Michael Johann von der Borch

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Michael von der Borch
Michael von der Borch, portrait by Ludwig Guttenbrunn

Count Michael Johann von der Borch-Lubeschitz and Borchhoff, Baron von Borchland ( Polish Michał Jan Borch; Russian Михаэль Иоганн фон дер Борх ; * June 20, 1753 in Warkland ; † December 16, July / December 28,  1810 greg. In Warkland ) was a Baltic German naturalist and writer .

Life

origin

Michael Johann von der Borch comes from the Courland branch of the noble family Borch-Lubeschütz . His parents were the Polish Chancellor Johann Andreas Josef von der Borch (1715–1780) and Ludwika Anna von Syberg (1725–1788).

Career

Illustration for the kidnapping of Stanisław Poniatowski

Count Borch was trained and educated by French teachers on his parents' estate, partly in Poland, for example at the Collegium Pium in Warsaw . In 1762 he entered the Polish military and was promoted to the rank of colonel in the hussars by 1776 at the latest . As captain of the Livonian footguard, Borch was wounded in the kidnapping of Stanisław August Poniatowski on the night of November 3rd, 1771 in Warsaw by Stanisław Strawiński while he was trying to defend the king. Due to his loyal demeanor and aptitude, he was promoted to Quartermaster General of Lithuania in 1781 , became a member of the War Department of the Perpetual Council in 1786 and finally Lieutenant General of the Polish troops. He was also Starost of Ludsen ( Latgale ) from 1772 and Voivode of Bełz (today: Ukraine) from 1787 , where he promoted the introduction of the Polish language .

From 1774 to 1778 he undertook an extensive Grand Tour through Germany, France, Switzerland and Italy. He also went to the Order of Malta in Malta . The suggestion to visit Malta and Sicily gave him a. a. the then much-read book A Tour through Sicily and Malta by the Scot Patrick Brydone (1736-1818). In Sicily he devoted himself to extensive mineralogical studies from September 1776 to April 1777. He published their results in articles in seven scientific publications published in Italy, later also - in expanded form - as books in French translation. Goethe wrote about this during his “ Italian Journey ”: “Count Borck has worked very diligently for us in the stone empire of Sicily, and anyone who visits the island like him will be very happy to thank him. I find it pleasant and obligatory to celebrate the memory of a predecessor. ”The extensive natural history collections of Michael von der Borch were still held in honor in the castle of Varakļāni as Gustav von Manteuffel (1832–1916), the explorer of Latgalian culture and History of visiting it in 1868. In recognition of his services as a natural scientist, the armfoot species Bicarinatina borchi from the family of Pseudolingulidae was named after Michael Johann von der Borch.

The rank of royal Polish Lieutenant General and Quartermaster General in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania standing, it was on March 17, 1783 Vienna by Emperor Joseph II. The imperial counts granted.

Mansion Warkland (2008)

In 1790 Borch traveled to England on behalf of the Polish king, whose unreserved trust he enjoyed, but after the third partition of Poland withdrew from civil service to his estates. In 1789 he had a mansion with parks and ponds built on Warkland, which his family owned as early as 1483, based on the design of the Italian architect Vincenzo de Mazotti (1756–1798) .

Count Borch was u. a. Knight of the Order of the Palatinate Lion , the Order of St. Stanislaus and the Order of the White Eagle . He devoted himself as a writer to natural history, maintained international contacts, for example with Daniel Bernoulli and Voltaire, and was a member of numerous academic societies. He was considered to be "a refined spirit of aristocratic elegance and thorough erudition".

family

Coat of arms of the Counts von der Borch (since 1783)

Within the family, after the death of his father , Count Borch-Lubeschütz first had his mother and later, after her death, his brother-in-law Count Kasimir Konstantin Plater (1748–1808), the Lithuanian Chancellor, confronted with what was then a scandalous inheritance process.

Count Borch married in 1783 in Riga with Countess Eleonore Christina Browne of Camus (1766-1844), daughter of the Russian Governor General of Livonia George Browne . The marriage resulted in seven children.

  1. Eleonore Sophie Wilhelmine (1795–1880), ⚭ 1813 Count Theodor Ludwig Wilhelm Keller (1791–1860), Russian colonel
  2. Louise Isabelle Victorine (1796–1870), ⚭I 1816 Count Alexander Lambsdorff (1794–1843), Russian major, President of the Courland Credit Union; ⚭II Eduard von Funk (1800–1880), Majorate on Kaiwen
  3. Carl Georg Johann Joseph (1798–1861), Marshal of Vitebsk , ⚭ 1825 Countess Luise Marie Ursular Plater-Syberg (1805–1878)
  4. Isabella Amalie Marianne Gertrud (1799–1862), ⚭ 1822 Heinrich Wilhelm von Grote (1797–1879), Russian councilor
  5. Annette Clara Julie Natalie (1801–1869), ⚭ 1822 Moritz Friedrich von Grote (1799–1884), Russian Colonel of the Guard
  6. Alexander Anton Stanislaus Bernhard (1804–1867), Russian Chamberlain, Master of Ceremonies and Real Councilor of State, ⚭ 1833 Countess Sophia Laval de la Loubrérie (1809–1871)
  7. Joseph Casimir Peter Michael (1807–1881), Russian chamberlain, ⚭I 1830 Emma Emilia Hołyńska († 1868); ⚭II 1868 Dorothea Staleidsan called Borck (1838–1933)

controversy

The above presentation follows mainly German sources, which in turn are essentially based on Napiersky . In the relevant Polish literature (see below) Borch's political turnaround, not his academic and literary achievements, is depicted in a diametrically different manner. So working hours are Kronarmee not documented and therefore doubted the rank of Polish Lieutenant General, as he also 1,799 in court and state calendar of the Bavarian palatine Elector Karl Theodor is called, is therefore only titularisch specific. In the relationship between Borch and Poniatowski, the former is portrayed as greedy and blackmailing. The Polish historian Jan Turkowski comes to this account after evaluating the personal correspondence of both gentlemen. In the end, the kidnapping of the king is documented in detail and almost completely except for the name of the royal adjutant. Borch is not mentioned in this context. His involvement and the resulting injury can probably be viewed as unlikely, since even the names of the servants present are listed individually, but the name of a son of the Polish Grand Chancellor of the Crown was not mentioned.

Works

  • Ode ... pour la séance publique du premier d'Avril de la conversation galante de Monsieur le prince di Campofranco ... Palermo 1777.
  • Lettres sur la Sicile et sur l'île de Malthe ... écrites en 1777. Pour servir de supplément au voyage en Sicile et à Malthe de Monsieur Brydonne . Bern 1785.
  • Lythologie sicilienne ou Catalog raisonné de toutes les pierres de la Sicile propres à embellir le cabinet d'un amateur . Naples 1777.
  • Lythologie sicilienne, en connaissance de la nature des pierres de la Sicile, suivie d'un discours sur la Catcara de Palerme . Rome 1778.
  • Minéralogie sicilienne docimastique et métallurgique ou Connaissance de tous les minéraux que produit l'île de Sicile, avec les details des mines et des carrières et l'histoire des travaux anciens et actuels de ce pays. Suivie de la minér-hydrologie sicilienne, ou la description de toutes les eaux minérales de la Sicile . Turin 1780.
  • Lettres sur les truffes du Piémont, écrites en 1780 . Milan 1780.
  • Victor Amédée. Tragedy en 5 acts et en vers, par l'auteur de la Minéralogie sicilienne . Warsaw 1789.
  • La Stanislaĭde ou l'Heureuse délivrance de Stanislas II roi de Pologne. Poeme . Warsaw 1791.
  • Histoire de la vie de George de Browne, comte du Saint-Empire, gouverneur général de Livonie et d'Esthonie… , Johann Friedrich Hartknoch, Riga 1794 ( digitized version ).
    • German edition: Life of the Reichsgr. Georg von Browne, Governor General of Liefland and Esthland, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armies . With a foreword by L. Schubert. Johann Friedrich Hartknoch, Riga 1795 ( digitized version ) from the Bavarian State Library.
  • Jardin sentimental du château de Warkland dans le Comté de Borch en Russie Blanche , Warsaw 1795.

literature

  • Adam Boniecki : Herbarz Polski , Volume 2, p. 23.
  • Conversations-Lexicon , Volume 1. Brockhaus, Leipzig 1822, p. 393 ( digitized version ) of the Austrian State Library.
  • Carola L. Gottzmann, Petra Hörne: Lexicon of the German-language literature of the Baltic States and St. Petersburg. From the Middle Ages to the present , Volume 1: A-G . de Gruyter, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-11-019338-1 , p. 264.
  • Stanisław Kazimierz Kossakowski: Monograph Genealogiczne , Volume 1, pp. 15-21.
  • Tomasz Lenczewski : Genealogia Rodów Utytulowanych w Polsce , Volume 1, 1995.
  • Kazimierz Maślankiewicz: Michał Jan Borch (1751–1810) and his Activity in Mineralogy and Geochemistry . In: Bogdan Suchodolski (ed.): Actes du XI Congrès International d'Histoire des sciences. Varsovie, Torun, Kielce, Cracovie, 24–31 Août 1965 . Ossolineum, Wrocław 1968, Volume 4, pp. 284-286.
  • New Rhenish Conversations Lexicon , Volume 2: B – Bz . Stahl, Cologne, 3rd ed. 1831, p. 796 .
  • Polski Słownik Biograficzny , Volume 2, pp. 311-315.
  • Art. Count von der Borch (Michael Johann) . In: Johann Friedrich von Recke , Charles Edward Napiersky , Theodor Beise : General Writers and scholars lexicon of the provinces of Livonia, Esthonia and Kurland , Vol. 1: A-F . Johann Friedrich Steffenhagen, Mitau 1827, pp. 219–223 .
  • Art. Michael Johann Graf von der Borch . In: Jegór von Sivers: German poets in Russia. Studies in the history of literature . Schroeder, Berlin 1855, pp. 79-81.
  • Seweryn Uruski : Rodzina. Herbarz szlachty polskiej. Volume 1, Warsaw 1904, pp. 316-319.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The additional title of Lubeschitz (Lubeschütz, Luboschütz, Lübeschitz) is supposed to stem from the fact that Imbert von der Borch , royal Polish envoy to Emperor Friedrich III. (1495) by his son, Maximilian I in the imperial counts should have been charged. The Lubeschitz family estate is said to have been regarded as a county and the title of Baron von Borchland was associated with it. Fabian von der Borch is said to have not only received this imperial count from the Polish King (1545–1572) Sigismund II August , but also to have received the special elevation to the Polish count status with the title of Count von Borchshoff (Borchow, Borchowie). Finally Michael Johann von der Borch received the imperial count and all titles and dignities received by the emperor from Emperor Joseph II. On March 17th. Cf. German Count Houses of the Present , Volume I, Leipzig 1852, pp. 105 f. The GHdA , Adelslexikon Volume II, Limburg an der Lahn 1974, p. 3, apparently regards the Reichsgrafenstanddiplom of 1783 as an elevation to the counts and does not mention any previous elevations of the rank, which means that those in question before 1783 should at least be viewed critically for their historical veracity are. See also Johann Friedrich von Recke , Karl Eduard Napiersky : General Lexicon of Writers and Scholars of the Provinces of Livonia, Esthland and Courland , Volume 1, Mitau 1826, pp. 219–223 ; see. also as a contemporary source (however with the year of origin 1799 already after 1783) of his electoral examination of the Pfalzbaiern etc. court and state calendar for the year 1799 . Franzische Hof- und Landschaftsdruckerei, Munich, p. 25 , middle of the page: "The high-born Mr. Michael Johann des ..." ( Google Books excerpt [accessed on September 4, 2019]).
  2. ↑ Article Borch . In: Hermann Soltmann: Historisch-heraldisches Handbuch for the genealogical pocket book of the count's houses . Justus Perthes, Gotha 1855, pp. 76–79, here p. 79.
  3. ↑ August Buchholtz: Materials for Personal Studies of the Baltic Sea Provinces , Vol. 6, Entry No. 1180 (handwritten copy in the Latvian National Library ).
  4. ^ Christian Friedrich Jacobi : European genealogical manual , Leipzig 1800, p. 115 u. 220
  5. ↑ a b Aija Taimina: Borchiana versus Siciliana. Grafa Borha Sicilijas celojums un ta reminiscences literatura un maksla <Count Borch's Sicilian journey and its reminiscences in literature and art>. In: Makslas Vesture un Teorija <Art History and Theory>, ISSN  1691-0869 , Vol. 16 (2013), pp. 5–17 (Latvian).
  6. ^ Art. Michael Johann Graf von der Borch . In: Jegór von Sivers: German poets in Russia. Studies in the history of literature . Berlin 1855, pp. 79–81, here p. 79.
  7. ^ Jānis Stradiņš: Michał Jan Borch - Polski Przyrodnik XVIII w . In: Kwartalnik Historii Nauki i Techniki , Vol. 15 (1980), pp. 481-499, here p. 488 (Polish).
  8. ^ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Italienische Reise , entry from April 13, 1797 in Palermo.
  9. ^ Gustav von Manteuffel: Polish-Livonia . Kymmel, Riga 1869, p. 66.
  10. ↑ Ģeologu Viktoru Grāvīti atceroties <In memory of the geologist Viktor Grāvītis>. In: Zinātnes Vēstnesis <The Science Messenger >, published by the Latvijas Zinātņu akadēmijas un Latvijas Zinātnieku savienības laikraksts <Journal of the Latvian Academy of Sciences and the Latvian Scientific Society>, ISSN  1407-6748 , vol. 228, 2001, no December 3 (Latvian).
  11. ↑ GHdA , Adelslexikon Volume II (= Volume 58 of the complete series), Limburg an der Lahn 1974, p. 3.
  12. ^ Jolanta Polanowska: The Palace Garden in Warklany. Work of the Owner Michał Jan Borch and Architect Vincenzo de Mazotti . In: Biuletyn Historii Sztuki, vol. 74 (2012), issue 3/4, pp. 3–5.
  13. ^ Art. Michael Johann Graf von der Borch . In: Jegór von Sivers: German poets in Russia. Studies in the history of literature . Berlin 1855, pp. 79-81, quoted on p. 79.
  14. ^ Johann Friedrich von Recke , Karl Eduard Napiersky , Theodor Beise : General writers and scholars lexicon of the provinces of Livonia, Esthland and Courland , Volume 3, Mitau 1831, pp. 422-423
  15. ↑ Gothaisches Genealogisches Taschenbuch der Graefliche Häuser , Justus Perthes , Gotha 1849, pp. 96–97
  16. ↑ His electoral examination of the Pfalzbaiern etc. Court and state calendar for the year 1799 . Franzische Hof- und Landschaftsdruckerei, Munich, p. 25 , middle of the page: "The high-born Mr. Michael Johann des ..." ( Google Books excerpt [accessed on September 4, 2019]).
  17. ↑ Polski Słownik Biograficzny , Volume 2, pp. 311-315
personal data
SURNAME Borch, Michael Johann from the
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Borch-Lubeschitz, Michael Johann von der; Graf von der Borch-Lubeschütz, Graf zu Borchow, Baron von Borchland, Michael Johann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Baltic German writer
DATE OF BIRTH June 20, 1753
PLACE OF BIRTH Warkland
DATE OF DEATH December 28, 1810
Place of death Warkland