Johann Kasimir Kolbe von Wartenberg
Encyclopedia
Johann Kasimir Kolbe von Wartenberg (6 February 1643, Wetterau
Wetterau
The Wetterau is a fertile undulating tract, watered by the Wetter, a tributary of the Nidda River, in the western German state of Hesse, between the hilly province Oberhessen and the north-western Taunus mountains....

 – 4 July 1712, Frankfurt am Main) was the first ever Minister-President (effectively Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...

) of the kingdom of Prussia
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...

, and the head of the "Cabinet of Three Counts
Cabinet of Three Counts
The Cabinet of Three Counts was an unofficial triumvirate which dominated the politics of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1702 to 1710.It was made up of Alexander Hermann, Count of Wartensleben,...

".

Life

In his youth he was Oberstallmeister and Geheimer Rat
Geheimrat
Geheimrat was the title of the highest advising officials at the Imperial, royal or principal courts of the Holy Roman Empire, who jointly formed the Geheimer Rat reporting to the ruler...

 in the council of Mary of Orange (1642–1688), sister-in-law of the Great Elector
Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg
|align=right|Frederick William was Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia – and thus ruler of Brandenburg-Prussia – from 1640 until his death. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he is popularly known as the "Great Elector" because of his military and political prowess...

 and wife of Pfalzgraf Ludwig Heinrich von Simmern (1640–1674). On her death he transferred to the service of Frederick III of Brandenburg
Frederick I of Prussia
Frederick I , of the Hohenzollern dynasty, was Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia in personal union . The latter function he upgraded to royalty, becoming the first King in Prussia . From 1707 he was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel...

, where he rose quickly through the ranks - in 1691 he became Schlosshauptmann of Berlin, in 1694 Hauptmann der Dompropstei Havelberg, in 1696 Oberstallmeister and Oberkammerherr.

On the fall of first minister Eberhard von Danckelmann
Eberhard von Danckelmann
Eberhard von Danckelmann was a German official who served as Prime Minister of Brandenburg-Prussia from 1692-97....

 in 1697 he became minister and finance minister and quickly eliminated his competitors Hans Albrecht von Barfus
Hans Albrecht von Barfus
Hans Albrecht von Barfus was a field marshal in the service of Brandenburg and Prussia, serving briefly as prime minister under King Frederick I.- Military career :Barfus was born in 1635 to a cuirassier captain and his wife...

 and Paul von Fuchs via targeted intrigue and filled important court posts with his henchmen. On 18 January 1701, at Frederick's coronation in Königsberg, it was Johann who was allowed to place the purple cloak on him, and in the same year he became prime minister. His course was marked by a proliferation in the offices he was awarded -
along with those already mentioned, he also held the offices of marshal of the kingdom of Prussia, protector of the Royal Academy, chancellor of the Order of the Black Eagle
Order of the Black Eagle
The Order of the Black Eagle was the highest order of chivalry in the Kingdom of Prussia. The order was founded on 17 January 1701 by Elector Friedrich III of Brandenburg . In his Dutch exile after WWI, deposed Emperor Wilhelm II continued to award the order to his family...

, Oberstallmeister, Oberaufseher of the royal castles, Oberhauptmann of all the Schatullenämter, postmaster
Postmaster
A postmaster is the head of an individual post office. Postmistress is not used anymore in the United States, as the "master" component of the word refers to a person of authority and has no gender quality...

 general. Moreover, he did not hold these offices one after the other, but instead all at once, in a kind of personal union
Personal union
A personal union is the combination by which two or more different states have the same monarch while their boundaries, their laws and their interests remain distinct. It should not be confused with a federation which is internationally considered a single state...

, thus making him able to fill the court with systematic corruption and enrich himself shamelessly.

He was also assisted by his wife Katharina Rickers (1670, Lobith - 1734, The Hague). She was of middle-class origin, as the daughter of a tax collector for the Brandenburg court to the Duchy of Cleves
Duchy of Cleves
The Duchy of Cleves was a State of the Holy Roman Empire. It was situated in the northern Rhineland on both sides of the Lower Rhine, around its capital Cleves and the town of Wesel, bordering the lands of the Prince-Bishopric of Münster in the east and the Duchy of Brabant in the west...

 in Emmerich am Rhein. She came to Berlin as wife to Kammersekretär Peter Biedekap and there fell in love with Johann. After their marriage, she became the king's official mistress. Johann's son Kasimir (1699) later became a general under Frederick William I of Prussia
Frederick William I of Prussia
Frederick William I of the House of Hohenzollern, was the King in Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg from 1713 until his death...

.

In 1704 the king successfully petitioned the Holy Roman Emperor
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...

 to promote Johann to the rank of Reichsgraf of Wartenberg. Johann and his ministers, Oberhofmarschall Graf August von Wittgenstein
August David zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein
Graf August David of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein was a Prussian politician. He was a member of the Cabinet of Three Counts, with Johann Kasimir Kolbe von Wartenberg and Alexander Hermann, Count of Wartensleben, also known due to their heavy taxation as "the great W of Prussia...

 (14 April 1663–1735) and Generalfeldmarschall Graf Alexander Hermann von Wartensleben (1650–1734) − the "three great W(oes)" of Prussia (Wartenberg, Wartensleben, Wittgenstein) – raised and wasted national taxation. For example Johann made August Reichsgraf zu Sayn-Wittgenstein director of salt mines in 1705, and then used the opportunity to raise the salt tax and thus increase his receipts. He also introduced taxes on wigs, hats, stockings and carriages, as well as the precursor of a coffee tax (whoever wanted tea, coffee or cocoa had to acquire a license, costing two taler a year). Wartenberg was also a member of the "der Bessere" company.

As the population's troubles mounted, crown-prince Frederick William intervened and Johann's cabal fell. In 1711 Johann was released from government service and retired to his estates.

Sources

Siegfried Isaacsohn: Johann Kasimir Kolbe, Graf von Wartenberg. In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie
Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie
Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie is one of the most important and most comprehensive biographical reference works in the German language....

(ADB). Bd. 16, Leipzig 1882, S. 463–65. Johann Kasimir Kolbe von Wartenberg. Article in: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon
Meyers Konversations-Lexikon
Meyers Konversations-Lexikon or Meyers Lexikon was a major German encyclopedia that existed in various editions, and several titles, from 1839 until 1984, when it merged with the Brockhaus encyclopedia....

, 4. Aufl. 1888–1890, Bd. 16, S. 403 f. Uwe Kieling, Johannes Althoff: Das Nikolaiviertel. Spuren der Geschichte im ältesten Berlin. Berlin-Edition, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-8148-0080-X, S. 74–78.

External links

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