Rudolf Ludwig von Erlach

Rudolf Ludwig von Erlach, Précis des devoirs du souverain , title page (1791)

Rudolf Ludwig von Erlach (born October 16, 1749 in Erlach , † June 13, 1808 in Bern ) was a Swiss , officer, politician and writer.

biography

Rudolf Ludwig von Erlach - called Hudibras - was born as the son of Franz Ludwig Viktor von Erlach . From 1764 to 1771 he served as a grenadier officer in the Erlach Regiment in France. In 1773 he married Rosina von Bonstetten and became captain of the 1st company of the 1st regional court regiment, in 1779 he became a major in the 2nd Oberland regiment.

In 1785 he became a member of the Grand Council of the City and Republic of Bern , and from 1786 to 1788 he was bailiff in Lugano. In 1794 and 1795 he was major in the Bernese city guard, and in 1796 he became mayor of Burgdorf . In 1797 he was promoted to colonel. As a co-founder of the reunification association against the Helvetic central government to restore the former estates order, he fought in 1802 in the Stecklik War as high commander (general) of the Confederate federal troops in the uprising against the Helvetic government . In the years 1803 to 1805 he was again Bernese Grand Councilor. In 1807 he was a department store manager. He owned the so-called "Erlacherhof" in Wichtrach .

In 1774, under Erlach's direction, there was a circle of friends called the "Hudibrase", based on Samuel Butler's 1674 work Hudibras. Written in the Time of the Late Wars , which was published in 1737 in a partial translation by Johann Jakob Bodmer and in 1765 in a complete translation by Johann Heinrich Waser . At Butler, Hudibras is a heroically comic-minded gentleman. How it came to his nickname and the circle of friends, he describes himself in his autobiography:

" One of his friends, Mr. Niklaus Gatschet, who had not read much up to then, found a book with the title Hudibras, - a famous critical poem about England's civil wars, by Butler - while looking at the library mentioned Mr. Gatschet from: 'How can you keep such a stupid book in your library!' - He then told the so-called large society what kind of work he had found in Erlach's book collection, and ended with the conclusion that Erlach would like a Hudibras himself to find pleasure in such a smear. - This grotesque title aroused the laughter of all those present, who were just as little known in literature as he [Gatchet], and immediately told Erlach Hudibras here and Hudibras there! He replied: “Well then, if I have to be the Bernese Hudibras, then I will also form an army based on the example of that hero, took his sniff and hit each of them on the nicely coiffed head with the words: 'From now on you shall also be a hudibras' and caused such a derangement in the hairdressing of these young gentlemen that none of them could go into the assembly. This ceremony was followed by a soup, at the end of which it was recognized that one should give this society a mysterious reputation and try to increase it through this lure. But every novice; who wants to be accepted, the already accepted members have to guest. This decree then procured a large number of recruits, and consequently also of soups and other merrymaking, so that not only almost all young possible citizens of Bern, but also many young travelers, Swedes, Dutch and English countries, came to this society, those of those in France, which had long been established under the name 'Chevaliers de Ia Calotte', was very similar, sought to be accepted. " "

- Rudolf Ludwig von Erlach : von Erlach 1984, p. 16.

Fonts

• Code du Bonheur , Lausanne 1788.
• Précis des devoirs du souverain , Lausanne / Paris 1791.
• Behavior of the various Swiss governments and the justification of the uprising against them by the Swiss people , 1803.

Archives

• Holdings in the burger library in Bern

literature

• Barbara Braun-Bucher: Erlach, Rudolf Ludwig von. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Hans Ulrich von Erlach: Rudolf Ludwig von Erlach . In: Burgdorfer Jahrbuch 51 (1984), pp. 11–122.
• Hans Ulrich von Erlach: Rudolf Ludwig von Erlach . In: Burgdorfer Jahrbuch 52 (1985), pp. 11–82.
• Hans Ulrich von Erlach: 800 years Berner von Erlach. Bern 1989, pp. 539-556.