Wilhelm zu Stolberg-Roßla

Count Johann Wilhelm Christoph zu Stolberg-Roßla (* July 11, 1748 in Roßla ; † February 6, 1826 there ) was regent of the Stolberg-Roßla county, which was under the sovereignty of the Electorate of Saxony .

Life

Count Wilhelm zu Stolberg-Roßla was the second eldest son of the ruling Count Friedrich Botho zu Stolberg-Roßla . He was the first count to return to court service after several centuries, where he became chamberlain in Dresden in 1769 and the court and judiciary in the following year. Count Wilhelm stayed at the Saxon court until 1778 and took the ruling young Elector Friedrich August III. as a model, a ruler of unshakable legality, unshakable religiosity and sincere love for his people who conscientiously sought to fulfill his duties with the most punctual order . Wilhelm experienced how in 1768, after the death of his father Friedrich Botho, his older brother Friedrich took over the government of the heavily indebted count's estates and exercised this office with little conscientiousness. Wilhelm feared a sequestration of the county and in 1775 gave his brother a memorandum in which he showed him ways and means to successfully overcome the financial crisis. However, his support efforts were unsuccessful.

First, in 1777, the neighboring county of Stolberg-Stolberg went bankrupt. Count Christoph Ludwig II died there in 1761, who had achieved for his line that in 1755 they were awarded a quarter of the previous Stolberg's share in the Rochefort counties and lordships in a settlement with the Princely House of Löwenstein-Wertheim. In the middle of the Seven Years War , which was also a heavy burden on the Stolberg counties , his son Carl Ludwig took over the government in Stolberg. During his 50-year reign he fought in vain to stabilize the financial situation, which had been severely affected by the effects and aftermath of the war. He provoked the opening of bankruptcy over the county of Stolberg, which it came to in 1777.

In order to prevent a sequestration of the County of Stolberg-Roßla, Count Wilhelm, with the consent of the main creditors, obtained the Elector of Saxony in 1778 as "Administrator in vim sequestri of the County of Stolberg including accessories" . He was given the task of “everything that is to be observed in accordance with the essential constitutions of the county, without asking about it, to get and to arrange” . But Wilhelm could not prevent the sequestration. It was not until 1821 that the sequestration for the Stolbergian southern Harz counties was lifted by a decree of the Prussian Higher Regional Court in Naumburg . Wilhelm died unmarried and childless five years later in Roßla Castle . August became heir to Stolberg-Roßla .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Raeck: Johann Wilhelm Christoph , p. 179
2. ↑ Ibid., P. 180
3. ↑ LHASA, MD, H 8, AI Appendix No. 21/2, unfollowing (§ 78).