Wilhelm Maximilian Rabe von Pappenheim

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Portrait of Wilhelm Maximilian

Wilhelm Maximilian Rabe von Pappenheim (* October 8, 1764 in Stammen , † January 3, 1815 ibid), from the North Hessian noble family of the Raven von Pappenheim , was a court official in the service of Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach and the Kingdom of Westphalia . He was best known because his wife became the lover of King Jérôme Bonaparte von Westphalen.

origin

Wilhelm was the younger son of Freiherr Christoph Friedrich Rabe von Pappenheim (1713-1770), major general in Hessen-Kassel services, and his wife Florentine Sophie Anna du Bos du Thil (1726-1796). His older brother August Wilhelm Rabe von Pappenheim (1759-1826) was the Hessen-Darmstadt envoy in Paris.

Manor house of the former Hofgut Stammen

Life

Wilhelm became an officer in the army of the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel. He rose to major , but then had to say goodbye because of a nervous problem . In 1802 he went to Weimar , where he was chamberlain and then chief steward of the Hereditary Prince Carl Friedrich of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. There he got to know Diana Waldner von Freundstein (1788–1844), who was 16 years old at the time, who was serving as court lady of the Tsar's daughter and Hereditary Princess Maria Pavlovna from 1804 . He fell in love with Diana, who was more than 20 years younger, pretty and fun-loving, and the two married in 1806. The marriage was problematic, not only because of the considerable age difference, but also because of Wilhelm's nervous problems. Their son Gottfried was born in 1807.

Diana Rabe von Pappenheim

In 1808 the couple had to return to the Kingdom of Westphalia, which Napoleon had created for his youngest brother Jérôme, as all "Westphalians" living abroad had to return to the country under penalty of confiscating their goods. Country nobles had to appear at the court, and shortly after the birth of their second son Alfred Otto in September 1808, the couple went to the royal court in Kassel . Wilhelm became chamberlain Jérômes, Diana chamberwoman of Queen Katharina . While Wilhelm preferred to live on his inherited castle and estate in Stammen and sought relief in various therapeutic baths because of his nervous ailment , and the two sons Gottfried and Alfred were retired to a pastor in the Harz Mountains, Diana enjoyed life at the court of the “King Funny". Apparently a particularly close relationship developed with Jérôme's favorites, his Minister of State, Pierre Alexandre le Camus . Le Camus separated from Diana von Pappenheim because of his marriage to Countess Adelaide von Hardenberg in June 1809, but she had now aroused Jérôme's interest. When she and the royal couple traveled from Austria to Paris in March 1810 for the wedding of Napoleon to Marie-Louise , her husband was not a member of the tour company. Diana gave birth to a daughter on September 7, 1811; She was baptized by Jérôme , and she was given the name Jeromée Catharina. She became known as Jenny von Gustedt (1811–1890), grandmother of the women's rights activist and writer Lily Braun (1865–1916). Since Diana's marriage to Wilhelm Rabe von Pappenheim still existed, the latter recognized the child as his legitimate daughter.

Almost three months later, on November 30, 1811, Wilhelm Rabe von Pappenheim was raised to the Westphalian count . This helped him, meanwhile First Chamberlain and Chief Ceremony Master , but obviously not, to cope with the public and scandalous breakdown of his marriage. As early as 1811 he withdrew from the court, fell increasingly into depression and finally collapsed. After an unsuccessful treatment at the Hôpital de la Salpêtrière nervous hospital in Paris , he returned to his estate in Trammen, where he mostly dwindled.

It is not known where Diana was during this period, but she continued to enjoy Jérôme's attentions. In the last days of the Kingdom of Westphalia - Kassel was on September 30th / 1. Taken by Cossacks of the Russian general Tschernyschow on October 4th, 1813, she gave birth to another daughter in Schönfeld Palace in Kassel, who was named Marie Pauline von Schönfeld after her birthplace. Soon afterwards, the girl was secretly brought to Paris to the Notre Dame des Oiseaux convent, where she grew up with Diana's relatives in Alsace. In 1832 Marie Pauline entered this monastery as a nun with the name Marie de la Croix, became superior of the convent and died there in 1873.

death

Wilhelm Maximilian Rabe von Pappenheim died in his Stammen Castle on January 3, 1815. The government of the restituted Electorate of Hesse did not recognize his increase in status.

His widow Diana went to Weimar and married the privy councilor , diplomat and later Minister of State Ernst Christian August von Gersdorff (1781-1852), who had been widowed since 1811 . She had a daughter with him and died in 1844 of gallbladder disease .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gottfried Rabe von Pappenheim (1807–1874) was Royal Hanover Lieutenant Colonel .
  2. ^ Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels , Adelige Häuser A , Volume XXI, Volume 98 of the complete series, CA Starke, Limburg (Lahn), 1990, ISBN 3-7980-0700-4 (p. 216)

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Rabe von Pappenheim, Wilhelm Maximilian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German landowner, officer, court official
DATE OF BIRTH October 8, 1764
PLACE OF BIRTH Come
DATE OF DEATH January 3, 1815
Place of death Come