Philipp Franz Wilderich Nepomuk von Walderdorf

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Prince-Bishop Wilderich von Walderdorf, contemporary painting

Philipp Franz Wilderich Nepomuk Count von Walderdorf (born March 2, 1739 in Mainz , † April 21, 1810 in Bruchsal ) was the last Prince-Bishop of Speyer .

Origin and family

He came from the Rhenish noble family von Walderdorff and was born the son of the Electorate Chamberlain Lothar Wilhelm von Walderdorff and his wife Maria Anna Philippina nee. from stadium . The Trier Elector Johann IX. Philipp von Walderdorff was his uncle, Friedrich Christoph Johann Nepomuk Lothar Wilhelm Wilderich von Walderdorff (1744-1818), rector of the University of Bamberg , his brother and Carl Wilderich von Walderdorff (1799-1862), Minister of State of the Duchy of Nassau, his nephew.

Live and act

Philipp Franz Wilderich Nepomuk von Walderdorf
Coat of arms bookplate as a Bavarian Knight of St. George

As early as 1757 he occupied a canonical at Speyer Cathedral , in 1767 he was promoted to cathedral dean in Trier and received the dignity of imperial count , in 1769 he became cathedral capitular in Speyer , in 1781 Trier cathedral provost . Since 1769 he belonged to the spiritually knightly class of the Bavarian Order of St. George , from 1770 as Commander . On April 22, 1797, the cathedral chapter assembled in Bruchsal unanimously elected him Prince-Bishop of Speyer.

Walderdorff's reign as sovereign was only brief, from 1797 until the secularization in 1802. He remained the spiritual leader until his death.

On June 22, 1798, Wilderich von Walderdorf, at the suggestion of the cathedral capitular Karl Joseph von Mirbach , lifted serfdom in the diocese of Speyer . In neighboring Baden, Margrave Karl Friedrich had already decided to take this step on July 23, 1783.

Wilderich von Walderdorf left only a few structural traces on Bruchsal Castle . It was the small room to the north of the Prince's Hall that the newly named Prince-Bishop immediately had prepared for his reign. The plasterers had to use all their imagination. It was less the artistic design of the room than the idiosyncrasy of the representations that Wilderich demanded from Walderdorf. It was also the furniture that adorned the room.

The parts of the diocese on the left bank of the Rhine were already under French rule from 1797, and with the Concordat of 1801 they also fell legally to the French dioceses of Mainz and Strasbourg . Since then, Bishop Walderdorf has only officiated on the right bank of the Rhine, but still tried until 1801 to take care of the diocese areas on the left bank of the Rhine.

At the beginning of 1799, the first French came across the Rhine. It was from Luneville that Napoleon initiated secularization. The Peace of Lunéville was confirmed by the Reichstag of Emperor Franz on February 9, 1801 . Prince-Bishop Wilderich von Walderdorf had to flee, but returned to his official residence on June 10, 1801. A deputation was then set up to enforce the negotiated peace conditions. Above all, it was the dissolution of the clergy that had to be enforced. The rest of the Speyer monastery on the right bank of the Rhine fell politically, as the so-called "Principality of Bruchsal", now to Baden . The Baroque Bruchsal Palace, the previous bishop's residence, became state property in Baden. Prince-Bishop Wilderich von Walderdorf kept the dignity guaranteed by the state, but no longer exercised any power to govern. He also remained as bishop spiritual head in the right bank of the Rhine, which after his death (1810) continued as a rump bishopric under the name "Vicariate Bruchsal" until 1827 and was then incorporated into the Archdiocese of Freiburg . The southern half of Bruchsal Palace was available to Bishop Walderdorff as a residential wing, as was the Hermitage Palace in Waghäusel . Amalie Christiane von Baden moved into the northern part of the Bruchsal Palace as a widow's residence and gave it courtly splendor for the last time.

Wilderich von Walderdorf was buried as the last prince-bishop in the crypt of St. Peter zu Bruchsal on April 26, 1810, and the entire tomb was walled up one day later. The crypt was only rediscovered in 1907 during renovation work.

He had Monaise Castle built as a summer residence near Trier from 1779–1783 by François Ignace Mangin .

Walderdorff was a Freemason and Illuminate .

literature

Web links

Commons : Philipp Franz Wilderich Nepomuk von Walderdorf  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Family heraldic website, with genealogy
  2. ^ Biographical website on Friedrich Wilderich von Walderdorff
  3. ↑ National-Zeitung der Teutschen , issue 15, from April 13, 1797, column 333 of the year
predecessor Office successor
Damian August Philipp Karl of Limburg-Stirum Prince-Bishop of Speyer
1797–1802 / 1810 		Matthäus Georg von Chandelle
personal data
SURNAME Walderdorf, Philipp Franz Wilderich Nepomuk von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Walderdorf, Wilderich Graf von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Roman Catholic Prince-Bishop
DATE OF BIRTH March 2, 1739
PLACE OF BIRTH Mainz
DATE OF DEATH April 21, 1810
Place of death Bruchsal