Felix Ludwig Johann Friedrich, Prince of Schwarzenberg (german: Felix Ludwig Johann Friedrich Prinz
zu Schwarzenberg; cs, Felix Ludvík Jan Bedřich princ ze Schwarzenbergu; 2 October 1800 – 5 April 1852) was a
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 ...
n
nobleman
Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteristi ...
and an Austrian statesman who restored the
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence, ...
as a
European great power following 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 Europea ...
. He served as
Minister-President of the Austrian Empire and
Foreign Minister of the Austrian Empire
This is a list of foreign ministers (german: Außenminister) of the Habsburg monarchy, of the Austrian Empire, and of Austria-Hungary up to 1918.
Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Habsburg monarchy (1720–1805)
From 1664/69 the Privy Confere ...
from 1848 to 1852.
Life
Felix was born at
Český Krumlov Castle
Český Krumlov Castle is a castle in Český Krumlov in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It dates back to 1240 when the first castle was built by the Vítkovci family, the main branch of the powerful Bohemian family Rosenberg.
...
(german: Böhmisch Krumau) 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 ...
, the second son of Prince
Joseph of Schwarzenberg (1769–1833) and his wife Pauline of
Arenberg
Arenberg, also spelled as Aremberg or Ahremberg, is a former county, principality and finally duchy that was located in what is now Germany. The Dukes of Arenberg remain a prominent Belgian noble family.
History
First mentioned in the 12 ...
. The
House of Schwarzenberg
The House of Schwarzenberg is a German ( Franconian) and Czech ( Bohemian) aristocratic family, and it was one of the most prominent European noble houses. The Schwarzenbergs are members of the German nobility and Czech nobility and they held the ...
was one of the most influential Bohemian noble families; his elder brother Prince Johann Adolf II of Schwarzenberg later initiated the building of the
Emperor Franz Joseph Railway
The Emperor Franz Joseph Railway (German: ''Kaiser-Franz-Josephs-Bahn'', KFJB) was an Austrian private railway company, named after Emperor Franz Joseph I. It operated railway lines from the Austrian capital Vienna to Prague and Eger (Cheb) in Bohe ...
line from
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
to
Plzeň
Plzeň (; German and English: Pilsen, in German ) is a city in the Czech Republic. About west of Prague in western Bohemia, it is the Statutory city (Czech Republic), fourth most populous city in the Czech Republic with about 169,000 inhabita ...
(Pilsen), while Felix' younger brother
Frederick Frederick may refer to:
People
* Frederick (given name), the name
Nobility
Anhalt-Harzgerode
*Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode (1613–1670)
Austria
* Frederick I, Duke of Austria (Babenberg), Duke of Austria from 1195 to 1198
* Frederick ...
became
Archbishop of Salzburg
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Salzburg ( la, Archidioecesis Salisburgensis) is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in Austria. The archdiocese is one of two Austrian archdioceses, serving alongside the Archdiocese of ...
in 1835 and
Archbishop of Prague
The following is a list of bishops and archbishops of Prague. The bishopric of Prague was established in 973, and elevated to an archbishopric on 30 April 1344. The current Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Prague is the continual successor of the bis ...
in 1849.
The nephew of Prince
Karl Philipp of Schwarzenberg (1771–1820), commander of the Austrian armies in the last phases of the
Napoleonic wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
, Schwarzenberg after a short military interlude entered the diplomatic service, where he became a protégé of State Chancellor Prince
Klemens von Metternich
Klemens Wenzel Nepomuk Lothar, Prince of Metternich-Winneburg zu Beilstein ; german: Klemens Wenzel Nepomuk Lothar Fürst von Metternich-Winneburg zu Beilstein (15 May 1773 – 11 June 1859), known as Klemens von Metternich or Prince Metternic ...
and served in several Austrian embassies at
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
, London, Paris,
Turin
Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...
, and
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
. During his time as a London
attaché
In diplomacy, an attaché is a person who is assigned ("to be attached") to the diplomatic or administrative staff of a higher placed person or another service or agency. Although a loanword from French, in English the word is not modified accor ...
in 1828 he had an affair with
Jane Digby
Jane Elizabeth Digby (3 April 1807 – 11 August 1881) was an English aristocrat, famed for her remarkable love life and lifestyle. She had four husbands and many lovers, including Lord Ellenborough, Governor-General of India, King Ludwig ...
, whom he deserted after causing her then-husband –
Edward Law, 1st Earl of Ellenborough
Edward Law, 1st Earl of Ellenborough, (8 September 1790 – 22 December 1871) was a British Tory politician. He was four times President of the Board of Control and also served as Governor-General of India between 1842 and 1844.
Background ...
– to divorce her, and making her pregnant. This episode led to the nickname of "Prince of Cadland" being applied to him in London.
Upon the outbreak of the 1848 Revolutions, he rushed to the Austrian
Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia
The Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia ( la, links=no, Regnum Langobardiae et Venetiae), commonly called the "Lombardo-Venetian Kingdom" ( it, links=no, Regno Lombardo-Veneto, german: links=no, Königreich Lombardo-Venetien), was a constituent land ...
to join Field Marshal
Joseph Radetzky defeating the
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
rebel forces of King
Charles Albert of Sardinia
Charles Albert (; 2 October 1798 – 28 July 1849) was the King of Sardinia from 27 April 1831 until 23 March 1849. His name is bound up with the first Italian constitution, the Albertine Statute, and with the First Italian War of Independence ...
in
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
. For his role as a close advisor to Radetzky, as well as his status as brother-in-law to Marshal Prince
Alfred of Windisch-Grätz, who had suppressed the
Czech
Czech may refer to:
* Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe
** Czech language
** Czechs, the people of the area
** Czech culture
** Czech cuisine
* One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus'
Places
* Czech, ...
"Whitsun Riot" in
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 ...
and the
Vienna Uprising
The Vienna Uprising or October Revolution (german: Wiener Oktoberaufstand, or ) of October 1848 was the last uprising in the Austrian Revolution of 1848.
On 6 October 1848, as the troops of the Austrian Empire were preparing to leave Vienna to s ...
in October, Schwarzenberg was appointed Austrian
minister-president
A minister-president or minister president is the head of government in a number of European countries or subnational governments with a parliamentary or semi-presidential system of government where they preside over the council of ministers. It ...
—the sixth within a year—and
foreign minister
A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...
on 21 November 1848. In these offices, which he both held until his premature death, his first step was to secure the replacement of incapacitated Emperor
Ferdinand I of Austria
en, Ferdinand Charles Leopold Joseph Francis Marcelin
, image = Kaiser Ferdinand I.jpg
, caption = Portrait by Eduard Edlinger (1843)
, succession = Emperor of AustriaKing of Hungary
, moretext = ( more...)
, cor-type = ...
by his nephew
Francis Joseph. After heir presumptive
Archduke Franz Karl had renounced the succession, Ferdinand abdicated in
Olomouc
Olomouc (, , ; german: Olmütz; pl, Ołomuniec ; la, Olomucium or ''Iuliomontium'') is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 99,000 inhabitants, and its larger urban zone has a population of about 384,000 inhabitants (2019).
Located on th ...
on December 2.
Schwarzenberg formed a new government with
conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
politicians like Interior Minister Count
Franz von Stadion but also
liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
allies like
Baron Alexander von Bach,
Karl Ludwig von Bruck
Karl Ludwig von Bruck (Elberfeld, 8 October 1798 – Vienna, 23 April 1860) was an Austrian statesman.
Biography
In 1821 Bruck went to Trieste in order to take part in the War for Greek Independence, and, remaining there several years, founded th ...
and
Anton von Schmerling
Anton Ritter von Schmerling (23 August 180523 May 1893) was an Austrian statesman.
Life
Von Schmerling was born in Vienna, where his father held a high position on the judicial side of the civil service.
After studying law at Vienna, in 1829 Sch ...
as well as the Bohemian federalist Education Minister Count
Leopold von Thun und Hohenstein. Learning from Metternich's fate, Schwarzenberg was determined not only to fight, but overcome revolution. Against the perceptions in the
Frankfurt Parliament
The Frankfurt Parliament (german: Frankfurter Nationalversammlung, literally ''Frankfurt National Assembly'') was the first freely elected parliament for all German states, including the German-populated areas of Austria-Hungary, elected on 1 Ma ...
concerning the
German question
The "German question" was a debate in the 19th century, especially during the Revolutions of 1848, over the best way to achieve a unification of Germany, unification of all or most lands inhabited by Germans. From 1815 to 1866, about 37 independ ...
, he advocated the idea of an Austrian-German federation, including all Austrian
crown land
Crown land (sometimes spelled crownland), also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it. ...
s in and outside the
German Confederation
The German Confederation (german: Deutscher Bund, ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe. It was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as a replacement of the former Holy Roman Empire, w ...
. He delegitimized the Frankfurt assembly by recalling the Austrian delegates and preempted the federalist ideas of the Austrian
Kremsier Parliament
The Austrian Reichstag ("National Diet" or "Imperial Diet" in German), or Kremsier Parliament (Assembly at Kroměříž), was the first elected parliament in the Austrian Empire. It lasted for only a short time between July 1848 and 7 March 1849, b ...
with the promulgation of the
March Constitution in 1849.
Together with the new Emperor, Schwarzenberg called in the
Imperial Russian Army
The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian Ar ...
to help suppress the
Hungarian revolt, and thus give Austria free rein to attempt to thwart
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...
's drive to dominate Germany. He undid democratic reforms and re-established monarchist control in Austria, with the 1849 March Constitution that transformed the Habsburg Empire into a unitary, centralized state. In matters of
German dualism
Austria and Prussia were the most powerful states in the Holy Roman Empire by the 18th and 19th centuries and had engaged in a struggle for supremacy in Germany. The rivalry was characterized by major territorial conflicts and economic, cultural a ...
, he was able to impose the
Punctation of Olmütz
The Punctation of Olmütz (german: Olmützer Punktation), also called the Agreement of Olmütz, was a treaty between Prussia and Austria, dated 29 November 1850, by which Prussia abandoned the Erfurt Union and accepted the revival of the German Co ...
on Prussia, forcing it to abandon, for the moment, its plan of unifying Germany under its own auspices, and to acquiesce in the reformation of the old
German Confederation
The German Confederation (german: Deutscher Bund, ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe. It was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as a replacement of the former Holy Roman Empire, w ...
. At the same time his government initiated substantial administrative, juridical, and educational reforms.
Schwarzenberg died in office at Vienna, suffering a stroke in the early evening of Monday, April 5, 1852.
Legacy
Schwarzenberg achieved substantial respect in Europe as an able statesman (some called him the "Austrian
Bismarck"), although he was not much trusted, even by his emperor. His own statement (or alleged statement: according to historian
Edward Crankshaw, it is apocryphal) following the Russian intervention in Hungary, that Austria would "shock the world by the depth of its ingratitude" was bitterly remembered in the
Crimean War
The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia.
Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...
, a war which had the effect of marring his posthumous reputation. Varying between the ideas of
constitutionalism
Constitutionalism is "a compound of ideas, attitudes, and patterns of behavior elaborating the principle that the authority of government derives from and is limited by a body of fundamental law".
Political organizations are constitutional ...
and the revival of an
absolute monarchy
Absolute monarchy (or Absolutism as a doctrine) is a form of monarchy in which the monarch rules in their own right or power. In an absolute monarchy, the king or queen is by no means limited and has absolute power, though a limited constitut ...
, Schwarzenberg managed to disappoint both liberal and conservative circles. Nevertheless, his intelligence and powers of application were great; and his sudden death has generally been seen by historians as a grave setback to Austria, given that none of his successors in the emperor's reign possessed his European renown or political skill.
The
honorary citizenship
Honorary citizenship is a status bestowed by a city or other government on a foreign or native individual whom it considers to be especially admirable or otherwise worthy of the distinction. The honour usually is symbolic and does not confer an ...
of
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
bestowed on Schwarzenberg during his lifetime was officially revoked in 2011 by the local government under Mayor
István Tarlós
István Tarlós (; 26 May 1948) is a Hungarian politician who served as the Mayor of Budapest from 2010 to 2019. Previously he served as the Mayor of the Third District (Óbuda-Békásmegyer) of the city between 1990 and 2006 (as an independent ...
.
See also
*
House of Schwarzenberg
The House of Schwarzenberg is a German ( Franconian) and Czech ( Bohemian) aristocratic family, and it was one of the most prominent European noble houses. The Schwarzenbergs are members of the German nobility and Czech nobility and they held the ...
Bibliography
* Edward Crankshaw, ''The Fall of the House of Habsburg'', 1963.
References
;Attribution
*
*
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Felix of Schwarzenberg, Prince
1800 births
1852 deaths
19th-century Ministers-President of Austria
People from Český Krumlov
19th-century Austrian people
Austrian Empire politicians
Foreign ministers of Austria
Austrian diplomats
People of the Revolutions of 1848
Felix
Felix may refer to:
* Felix (name), people and fictional characters with the name
Places
* Arabia Felix is the ancient Latin name of Yemen
* Felix, Spain, a municipality of the province Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, ...
Bohemian nobility
German Bohemian people
Austrian people of German Bohemian descent
Knights Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa