Franz Stadion, Graf von Warthausen (27 July 1806 – 8 June 1853), was an Austrian nobleman and a statesman, who served the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Austria, was a Multinational state, multinational European Great Powers, great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the Habsburg monarchy, realms of the Habsburgs. Duri ...

during the 1840s.

Early life

Franz was born in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, into the Stadion-Warthausen line of the House of Stadion, as a son of the Austrian diplomat Count Johann Philipp von Stadion-Warthausen and his wife and cousin, Countess Maria Anna von Stadion-Thannhausen (1777–1841).

Biography

From 1841 he was Governor of the Austrian Littoral (with its capital at Trieste), from 1847 to 1848 Governor of Galicia (where he freed the peasants from labor duties), and from 1848 to 1849 he was Interior Minister and Minister of Education. He advocated constitutional government, decreed the Imposed March Constitution in March 1849 which was never enacted, and in 1849 promulgated the ''Gemeinde'' (municipality) legislation that granted governmental autonomy to all municipalities in the Austrian empire. Lewis Namier, in ''1848: The Revolution of the Intellectuals'' (p. 18), calls him "one of the most enlightened and efficient Austrian administrators."

External links

AEIOU , Franz Stadion, Graf von Warthausen

Bibliography

* R. Hirsch, ''Franz Graf Stadion'' (Vienna, 1861). * Rudolph Mattausch, "Franz Graf Stadion (1806–1853)" in ''Neue österreichische Biographie ab 1815: Grosse Österreicher'', vol. XIV (Zurich-Leipzig-Vienna, 1960), pp. 62–73. {{DEFAULTSORT:Stadion, Franz von 1806 births 1853 deaths Politicians from the Austrian Empire Politicians from Vienna Counts of Austria Governors of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria Knights of Malta