Peter Nikolaus von Gartenberg

Peter Nicholas Neugart (s) of Gartenberg ( Polish Piotr Mikołaj Neugarten Gartenberg Sadogórski * 1714 as Peter Niels Nyegaard in Kregome in Frederiksværk , Denmark ; † 6. January 1786 in Sieraków , Poland ), from 1768 Baron Gartenberg-Sadogursky was a Saxon and Polish statesman of Danish origin. As one of the closest confidants of the Prime Minister von Brühl , he had been in charge of the mining and metallurgical industry as General Mining Commissioner since 1753, and from 1761 he was also chief miner . After Brühl's resignation, Gartenberg lost all offices and went into Polish service, where he took over the administration of royal coinage. After the outbreak of the Russo-Turkish War , Gartenberg secured the supply of coins to the Russian army.

Life

Peter Niels Nyegaard came from a pastoral family in Zeeland. His father Hans Nielsen Nyegaard was a pastor in Kregome, his mother was Marie née Arendrup. After training at the Latin school of Roskilde Cathedral , Nyegaard began studying medicine at the University of Copenhagen in 1736 and received his doctorate in 1743 at the University of Halle with the writing De casu singultus chronici viginti quattuor annorum . Nyegaard then went to Kongsberg in Norway, where he acquired mining science knowledge and worked as a mountain assessor.

In 1749 Nyegaard joined the Electoral Saxon service as Bergrat and took over the administration of the unprofitable electoral alum factory in Schwemsal , which he leased in 1754 and led to economic prosperity. At the same time he was involved in the administration of the electoral mint in Guben until 1750 .

Thanks to his friendship with Prime Minister Heinrich von Brühl , whose close confidante he became, Nyegaard's rapid rise to the most powerful man in the mining and metallurgical industry in the Electorate of Saxony took place within a short time . In 1753 he was raised to the imperial nobility as Peter Nicolaus Neugart von Gartenberg . In the same year, Brühl first appointed Neugart von Gartenberg to the Mining College as Supernumerar Bergrat and a little later appointed him General Mining Commissioner, entrusting him with the overall supervision of the Oberbergamt and Oberhüttenamt in Freiberg . Between 1753 and 1760 Gartenberg was also involved in the administration of the Leipzig mint . In 1755 Brühl appointed him vice-chief mine director, so Neugart von Gartenberg became Brühl's deputy in all mining matters. In the same year, Neugart von Gartenberg am Rabenberg above the Haberlandmühle ordered the creation of the Tiefen Walts Gott Erbstolln by the Walts Gott Fundgrübner and Maßner, the appropriateness of which was questioned by both the mines involved and the responsible mining authority Johanngeorgenstadt .

In 1756 he acquired the Canitz manor from the von Schleinitz family . Gartenberg, who had dealt intensively with the better use of hard coal and lignite for firing the increasingly scarce wood, had the lime kiln belonging to the Canitz manor converted to hard coal. Gartenberg also leased the Zambor estate in Poland between 1756 and 1763 . In 1758 he was raised to the status of imperial baron as Freiherr Neugarten von Gartenberg . Between 1758 and 1760 Gartenberg administered the Spis property of his friend Brühl. After the death of the chief miner Curt Alexander von Schönberg , Brühl had his confidante Gartenberg set as his successor in 1761 at the head of the Saxon mountain state. Shortly before the Peace of Hubertusburg , Gartenberg presented his patron Brühl with a memorandum in 1763 with proposals for the reconstruction of the Electorate, which was facing economic ruin as a result of the Seven Years' War . In 1763 Gartenberg was appointed to the Privy Council. With the dismissal of Brühl, Gartenberg's career in Saxony also ended in the same year. The new Elector Friedrich Christian had Gartenberg removed from office and arrested on charges of enrichment. Like Brühl, Gartenberg had amassed a large fortune in times of economic decline, but like Brühl, who had since died, and co-defendants Johann Friedrich Hausius and Carl Heinrich von Heineken , no criminal acts could be proven in the trial opened on February 3, 1764, so that they were acquitted of the charges in May 1764.

After his release from prison, Gartenberg left Saxony in 1765 and went to Poland. There he initially worked as a royal expert on coin matters. In 1766 Gartenberg was given the administration of the royal mint and he was appointed to the council of the court finance commission for commercial and mining matters. The following year he was appointed to the Real Privy Council and in 1768 as Piotr Mikołaj Neugarten von Gartenberg Sadogórski was raised to the Polish nobility. While working in Poland, Gartenberg founded royal mints in Warsaw and Krakow .

After the outbreak of the Russo-Turkish War , Gartenberg entered the service of Tsarina Catherine II. To supply the Russian army with pay coins, Gartenberg founded his private mint Sadagora near Rohisna in the Principality of Moldova , which went into operation in 1770 and was shut down four years later; the name Sadagora originated from the Russian translation of Gartenberg . The lease for the Schwemsal alum plant ended in 1771 and was not extended. After the end of the war, Gartenberg Sadogórski withdrew to his Polish estates in Sieraków and Medyn in 1774 .

His only daughter Charlotte Neugarden Freiin von Gartenberg (1752-1828) emerged from his marriage to Luise Philippine Juncker. The wife of the Electoral Saxon Chancellor Carl Abraham von Fritsch had to sell her father's property Canitz in Saxony due to excessive indebtedness.

Works

• De casu singultus chronici viginti quattuor annorum , dissertation, Halle 1743
• On the use of coal and turf , memorandum 1754
• Proposals for restoring the good condition of the Chursächsischen Länder , memorandum, 1763

literature

• Gerhard Schmidt:  Gartenberg, Peter Nikolaus Neugarten Freiherr von. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 6, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1964, ISBN 3-428-00187-7 , p. 75 f. ( Digitized version ).

Individual evidence

1. ^ Riesa: Canitz Castle. In: Sachsens-Schlösser.de. Retrieved October 6, 2013 .