César-Constantin-François de Hoensbroeck or Hoensbroech (28 August 1724 – 3 June 1792) was a German ecclesiastic of the

Van Hoensbroeck Van Hoensbroeck (in German: Hoensbroech) is a royal and aristocratic family with medieval origins in the town of Hoensbroek near Heerlen in Limburg, Netherlands. History is the first known ancestor of the family; he was killed in the Battl ...

family, most notable as prince-bishop of Liège from 1784 to 1792, in which post he was nicknamed the "red executioner" (''bourreau roux'').D. Droixhe, "''Une histoire des Lumières au pays de Liège''", Les éditions de l'Université de Liège, 2007, p. 12

Life

The son of Ulric Antoine de Hoensbroeck (whose family originated in the village of Hoensbroeck, now in Dutch Limburg), he studied at Heidelberg and became a canon in the cathedral chapter of

Aachen Cathedral Aachen Cathedral (german: Aachener Dom) is a Roman Catholic church in Aachen, Germany and the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Aachen. One of the oldest cathedrals in Europe, it was constructed by order of Emperor Charlemagne, who was buri ...

before becoming prince-bishop of

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...

in 1784, succeeding François-Charles de Velbrück, whose progressive reforms he tried to undo. Hoensbroeck reestablished all the privileges of the clergy and nobility, sharing none of the third estate's liberal aspirations and showing little sympathy with the misery of the prince-bishopric's people. This all made him most unpopular, with the inhabitants of the bishopric nicknaming him the "tyrant of Seraing", after the prince bishops' summer palace. His popularity continued to plummet until a mob came to try to take him from Seraing to the Prince-Bishops' Palace in Liège itself, an act that started the Liège Revolution. On 13 September 1790 he fled into Germany before being restored to his episcopal throne by Austrian troops on 13 February 1791. On his death he was succeeded by his nephew François de Méan, who was also unsympathetic to the French Revolution.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoensbroeck, Cesar-Constantin-Francois 1724 births 1792 deaths Prince-Bishops of Liège People of the Liège Revolution People from Eijsden-Margraten Roman Catholic priests of the Austrian Netherlands