Philipp Albert Stapfer

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Philipp Albert Stapfer

Philipp Albert Stapfer (also Philipp Albrecht; born September 23, 1766 in Bern , † March 27, 1840 in Paris ) was a Swiss politician , diplomat and theologian . The citizen of the city of Brugg was Minister of Education of the Helvetic Republic and played a key role in the creation of the Canton of Aargau .

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Philipp Albert Stapfer came from a traditional Reformed family of theologians. His great-grandfather, his grandfather and his father had been pastors. His uncle Johann Friedrich Stapfer was one of the most respected Swiss theologians of the 18th century. Another uncle, Johann Stapfer , was a theology professor. Philipp Albert Stapfer also studied theology at the Bern Academy. In 1789 and 1790 he was a student at the Georg-August University in Göttingen , where he began to be interested in the concerns of the Jacobins and the ideas of the French Revolution .

After an educational trip to London and revolutionary Paris in 1791, Stapfer began teaching in Bern and was appointed professor of philology in 1792 . In 1798 the government of the new Helvetic Republic appointed him Minister for "Sciences, Arts, Buildings and Roads". One of his closest employees in the ministry was Heinrich Zschokke , who came from Magdeburg , and he also had professional dealings with Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi . To get an overview of the state of the school system, Stapfer led in January 1799 to all teachers of the Helvetic Republic, a school-Enquête by. His ambitious school reform plan, which provided for a three-tier school system with elementary school, grammar school and scientific academy, was trimmed to a minimum by parliament and could not be implemented in the run-up to the Second Coalition War .

Stapfersches family grave in the Père Lachaise cemetery , Division 36

Stapfer married Marie-Madeleine Pierrette Vincens in 1798. She came from a Parisian Huguenot family and was the granddaughter of the banker's widow Elisabeth Gastebois, owner of Talcy Castle . Through the marriage, ownership of the castle passed to Stapfer. Stapfer's sons were the writer and translator Albert Stapfer and the engineer Charles-Louis Stapfer , who married Marie, the daughter of a good friend, Jean Monod . His grandchildren were Edmond Stapfer and Paul Stapfer .

From 1800 to the end of 1802 Stapfer was the Swiss envoy in Paris and in this capacity often met with Napoleon Bonaparte . His most important concern was the formation of an orderly and independent Swiss state. In 1802 he prevented the annexation of the Valais by France with diplomatic skill .

In December 1802, Stapfer was invited to Paris as a delegate to liquidate the failed Helvetic Republic and to negotiate the mediation constitution . He successfully campaigned for the creation of the canton of Aargau in its current form. This was finally founded on February 19, 1803 and was composed of the Bernese Aargau , the Canton of Fricktal and the Canton of Baden . Stapfer was also the president of the commission responsible for liquidating the property of the unified state.

In the summer of 1803 he finally settled in Paris at Talcy Castle and then only visited Switzerland occasionally. His circle of friends and acquaintances in Paris included Alexander von Humboldt and Anne Germaine de Staël . In addition, Stapfer worked as a writer, translator and speaker and devoted himself to theological studies. The canton of Aargau offered him political offices several times, but Stapfer always refused. The ideas he worked out in the field of education during the time of the Helvetic Republic, some of which were far ahead of their time, have now been implemented by others. In 1812 he was elected a foreign member of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen .

The Stapferhaus Foundation, managed by Pro Argovia , has been commemorating this pioneering politician in the building of the same name at Lenzburg Castle since 1960 , as has the Stapfer School in Brugg . Stapfer's family grave is in Paris in the Père Lachaise cemetery , Division 36.

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Web links

Commons : Philipp Albert Stapfer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 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. 231.
predecessor government office successor
Gottlieb Abraham von Jenner Swiss envoy in Paris
1800–1803 		Constantin de Maillardoz
personal data
SURNAME Stapfer, Philipp Albert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Stapfer, Philipp Albrecht
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss politician, diplomat and theologian
BIRTH DATE September 23, 1766
PLACE OF BIRTH Bern
DATE OF DEATH March 27, 1840
PLACE OF DEATH Paris