Ove Høegh-Guldberg

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Ove Høegh-Guldberg

Ove Jørgensen Høegh-Guldberg (until 1777 Guldberg ; born September 1, 1731 in Horsens , † February 8, 1808 in Dollerup near Viborg ) was a Danish theologian and historian . From 1772 to 1784 he effectively led the government in Denmark.

Life

Origin and education

Ove Høegh-Guldberg, son of the Jutian merchant and undertaker Jørgen Pedersen Høg (1683–1751) from his second marriage to the pastor's daughter Helene Dorthea Ovesdatter Guldberg (approx. 1697–1742). Because his family was poor, he grew up with his mother's brother, Pastor Dines Guldberg in Gylling . So until 1777 he only called himself Guldberg after his mother's family. Guldberg was short .

Guldberg studied theology in Copenhagen from 1749 and graduated with the official examination. He then worked as a private tutor and continued his studies. In 1761 he was appointed professor of chatter at the Sorø Academy . His publications show his widespread interest: He wrote an introduction to the Roman political theory and in 1763 published a translation of the letters of the younger Pliny . In addition, he dealt with the poetry of John Milton ( Tanker om Milton og den saakaldte Religøse Poesi (1761)). In 1761 he won a prize when the Society for the Advancement of Fine Sciences was awarded a prize.

Teacher of the Hereditary Prince Friedrich

In 1764 Guldberg left Sorø and took a position as tutor of the Hereditary Prince Friedrich (* 1753). Friedrich was the son of King Friedrich V and his second wife Queen Juliane . Previously, the prince and his older half-brother, the Crown Prince and from 1766 King Christian VII , had been tutored by Élie-Salomon-François Reverdil . Unlike the Reverdil, who was turned towards the Enlightenment , Guldberg was politically conservative and a supporter of the absolutism enshrined in the royal law of 1668 . Theologically he was a follower of Christian Wolff . He wrote the school books for his lessons himself, u. a. an introduction to natural religion ( Den naturlige Religion som en Indledning til den Aabenbarede (1765)) and a three-volume world history (1768–72), which, however, only extended to the Peloponnesian War .

As the prince's teacher, Guldberg also became a confidante of his mother, the king's widow Juliane. In 1771 he became the prince's private cabinet secretary. In the same year he anonymously wrote with Azan eller den fra Gield udfriede Fyrste (Azan or the prince freed from gold) a representation of his ideal state, an authoritarian state with an absolute ruler , in which guards monitor whether the citizens are raising their children well and frugally economy. What was progressive in his time was that Guldberg's ideal state should also perform social tasks. At that time Johann Friedrich Struensee had taken over the government for the mentally impaired king and introduced numerous reforms, which included both a streamlining of the state and social welfare. The new laws also included freedom of the press , which Guldberg only allowed the publication of this text.

Struensee's fall and Guldberg's reign

Guldberg was one of the declared opponents of Struensee's reforms. On the one hand, he saw Struensee as a danger to the absolute monarchy , on the other hand, like a large part of the population, he felt the German doctor as an "enemy of the Danes". Guldberg published several pamphlets directed against Struensee under the pseudonym Philodanus . Guldberg was supported in his campaign by the king's widow Juliane, who wanted to help her own son to the throne in this way.

Guldberg played a leading role in the coup with which Struensee was arrested on January 17, 1772, his execution and the exile of Queen Caroline Mathilde . With the ordinance of February 13, 1772, the Cabinet government of Struensee was dissolved and the power of government was placed in the hands of the Privy Council of State. As the Cabinet Secretary of the Hereditary Prince, Guldberg became the head of the new government without having been formally appointed. His power is based primarily on the trust that the King's widow Juliane and Hereditary Prince Friedrich put in him. Although he was a member of several committees, the official government was in the hands of others: Andreas Peter von Bernstorff had been appointed Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Director of the German Chancellery in 1773 . Under his leadership, the Treaty of Tsarskoye Selo came about, which established the entire Danish state . Heinrich Carl von Schimmelmann continued to play the leading role in the financial sector. Gulldberg only received official titles later: on June 3, 1773, he was first appointed assessor of the treasury. On October 11, 1774, he was appointed the King's Secret Cabinet Secretary. On May 14, 1776 he became State and Common Cabinet Secretary. On November 22, 1780 he was given the title of Privy Councilor and a few days later that of the Privy Council of State. He only became the real secret minister of state on April 6, 1784.

Guldberg restored the absolutist monarchy by numerous presidential decrees by revoking many of the reforms created by Struensee. These included the reintroduction of press censorship , the reclaiming of sold domains and the renewal of unlimited farm duty (1773). By stipulating that only Danish is permitted as the official and command language in the army (1773), as well as an indigenous law enacted jointly with Joachim Otto Schack-Rathlou in 1776 , which only applies to Danes from the kingdom, but not those from other parts of the entire Danish state Access to public offices in the kingdom made possible, he especially pushed back the German influence decisively. This affected u. a. Bernstorff, who had to resign in 1780. The new foreign minister was the Danish Count Rosencrone. The effect of the reign of this “conservative upstart” is seen today in Danish historiography above all in the fact that the “self-confidence of the Danish bourgeoisie [was] strengthened and the awareness of an independent Danish culture grew”. Under Høegh-Guldberg, the "roots of the distance that still has an impact today" from Germany strengthened.

Guldberg also decidedly opposed any separatist ideology, as it emerged in Norway ; His sayings have been handed down to us: "These hideous babblers in Christiania " and "There are no Norwegians, we are all citizens of the Danish state". The Norske Chamber founded under Struensee , the independent government of Norway, was dissolved. The duchies of Schleswig and Holstein should also be more closely linked to the state as a whole. According to the indigenous law, only civil servants or preachers who had previously studied in Denmark or at the University of Kiel for at least two years could be employed there .

On January 29, 1776 Guldberg was awarded the Dannebrogorden . In 1777 he was ennobled and from then on called himself Høegh-Guldberg.

Hald Hovedgård Manor in Dollerup

Deposition and age

A few days after his formal appointment as Minister of State on April 6, 1784, he was welcomed by the enlightened 16-year-old Crown Prince Friedrich VI. after his Coup d'État on April 14th, forced to abdicate. The Cabinet Council was repealed. The new government was subordinate to the Crown Prince, who recalled Bernstorff. Høegh-Guldberg's successor as Minister of State was Heinrich Wilhelm von Huth .

Høegh-Guldberg became the steward of Stjernholm in Horsens and on the resolution of this office to the pin bailiff of Aarhus . He held this office until 1802. During this time he turned back to theology and wrote two commentaries on the New Testament.

He then retired to his Hald estate in Dollerup , which he had bought in 1798. He died there in 1808 at the age of 76.

Works

Guldberg wrote several theological and historical works as a professor in Sorø and as a prince tutor, most of which were soon forgotten. Under his reign, new school regulations were issued on May 11, 1775. Afterwards, the national feeling should also be strengthened in the Latin schools . He commissioned Ove Malling to write the textbook Store og gode Handlinger af Danske, Norske og Holstenere (Great and good deeds by Danes, Norwegians and Holsten) (1777) . Store og gode Handlinger remained in use as a standard work for history lessons well into the 19th century. Together with Ludvig Harboe he published a new hymn book in 1778. In 1781 Høegh-Guldberg was elected honorary member of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences .

family

Guldberg married on July 30, 1762 Cathrine Marie Nørlem (born April 30, 1736 in Bygholm Mølle) She died on January 1, 1763 in Sorø. A second marriage went Guldberg on February 10, 1769 with her sister Lucie Emmerentze Nørlem (* March 12, 1738, † September 5, 1807 in Hald). The four sons came from this marriage:

  • Frederik Høegh-Guldberg (1771–1852) continued his father's campaign to promote the Danish language as a teacher and poet;
  • Peder Høegh-Guldberg (1776–1809), poet;
  • Christian Høegh-Guldberg (1777–1867), officer;
  • Julius Høegh-Guldberg (1779–1861), officer and local politician.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Holm, p. 289
  2. ↑ Holm, p. 290
  3. ^ Stefan Winkle : Johann Friedrich Struensee. Doctor, enlightener and statesman. Contribution to the cultural, medical and epidemic history of the Enlightenment period . 2nd, revised edition. G. Fischer, Stuttgart 1989, p. 218
  4. ↑ Holm, p. 291
  5. ^ Bohn, p. 82
  6. ↑ Svend Cedergren Bech, cit. in Findeisen, p. 168
  7. ↑ Andreas Elviken: The development of Norwegian nationalism . Berlin 1930, p. 34. Knut Mykland: Kampen om Norge 1784 - 1814 . Cappelens Forlag 1978. p. 41.
  8. ↑ Holger Krahnke: The members of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen 1751-2001 (= Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Philological-Historical Class. Volume 3, Vol. 246 = Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Mathematical-Physical Class. Episode 3, vol. 50). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-525-82516-1 , p. 99.
personal data
SURNAME Høegh-Guldberg, Ove
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Høegh-Guldberg, Ove Jørgensen
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Danish statesman
DATE OF BIRTH September 1, 1731
PLACE OF BIRTH Horsens
DATE OF DEATH February 8, 1808
Place of death Dollerup