Otto von Graben zum Stein

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Otto von Graben zum Stein
Coat of arms (variant) of the Von Graben, as it was in Krain, partly in Styria, in Carinthia and partly in Tyrol

Otto von Graben zum Stein , also known as "Graf zum Stein", (* around 1690 in Innsbruck , † around 1756 in Potsdam ) was an Austro-German writer and collector of sagas in the 18th century. He held the highest offices at the Prussian court such as master of ceremonies and chamberlain and was vice-president of the Prussian Academy of Sciences from 1732 to 1740 .

Von Graben zum Stein was often viewed as a court jester by King Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia, despite his high offices . His story of magic at Kugel-Giessen was not the basis for the libretto for the opera Der Freischütz . It doesn't even contain the term free ball . Friedrich Kind or Carl Maria von Weber nowhere mention this story, but like their contemporaries count the material among folk tales.

Life

origin

Otto von Graben zum Stein was a member of the Lords of Graben from their Third Tyrolean Line . He was through Georg von Graben - a younger brother of Lukas von Graben zum Stein († 1550) - a direct descendant of Virgil von Graben († 1507), the former most important nobleman and official in the county of Gorizia .

Otto von Graben zum Stein was probably born as one of the 12 children of Otto Heinrich von Graben (zum Stein) (* 1643); he was married twice, first to Anna Maria Avogadro from the Italian family Avogadro , and then to Maria Theresia Mayr. Otto Heinrich was secretary of the court chamber in Innsbruck / secretary of the Upper Austrian court chamber from 1677 . He himself was a son of Carl von Graben, a colonel sergeant who fought in the War of the Spanish Succession in Spain near Barcelona, ​​and in 1716 became the commander ( colonel ) of a cavalry regiment. Carl's youngest brother Johann Andre von Graben had also fought as a sergeant in Spain. He died early and had two sons and daughters.

Carl von Graben and Otto Heinrich von Graben (zum Stein) were also their relatives involved in the inheritance disputes over the lordship and Schloss Stein , who are considered heirs to Von Graben zum Stein from the Second , who died in Carinthia and Tyrol in 1664 Wanted to gain Tyrolean line of sex. The Von Graben family died out in 1776 (other sources speak of 1780) following the death of Felix Jakob von Graben , cousin of Otto von Graben zum Stein.

Career

Otto von Graben zum Stein joined the Servite Order Ordo Servorum Mariae as a young man and was a field preacher in Sicily as a monk . He had to flee in 1728 because of a scripture critical of the church and his defense of the emperor's rights against the pope.

But this could only have been faked, because he fled to Prussia via Vienna. There he accepted the Lutheran denomination and came into the immediate vicinity of the Prussian king. According to rumors, he worked there as a spy for Austria.

From January 19, 1732 to June 30, 1740 he was Vice President of the Prussian Academy of Sciences . In 1734 he became master of ceremonies at the court of the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm . He also held the office of chamberlain . Friedrich Wilhelm, in his contempt for all university scholarship, preferred him as a partner. The other way around, the despised scholars and artists regarded Otto von Graben zum Stein as a court jester.

Scientific activity and publication ban

He was a translator, for example of the “Spanish War Regulations”, newspaper editor ( Potsdammischer Mercurius ) and teacher of Italian. He also used the pseudonyms Bellamintes, Critille, Andrenius or Pneumatophilus .

In 1731 the Prussian court pronounced a publication ban on Otto von Graben zum Stein. The trigger were the monthly discussions of the realm of spirits between Andrenio and Pneumatophilo about ghostly apparitions , which had appeared in two volumes and brought him the accusation of “superstition and enthusiasm”. After the ban on publication was lifted ten years later, he concluded the two volumes with a third volume.

After Friedrich Wilhelm's death, Von Graben zum Stein's financial support was withdrawn from the court. The new King Frederick the Great forbade continuing to pay “money to fools”.

Works

  • Schematism anatomiae hodiernae Romanae ecclesiae
  • Noteworthy and rather strange incidents of the pilgrim who traveled wondrously
  • Message from the royal residence city of Potsdam
  • The now blooming Potsdam designed with poetic pen
  • Italiänisch-Teutsches and Teutsch-Italiänisches Hand-Lexicon
  • General protection of the honorable women - handicrafts ...
  • The sad dress
  • Monthly discussions on the realm of spirits between Andrenio and Pneumatophilo
  • Otto, Grafens zum Stein unthreaded light and right of the dead among the living

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Johann Christoph Gottsched: Correspondence Volume 4 . Retrieved June 8, 2020. De Gruyter, Berlin, 2010, p. 483
  2. ↑ Otto von Graben zum Stein: Monthly discussions of the realm of spirits, Volume 1, V piece . Retrieved June 8, 2020. Samuel Benjamin Waltern, Leipzig, 1731, pp. 609–614
  3. ↑ a b New General German Adels Lexicon, Volume 3. By Ernst Heinrich Kneschke
  4. ↑ Carl von Graben was founded in 1716 by Emperor Karl VI. appointed as the successor to Marchese Jakob Josef Gufani as colonel of a cavalry regiment. Siegler was Prince Eugene of Savoy . Digitized on Google Book Search: Mittheilungen, Issues 9-11. From the Historical Association for Styria
  5. ↑ Carinthia 1, Volumes 163-165. P. 113 (1973).
  6. ↑ Carinthia 1, volumes 163-165, page 113. His youngest brother Johann Andre von Graben fought in Spain as a constable sergeant and has now died leaving behind two sons and daughters.
  7. ↑ Carinthia I., volumes 163-165
personal data
SURNAME Dig to the stone, Otto von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Graf zum Stein
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austro-German writer and collector of sagas
DATE OF BIRTH around 1690
PLACE OF BIRTH innsbruck
DATE OF DEATH around 1756
Place of death Potsdam