Peter Motzfeldt

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Peter Motzfeldt

Peter Motzfeldt (born August 3, 1777 in Orkdal , † April 1, 1854 ) was a Norwegian politician and state councilor. He was a representative of the artillery corps during the Imperial Assembly of May 17, 1814 in Eidsvoll and was Norway's second defense minister .

His parents were infantry captain Ulrik Anton Motzfeldt (1738–1783) and his wife Birgitte Andrea Bull (1738–1815). On September 24, 1804, he married Erneste Birgitte Margrethe Stenersen (June 19, 1789– January 13, 1848), daughter of Byfogdes Bent Christian Stenersen (1748–1828) and his wife Margrete Birgitte Aarøe (1768–1826).

Since his father died early, he was raised by his uncle Major Jacob Motzfeldt in Skaun . At the age of 15 he came to the Artillery Academy in Copenhagen. In 1796 he became a second lieutenant and came to Fredrikstad . In 1802 he was stationed as a lieutenant in the Danish-Norwegian colony of St. Thomas . The island was occupied by the British in 1807 and Motzfeldt, who had since become captain, was brought to Reading as a prisoner of war . He then became the artillery chief in Bergen. There he became a member of the intellectual club "Quodlibet", to which Wilhelm Frimann Koren Christie , Jonas Rein , both later members of the Reich Assembly in Eidsvoll , and the poet-pastor Lyder Sagen belonged, and stood out for his humorous contributions.

Together with friends from “Quodlibet” Motzfeldt was delegated for Bergen to the Reich Assembly of Eidsvoll, where he played a special role as head of the independence party. He rejected any approach to Sweden as an "arch enemy", but nevertheless had a good relationship with his main opponents Count Wedel and Jacob Aall . As a member of the Constitutional Committee, he was a guardian of the rights of the people and also contributed to the formulation of the constitution with his knowledge of the British Constitution. With two votes he was defeated with his plan to design Odelsting and Lagting as a two-chamber system. Last week he was Vice President of the Imperial Assembly, and on May 17, 1814, he was one of the three signatories to the Basic Law resolution. When he returned to Bergen, he found that things were not yet known there. The population believed under the calls of Bishop Johan Nordahl Brun that they could keep Prince Christian Frederik as King of Norway and, when they learned the truth, had no understanding for the peace of Moss, which had ended the Norwegian-Swedish war. Motzfeldt was then elected to the extraordinary storting in October 1814, and it was immediately clear to him that the union with Sweden could not be prevented. But he managed to postpone the election of the Swedish king as Norwegian king until the end of the union negotiations, and he became a member of the negotiating delegation. He succeeded in keeping the Basic Law largely unchanged. Nevertheless, he had to vote against the Union in accordance with the imperative mandate from Bergen.

When the king installed the new government at Count Wedel's suggestion, Motzfeld was appointed State Councilor and initially appointed to the State Council Department in Stockholm together with his colleague Christian Krohg . He was then released for 11 months to reorganize the customs budget in Bergen, but possibly in reality for health reasons. Afterwards he became chief of the army department on May 4, 1816. In this capacity he had to implement the law to reduce the size of the armed forces of 1816, which led to internal political tensions because of the dismissal of soldiers and officers. Against domestic political opposition, he had the fortress works on the Swedish border closed for financial and political reasons. On the other hand, in 1817 he succeeded in enforcing a new army order against the resistance of the king. He had a good relationship with the Swedish governor, Count Carl Carlsson Mørner . He also took care of internal trade between the two union states. From 1818 to 1819 he was again a member of the State Council department in Stockholm. When the Court of Auditors was founded in 1822, he became its boss and laid the foundation for accounting for the subsequent period. Most important, however, was his resolute resistance to anything that could be Swedish interference in internal Norwegian affairs. He admired Count Wedel very much and felt his departure in 1822 as a great loss.

Motzfeldt remained in government until 1837. But his relationship with the king became so strained that Motzfeldt's son Ulrik Anton was passed over to him when he filled the law chair at Christiania University. Thereupon he took his leave. In 1840 he was the head of the Norwegian delegation in the first union committee. But he soon left this, partly for health reasons, partly because he doubted a sustainable result. After that he no longer took part in politics. But his descendants also became influential in 19th century Norwegian politics in his own way.

He received the Serafimer Order , Sweden's highest honor.

Remarks

The article is essentially based on the Norsk biografisk leksikon . Other information is shown separately.

  1. Byvogd (reeve) was a single judge in places with no collegiate court.
  2. At that time there were no organized political parties. Rather, it was a question of groupings of politically like-minded MPs who gathered around a leading figure.
  3. a b Nielsen p. 492.
  4. ^ Council of State was the name for a minister in Norway.
  5. According to the constitution, part of the Norwegian government had to stay at the Swedish court. This part was called the "State Council Department".
  6. a b c d e f g Nielsen p. 493.
  7. The ministries were called "Department".
  8. The audit office, which has to control the state expenditures, had the designation "Revisionsdepartement", so it was a ministry within the government.

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