Woldemar von Schmettau

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Woldemar von Schmettau

Woldemar Hermann Graf von Schmettau , also Schmettow , (born May 26, 1719 in Berlin , † October 24, 1785 in Plön ) was an officer, landowner and writer.

Live and act

Woldemar von Schmettau came from a Silesian family who rose through trade and was raised to the nobility in 1668. His father Carl Friedrich (born January 19, 1691 in Breslau ; † August 16, 1728 in Kassel ) had been a baron since 1717. The mother Hedwig, nee Freiin von Lüvendal (baptized on August 18, 1695 in Bothkamp ; † probably 1725) was a great-granddaughter of Friedrich III. from Denmark and a granddaughter of Ulrik Frederik Gyldenløve and Marie Grubbe .

Von Schmettau first lost his mother at a young age, then his father. As an orphan, he was kidnapped in 1728 and taken to his grandfather Lövendal, who was a Saxon minister. So he grew up in the Dresden court society. From 1736 to 1740 he studied at the University of Leipzig . He then traveled to the Netherlands and Paris as a cavalier. As a Prussian stable master he was not admitted to the Prussian military service in July 1741.

In 1742 von Schmettau went to southern Germany as a lieutenant colonel with the emperor's troops. In 1743 he was made a colonel and took command of an infantry regiment. During this time he made friends with Johann Hartwig Ernst von Bernstorff . In 1744/45 and 1747/48 he fought in the Netherlands under the French field marshal Woldemar Lövendal, who was his uncle. Due to his achievements and family relationships, he then entered the service of the Danish state and worked mostly in the duchies.

In 1746 von Schmettau took over the Itzehoer body regiment on horseback as colonel. In 1750 he bought the Schleswig bishop's court. In 1753 he was appointed major general. In 1757/58 he traveled to the Weser with the Hanoverian army. After being promoted to lieutenant general in 1759, he was dismissed from service a year later. In 1762 he received a new call from the army and commanded its right wing, which fought against the Russians invading Mecklenburg.

Von Schmettau was general of the cavalry when he was appointed commanding general north and south of Dovrefjell on February 1, 1764 . At the end of April of the same year he reached Norway and experienced the climax of his career in the military here. As a very good soldier and organizer, he planned a reform of the army in which he took the conditions in Norway into account. Because of these measures and some idiosyncratic initiatives, there were disputes with the General War Directorate in Copenhagen. This was particularly true of Claude-Louis, comte de Saint-Germain , with whom he had initially been friends.

In early 1767, Schmettau traveled to Copenhagen, where he wanted to defend himself. In April 1767 he was again adopted from the army. He had lost an inherited fortune due to personal and business expenses as well as many unsuccessful commercial and industrial projects. In 1767/68 he settled in modest circumstances in Preetz . In 1771/72 he traveled through southern Germany with Wilhelm Heinse , among others .

After that, von Schmettau, who had sold an estate at Holdorf near Gadebusch in 1747, repeatedly unsuccessfully sought commands at home and abroad. Until the end of his life he occupied himself with philosophical-theological studies, some of which he published anonymously. He sharply and bitterly rejected all orthodoxy, which repeatedly led to conflicts. The senior consistory therefore brought proceedings against him, which he was able to win thanks to his knowledge of the law and energy.

personality

Von Schmettau was one of the hardest-working officers of his time, a soldier with body and soul and always tried to optimize the organization of the army. He led his troops diligently and was exceptionally well versed in military literature, both older and more recent. He published military science publications and promoted military education in the Norwegian War School. Because of his pride, excitability, worldview and way of life, he had to end his military career early.

Von Schmettau had a very extensive education like the nobles of his time who were oriented towards France. His knowledge of ancient languages ​​was on a par with a scholar who was able to read the Old Testament in Hebrew. He owned an important library which was auctioned in Christiania and Altona in 1767 and 1769 . He also had a valuable coin collection that the King of Denmark bought in 1786.

Von Schmettau was a friend of the fine arts and theater. As such, the Copenhagen Academy of Arts made him an honorary member in 1757. In 1766 he joined the Society of Sciences in Trondheim, which he supported extensively. He encouraged the citizens of Christiania to create Norway's first private theater company. He also worked as a freemason and achieved high degrees early on. In 1743 he founded a military lodge in Frankfurt am Main . In 1776 he co-founded the "Louise for crowned friendship" lodge in Kiel. From 1746 to 1760 there was the Schottenloge “Schmettau” in Hamburg, which bore his name.

family

Von Schmettau married Amalie de Croix de Frechapelle in 1743 (born February 25, 1717 probably in Celle ; † September 1, 1796 in Schleswig). The couple had the sons Woldemar Friedrich and the Danish-Norwegian General Carl (* 1744, † 1821).

Honors

In 1742 von Schmettau was appointed Imperial Count and in 1748 Danish Chamberlain. In 1763 he was awarded the Dannebrog Order and in 1777 the Elephant Order .

literature


personal data
SURNAME Schmettau, Woldemar von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schmettau, Woldemar Hermann Graf von (full name); Schmettow, Woldemar von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Officer, landowner and writer
DATE OF BIRTH May 26, 1719
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH October 24, 1785
Place of death Plön