Ulrich von Brockdorff-Rantzau, by Wikipedia

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Ulrich von Brockdorff-Rantzau, by Wikipedia

Postby admin » Sun Feb 04, 2018 2:36 am

Ulrich von Brockdorff-Rantzau
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 2/3/18

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Ulrich von Brockdorff-Rantzau
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Foreign Minister of Germany
In office
13 February 1919 – 20 June 1919
President Friedrich Ebert
Chancellor Philipp Scheidemann (Ministerpräsident)
Preceded by Wilhelm Solf (Imperial Germany)
Council of the People's Deputies
Succeeded by Hermann Müller
Personal details
Born 29 May 1869
Schleswig, Kingdom of Prussia
Died 8 September 1928 (aged 59)
Berlin, Free State of Prussia
Political party none
Profession Politician, diplomat

Ulrich Karl Christian Graf[notes 1] von Brockdorff-Rantzau (29 May 1869 – 8 September 1928) was a German diplomat who became the first Foreign Minister of the Weimar Republic. In this capacity, he led the German delegation at the Paris Peace Conference but resigned over the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. He later was German Ambassador to the USSR from 1922 to 1928.

Early life and career in the German Empire

Ulrich von Brockdorff-Rantzau was born in Schleswig on 29 May 1869. He was the son of Graf Hermann zu Rantzau (1840-72), a Prussian civil servant (Regierungsassessor) of the Rantzau family and his wife Gräfin Juliane zu Rantzau, née von Brockdorff from Rastorf. Ulrich had a twin brother, Ernst Graf zu Rantzau (1869–1930) who later became a Geheimer Regierungsrat.[1]

In 1891, a great-uncle left him the manor Annettenhöh near Schleswig, and he took the name "Brockdorff-Rantzau".[1]

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manor Annettenhöh near Schleswig

In 1888-91, he studied law at Neuchâtel, Freiburg im Breisgau, Berlin (Referendarsexamen in 1891) and Leipzig. He was awarded a Dr. jur. at Leipzig in 1891. Too young to join the Auswärtiges Amt (AA), the Imperial Foreign Office, he joined the Prussian Army as Fahnenjunker and was soon promoted to Leutnant in the 1. Garderegiment zu Fuß (stationed in Flensburg). After an injury he left military service in 1893 and became a diplomat in the Foreign Office: as an Attaché at the AA in 1894, 1894-96 at the German Gesandtschaft at Brussels, 1896-97 at the AA (trade policy department), 1897-1901 as Legationssekretär (secretary to the embassy) at St Petersburg, 1901-09 at Vienna, where he soon rose to Legationsrat and, after a short stay at Den Haag, in 1905 to Botschaftsrat. From 1909-12 he was political Generalkonsul at Budapest and in May 1912 became envoy to Copenhagen.[1][2]

Brockdorff-Rantzau opposed the Prussian policies on Denmark and worked to improve the relationship between Denmark and Germany. During World War I, he supported Danish neutrality and worked to keep up the crucial trade links (German coal for Danish food) as the war dragged on.[1]

He came in close contact with Danish and German trade unions and got to know the future German president Friedrich Ebert. He was also instrumental in facilitating the passage of the Bolsheviks Vladimir Lenin and Karl Radek across Germany in a sealed train in 1917.

He was offered the post of Staatssekretär des Auswärtigen (State Secretary for Foreign Affairs) following Arthur Zimmermann's resignation in 1917, but declined because he did not believe he could follow a policy independent from military interference.

German Revolution and Treaty of Versailles

Appointment as head of the AA


After the Revolution of 1918, Friedrich Ebert and Philipp Scheidemann of the ruling Council of the People's Deputies asked him in early January 1919 to become Staatssekretär des Auswärtigen as the successor to Wilhelm Solf, the last person to hold the position under the Empire who had remained in place even as the Council had taken over as the actual government of Germany.[1]

He accepted the position to lead the AA dependent on five conditions:

1. A national constituent assembly should be convened before 16 February 1919 to ensure the Council of People's Deputies should have a constitutional basis.

2. Germany's credit rating should be restored to facilitate loans from the USA.

3. A republican Army should be immediately created to hold back the prospect of a communist revolution and to create a stronger negotiating position for Germany at the peace conference.

4. All possible steps should be made to remove the Workers' and Soldiers' Councils from involvement in governing the state.

5. He demanded the right to participate in the solution of domestic problems and to reject a dictated peace if he felt it threatened Germany's future.


The Council of the People's Deputies agreed to the first four conditions and he received the appointment, arriving in Berlin 2 January 1919.

In February, Brockdorff-Rantzau's title changed as he became the first Reichsminister des Auswärtigen at the AA in the cabinet of Scheidemann. Although by background and nature a member of the aristocracy, Brockdorff-Rantzau was a convinced democrat and wholly accepted the republic which had replaced the monarchy. However, he insisted on forceful domestic opposition against leftist revolutionaries, use of democratic principles in foreign policy, i.e. a right of self-determination also for the Germans, a Frieden des Rechts (lawful peace) based on the Fourteen Points of US President Wilson. This meant for him the unification of the Reich with Austria and participation in the League of Nations to secure world peace.[1]

Paris Conference and Treaty of Versailles

Brockdorff-Rantzau led the German delegation that went to Versailles to receive the treaty agreed by the Paris Peace Conference between the Allies and the associated states.[1]

In a speech on 7 May 1919, he refuted the claim that Germany and Austria were solely responsible for the war, although he accepted a partial guilt especially with regard to what has become known as the Rape of Belgium. He pointed out that both sides should be bound by Wilson's Fourteen Points.[1]

Brockdorff-Rantzau led the effort by the German delegation to write up some counter proposals that were handed over to the Allies on 29 May (and caused consternation back in Berlin). He argued against what he thought to be a false dichotomy between "to sign" or "not to sign", and considered written negotiations (the Allies had refused to negotiate face to face) an alternative to make the onerous peace less unfair and dishonouring to Germany. After it became obvious that the Allies were not willing to make any changes (save in very minor matters) to the original Treaty draft and that Germany was likely to sign it nonetheless, he resigned his post on 20 June 1919 together with Scheidemann and Otto Landsberg, protesting the signature of what he thought of as a Diktat.[1]

Further career

Over the next years Brockdorff-Rantzau took an active interest in foreign policy issues and went public several times with arguments for a revision of the Treaty and the establishment of a more rational law of nations. On 15 July 1922, he penned a secret memo to Friedrich Ebert, warning of the dangers associated with the Treaty of Rapallo as this would cause the Western powers military concerns. He argued that a policy of playing off the great powers against each other, like Bismarck had done, was not possible any more. However, appointed as ambassador to the Soviet Union in November 1922, he favoured a rapproachment between the two countries without sacrificing German links to the west. His opposition to military cooperation with the Soviets led to confrontations with the head of the Reichswehr, Hans von Seeckt, as well as with Chancellor Joseph Wirth. He was very critical of the Locarno Treaties, which brought Germany closer to France and were resented by the Soviet leadership.[1][3]

Brockdorff-Rantzau managed to win Soviet agreement to the Treaty of Berlin in April 1926 that established a relationship of neutrality and nonaggression between the two countries. He felt that this pact restored a balance between German links to east and west. Brockdorff-Rantzau was held in high esteem by the Soviet government and had a good personal relationship with Soviet foreign minister (People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs) Georgy Chicherin.[1]

He remained in this post until his death on 8 September 1928 when he was on holiday at Berlin.[1]

Publications

1. Patronat u. Compatronat. Dissertation. Leipzig 1890 bis 1891.

2. Dokumente und Gedanken um Versailles. Berlin 1925.

Literature

1. Stern-Rubarth, Edgar: Graf Brockdorff-Rantzau, Wanderer zwischen zwei Welten: Ein Lebensbild. Reimar Hobbing, Berlin 1929.

2. Haupts, Leo: Graf Brockdorff-Rantzau: Diplomat und Minister in Kaiserreich und Republik. Muster-Schmidt, Göttingen 1984, ISBN 3-7881-0116-4.

3. Christiane Scheidemann: Ulrich Graf Brockdorff-Rantzau (1869-1928): Eine politische Biographie. Verlag Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main 1998, ISBN 3-631-32880-X.

References

1. "Biografie Brockdorff-Rantzau, Ulrich Karl Christian Graf (German)". Bayerische Nationalbibliothek. Retrieved 6 February 2015.

2. "Biografie Ulrich Graf Brockdorff-Rantzau (German)". Deutsches Historisches Museum. Retrieved 6 February 2015.

3. Herzfeld, Hans (ed) (1963). Geschichte in Gestalten:1:A-E (German). Fischer, Frankfurt. p. 193.

Notes

1. Regarding personal names: Until 1919, Graf was a title, translated as Count, not a first or middle name. The female form is Gräfin. In Germany since 1919, it forms part of family names.
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Re: Ulrich von Brockdorff-Rantzau, by Wikipedia

Postby admin » Sun Feb 04, 2018 3:33 am

Equites Originarii
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 2/3/18

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The equites originarii (Latin for original knights) are the noble families of Holstein and Stormarn, who settled there about 750 years ago, in the High Middle Ages.

History

At the height of the power of the Estates, that is to say in the 15th and 16th centuries, there were about 25 to 30 genders, who belonged to the Equites Originarii. Of the Holstein Uradelsgeschlechtern existed in 1590 following (in the current spelling):

Ahlefeldt,
Blome,
Breide (extinct † 1675),
Brockdorff,
Buchwaldt, *
Damme († 1679),
Gadendorp († 1613),
vd Hagen († 1641),
Heesten or Heist († 1642),
Hoken or Höcken († 1741),
Krummendieck (in Schleswig-Holstein † 1598, in Sweden † 1529, in Norway † 1530, in Denmark † 1541),
Meinstorp († 1664),
Plesse († 1639),
Pogwish († 1845),
Torments,
Rantzau,
Rathlow († 1752) - a bourgeois small-branched branch, which comes from the Danish Colonel Siewert Detlevsen (* 1630, died 1677), (spelling: Ratleff / Radeleff / Ratlöf) dies only in the 19th century on Langeland,
Reventlow,
Rumohr,
Sehestedt (in Schleswig-Holstein † 1711, in Denmark † 1882),
Smalstede († 1618),
Stake († ca 1555),
Stove or Stöven († 1630),
Swyn († 1577),
Thienen (in Schleswig-Holstein † 1814),
Wahlstorf († after 1634, in French services),
Wensin († 1658),
vd Wisch ,
Wittorp († 1697,
Wohnfleth († 1747).

As early as the 15th century and the 16th century, many noble families or lines were extinct by noble families with their own gender names, for example:

Alverstorp († 1440),
Ash mountain († 1535),
Barsebeke († 1495),
Block († 1430),
Bosendal († ca 1535),
Campe (n) († 1499),
Canned corn († 1476),
Hake († ca 1585),
vd Helle († ca 1461),
Hummersbotele or Hummelsbüttel († 1496),
Kale († 1420),
Cures or Kühren († 1435),
Kule († 1492),
Lasbeke († 1475),
Latendorp († c. 1485),
Lembek († 1562),
Mistorp († 1555),
Muggele or Mucheln († ca 1475),
Muk (k) esvelde (= Muggesfelde) († around 1425),
Plone or Plön († around 1405),
Porsvelde or Postfeld († 1503),
Rickesdorp and Rixtorp († 1509),
Sandbergh († 1473),
Schinkel († ca 1495, in Denmark † 1560),
Selsingen († 1420)
Siggem († 1500),
Smalstede († 1546),
Swawe († 1500),
Tedinghuusen / Tinhuus or Tetenhusen († 1556),
Tralow and Tralau († ca 1420),
Wiltberg († ca 1475),
Zeggendorp (= Sechendorf) († ca 1410).

Among the noble families immigrated in the late Middle Ages and in the early modern period and included informally include the Thienen (before 1314, from 1840: Baron von Thienen-Adlerflycht), from the Hagen (around 1320) Blome (about 1406) and v. Schack (before 1584). Only the southern Jutland Uradelsgeschlecht Holck (now Count Holck) found direct inclusion in the Holstein knighthood; the Möed (Möeth or Moeten) were only occasionally involved, so sold Claus Möeth 1381 property in Arensberg in Plön, Claus Möeth drew on May 2, 1469 in Kiel as the only Schleswig Uradeliger the Kiel protection and Trutzverbund the Holstein knighthood against Count Gerhard from Oldenburg with and Schack Möeth (Burgvogt of Kiel) fell in 1500 at Hemmingstedt. The Godow - today Godau on Plöner See - († ca 1510) emigrated to Lolland in 1330; the V. Rastorp († 1749, in Denmark: Rostrup) are around 1327/28, the v.. Stampe († ca 1550) are around 1360 and the vd Knope or Knoop († 1565, Denmark: Knob (e)) and the v. Ronnow († 1600) emigrated to Denmark in 1413/14 and is therefore not listed.

According to information of the knighthood, only the following Holstein Uradels families flourished in 1837: v. Ahlefeldt, v. Blome († 1945), v. Brockdorff, v. Buchwaldt, v. Torment († 1890, a unebenbürtiger branch, which comes from the Dutch Captain Hans Hanssen (*1661, † 1713), exists since the early 18th century in South Jutland (spelling: of torments)), v. Rantzau, v. Reventlow, v. Rumohr, v. Thienen, vd Wisch († 1873).

Today only nine of these equites Originarii exist: the families Ahlefeld, Brockdorff, Buchwaldt, Rantzau, Reventlow, Rumohr and Thienen-Adlerflycht, as well as the not belonging to the actual Holstein, chivalrous Uradel families Holck, the branch of Count Holck on Eckhof (Danish Wohld in the Duchy of Schleswig) was eagerly received at the beginning of 1800, and Schack, who came from Bardowick in the Electorate of Lüneburg via the Duchy of Saxony-Lauenburg around 1580 to the duchies of Holstein and Schleswig, whose affiliation was recognized in early 1714, and in the corporative community of equites Originarii were recorded. The Originarii always had special rights and privileges, even over the other noble families that did not belong to this group.

The coats of arms of today still existing noble families of the Schleswig-Holstein Ritterschaft:

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Ahlefeld

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Brockdorff

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Buchwaldt

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Rantzau

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Reventlow

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Rumohr

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Thienen-adlerflycht

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Holck

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Schack

Probably the most famous act of the Schleswig-Holstein knighthood is the Treaty of Ripen, in which they chose the Danish King Christian I Duke of Schleswig and Earl of Holstein and Stormarn.

Recepti

The second important group of the Schleswig-Holstein nobility are the so-called Recepti (recorded), which by a special legal act unconditionally or conditionally, so only as far as a noble estate in Schleswig-Holstein in the family property was received, d. H. Families admitted to the knighthood. Here you have to differentiate between two groups:

1. The from the (German) foreign countries immigrated old families, such as the Plessen, Baudissin, Platen, Levetzow, Bernstorff, Mösling, Hahn, Scheel, Holstein, Hessenstein, Schilden, Moltke and Bülow and

2. the originally bourgeois families, namely the Wedderkop († 1962), Liliencron, Kielmansegg, Luckner, Hedemann-Heespen and Schimmelmann.

Demarcation

In the area of ​​the today's country Schleswig-Holstein had Saxonia Lauenburg , thus approximately in the today's circle duchy Lauenburg over own knighthood. The rich bourgeois Lübeck patriciate, on the other hand, was richly-oriented and organized in the circle society because of the imperial immediacy of the city.

Literature

Henning von Rumohr : About the Holstein Uradel. In: Henning von Rumohr (ed.): Dat se bliven ewich poppy ungolded. Wachholtz, Neumünster 1960, pp. 101-152.

Web links

Commons: Equites Originarii - collection of images, videos and audio files
Schleswig-Holstein knighthood

Short overview of the history of the Schleswig-Holstein knighthood

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The knighthood has shaped our country for more than 800 years: in the 12th century, the first knightly families are mentioned in a document. But only with the Treaty of Ripen (March 2, 1460), the initially loose alliance of the knights capable of Landtag or later aristocratic landowners of the country as a stand with far-reaching privileges established. A particularly beautiful witness is the privilege drawer of 1503, which today stands in Gottorf Castle.

The Treaty of Ripen was a milestone insofar as the Knights of the Duchy of Schleswig and the County of Holstein joined together for the first time with unprecedented self-confidence and chose their lords themselves, after Adolf VIII had died in 1459 without descendants. The goal of the knights was to ensure a permanent close association of the countries without new conflicts and possible war herds. Therefore, Christian I of Denmark was the man of choice: Schleswig, Holstein and Denmark were governed by him in personal union and he was practically his own fief. In return for Christian's preference for his rival Graf Schauenburg, the knighthood was granted the right to choose his successors - not the Danish kings automatically became feudal lords of Schleswig and Holstein. Many more rights secured the tangible, as the contract is historically correct, the Schleswig-Holstein Knighthood, including, inter alia, the war, tax and coin license. The most famous passage of the treaty to this day is "dat se bliven ewich poppy ungedelt" - politically as well as economically for the Knights of Belang, who mostly had possessions beyond the state borders.

If the king did not live in the country, the knighthood temporarily constituted a multi-headed government body. For a long time it was also extremely powerful - ranging from the state parliament with its trading and financial business, the transhipment, from the late Middle Ages to the 17th century. The knights had the financial power, but also the jurisdiction held. They made history and business. With the emergence of absolutism, however, the Schleswig-Holstein knighthood gradually lost its political significance until it brought the wheels of history in the 19th century in the wake of the national reconsideration: Thus Friedrich explained Friedrich Dahlmann, historian and secretary of the Schleswig-Holstein knighthood, the Treaty of Ripen to a kind of fundamental law not only for the estates, but for the duchies as a whole. While at one time the national differences between German and Danish divided the countries, knighthood and soon also large parts of the originally liberal Schleswig-Holstein movement held the contract for their "historically evidenced law." The inheritance claims of Duke Christian August von Augustenborg further reinforced this.

Finally, it came to the Schleswig-Holstein survey of 1848 and ultimately to the German-Danish wars; the passage "up ewich ungedelt" became a political buzzword through a poem by the Schleswig-Holstein-minded Aabenraa doctor August Wilhelm Neuber. In 1864, after more than 600 years under Danish rule, the state came to an end. Schleswig and Holstein broke away from the kingdom. To this day the traces of the connection to Denmark can be seen and experienced - not least on the political level, where the South Schleswig Voters' Association SSW enjoys a special regulation in the state parliament.

Today, the Schleswig-Holstein knighthood is a group of families, on the one hand a rich past, on the other hand, the "doing" is common. If you go on an expedition through the Internet, you will find various testimonies of how the knights of the present day work for the preservation of the houses, courtyards and facilities that have meanwhile become cultural monuments. Above all, however, by the four aristocratic monasteries, the knighthood is to be perceived by the public.

With the Ritterschaftliche Gesellschaft Schleswig-Holstein / Lauenburg eV, which was founded only a few years ago, it also ensures that history can be experienced. The best example of this is its school trips to the Landesmuseum Schloss Gottorf, where children learn in an age-appropriate way, like our country became what it is.

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Treaty of Ripen

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Privilege drawer of the Schleswig-Holstein knighthood

Welcome to the page of the Schleswig-Holstein Chivalry!

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Those who hear the word knight may think of medieval times, armor and tournaments on horseback, whose winners won trophies or a lovely woman. Another world, a past one.

The Schleswig-Holstein Knighthood is a living institution that keeps pace with the times while at the same time taking the thread of the past into the future. For centuries, the members of the knighthood have shaped the fortunes of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, were a strong counterpart to the Danish king, who was their duke in personal union.

Even today, the knightly families take their place in the Schleswig-Holstein events, in culture, agriculture and politics. They are entrepreneurs in a variety of ways and are involved - from organizing school trips to the Gottorf Museum to tell history, to the many wonderful concerts in knightly castles, manor houses and monasteries.
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Re: Ulrich von Brockdorff-Rantzau, by Wikipedia

Postby admin » Sun Feb 04, 2018 4:31 am

Anna Constantia von Brockdorff
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 2/3/18

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Image
Anna Constantia von Brockdorff

Anna Constantia von Brockdorff (17 October 1680 – 31 March 1765), later the Countess of Cosel, was a German noblewoman and mistress of Augustus the Strong, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony. Eventually he turned against her and exiled her to Saxony, where she died after 49 years of imprisonment.

Life

Anna Constantia was born in Gut Depenau, today part of Stolpe, Holstein, the daughter of the Knight (Ritter) Joachim von Brockdorff and his wife Anna Margarethe, daughter of the rich Hamburg citizen Leonhard Marselis, owner of Gut Depenauborn. The Brockdorffs belonged to the Equites Originarii (knightly noble families) and gave their daughter an unusual education for that time: she learned several languages, received instruction in mathematics and classical education, including music (lute in particular) and passionately loved to hunt. However, her impetuous behavior worried her parents.

In 1694, her parents sent Anna Constantia to the Schloss Gottorf in Schleswig, the official residence of the Duke Christian Albrecht. The fourteen-year-old girl served the Duke's daughter, Sophie Amalie, as a lady-in-waiting. Anna Constantia accompanied Sophie Amalie to Wolfenbüttel, where Sophie Amalie became the second wife of the Hereditary Prince August Wilhelm of Brunswick-Lüneburg, son and heir of the Duke Anton Ulrich. While in Wolfenbüttel, Anna Constantia became pregnant, possibly by Ludwig Rudolf, younger brother of the Hereditary Prince. After the birth of her child in 1702, Anna Constantia was expelled from the court and sent back to her parents in Gut Depenau. The fate of the child is unknown.

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Anna Constantia during her marriage to the Baron Hoym

By 1699, Anna Constantia, in the Schloss Burgscheidungen, was living openly with the director of the Saxonian Generalakzis Kollegiums, Adolph Magnus, Baron of Hoym, whom she met in Wolfenbüttel. After four years of concubinage, they were married on 2 July 1703 but were divorced by 1706. When she arrived in Dresden, Anna Constantia claimed that she was still married to the Baron in order to be able to appear at court.

In 1704, the King of Poland and Elector of Saxony Augustus the Strong met the vivacious Baroness von Hoym and fell in love with her. The Baron of Hoym tried unsuccessfully to prevent the relationship, because he considered his former wife unsuitable for the role of official mistress.
Augustus' pious wife, Christiane Eberhardine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, refused to reign alongside her husband at the Catholic, scandalous Polish court, and had effectively exiled herself to the Schloss Pretzsch (Elbe). Anna Constantia became close to Augustus, but he still had another mistress, the Princess Teschen.

Finally, in 1705, the Princess Teschen was banished from the court, and Anna Constantia took her place as official mistress. In 1706, she was created the Imperial Countess (Reichsgräfin) of Cosel. Two years later, on 24 February 1708, she gave birth to August's daughter, named Augusta Anna Constantia after both her parents. One year later, on 27 October 1709, the Countess von Cosel bore a second daughter, Fredericka Alexandrine, and three years later, on 27 August 1712, she had a son, Frederick Augustus, who was named after his father and eventually inherited Gut Depenau from his maternal grandparents.

In the opinion of the court, Anna Constantia interfered too much into politics, and in particular, her attempts to meddle in Augustus' Polish politics encountered strong resistance. The Protestant Electorate of Saxony was determined to turn the King's attention away from Catholic Poland, which he had lost after the defeat at the hands of Sweden's Charles XII in the Great Northern War. Anna Constantia came to be considered increasingly dangerous to the Polish political interests, especially when it was rumoured that Augustus had written his mistress a secret promise to marry her. The Polish aristocracy tried to supplant the countess von Cosel with a Catholic mistress and thus eliminate her from the political scene. Augustus finally gave in to the charms of Maria Magdalena Bielinski, Countess von Dönhoff.

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Anna Constantia during her exile at Burg Stolpen

In 1713, Anna Constantia was banished to the Pillnitz Castle ...

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The Pillnitz Castle in 1800
Pillnitz Castle (German: Schloss Pillnitz) is a Baroque palace at the eastern end of the city of Dresden in the German state of Saxony. It is located on the bank of the River Elbe in the former village of Pillnitz. Pillnitz Castle was the summer residence of many electors and kings of Saxony; it is also known for the Declaration of Pillnitz in 1791.

but in 1715 she managed to flee to Berlin, Prussia. For this, she was condemned in Saxony as a Landesverräter (state criminal). In Berlin, she hoped to get her hands on Augustus' secret written marriage promise, which was in the hands of her cousin Detlev Christian Rantzau, held in the fortress of Spandau. However, the countess failed to retrieve this important document and was arrested on 22 November 1716 in Halle an der Saale and exchanged for Prussian deserters in Saxony. Augustus exiled his former mistress on 26 December 1716 to Burg Stolpen, where she was kept for the next 49 years until her death.

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Burg Stolpen

After the death of August the Strong (1 February 1733) and during the reign of his son and successor, August III, the countess' exile was apparently not lifted, although there is no certainty about that or about the details surrounding her continued residence at Burg Stolpen. It is curious that the countess did not use the opportunity to flee, twice presented to her (in 1745 and 1756), in both cases the Saxon guards having fled before advancing Prussian troops. She died in Stolpen.

On incidents and circumstances of her life, the Polish writer Józef Ignacy Kraszewski based his historical novel Countess of Cosel ("Hrabina Cosel" 1873) which later was adapted into Polish feature movie, Hrabina Cosel.

References

Gabriele Hoffmann, Constantia von Cosel und August der Starke − Die Geschichte einer Mätresse, 1984.
Cornelius Gurlitt: August der Starke
Kosel oder Cosel, Cossel. In: Zedlers Universal-Lexicon. vol. XV, Leipzig 1737, column 1569 f.
Walter Fellmann: Mätressen
Heinrich Theodor Flathe, Cosel, Anna Constanze Gräfin von. In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Vol IV, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1876, p. 512.
Oscar Wilsdorf, Gräfin Cosel – Ein Lebensbild aus der Zeit des Absolutismus. Verlag von Heinrich Minden, Dresden und Leipzig 1892 on-line
Thomas Kuster, Anna Constantia Hoym: Reichsgräfin Cosel. In: Der Aufstieg und Fall der Mätresse im Europa des 18. Jahrhunderts. Eine Darstellung anhand ausgewählter Persönlichkeiten. Innsbruck 2001.
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Re: Ulrich von Brockdorff-Rantzau, by Wikipedia

Postby admin » Sun Mar 18, 2018 11:49 pm

Count and Countess von Brockdorff
by Hans-Jürgen Bracker
philosophyoffreedom.com
November 18, 2016 at 7:50am

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In the winter of 1900/1901, Rudolf Steiner delivered 27 evening lectures in the Theosophical Library of Count and Countess Brockdorff. They were published as a collection in 1901 (GA 7) and appeared in English as Mysticism and Modern Thought. Revised edition: Eleven European Mystics. Translated by Karl Zimmer. Rudolf Steiner Publications, New York, 1971. cf. also The Course of My Life, Chapter XXX.

-- The Anthroposophic Movement, by Rudolf Steiner


Count and Countess von Brockdorff enabled Rudolf Steiner to link up with the theosophical movement in Germany.

Count Brockdorff was defeated as Kgl. Prussian Rittmeister frequent change of location. He married his wife Sophie in 1870 in Potsdam, where her only daughter was born in 1871. In 1879 the marriage was divorced. A few days after his son Ludwig's second marriage in 1881, his second wife, Anna, died. Rosenhagen. In 1885, Sophie and Cay Lorenz married for the second time in Darmstadt, living mainly in Berlin until 1902 when they moved to Algund near Meran.

They both joined the Theosophical Society in November 1893 and in June 1894 he was one of the founding members of the "German Theosophical Society". They had come to know theosophy through Wilhelm Hübbe-Schleiden. In 1900, Count Brockdorff was officially secretary of the small company, but above all, the couple headed the lodge in Berlin. In their spacious apartment, they set up a library of theosophical works available to members. In this "theosophical library" the public lectures took place, to which often open and controversial discussions followed. The small circle of cultured listeners was not limited to members, nor were the lecturers throughout theosophists.

In September 1900, they invited Rudolf Steiner to a lecture on the recently deceased Friedrich Nietzsche. After another lecture on "Goethe's secret revelation" he began in October to hold his lecture series on "The mysticism", whose written work a year later appeared in book form (GA 7). Steiner's second theosophical book - "Christianity as Mystical Fact" (GA 8) - which he appropriated to Brockdorff, was also created after a lecture series held there. Rudolf Steiner later recalled the number of about 20 listeners.

On the initiative of Countess Brockdorff, "The Vâhan" was published, the German edition of the official English periodical of the Theosophical Society; the magazine had to cease publication shortly after her death in 1906. For the realization of Rudolf Steiner's magazine "Lucifer" she sat down financially and with enthusiasm.

In 1902, the Brockdorffs retired for old age. Previously, they asked Rudolf Steiner to take over the management of the company, he became a member in January 1902 and accepted the task. Brockdorff, who was committed to founding a German section of the Theosophical Society, suggested Steiner as Secretary General. The founding of the section took place on 20 October 1902 in the Brockdorff apartment, but they had already moved to Algund near Merano in September. Marie von Sivers (Marie Steiner), whom Rudolf Steiner had met at his lectures at the end of 1900, took over the apartment, the library and the shops of the company.

After 1902, the Brockdorffs took a back seat. The count used to care for his seriously ill wife until her death. The correspondence with HübbeSchleiden shows that he continued to maintain contact with the theosophist Franz Hartmann and rejected the "Order of the Star in the East", which propagated the young Indian Krishnamurti as the "coming world teacher" and the reincarnation of Jesus. Since April 7, 1913, he was a member of the Anthroposophical Society. He died in 1921 in Meran, where his third wife Alexandrine, b. Freiin von Buddenbrock, whom he married in Wiesbaden in 1910, lived until 1955.

Literature: Bresch, R .: Little Vahan, in: Vah 1905/06, No. 12; GA 28, 7, 1962; Bock, E .: Rudolf Steiner studies, Stuttgart 1967; Froböse, E .: At the opening of the new series, in: BGA 1973, No. 41; Hartmann 1975; Groddeck, M .: Rudolf Steiner, the builder of the Goetheanum, in: BGA 1978, No. 61/62; Lindenberg, Chronicle 1988, Wiesberger, H .: Marie Steiner-von Sivers. A life, Dornach 1988.

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Re: Ulrich von Brockdorff-Rantzau, by Wikipedia

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Rudolf Steiner and the Theosophical Society
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Accessed: 3/18/18

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The relationship between Rudolf Steiner and the Theosophical Society, co-founded in 1875 by H.P. Blavatsky with Henry Steel Olcott and others, was a complex and changing one.[1]

In 1899, Steiner published an article in the Magazin für Literatur, titled "Goethe's Secret Revelation", on the esoteric nature of Goethe's fairy tale, The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily.[2] This article led to an invitation by the Count and Countess Brockdorff to speak to a gathering of Theosophists on the subject of Friedrich Nietzsche. This invitation was followed by a second, the occasion of his first fully 'esoteric' lecture, once again on the topic of Goethe's fairy tale.[3]

Steiner continued speaking regularly to the members of the Theosophical Society, becoming the head of its newly constituted German section in 1902. The German Section of the Theosophical Society grew rapidly under Steiner's leadership as he lectured throughout much of Europe on his spiritual science.[4] Through his lecturing to Theosophists, Steiner met Marie von Sievers, owner of the Theosophical headquarters in Berlin, who was to become his spiritual partner and second wife. From the end of 1903 Steiner and von Sievers became the inseparable centre of Berlin Theosophy.[5]

By 1904, Steiner was appointed by Annie Besant to be leader of an Esoteric School for Germany and Austria. Steiner made it clear that this school would teach a Western spiritual path harmonious with, but differing fundamentally in approach from, other Theosophical paths. These and other differences with Besant became particularly pronounced at the Theosophical Congress in Munich in 1907—organized by Steiner—its focus on artistic expression was a sharp departure from the Blavatsky tradition.[6]

Into the programme of the [Theosophical Congress of 1907] was introduced an artistic representation. Marie von Sievers translation of... Schuré's Eleusinian drama... [provided] an artistic element directed towards the purpose of not leaving the spiritual life henceforth void of art within the Society. A great portion of the old members of the Theosophical Society from England, France, and especially from the Netherlands, were inwardly displeased by the innovations offered them at the Munich congress. What it would have been well to understand, but what was clearly grasped at that time by exceedingly few, was the fact that the anthroposophic current had given something of an entirely different bearing from that of the Theosophical Society up to that time. IN THIS INNER BEARING LAY THE TRUE REASON WHY THE ANTHROPOSOPHICAL SOCIETY COULD NO LONGER EXIST AS A PART OF THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.[6]

— Rudolf Steiner, Chapter XXXVIII, The Story of My Life, 1928


Further dividing these groups—Steiner's lecture cycles from 1909 onwards—gave emphasis to his positive researches into Christianity, toward which Mme. Blavatsky had been notably hostile. Thus, the tensions grew between the main society and the German section, finally coming to a head over the question of Jiddu Krishnamurti, a young Indian boy to whom the Theosophical leaders Annie Besant and C. W. Leadbeater attributed messianic status. The majority of German-speaking Theosophists broke away to found a new Anthroposophical Society at the end of 1912. Shortly thereafter, Besant revoked the German section's membership in the Theosophical Society on the grounds of the national section's refusal to allow admission to adherents of the organization Star of the East, established to support the mission of Krishnamurti.

The relationship between the Theosophical Society centered in Adyar, India and its German section became increasingly strained as the new strains of Steiner's teaching became apparent.[7] The breaking point came when C. W. Leadbeater, followed by Annie Besant, claimed that a young Indian boy, Jiddu Krishnamurti, was the new World Teacher, an incarnation of the Lord Maitreya. Steiner quickly denied this attribution of messianic status to Krishnamurti, claiming that Christ's earthly incarnation in Jesus was a unique event. Steiner held that though the human being generally goes through a series of repeated earth lives, the spiritual being Christ incarnated only once in a physical body. Christ, he said, would reappear in "the etheric" — the realm that lives between people and in community life — not as a physical individual.

The German Theosophical Society refused membership to members of the Order of the Star in the East, an organization founded by Leadbeater and Besant to support Krishnamurti's supposed mission as the new World Teacher. The World Teacher concept was unpopular with many theosophists, and was repudiated by Krishnamurti himself in 1929, leading to a crisis in the Theosophical Society. It was, however, a basic principle of the Theosophical Society that adherents of all religions were admitted.

Anthroposophists were offended when Besant falsely claimed that Steiner had been educated by Jesuits.

Steiner's popularity as a lecturer spread far beyond the borders of Germany: he was active in Switzerland, the Netherlands, Norway, Austria and other countries. Besant tried to restrict him to lecturing in Germany itself,[7] but this contravened both Theosophical Society statutes as well as a statement of Besant's greeting this broadening lecture activity, issued some months before.

As a result of the conflict, two steps followed in rapid succession:

• The overwhelming majority of German-speaking theosophists followed Steiner into the new Anthroposophical Society, founded between August and December 1912. In a telegram sent to the Theosophical Society they justified this step by stating it was: "based upon the recognition that the President [Besant] has continually and even systematically violated this highest principle of the Theosophical Society, 'No religion higher than the truth', and has abused the presidential power in arbitrary ways, thus hindering positive work."[1]

• Steiner's exclusion of Star in the East followers was a direct contravention of Theosophical Society statutes, and duly led to the charter of the German Section being revoked.

Steiner later claimed that he never had considered himself to be part of the Theosophical movement.[8][9] Even while the leader of the German section of the movement, he made a great point of his complete independence of philosophical thought and esoteric teachings from the Theosophical Society's esoteric path.[10] His reaction to the above events was: "I myself experience what has happened — apart from what has been sobering and painful — as a great liberation from the oppressive narrowness that has characterized the life of the Theosophical Society for years."[1]

The basic structural skeletons of Steiner's cosmology and of his description of the human being as composed of various physical and spiritual aspects are based on Blavatsky's schema,[11] to whom he acknowledged his debt.[12][13][14] Steiner's elaborations of these (in his Theosophy[13] and Outline of Esoteric Science[15]) diverge from other theosophical presentations both in style and in substance, however.

References

1. Christoph Lindenberg, Rudolf Steiner. Eine Biographie. 1861-1914, 1915-1925, 2 volumes, Freies Geistesleben, 1997, ISBN 3-7725-1551-7. pp. 487-8; p. 501; p. 326; p. 504
2. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Goethe's Fairy Tale, the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily, Steinerbooks, 2006, ISBN 0-88010-570-4
3. Geoffrey Ahern, Sun at Midnight: the Rudolf Steiner Movement and Gnosis in the West, 2nd edition, James Clark and Co, 2009, ISBN 978-0-227-17293-3, p.36
4. From the time of Steiner's appointment as General Secretary of the German Section, in 1902, to the secession of Steiner's new Anthroposophical Society at the end of 1912, membership of the German Section of the Theosophical Society expanded from a few individuals to sixty-nine Lodges. Ahern, Sun at Midnight, 2nd edition, p.43
5. Ahern, Sun at Midnight, 2nd edition, p. 36
6. Rudolf Steiner, The Story of My Life, Chapter XXXVIII, 1928
7. Annie Besant tried unsuccessfully to prevent him from lecturing outside of German-speaking areas, indeed, even in Switzerland, but protests came from the Society branches involved, and Steiner pointed out that the Society's statutes explicitly allowed him free rein. In 1910, Besant had written an article praising Steiner's work that ended, "Long may he live to guide the people whom he enlightens, and to carry his message through Europe," which made her change of position the following year more difficult to justify. Lindenberg, pp. 487-8.
8. In 1901, asked by Marie von Sivers why he didn’t join the Theosophical Society, Steiner is supposed to have answered that "there were more significant spiritual influences than oriental mysticism," and "it is certainly necessary to call into life a movement for spiritual science, but I will only be part of a movement that connects to and develops Western esotericism, and exclusively to this." When the leader of the German theosophical branch, Countess Brockdorff, asked if he would not work with them, Steiner agreed under unusual terms: "Steiner evidently avoided requesting membership in the Theosophical Society, and made the condition that he would be released from all membership contributions. "‘Then I was sent a complementary “diploma” from England and became at the same time General Secretary of the German Theosophical Society.’" Lindenberg, p. 326.
9. Already in 1897, well before the above-mentioned contacts, Steiner had clearly articulated his objections to the movement, criticizing it for "empty phrases" borrowed from Oriental texts and "inner experiences that are nothing but hypocrisy". One of his chief objections was that the Theosophists elevated the East's path to truth to the only possible one, thereby discounting modern science's approach to truth through reason and logic. See Rudolf Steiner, "Theosophen (Theosophists)", Magazin für Literatur, 1897, Nr. 35, reprinted in GA 32: Rudolf Steiner, Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Literatur 1884-1902, Rudolf Steiner Verlag, 2004, ISBN 3-7274-0320-9, p. 194-196.
10. Rudolf Steiner, Autobiography: Chapters in the Course of My Life: 1861-1907, Steiner Books, 2006, ISBN 0-88010-600-X, Chapters 31-33.
11. H. P. Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine, Quest Books, 1993, ISBN 0-8356-0238-9
12. Geoffrey Ahern, Sun at Midnight: the Rudolf Steiner movement and the western esoteric tradition, Aquarian Press, 1984, ISBN 0-85030-338-9, Chapter 6.
13. Rudolf Steiner, Theosophy: An introduction to the spiritual processes in human life and in the cosmos, Steiner Books, 1994, ISBN 0-88010-373-6
14. Rudolf Steiner, Autobiography, Chapter 32
15. Rudolf Steiner, An Outline of Esoteric Science, Steiner Books, 1997, ISBN 0-88010-409-0
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