mediatization in Upper Swabia , exhibition catalog for the exhibition in Sigmaringen 2006, Thorbecke Verlag, Ostfildern 2006, page 157
  • Frank Raberg : Biographical handbook of the Württemberg state parliament members 1815-1933 . On behalf of the Commission for Historical Regional Studies in Baden-Württemberg. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-17-016604-2 , p. 976 .
  • Volker Himmelein (ed.): Old monasteries, new masters. The secularization in the German southwest 1803. Large state exhibition Baden-Württemberg 2003 . Thorbecke, Ostfildern 2003, ISBN 3-7995-0212-2 (exhibition catalog and essay volume)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Waldburg-Zeil, Maximilian von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Waldburg zu Zeil and Trauchburg, Maximilian Wunibald Prince of
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German nobleman
DATE OF BIRTH August 20, 1750
PLACE OF BIRTH Munich
DATE OF DEATH May 16, 1818
Place of death Zeil Castle