Nicholas I Joseph Esterházy de Galantha

Prince Nicholas I in the Hungarian uniform of his regiment No. 33 ; he wears the Order of the Golden Fleece and the Commander's Cross of the Military Maria Theresa Order ; the prince's hat lies behind him

Nikolaus I. Joseph (Hungarian. Miklós József ) Count and later Prince Esterházy de Galantha , called "the splendor lover" (born  December 18, 1714 in Vienna ; † September 28, 1790 ibid) was the fifth prince from the Esterházy de Galantha family .

Life

Professional career

Like many other family members, Nikolaus embarked on a military career. In 1753 he became regiment owner of the Andrassy Infantry Regiment ( 1769 No. 33 ). Later he rose to field marshal . Only after the death of his older brother Paul II Anton in 1762 was he allowed to bear the title of prince as the new head of the family.

In 1764 he became captain of the Hungarian bodyguard and acted as a so-called coronation ambassador on the occasion of the coronation of Joseph II in Frankfurt am Main . Like many of his ancestors, Nikolaus was made Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece in 1765 .

When the War of the Bavarian Succession broke out in 1778 , Nikolaus recruited 1,200 soldiers into his possessions to support the emperor. In 1783 the emperor extended the dignity of the prince to all male and female descendants from the Forchtenstein line of the Esterházys. Nikolaus had been married to Marie Elisabeth Ungnad (in) Countess von Weißenwolff (1718–1790) since 1737 and had 6 children with her.

Patron and courtier

The nickname “the splendor lover” is derived from the elaborate court keeping that the prince maintained in his residences. For example, after the death of his predecessor Gregor Werner in 1766, he appointed Joseph Haydn, who was already employed by his brother, from Vice-Kapellmeister to Kapellmeister at the court.

Nikolaus had the small hunting lodge in Süttör , commissioned by Prince Michael Esterházy around 50 years earlier , converted into a magnificent Esterháza summer residence . The lavishly converted palace and the baroque gardens have often been referred to as the Hungarian Versailles since then . In the summer of 1773, Nikolaus surprised his guest, Empress Maria Theresa, with a glamorous party and a "sleigh ride on paths strewn with salt". However, the lavish lifestyle of the prince was also reflected in the balance sheet. The prince left a gigantic 3.8 million guilders in debt to his son and successor, Anton (I) .

Namesake

“Esterházy” year badge of the Theresian Military Academy in Wiener Neustadt

As a commemoration, the 2007 class of the Theresian Military Academy in Wiener Neustadt chose the name “Esterházy Class”.

literature

• Constantin von Wurzbach : Eßterházy von Galántha, Nikolaus Joseph Fürst . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 4th part. Typogr.-literar.-artist publishing house. Establishment (L. C. Zamarski, C. Dittmarsch & Comp.), Vienna 1858, p. 103 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Wilhelm Edler von Janko :  Esterházy von Galántha, Nikolaus Fürst . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 6, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877, p. 387.
• Johann Christoph Allmayer-Beck :  Esterházy von Galántha, Nikolaus Joseph (Miklós) Graf (from 1762 prince). In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 4, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1959, ISBN 3-428-00185-0 , p. 661 f. ( Digitized version ).

Web links

Commons : Nikolaus I. Joseph Esterházy de Galantha  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Prince Nikolaus I. on esterhazy.at

predecessor	Office	successor
C. de Launay ( Gt )	Habsburg envoy in Saxony - Poland 1742–1747	Franz von Sternberg
Johann Franz von Pretlack	Habsburg ambassador to Russia 1753–1761	Florimond Claude by Mercy-Argenteau
Paul II Anton	Majoratsherr of the Esterházy family 1762–1790	Anton I.