Philipp Gotthard von Schaffgotsch

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Philipp Gotthard Graf (and from 1744) Prince von Schaffgotsch (born July 3, 1716 in Warmbrunn , † January 5, 1795 at Johannesberg Palace near Jauernig ) was Prince-Bishop of Breslau , Imperial Count and an important patron of music from 1748 .

Life

Philipp Gotthard Count von Schaffgotsch

Schaffgotsch came from the Silesian - Bohemian noble family of the same name, Schaffgotsch , who lived in the Giant and Jizera Mountains . His father was the second married - July 20, 1710 - Johann Anton Gotthard von Schaffgotsch (1675–1742). His mother was born Anna Theresia Kolowrat -Nowohradsky (1690–1759).

He studied with the Jesuits at the Collegium Romanum in Rome and was ordained a priest in Vienna in 1738 . In 1740 he became canon in Olomouc and in Halberstadt and custodian at the Breslau cathedral and provost at the local Kreuzkirche .

Schaffgotsch was a Freemason and was very impressed by the ideas of the Enlightenment . Probably for this reason he was the only cathedral capitular in Breslau to welcome the conquest of Silesia by the Prussian King Friedrich II, who was at times close friends with him .

The emergence of Freemasonry in Austria goes back to Schaffgotsch. At his request, the first lodge was founded in Vienna in 1742, although Pope Clement XII. had already condemned Freemasonry in 1738 in the bull In eminenti . It was the first Masonic lodge in Austria, but it only existed for a short time, because Maria Theresa had it closed in 1743 .

In 1743 Schaffgotsch was appointed abbot of the sand pen in Breslau. King Friedrich II raised him to the rank of prince in 1744 and appointed him - against the opposition of the Breslau cathedral chapter - to coadjutor of Bishop Philipp Ludwig von Sinzendorf and after his death in 1747 to prince-bishop . Despite serious concerns of the Roman Curia because of his membership of the Freemasons Schaffgotsches received by Pope Benedict XIV. On March 5, 1748 election confirmation and on May 1 of the year consecrated . In 1756 he appointed his brother Ceslaus Gotthard von Schaffgotsch as vicar general .

After Schaffgotsch left Breslau at the beginning of the Seven Years' War after the re-occupation by the Prussians in 1757 on the instructions of the sovereign Maria Theresa and moved his seat to Jauernig in the Habsburg part of his diocese, he fell out of favor with the king. Friedrich assessed the departure as an escape and treason and placed the Prussian part of the diocese of Breslau under compulsory administration, which was retained even after the end of the war.

After the end of the war in 1763, Schaffgotsch was allowed to return to the Prussian part of his diocese, but had to reside in Opole . The reinstatement was refused to him by Friedrich II, instead he had to authorize the auxiliary bishop Johann Moritz von Strachwitz and from 1781 the auxiliary bishop Anton Ferdinand von Rothkirch and Panthen to lead the diocese.

In 1766 Schaffgotsch fled Opole again to his Johannesberg Castle, which was to remain his residence until his death. From there he headed the Austro-Silesian part of his diocese. He did not return to Breslau, and he had no influence whatsoever on events in the Prussian part of his diocese.

During his reign, Johannesberg Palace became a meeting place for artists from all over the empire. The palace orchestra, under the direction of Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf, enjoyed a first-class reputation, but lost its importance after Ditters' departure and was dissolved after the bishop's death.

Philipp Gotthard Prince Schaffgotsch died at Johannesberg Castle. His body was allowed to be buried in the family grave in Warmbrunn, which belonged to the Prussian part of his former diocese.

literature

Web links

Commons : Philipp Gotthard von Schaffgotsch  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Norbert Conrads : Johann Anton Graf von Schaffgotsch (1675–1742). In: Schlesische Lebensbilder. Volume 8. Neustadt ad Aisch 2004, pp. 121–128.
  2. Genealogy of the parents ( Memento of the original dated February 21, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / gw.geneanet.org
  3. Michael Sachs: The flight of the evangelical wife Anna Magdalena von Reibnitz (1664– ~ 1745) with her five children from Silesia, threatened by forced Catholicization, in 1703 - a mood picture from the age of the Counter Reformation and Pietism. In: Medical historical messages. Journal for the history of science and specialist prose research. Volume 34, 2015 (2016), pp. 221–263, here: p. 232.
  4. Ludwig, Baron von Pastor; Frederick Ignatius Antrobus; Ralph Francis Kerr; Ernest Graf: The history of the popes from the close of the Middle Ages: drawn from the secret archives of the Vatican and other original sources. Vol. XXXVI, Rouledge & Kegan Paul Ltd., London 1899, p. 46 f
  5. ^ Norbert Conrads (Ed.): The tolerated university: 300 years University of Breslau 1702 to 2002. Catalog book for the exhibition "The tolerated university" Franz Steiner Verlag, 2004, ISBN 3-5150-8249-2 , p. 121
predecessor Office successor
Philipp Ludwig von Sinzendorf Prince-Bishop of Breslau
1748–1795
Joseph Christian Franz zu Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Bartenstein