Wilhelm Anton von der Asseburg

Bishop Wilhelm Anton (1707–1782); Detail from a painting by Anton Joseph Stratmann

The first page of the 14th edition of the Paderborn Intelligence Gazette, first published in 1777 by Wilhelm Anton.

Satirical depiction of the coffee noise in the Fliegende Blätter 1878

Wilhelm Anton von der Asseburg (born February 16, 1707 at Hinnenburg Castle near Brakel , † December 26, 1782 in Neuhaus Castle ) was a member of the Lower Saxon noble family von der Asseburg and from 1763 to 1782 the 52nd Prince-Bishop of the Duchy of Paderborn .

Life

Wilhelm Anton Freiherr von der Asseburg was born on February 16, 1707 Castle Hinnenburg in Brakel, in the upper Waldi's district of the Bishopric of Paderborn, which it later as archbishop should protrude. He received a cathedral canonical in 1737 in Münster and in 1744 in Paderborn . In Osnabrück he was also canon and headed the official court there from 1740. In 1754 he took over the post of Osnabrück Cathedral Provost to head the government as Prefect.

On January 25, 1763, the Paderborn cathedral chapter elected him bishop. The bishop's chair there was orphaned by the death of Clemens August on February 6, 1761 during the Seven Years' War and the diocese was threatened by secularization. The Anglo - Prussian coalition initially successfully refused a new election. In contrast, the bishop and the cathedral chapter of the befriended diocese of Le Mans intervened with the French king Louis XV. whereby the dissolution of the high pin could still be prevented. Between the two dioceses there had been a " love alliance of eternal brotherhood " since 836 , which secured the endangered existence of the duchy of Paderborn in the Peace of Westphalia . Wilhelm Anton received the episcopal ordination on June 26, 1763 in Paderborn Cathedral by Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Franz Graf von Gondola. After his departure, he did not appoint a successor, but carried out the necessary ordinations himself. The new sovereign took over the administration of a principality that was a constant theater of war during the Seven Years' War, as a result of which the impoverished population in a devastated country suffered with a depressed economy.

The affable man, who spoke to everyone he met in Low German, was not only so popular with his regional children, who spoke of him as “their Asseburgers”, but above all because he improved the economic situation through targeted “innovations” improved.

Wilhelm Anton promoted agriculture and the production and production of lead, copper and iron, cloth, salt and paper. He also promoted the settlement of Protestant glassblowers, which, like his other measures, improved the income of the rural poor.

In 1769 he initiated the establishment of the fire insurance company in Paderborn, which is considered one of the first solidarity funds. In 1770 he opened the first orphanage in the capital. From 1772 he had the " Paderborn Intelligence Journal" published. In 1773, after the Pope abolished the Jesuit order , he reorganized the University of Paderborn, took over the grammar school and university under his direct supervision, and one year later he set up additional chairs for law and the French language . In 1777 he founded the Paderborn seminary to better care for the future clergy .

In 1779 he agreed to the elevation of Corvey to the prince-bishopric. With this he ended the old dispute about the affiliation of the previous prince abbey to the bishopric.

1781 came the so-called coffee noise in Paderborn after Wilhelm Anton tried to enforce an edict issued in 1777, which forbade the consumption of coffee for farmers and ordinary citizens in the bishopric.

Wilhelm Anton died on December 26, 1782 and was buried in the center aisle of the Paderborn cathedral. When he died, he left behind a booming bishopric. He had already given his nephew and direct successor, Friedrich Wilhelm von Westphalen , the episcopal ordination on October 23, 1763 in Hildesheim Cathedral. His contemporaries praised "a good bishop and a good ruler" in what had passed.

literature

• Alfred Heggen: State and economy in the principality of Paderborn in the 18th century. In: Studies and sources on Westphalian history. Volume 17, Paderborn 1978; ISBN 3-87088-217-4 , p. 144 ff.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Max Booch Árkossy: The coffee war in Paderborn . In: Flying leaves . tape 69 , 1741f. Schreiber, Munich 1878, p. 178 ff . ( diglit.ub.uni-heidelberg.de ).
2. ↑ Georg Joseph Rosenkranz: The coffee noise in Paderborn 1781 . In: Journal for patriotic history and antiquity , Volume 11 (1849).

Web links

Commons : Wilhelm Anton von der Asseburg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

predecessor	Office	successor
Clemens August of Bavaria	Prince-Bishop of Paderborn 1763–1782	Friedrich Wilhelm von Westphalen