Samuel von Brukenthal

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Samuel von Brukenthal (1721–1803)

Samuel Freiherr von Brukenthal , also Bruckenthal (born July 26, 1721 in Leschkirch ; † April 9, 1803 in Sibiu ) was imperial baron and 1777–1787 governor of Transylvania . He was the only one of the Transylvanian Saxons who held this office.

origin

Brukenthal comes from a middle-class family of civil servants in Transylvania. His father Michael Brekner (Bruckner), royal judge of Leschkirch, was in 1724 by Emperor Karl VI. raised to hereditary nobility as sovereign of the Habsburg monarchy . The mother, Susanna, came from the noble Conrad von Heydendorff family from Mediasch.

education

Samuel studied from May 1743 to the end of 1744 at the University of Halle and then in Leipzig (some biographers also mention Jena ), where he studied law, administration, political science and philosophy , which brought him closer to the spirit of the Enlightenment , which he advocated should remain for life.

Member of the Freemasons

At a young age, during his student days, Brukenthal turned to Freemasonry . As early as March 2, 1743, he is said to have been accepted into the first Viennese lodge “To the three cannons” (“Aux trois canons”). On December 8, 1743 he became a member of the "L'union" Scottish lodge in Berlin. On December 14, 1743 (patent of the Berlin mother lodge "To the three world balls " from December 6, 1743) Brukenthal founded the Masonic lodge "To the three golden keys" ("Aux trois clefs d'or") and four other law students in Halle held the office of master from the chair as well as the "delegated master" of the Berlin mother box. In the relevant register of registrations, his name is given in the spelling “Bru ck enthal”. In the German Freemason Museum in Bayreuth there is a lodge medal from 1744, minted in honor of its founder. During his study visit to Leipzig, Brukenthal affiliated with the Masonic lodge "Minerva zu den Drei Palmen" there. After a short study period, Brukenthal returned to Transylvania without an academic title , where he soon married Sophie Katharina, the daughter of the Hermannstadt mayor Daniel von Klockner .

Civil service career

Brukenthal initially held relatively low offices: 1745 Assistant Secretary of the Provincial Magistrate in Sibiu, 1749 First Judicial Secretary, 1751 Vice Notary, 1754 Gubernial Secretary, 1760 Titular Gubernial Councilor.

In 1751 or 1753 he was sent to the court of Maria Theresa , the monarch of the Habsburg Monarchy , in Vienna as a representative of the Saxon University of Nations , which resulted in a long-term, trusting collaboration with her. Brukenthal entered the Austrian civil service and was appointed Provincial Chancellor of Transylvania by Maria Theresa in 1762 and Imperial Baron by her husband, Emperor Franz Stephan von Lothringen . In 1765 he was chairman of the Transylvanian Court Chancellery in Vienna and in 1774 as "Plenipotentiary Commissary and President of the Transylvanian Gubernium ”and finally in 1777 appointed the real governor of Transylvania with his seat in Sibiu .

The Brukenthal summer residence in Freck / Avrig

During his years in Vienna he built up various collections (Pinakothek, Kupferstichkabinett, Münzsammlung) and a valuable library, which he took with him to Sibiu. There he had the Brukenthal-Palais built in a prestigious place, the Great Ring, which still exists today and which also housed his collections. According to his will, palaces and collections were handed over to the University of Nations in Transylvania after his or her heirs' death under the name Brukenthal'sches Museum .

In the middle of the 18th century, construction of a castle began in Freck (today's Avrig ), which later became famous as the Brukenthal summer residence . The park of this castle is considered to be the only Baroque garden that has been preserved or reconstructed to this day on the territory of today's Romania. In 1777 Brukenthal brought Samuel Hahnemann , who later achieved worldwide recognition as a homeopath , as a librarian and personal physician from Vienna to come to Sibiu.

Because of his objections to the reforms of Maria Theresa's son, Emperor Joseph II , he was retired by the latter in 1787. Joseph's brother and successor Leopold II valued him more and in 1790 also awarded Brukenthal's descendants the hereditary title of baron.

Remembering his life's work

The traditional Samuel-von-Brukenthal-Gymnasium in Sibiu in Romania , a mathematical and natural science high school with German language of instruction and the qualification for university entrance ( Matura , Abitur ), promotes further studies in German-speaking countries.

Brukenthal's crypt in the Evangelical Church A. B. in Hermannstadt / Sibiu

Street naming

In the Rosenau settlement in Seewalchen am Attersee , Upper Austria, built for refugees after the Second World War , a central street is named after Samuel von Brukenthal.

literature

See also:

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Karlheinz Gerlach: The Freemasons in Old Prussia 1738-1806, The lodges between the middle Oder and Lower Rhine , Studienverlag Innsbruck 2007, ISBN 3-7065-4037-1 , Vol. 1, p. 379
  2. ^ Friedrich August Eckstein: The history of the Masonic Lodge in the Orient of Halle. A ceremony for the Secularfeier of the Lodge zu den Drei Degen, Halle, Gebauer 1844, p. 2 f
  3. ^ Siebenbürger Zeitung: The Testament of Samuel von Brukenthal , by Gustav Binder, January 19, 2003
  4. ^ Karlheinz Gerlach: The Freemasons in Old Prussia 1738-1806, The lodges between the middle Oder and Lower Rhine , Studienverlag Innsbruck 2007, ISBN 3-7065-4037-1 , Vol. 1, p. 379
  5. ^ Meyers Konversations-Lexikon , 5th edition, 3rd volume, Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig and Vienna 1895, p. 566
personal data
SURNAME Brukenthal, Samuel von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Governor of Transylvania
DATE OF BIRTH July 26, 1721
PLACE OF BIRTH Leschkirch
DATE OF DEATH April 9, 1803
Place of death Sibiu