Prince Chlodwig zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst
Encyclopedia
Chlodwig Carl Viktor, Prince of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, Prince of Ratibor and Corvey (31 March 1819 6 July 1901), usually referred to as the Prince of Hohenlohe, was a German
statesman
, who served as Chancellor of Germany
and Prime Minister of Prussia
from 1894 to 1900. Prior to his appointment as Chancellor, he had served in a number of other positions, including as Prime Minister of Bavaria (1866–1870), German Ambassador to Paris (1873–1880), Foreign Secretary
(1880) and Imperial Lieutenant
of Alsace-Lorraine
(1885–1894). He was regarded as one of the most prominent liberal politicians of his time in Germany.
, in Hesse
, a member of the princely House of Hohenlohe
. His father, Prince Franz Joseph (1787–1841), was a Catholic
; his mother, Princess Konstanze of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, a Lutheran. In accordance with the compromise customary at the time, Chlodwig and his brothers were brought up in the religion of their father, while his sisters followed that of their mother.
, half-sister to Queen Victoria. Instead, however, he decided to enter the Prussian diplomatic service.
Chlodwig's application to be excused the preliminary steps, which involved several years' work in subordinate positions in the Prussian civil service, was refused by King Frederick William IV
. As auscultator in the courts at Koblenz
he acquired a taste for jurisprudence. He became a Referendar in September 1843, and after some months of travel in France
, Switzerland
and Italy
he went to Potsdam
as a civil servant 13 May 1844.
These early years were invaluable, not only as giving him experience of practical affairs but as affording him an insight into the strength and weakness of the Prussian system. The immediate result was to confirm his Liberalism. The Prussian principle of propagating enlightenment with a stick did not appeal to him; he recognized the confusion and want of clear ideas in the highest circles, the tendency to make agreement with the views of the government the test of loyalty to the state; and he noted in his journal (25 June 1844) four years before the revolution of 1848, "a slight cause and we shall have a rising." "The free press," he notes on another occasion, "is a necessity, progress the condition of the existence of a state." If he was an ardent advocate of German unity, and saw in Prussia the instrument for its attainment, he was throughout opposed to the "Prussification" of Germany.
died, leaving his estates to his nephews. It was not until 1840 that it was determined how to divide these estates. On 15 October 1840 Chlodwig's older brother, Viktor Moritz Karl zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, 1st Fürst von Corvey, (10 February 1818 - 30 January 1893), renounced his rights as first-born son to the Principality of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, and was made Duke of Ratibor and Prince of Corvey by King Frederick William IV of Prussia
; at the same time Chlodwig received the additional title of Prince of Ratibor and Corvey. He also received the lordship of Treffurt
in the Prussian governmental district of Erfurt
.
On 14 January 1841 Chlodwig's father, Fürst Franz Joseph (1787–1841), died. As second son he ought to have succeeded as Prince (Fürst) of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, but instead he renounced his rights to his third brother Philipp Ernst, (24 May 1820 - 3 May 1845), with the stipulation that they would revert to him in case of his brother's death. On 3 May 1845 Philipp Ernst died, and Chlodwig succeeded as 7th Prince of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst. As such he was an hereditary member of the Upper House of the Bavarian Reichsrat. Such a position was incompatible with his political career in Prussia. On 18 April 1846 he took his seat as a member of the Bavarian Reichsrat, and the following 26 June he received his formal discharge from the Prussian service.
Chlodwig's political life for the next eighteen years was generally uneventful. During the Revolution of 1848
his sympathies were with the Liberal idea of a united Germany, and he compromised his chances of favor from King Maximilian II of Bavaria
by accepting the task of announcing to the courts of Rome, Florence and Athens the accession to office of the Archduke Johann of Austria
as regent of Germany.
In general this period of Chlodwig's life was occupied in the management of his estates, in the sessions of the Bavarian Reichsrat and in travels. In 1856 he visited Rome, during which he noted the influence of the Jesuits. In 1859 he was studying the political situation at Berlin, and in the same year he paid a visit to England. The marriage of his cadet brother, Konstantin Viktor Prinz zu Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst von Ratibor und Corvey, (8 September 1828 - Vienna
, Austria
, 14 February 1896), to Marie Antoinette Prinzessin zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, (18 February 1837 - 21 January 1920), on 15 October 1859 at Weimar
, Germany
led also to frequent visits to Vienna
. Thus Chlodwig was brought into close touch with all the most notable people in Europe, including Catholic leaders of the Austrian Empire
.
At the same time, during this period (1850–1866) he was endeavouring to get into relations with the Bavarian government, with a view to taking a more active part in affairs. Towards the German question his attitude at this time was tentative. He had little hope of a practical realization of a united Germany, and inclined towards the tripartite divisions under Austria, Prussia and Bavaria the so-called Trias
. He attended the Fürstentag at Frankfurt
in 1863, and in the Schleswig-Holstein question
was a supporter of the prince of Augustenburg. It was at this time that, at the request of Queen Victoria, he began to send her regular reports on the political condition of Germany.
His portrait was painted by Philip de Laszlo.
of 1866 Chlodwig argued in the Bavarian Reichsrat for a closer union with mainly Protestant Prussia. King Ludwig II of Bavaria
was opposed to any dilution of his power, but was eventually brought around, after Bismarck
secretely bequeathed him a large sum from the Welfen-Funds (a large part of the fortune of the royal House of Hanover
used after the annexation
of Hannover by Prussia to fight Hannoverian loyalists) to pay off his large debts.
On 31 December 1866 Chlodwig was appointed minister of the royal house and of foreign affairs and president of the council of ministers. According to Chlodwig's son Alexander (Denkwurdigkeiten, i. 178, 211)) Chlodwig's appointment as Minister-President occurred at the instigation of the composer Richard Wagner
.
As head of the Bavarian government Chlodwig's principal task was to discover some basis for an effective union of the South German states with the North German Confederation
. During the three critical years of his tenure of office he was, next to Bismarck, the most important statesman in Germany. He carried out the reorganization of the Bavarian army on the Prussian model, brought about the military union of the southern states, and took a leading share in the creation of the customs parliament (Zollparlament), of which on the 28th of April 1868 he was elected a vice-president.
During the agitation that arose in connection with the summoning of the First Vatican Council
Chlodwig took up an attitude of strong opposition to the ultramontane position. In common with his brothers, the Duke of Ratibor and Cardinal Gustav Adolf zu Hohenlohe, he believed that the policy of Pope Pius IX
of setting the Church in opposition to the modern state would prove ruinous to both, and that the definition of the dogma of papal infallibility
would irrevocably commit the Church to the pronouncements of the Syllabus of Errors
(1864).
This view he embodied into a circular note to the Roman Catholic powers (9 April 1869), drawn up by Johann Joseph Ignaz von Döllinger
, inviting them to exercise the right of sending ambassadors to the council and to combine to prevent the definition of the dogma. The greater powers, however, were for one reason or another unwilling to intervene, and the only practical outcome of Chlodwig's action was that in Bavaria the powerful ultramontane party combined against him with the Bavarian patriots who accused him of bartering away Bavarian independence to Prussia. The combination was too strong for him; a bill which he brought in for curbing the influence of the Church over education was defeated, the elections of 1869 went against him, and in spite of the continued support of the king he was forced to resign (7 March 1870).
and Berlin
, in no small part due to the favorable terms of the treaty of the North German Confederation with Bavaria, which embodied his views, and with its acceptance by the Bavarian parliament. Elected a member of the German Reichstag
, he was on 23 March 1871 chosen as one of its vice-presidents. He was instrumental in founding the new groups which took the name of the Liberal Imperial party (Liberale Reichspartei), the objects of which were to support the new empire, to secure its internal development on Liberal lines, and to oppose the Catholic Centre.
Like his brother the Duke of Ratibor, Chlodwig was from the first a strenuous supporter of Bismarck's anti-papal policy (the Kulturkampf
), the main lines of which (prohibition of the Society of Jesus
, etc.) he himself suggested. Although he sympathized with the motives of the Old Catholics
, he did not join them, believing that the only hope for a reform of the Church lay with those who desired it remaining in her communion. In 1872 Bismarck proposed appointing Chlodwig's younger brother Cardinal Gustav Adolf Prinz zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, (Rotenburg
, Germany
, 26 March 1823 - Rome
, Italy
, 30 October 1896), as Prussian envoy to the Holy See
, but Pope Pius IX refused to receive him in this capacity.
In 1873 Bismarck chose Chlodwig to succeed Count Harry Arnim as German ambassador in Paris, where he remained for seven years. In 1878 he attended the Congress of Berlin
as third German representative. In 1880, after the death of the German Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Bernhard Ernst von Bülow
(20 October 1879), Chlodwig was called to Berlin as temporary head of the Foreign Office
and representative of Bismarck during his absence through illness.
In 1885 Chlodwig was chosen to succeed Edwin Freiherr von Manteuffel
as governor of Alsace-Lorraine
, incorporated after the 1870 war against France. In this capacity he had to carry out the coercive measures introduced by Bismarck in 1887 and 1888, though he largely disapproved of them; his conciliatory disposition, however, did much to reconcile the Alsace-Lorrainers to German rule.
Chlodwig remained at Strasbourg
till October 1894, when, at the urgent request of the Emperor William II
, he consented, in spite of his advanced years, to accept the chancellorship as Caprivi
's successor. The events of his chancellorship belong to the general history of Germany; as regards the inner history of this time the editor of his memoirs has very properly suppressed the greater part of the detailed comments which the prince left behind him. In general, during his term of office, the personality of the chancellor was less conspicuous in public affairs than in the case of either of his predecessors. His appearances in the Prussian and German parliaments were rare, and great independence was left to the secretaries of state.
, Switzerland
on 6 July 1901.
, daughter of Ludwig Adolf Friedrich, 2nd Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn
and his first wife Princess Caroline (Stephanie) Radziwill
. Marie was the heiress to vast estates in Imperial Russia. This led to two prolonged visits to Verkiai
, Lithuania
from 1851 to 1853 and again in 1860 in connection with the management of these properties.
Chlodwig and Marie had six children:
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
statesman
Statesman
A statesman is usually a politician or other notable public figure who has had a long and respected career in politics or government at the national and international level. As a term of respect, it is usually left to supporters or commentators to use the term...
, who served as Chancellor of Germany
Chancellor of Germany
The Chancellor of Germany is, under the German 1949 constitution, the head of government of Germany...
and Prime Minister of Prussia
Prime Minister of Prussia
The office of Minister President or Prime Minister of Prussia existed in one form or another from 1702 until the dissolution of Prussia in 1947. When Prussia was an independent kingdom the Minister President or Prime Minister functioned as the King's Chief Minister and presided over the Prussian...
from 1894 to 1900. Prior to his appointment as Chancellor, he had served in a number of other positions, including as Prime Minister of Bavaria (1866–1870), German Ambassador to Paris (1873–1880), Foreign Secretary
Foreign Minister of Germany
The Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs is the head of the Federal Foreign Office and a member of the Cabinet of Germany. The current office holder is Guido Westerwelle...
(1880) and Imperial Lieutenant
Reichsstatthalter
The term Reichsstatthalter was used twice for different offices, in the imperial Hohenzollern dynasty's German Empire and the single-party Nazi Third Reich.- "Statthalter des Reiches" 1879-1918 in Alsace-Lorraine :...
of Alsace-Lorraine
Alsace-Lorraine
The Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine was a territory created by the German Empire in 1871 after it annexed most of Alsace and the Moselle region of Lorraine following its victory in the Franco-Prussian War. The Alsatian part lay in the Rhine Valley on the west bank of the Rhine River and east...
(1885–1894). He was regarded as one of the most prominent liberal politicians of his time in Germany.
Birth
Chlodwig was born at Rotenburg an der FuldaRotenburg an der Fulda
Rotenburg an der Fulda is a town in Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in northeastern Hesse, Germany lying, as the name says, on the river Fulda.- Geography :- Location :...
, in Hesse
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
, a member of the princely House of Hohenlohe
Hohenlohe
Hohenlohe is the name of a German princely family and the name of their principality.At first rulers of a county, its two branches were raised to the rank of principalities of the Holy Roman Empire in 1744 and 1764 respectively; in 1806 they lost their independence and their lands formed part of...
. His father, Prince Franz Joseph (1787–1841), was a Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
; his mother, Princess Konstanze of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, a Lutheran. In accordance with the compromise customary at the time, Chlodwig and his brothers were brought up in the religion of their father, while his sisters followed that of their mother.
Early career
As the younger son of a cadet line of his house it was necessary for Chlodwig to follow a profession. For a while he thought of obtaining a commission in the British army through the influence of his aunt, Princess Feodora of Hohenlohe-LangenburgPrincess Feodora of Leiningen
Princess Feodora of Leiningen was the only daughter of Emich Carl, Prince of Leiningen and Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld . Feodora and her older brother Carl, 3rd Prince of Leiningen were maternal half-siblings of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom...
, half-sister to Queen Victoria. Instead, however, he decided to enter the Prussian diplomatic service.
Chlodwig's application to be excused the preliminary steps, which involved several years' work in subordinate positions in the Prussian civil service, was refused by King Frederick William IV
Frederick William IV of Prussia
|align=right|Upon his accession, he toned down the reactionary policies enacted by his father, easing press censorship and promising to enact a constitution at some point, but he refused to enact a popular legislative assembly, preferring to work with the aristocracy through "united committees" of...
. As auscultator in the courts at Koblenz
Koblenz
Koblenz is a German city situated on both banks of the Rhine at its confluence with the Moselle, where the Deutsches Eck and its monument are situated.As Koblenz was one of the military posts established by Drusus about 8 BC, the...
he acquired a taste for jurisprudence. He became a Referendar in September 1843, and after some months of travel in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
and Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
he went to Potsdam
Potsdam
Potsdam is the capital city of the German federal state of Brandenburg and part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. It is situated on the River Havel, southwest of Berlin city centre....
as a civil servant 13 May 1844.
These early years were invaluable, not only as giving him experience of practical affairs but as affording him an insight into the strength and weakness of the Prussian system. The immediate result was to confirm his Liberalism. The Prussian principle of propagating enlightenment with a stick did not appeal to him; he recognized the confusion and want of clear ideas in the highest circles, the tendency to make agreement with the views of the government the test of loyalty to the state; and he noted in his journal (25 June 1844) four years before the revolution of 1848, "a slight cause and we shall have a rising." "The free press," he notes on another occasion, "is a necessity, progress the condition of the existence of a state." If he was an ardent advocate of German unity, and saw in Prussia the instrument for its attainment, he was throughout opposed to the "Prussification" of Germany.
Succession to family titles and estates
Chlodwig was the second of six sons. In 1834 his mother's brother-in-law Landgrave Viktor Amadeus of Hesse-RotenburgHesse-Rotenburg
Hesse-Rotenburg is a former German landgraviate created from the landgraviate of Hesse-Cassel in 1627. Independence ended in 1834 when the estates not bequeathed to princes Victor and Chlodwig of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfurst were reunited with Hesse-Kassel.-History:The line of Hesse-Kassel ...
died, leaving his estates to his nephews. It was not until 1840 that it was determined how to divide these estates. On 15 October 1840 Chlodwig's older brother, Viktor Moritz Karl zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, 1st Fürst von Corvey, (10 February 1818 - 30 January 1893), renounced his rights as first-born son to the Principality of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, and was made Duke of Ratibor and Prince of Corvey by King Frederick William IV of Prussia
Frederick William IV of Prussia
|align=right|Upon his accession, he toned down the reactionary policies enacted by his father, easing press censorship and promising to enact a constitution at some point, but he refused to enact a popular legislative assembly, preferring to work with the aristocracy through "united committees" of...
; at the same time Chlodwig received the additional title of Prince of Ratibor and Corvey. He also received the lordship of Treffurt
Treffurt
Treffurt is a town in the Wartburgkreis district, in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated on the river Werra, 19 km northwest of Eisenach, and 18 km southwest of Mühlhausen in the Naturpark Eichsfeld-Hainich-Werratal nature park. Treffurt is well known for its old beautiful villas and...
in the Prussian governmental district of Erfurt
Erfurt
Erfurt is the capital city of Thuringia and the main city nearest to the geographical centre of Germany, located 100 km SW of Leipzig, 150 km N of Nuremberg and 180 km SE of Hannover. Erfurt Airport can be reached by plane via Munich. It lies in the southern part of the Thuringian...
.
On 14 January 1841 Chlodwig's father, Fürst Franz Joseph (1787–1841), died. As second son he ought to have succeeded as Prince (Fürst) of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, but instead he renounced his rights to his third brother Philipp Ernst, (24 May 1820 - 3 May 1845), with the stipulation that they would revert to him in case of his brother's death. On 3 May 1845 Philipp Ernst died, and Chlodwig succeeded as 7th Prince of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst. As such he was an hereditary member of the Upper House of the Bavarian Reichsrat. Such a position was incompatible with his political career in Prussia. On 18 April 1846 he took his seat as a member of the Bavarian Reichsrat, and the following 26 June he received his formal discharge from the Prussian service.
Chlodwig's political life for the next eighteen years was generally uneventful. During the Revolution of 1848
Revolutions of 1848 in the German states
The Revolutions of 1848 in the German states, also called the March Revolution – part of the Revolutions of 1848 that broke out in many countries of Europe – were a series of loosely coordinated protests and rebellions in the states of the German Confederation, including the Austrian Empire...
his sympathies were with the Liberal idea of a united Germany, and he compromised his chances of favor from King Maximilian II of Bavaria
Maximilian II of Bavaria
Maximilian II of Bavaria was king of Bavaria from 1848 until 1864. He was son of Ludwig I of Bavaria and Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen.-Crown Prince:...
by accepting the task of announcing to the courts of Rome, Florence and Athens the accession to office of the Archduke Johann of Austria
Archduke Johann of Austria
Archduke John of Austria was a member of the Habsburg dynasty, an Austrian field marshal and German Imperial regent .-Biography:...
as regent of Germany.
In general this period of Chlodwig's life was occupied in the management of his estates, in the sessions of the Bavarian Reichsrat and in travels. In 1856 he visited Rome, during which he noted the influence of the Jesuits. In 1859 he was studying the political situation at Berlin, and in the same year he paid a visit to England. The marriage of his cadet brother, Konstantin Viktor Prinz zu Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst von Ratibor und Corvey, (8 September 1828 - Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, 14 February 1896), to Marie Antoinette Prinzessin zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, (18 February 1837 - 21 January 1920), on 15 October 1859 at Weimar
Weimar
Weimar is a city in Germany famous for its cultural heritage. It is located in the federal state of Thuringia , north of the Thüringer Wald, east of Erfurt, and southwest of Halle and Leipzig. Its current population is approximately 65,000. The oldest record of the city dates from the year 899...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
led also to frequent visits to Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
. Thus Chlodwig was brought into close touch with all the most notable people in Europe, including Catholic leaders of the Austrian Empire
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...
.
At the same time, during this period (1850–1866) he was endeavouring to get into relations with the Bavarian government, with a view to taking a more active part in affairs. Towards the German question his attitude at this time was tentative. He had little hope of a practical realization of a united Germany, and inclined towards the tripartite divisions under Austria, Prussia and Bavaria the so-called Trias
Trias
Trias is a board game authored by Ralf Lehmkuhl. It is distributed by Rio Grande Games, Tilsit Editions and Gecko Games.The game is set in the Triassic period. Players maneuver dinosaur-shaped pieces and manage the "continental drift" of hexagonal tiles in order to spread their species and dominate...
. He attended the Fürstentag at Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
in 1863, and in the Schleswig-Holstein question
Schleswig-Holstein Question
The Schleswig-Holstein Question was a complex of diplomatic and other issues arising in the 19th century from the relations of two duchies, Schleswig and Holstein , to the Danish crown and to the German Confederation....
was a supporter of the prince of Augustenburg. It was at this time that, at the request of Queen Victoria, he began to send her regular reports on the political condition of Germany.
His portrait was painted by Philip de Laszlo.
Minister-President of Bavaria
After the Austro-Prussian WarAustro-Prussian War
The Austro-Prussian War was a war fought in 1866 between the German Confederation under the leadership of the Austrian Empire and its German allies on one side and the Kingdom of Prussia with its German allies and Italy on the...
of 1866 Chlodwig argued in the Bavarian Reichsrat for a closer union with mainly Protestant Prussia. King Ludwig II of Bavaria
Ludwig II of Bavaria
Ludwig II was King of Bavaria from 1864 until shortly before his death. He is sometimes called the Swan King and der Märchenkönig, the Fairy tale King...
was opposed to any dilution of his power, but was eventually brought around, after Bismarck
Otto von Bismarck
Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg , simply known as Otto von Bismarck, was a Prussian-German statesman whose actions unified Germany, made it a major player in world affairs, and created a balance of power that kept Europe at peace after 1871.As Minister President of...
secretely bequeathed him a large sum from the Welfen-Funds (a large part of the fortune of the royal House of Hanover
House of Hanover
The House of Hanover is a deposed German royal dynasty which has ruled the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg , the Kingdom of Hanover, the Kingdom of Great Britain, the Kingdom of Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
used after the annexation
Annexation
Annexation is the de jure incorporation of some territory into another geo-political entity . Usually, it is implied that the territory and population being annexed is the smaller, more peripheral, and weaker of the two merging entities, barring physical size...
of Hannover by Prussia to fight Hannoverian loyalists) to pay off his large debts.
On 31 December 1866 Chlodwig was appointed minister of the royal house and of foreign affairs and president of the council of ministers. According to Chlodwig's son Alexander (Denkwurdigkeiten, i. 178, 211)) Chlodwig's appointment as Minister-President occurred at the instigation of the composer Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
.
As head of the Bavarian government Chlodwig's principal task was to discover some basis for an effective union of the South German states with the North German Confederation
North German Confederation
The North German Confederation 1866–71, was a federation of 22 independent states of northern Germany. It was formed by a constitution accepted by the member states in 1867 and controlled military and foreign policy. It included the new Reichstag, a parliament elected by universal manhood...
. During the three critical years of his tenure of office he was, next to Bismarck, the most important statesman in Germany. He carried out the reorganization of the Bavarian army on the Prussian model, brought about the military union of the southern states, and took a leading share in the creation of the customs parliament (Zollparlament), of which on the 28th of April 1868 he was elected a vice-president.
During the agitation that arose in connection with the summoning of the First Vatican Council
First Vatican Council
The First Vatican Council was convoked by Pope Pius IX on 29 June 1868, after a period of planning and preparation that began on 6 December 1864. This twentieth ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church, held three centuries after the Council of Trent, opened on 8 December 1869 and adjourned...
Chlodwig took up an attitude of strong opposition to the ultramontane position. In common with his brothers, the Duke of Ratibor and Cardinal Gustav Adolf zu Hohenlohe, he believed that the policy of Pope Pius IX
Pope Pius IX
Blessed Pope Pius IX , born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, was the longest-reigning elected Pope in the history of the Catholic Church, serving from 16 June 1846 until his death, a period of nearly 32 years. During his pontificate, he convened the First Vatican Council in 1869, which decreed papal...
of setting the Church in opposition to the modern state would prove ruinous to both, and that the definition of the dogma of papal infallibility
Papal infallibility
Papal infallibility is a dogma of the Catholic Church which states that, by action of the Holy Spirit, the Pope is preserved from even the possibility of error when in his official capacity he solemnly declares or promulgates to the universal Church a dogmatic teaching on faith or morals...
would irrevocably commit the Church to the pronouncements of the Syllabus of Errors
Syllabus of Errors
The Syllabus of Errors was a document issued by Holy See under Pope Pius IX on December 8, 1864, Feast of the Immaculate Conception, on the same day as the Pope's encyclical Quanta Cura.- Format :...
(1864).
This view he embodied into a circular note to the Roman Catholic powers (9 April 1869), drawn up by Johann Joseph Ignaz von Döllinger
Johann Joseph Ignaz von Döllinger
Johann Joseph Ignaz von Döllinger was a German theologian, Catholic priest and church historian who rejected the dogma of papal infallibility...
, inviting them to exercise the right of sending ambassadors to the council and to combine to prevent the definition of the dogma. The greater powers, however, were for one reason or another unwilling to intervene, and the only practical outcome of Chlodwig's action was that in Bavaria the powerful ultramontane party combined against him with the Bavarian patriots who accused him of bartering away Bavarian independence to Prussia. The combination was too strong for him; a bill which he brought in for curbing the influence of the Church over education was defeated, the elections of 1869 went against him, and in spite of the continued support of the king he was forced to resign (7 March 1870).
Continuing influence
Though out of office, his personal influence continued to be very great both at MunichMunich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
and Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, in no small part due to the favorable terms of the treaty of the North German Confederation with Bavaria, which embodied his views, and with its acceptance by the Bavarian parliament. Elected a member of the German Reichstag
Reichstag (German Empire)
The Reichstag was the parliament of the North German Confederation , and of the German Reich ....
, he was on 23 March 1871 chosen as one of its vice-presidents. He was instrumental in founding the new groups which took the name of the Liberal Imperial party (Liberale Reichspartei), the objects of which were to support the new empire, to secure its internal development on Liberal lines, and to oppose the Catholic Centre.
Like his brother the Duke of Ratibor, Chlodwig was from the first a strenuous supporter of Bismarck's anti-papal policy (the Kulturkampf
Kulturkampf
The German term refers to German policies in relation to secularity and the influence of the Roman Catholic Church, enacted from 1871 to 1878 by the Prime Minister of Prussia, Otto von Bismarck. The Kulturkampf did not extend to the other German states such as Bavaria...
), the main lines of which (prohibition of the Society of Jesus
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
, etc.) he himself suggested. Although he sympathized with the motives of the Old Catholics
Old Catholic Church
The term Old Catholic Church is commonly used to describe a number of Ultrajectine Christian churches that originated with groups that split from the Roman Catholic Church over certain doctrines, most importantly that of Papal Infallibility...
, he did not join them, believing that the only hope for a reform of the Church lay with those who desired it remaining in her communion. In 1872 Bismarck proposed appointing Chlodwig's younger brother Cardinal Gustav Adolf Prinz zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, (Rotenburg
Rotenburg
Rotenburg is the name of the following three towns in Germany:*Rotenburg an der Wümme, near Verden in Lower Saxony*Rotenburg an der Fulda, near Kassel in Hesse*Rothenburg ob der Tauber, in the Franconia region of Bavaria...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, 26 March 1823 - Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, 30 October 1896), as Prussian envoy to the Holy See
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
, but Pope Pius IX refused to receive him in this capacity.
In 1873 Bismarck chose Chlodwig to succeed Count Harry Arnim as German ambassador in Paris, where he remained for seven years. In 1878 he attended the Congress of Berlin
Congress of Berlin
The Congress of Berlin was a meeting of the European Great Powers' and the Ottoman Empire's leading statesmen in Berlin in 1878. In the wake of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, the meeting's aim was to reorganize the countries of the Balkans...
as third German representative. In 1880, after the death of the German Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Bernhard Ernst von Bülow
Bernhard Ernst von Bülow
Bernhard Ernst von Bülow was a Danish and German statesman.He was the son of Adolf von Bülow, a Danish official, and was born at Cismar in Holstein. His own son Bernhard von Bülow was also a German statesman and chancellor...
(20 October 1879), Chlodwig was called to Berlin as temporary head of the Foreign Office
Foreign Office (Germany)
The Foreign Office is the foreign ministry of Germany, a federal agency responsible for both the country's foreign politics and its relationship with the European Union. From 1871 to 1919, it was led by a Foreign Secretary, and since 1919, it has been led by the Foreign Minister of Germany...
and representative of Bismarck during his absence through illness.
In 1885 Chlodwig was chosen to succeed Edwin Freiherr von Manteuffel
Edwin Freiherr von Manteuffel
Edwin Freiherr von Manteuffel was a German Generalfeldmarschall noted for his victories in the Franco-Prussian War....
as governor of Alsace-Lorraine
Alsace-Lorraine
The Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine was a territory created by the German Empire in 1871 after it annexed most of Alsace and the Moselle region of Lorraine following its victory in the Franco-Prussian War. The Alsatian part lay in the Rhine Valley on the west bank of the Rhine River and east...
, incorporated after the 1870 war against France. In this capacity he had to carry out the coercive measures introduced by Bismarck in 1887 and 1888, though he largely disapproved of them; his conciliatory disposition, however, did much to reconcile the Alsace-Lorrainers to German rule.
Chancellor of Germany
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
till October 1894, when, at the urgent request of the Emperor William II
William II, German Emperor
Wilhelm II was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia, ruling the German Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia from 15 June 1888 to 9 November 1918. He was a grandson of the British Queen Victoria and related to many monarchs and princes of Europe...
, he consented, in spite of his advanced years, to accept the chancellorship as Caprivi
Leo von Caprivi
Georg Leo Graf von Caprivi de Caprera de Montecuccoli was a German major general and statesman, who succeeded Otto von Bismarck as Chancellor of Germany...
's successor. The events of his chancellorship belong to the general history of Germany; as regards the inner history of this time the editor of his memoirs has very properly suppressed the greater part of the detailed comments which the prince left behind him. In general, during his term of office, the personality of the chancellor was less conspicuous in public affairs than in the case of either of his predecessors. His appearances in the Prussian and German parliaments were rare, and great independence was left to the secretaries of state.
Death
Chlodwig resigned the chancellorship on 17 October 1900. He died at Bad RagazBad Ragaz
Bad Ragaz is a municipality in the Wahlkreis of Sarganserland in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland.It is the home of a famous natural spring and is a popular spa and health resort destination. Bad Ragaz is also surprisingly known as one of the best pizza towns in all of Europe...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
on 6 July 1901.
Marriage and family
On 16 February 1847 at Rödelheim Chlodwig married Princess Marie of Sayn-Wittgenstein-SaynSayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn
Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn was a County of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, comprising the lands of the region of Sayn. It was created as a partition of Sayn-Wittgenstein in 1607, although it was not until the next year that it obtained fully the Countship of Sayn. The succession was never clear, leading...
, daughter of Ludwig Adolf Friedrich, 2nd Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn
Ludwig zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg
Prince Ludwig Adolf Friedrich of Sayn-Wittgenstein was a Russian aristocrat of German descent...
and his first wife Princess Caroline (Stephanie) Radziwill
Radziwill
The Radziwiłł family is an noble family of Lithuanian origin. The descendants of Kristinas Astikas, a close associate of the 14th century Lithuanian ruler Vytautas, were highly prominent for centuries, first in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, later in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the...
. Marie was the heiress to vast estates in Imperial Russia. This led to two prolonged visits to Verkiai
Verkiai
Verkiai is a northernmost eldership in Vilnius, Lithuania. Historically it was a separate settlement situated north of Vilnius but today it is a part of Vilnius city municipality. It occupies 5,565 ha and has 30,000 inhabitants...
, Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
from 1851 to 1853 and again in 1860 in connection with the management of these properties.
Chlodwig and Marie had six children:
- Elisabeth Constanze Leonille Stephanie (30 November 1847, Schillingsfürst - 26 October 1915 Alt-Aussee)
- Stephanie Marie Antonie (6 July 1851, Schillingsfürst - 18 March 1882, MunichMunichMunich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
); married (12 April 1871, Schillingsfürst) Count Arthur von Schönborn-Wiesentheid (30 January 1846, WürzburgWürzburgWürzburg is a city in the region of Franconia which lies in the northern tip of Bavaria, Germany. Located at the Main River, it is the capital of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. The regional dialect is Franconian....
- 29 September 1915, WiesentheidWiesentheidWiesentheid is a municipality in the district of Kitzingen in Bavaria in Germany.-History:First time vouched in 918 as "wisenheida". The Mediatization in 1806 brought former shire Schönborn to grand duchy Würzburg so that in 1814 it belonged to Bavaria again...
)
- Philipp Ernst, 8th Prince of Hohenlohe-SchillingsfürstPhilipp Ernst, 8th Prince of Hohenlohe-SchillingsfürstPhilipp Ernst, 8th Prince of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst -Biography:He was born on June 5, 1853 to Chlodwig, Prince of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst in Schillingsfürst. He married on January 10, 1882 in Vienna to Princess Chariclée Ypsilanti. They did not have any children.After her death he married...
(5 June 1853, Schillingsfürst - 26 December 1915, Bad ReichenhallBad ReichenhallBad Reichenhall is a spa town, and administrative center of the Berchtesgadener Land district in Upper Bavaria, Germany. It is located near Salzburg in a basin encircled by the Chiemgauer Alps ....
); married 1st (10 January 1882, Vienna) Princess Chariclée YpsilantiYpsilantisThe Ypsilantis were a Greek Phanariote family which grew into prominence and power in Constantinople during the last centuries of Ottoman Empire and gave several short-reign hospodars to the Danubian Principalities...
(8 October 1863, ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
- 22 June 1912, Schillingsfürst); married 2nd morganaticallyMorganatic marriageIn the context of European royalty, a morganatic marriage is a marriage between people of unequal social rank, which prevents the passage of the husband's titles and privileges to the wife and any children born of the marriage...
(6 August 1913, EdinburghEdinburghEdinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
) Henriette Gindra, created Frau von Hellberg 10 July 1914 (7 October 1884, ViennaViennaVienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
- 15 May 1952, InnsbruckInnsbruck- Main sights :- Buildings :*Golden Roof*Kaiserliche Hofburg *Hofkirche with the cenotaph of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor*Altes Landhaus...
)
- Albert (14 October 1857, Schillingsfürst - 13 April 1866, Munich)
- Moritz, 9th Prince of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst (6 August 1862, LindauLindauLindau is a Bavarian town and an island on the eastern side of Lake Constance, the Bodensee. It is the capital of the Landkreis or rural district of Lindau. The historic city of Lindau is located on an island which is connected with the mainland by bridge and railway.- History :The name Lindau was...
- 27 February 1940, Schillingsfürst); married (19 August 1893, Dyck) Altgravine Rosa of Salm-Reifferscheidt-Krautheim and Dyck (12 April 1868, Herrschberg am Bodensee - 1 December 1942, Munich)
- Alexander (6 August 1862, LindauLindauLindau is a Bavarian town and an island on the eastern side of Lake Constance, the Bodensee. It is the capital of the Landkreis or rural district of Lindau. The historic city of Lindau is located on an island which is connected with the mainland by bridge and railway.- History :The name Lindau was...
- 16 May 1924, BadenweilerBadenweilerBadenweiler, a health resort and spa of the Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald district of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, historically in the Markgräflerland. It is 28 kilometers by road and rail from Basel, 10 kilometers from the French border, and 20 kilometers away from Mulhouse...
); married (16 May 1895, CologneCologneCologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
) Emanuela Gallone dei Principi di Tricase Moliterno (19 February 1854, NaplesNaplesNaples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
- 26 March 1936, Naples)
Ancestry
Further reading
- Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, Prince Chlodwig zu. Memoirs of Prince Chlowig of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfuerst. London: W. Heinemann, 1906. Chlodwig's own memoirs.
- Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, Prince Alexander zu. Denkwürdigkeiten. Stuttgart, 1907. An outspoken biography by Chlodwig's youngest son.
- Hedemann, Alexandrine von. My Friendship with Prince Hohenlohe. London: E. Nash,, 1912.
- Fraley, Jonathan David, Jr. The Domestic Policy of Prince Hohenlohe as Chancellor of Germany, 1894-1900. 1971. A Ph.D. dissertation at Duke UniversityDuke UniversityDuke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
. - Stalmann, Volker: Fürst Chlodwig zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst 1819-1901. Ein deutscher Reichskanzler. Schöningh, Paderborn 2009. ISBN 3-506-70118-3.
- Zachau, Olav. Die Kanzlerschaft des Fürsten Hohenlohe 1894-1900. Politik unter dem "Stempel der Beruhigung" im Zeitalter der Nervosität. Hamburg 2007. (Studien zur Geschichtsforschung der Neuzeit, Vol. 48)