Friedrich von Blittersdorf

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Friedrich von Blittersdorf
Friedrich Landolin Karl Freiherr von Blittersdorf
1845
Born
Friedrich Landolin Karl Blittersdorf

14 February 1792
Mahlberg, Baden, Holy Roman Empire
Died16 April 1861(1861-04-16) (aged 69)
Frankfurt
Alma materHeidelberg
Freiburg
Occupation(s)diplomat
politician
government officer
SpouseMaximiliane Brentano di Tremezzo (1802-1861)
ChildrenAntonie 1825
Ludovica 1827
Ludwig 1829
Hildegarde 1846
Parent(s)Wilhelm von Blittersdorf (1748–1798)
Franziska Freiin von Vischpach (1758-1835)

Friedrich Landolin Karl Freiherr von Blittersdorf (14 February 1792 - 16 April 1861) was a long serving politician-administrator in the Grand Duchy of Baden. As a younger man he served in a succession of ambassadorial roles and undertook other diplomatic work. Between 1835 and 1844 he became a dominating force in the government. He approached his responsibilities with huge erudition and energy, combined with a powerfully conservative set of political instincts. In this respect he contrasted with his cautiously reformist predecessor as head of the government, Ludwig Georg Winter.[1][2][3][4]

Life

Provenance and early years

Blittersdorf(f) was born in Mahlberg, down-river from Basel on the right (German) side. He was a younger son.[5] His father, Wilhelm von Blittersdorf (1748–1798), was a senior government administrator ("Hofrat", "Kämmerer" and "Landvogt") and the governor of Mahlberg.[2] His mother, born Franziska Freiin von Vischpach (1758-1835), was from a Protestant family.[3] He attended school in Karlsruhe and then moved on to university at Heidelberg (where in 1809 he joined the Corps Rhenania fraterntity) and Freiburg,[1] studying jurisprudence.[3]

Public service

In 1813, on the recommendation of

Frankfurt.[1]

In 1817 von Blittersdorf was appointed to the privy council ("Geheime Cabinet des Großherzogs"), also appointed, that same year, to a position in the foreign ministry. In 1818 he was appointed

St. Petersburg. It was his first senior diplomatic posting.[4] Nevertheless, he was required to stop off, as he traveled east, for a negotiation with Chancellor Metternich over important territorial and succession issues concerning Baden.[1] Towards the end of 1819 he was due a period of leave and travelled home via Vienna where he received an instruction to stay and support von Berstett who was heading up the Baden delegation in preparations for the Vienna Ministerial Conference. Von Blittersdorf now made an important contribution to the drafting of what came to be known as the "Final Settlement" (" Schlussakte") which clarified the new German Confederation's inter-relationships.[1]

In 1820 von Blittersdorf was sent back to the

German confederation could best be secured of the individual states within it retained their individual sovereignty.[3] A couple of years later, in September 1822, he was reporting to Chancellor Metternich on alarming trends in Baden itself. The people, for the most part, conducted themselves in a good and orderly manner. The danger came from the importation of liberals into the government hierarchy. He urged that his prince should ensure the effectiveness of his servants [in the government] through a technique combining "fear and hope" ("Nur durch Furcht und Hoffnung vermag sich der Regent seiner Diener zu versichern"). He favoured "the monarchist ideal" and "aristocratic principles" over the democratic sentiments that continued to circulate in the aftermath of the French Revolution and the ensuing wars. When he visited Metternich in Vienna, the latter was characteristically non-committal. In a note to an assistant he wrote in the language of international diplomacy, "I will receive him with all my usual candour, but I will restrict myself to generalities" ("Je le recevrai avec toute la franchise de mon caractère, mais je me tiendrai avec lui dans les generalités."). Von Blittersdorf was back in Vienna in a diplomatic capacity in 1823.[1] He continued to serve as an envoy to the "Bundestag" till 1835.[3]

Friedrich von Blittersdorf married at

Frankfurt am Main in 1824. His bride was Maximiliane Euphrosine Kunigunde Brentano di Tremezzo, like him from a family of government administrators.[3] At least four children would be born to the couple between 1825 and 1846.[5]

In 1835 he was appointed to the position of Foreign Minister of

Frankfurt, by now a withdrawn and embittered figure.[4]

Awards and honours

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Dr. Friedrich von Weech (1875). "Friedrich Karl Landolin Freiherr von Blittersdorf". Badische Biographien. Badische Landesbibliothek, Karlsruhe. pp. 87–95. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  2. ^ a b "Blittersdorff, Friedrich Landolin Carl Freiherr von". Hessian Biography. Hessisches Landesamt für geschichtliche Landeskunde, Marburg. 14 February 2017. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Walter Bußmann (1955). "Blittersdorf, Friedrich Landolin Karl Freiherr von". Neue Deutsche Biographie. p. 305. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  4. ^ a b c Friedrich von Weech (1875). "Blittersdorff, Friedrich Freiherr von". Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie. Historische Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. pp. 706–707. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  5. ^ a b Justus Perthes (1855). "Blittersdorff". Gothaisches genealogisches Taschenbuch der freiherrlichen Häuser. Justus Perthes (publishing company), Gotha (print version) & Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek, Düsseldorf (electronic version). p. 53. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  6. ^ Hof- und Staatshandbuch des Großherzogtums Baden 1834, p. 52.
  7. ^ Hof- und Staatshandbuch des Großherzogtums Baden 1847, p. 36
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