Emmanuel Graf von Mensdorff-Pouilly (24 January 1777 – 28 June 1852) was an army officer in the Imperial-Royal Army of the Austrian Empire, and vice-governor of

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Ma ...

. He was the uncle of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...

and the godfather of her husband, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

Life and career

The

Mensdorff-Pouilly The House of Mensdorff-Pouilly is the name of a noble family originally from Lorraine. The family derived its name from the barony of Pouilly at Stenay in Meuse. Through Princess Sophie of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, wife of Emmanuel von Mensdorff-P ...

family originated from the barony of Pouilly in

Stenay Stenay () is a commune in the Meuse department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. Its inhabitants are called ''Stenaisiens''. History In 679, the assassinated king Dagobert II was buried in the church of Saint-Remi in Stenay. In 872, Ki ...

, on the

river Meuse The Meuse ( , , , ; wa, Moûze ) or Maas ( , ; li, Maos or ) is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a t ...

Lorraine Lorraine , also , , ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; german: Lothringen ; lb, Loutrengen; nl, Lotharingen is a cultural and historical region in Northeastern France, now located in the administrative region of Gra ...

. Albert-Louis, Baron de Pouilly et de Chaffour, Comte de Roussy (1731–1795) and his wife Marie Antoinette (1746–1800) emigrated together with their children during the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...

. Their sons, Albert (1775–1799) and Emmanuel (baptised at Nancy on 24 January 1777), took the name Mensdorff from a community in the county of Roussy,

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

. The brothers entered military service against

revolutionary A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective, to refer to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor. ...

and

Napoleonic France The First French Empire, officially the French Republic, then the French Empire (; Latin: ) after 1809, also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental ...

, and Albert was killed in battle in 1799. At the start of the

War of the Fifth Coalition The War of the Fifth Coalition was a European conflict in 1809 that was part of the Napoleonic Wars and the Coalition Wars. The main conflict took place in central Europe between the Austrian Empire of Francis I and Napoleon's French Empir ...

, Emmanuel held the rank of major. On 13 April 1809, he was wounded while leading a company of the 8th Jäger in action near

Amberg Amberg () is a town in Bavaria, Germany. It is located in the Upper Palatinate, roughly halfway between Regensburg and Bayreuth. In 2020, over 42,000 people lived in the town. History The town was first mentioned in 1034, at that time under ...

. By 23 April, he had recovered enough to partake in the cavalry battles at the start of the

Battle of Ratisbon The Battle of Ratisbon, also called the Battle of Regensburg, was fought on 23 April 1809, during the Napoleonic Wars, between the army of the French Empire, led by Napoleon I, and that of the Austrian Empire, led by Archduke Charles. Scene ...

. He was decorated with the

Military Order of Maria Theresa The Military Order of Maria Theresa (german: Militär-Maria-Theresien-Orden; hu, Katonai Mária Terézia-rend; cs, Vojenský řád Marie Terezie; pl, Wojskowy Order Marii Teresy; sl, Vojaški red Marije Terezije; hr, Vojni Red Marije Te ...

for his services in the war. In 1810, he was given command of the Galician regiment of Uhlans „Erzherzog Carl“ Nr. 3. Serving as a commander of a cavalry brigade in

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

, Mensdorff-Pouilly became commander of the

Fortress of Mainz The Fortress of Mainz was a fortressed garrison town between 1620 and 1918. At the end of the Napoleonic Wars, under the term of the 1815 Peace of Paris, the control of Mainz passed to the German Confederation and became part of a chain of st ...

. From 1829 to 1834, Mensdorff-Pouilly also served as vice-governor of Mainz. After again having served in Bohemia, Mensdorff-Pouilly became vice-president of the ''

Hofkriegsrat The ''Hofkriegsrat'' (or Aulic War Council, sometimes Imperial War Council) established in 1556 was the central military administrative authority of the Habsburg monarchy until 1848 and the predecessor of the Austro-Hungarian Ministry of War. Th ...

'' in 1840. He retired from the army in 1848 with the rank of '' feldmarschallleutnant''. During the

Revolutions of 1848 The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europ ...

, Mensdorff-Pouilly was sent as a commissioner to

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

, where he tried in vain to impress on the Prince of Windisch-Grätz the necessity to avoid bloodshed.

Family

Emmanuel von Mensdorff-Pouilly married

Princess Sophie of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld Princess Sophie Friederike Karoline Luise of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (16 August 1778 – 9 July 1835) was a princess of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and the sister of Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and King Leopold I of Belgium, and aunt of Q ...

, daughter of

Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld en, Francis Frederick Anthony , house = , father = Ernest Frederick, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld , mother = Princess Sophie Antoinette of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel , birth_date = , birth_place = Coburg, ...

, on 22 February 1804 at

Coburg Coburg () is a town located on the Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only in 1920. Until the revolution of 1918, it ...

. Through this marriage, he was the brother-in-law of King

Leopold I of Belgium * nl, Leopold Joris Christiaan Frederik * en, Leopold George Christian Frederick , image = NICAISE Leopold ANV.jpg , caption = Portrait by Nicaise de Keyser, 1856 , reign = 21 July 1831 – , predecessor = Erasme Lou ...

and the uncle of both

and Prince Albert of the United Kingdom, and of King

Ferdinand II of Portugal '' Dom'' Ferdinand II ( Portuguese: ''Fernando II'') (29 October 1816 – 15 December 1885) was a German prince of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Koháry, and King of Portugal ''jure uxoris'' as the husband of Queen Maria II, from the birth ...

. Emmanuel and Sophie had six sons: * Hugo Ferdinand (1806–1847) * Alphons (1810–1894), Count von Mensdorff-Pouilly, ∞ 1. 1843 Countess Therese von Dietrichstein-Proskau-Leslie (1823–1856), ∞ 2. 1862 Countess Maria Thersia von Lamberg (1833–1876). * Alfred Carl (1812–1814). *

Alexander Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

(1813–1871), ''

Fürst ' (, female form ', plural '; from Old High German ', "the first", a translation of the Latin ') is a German word for a ruler and is also a princely title. ' were, since the Middle Ages, members of the highest nobility who ruled over states of ...

'' von Dietrichstein zu Nikolsburg (1868), was Austrian Foreign Minister and Prime Minister of Austria in the 1860s, ∞ 1857 Countess Alexandrine Maria von Dietrichstein-Proskau-Leslie (1824–1906) * Leopold Emanuel (1815–1832) * Arthur August (1817–1904), ∞ 1. 1853 (div. 1882) Magdalene Kremzow (1835–1899), ∞ 2. 1902 Countess Bianca Albertina von Wickenburg (1837–1912) Emmanuel was created ''

Graf (feminine: ) is a historical title of the German nobility, usually translated as " count". Considered to be intermediate among noble ranks, the title is often treated as equivalent to the British title of "earl" (whose female version is " ...

'' (Count) von Mensdorff-Pouilly on 29 November 1818 in Vienna. In 1838, he purchased ''Schloss Preitenstein'' in the

Plzeň Region Plzeň Region ( cs, Plzeňský kraj; german: Pilsner Region) is an administrative unit (''kraj'') in the western part of Bohemia in the Czech Republic. It is named after its capital Plzeň ( English, german: Pilsen). In terms of area, Plzeň ...

of Bohemia, which remained the property of the Mensdorff-Pouilly family until 1945.

Honours

He received the following orders and decorations:

References

Literature

*Eddie de Tassigny: ''Les Mensdorff-Pouilly. Le destin d'une famille émigrée en 1790.'' Paris: Le Bois d’Hélène, 1998. {{DEFAULTSORT:Mensdorff-Pouilly, Emmanuel von 1777 births 1852 deaths People from Lorraine Austrian generals Emmanuel Knights Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (military class) Recipients of the Order of St. George of the Fourth Degree Recipients of the Order of St. Anna, 2nd class Recipients of the Order of St. Vladimir, 3rd class Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Russia) Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath