Josef Ludwig von Armansperg
Encyclopedia
Josef Ludwig, Graf von Armansperg (Κόμης Ιωσήφ Λουδοβίκος Άρμανσμπεργκ) (28 February 1787 - 3 April 1853) served as the Interior and Finance Minister (1826-1828) and Foreign and Finance Minister (1828-1831) under King Ludwig I of Bavaria
Ludwig I of Bavaria
Ludwig I was a German king of Bavaria from 1825 until the 1848 revolutions in the German states.-Crown prince:...

 in the government of Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...

. He was a liberal monarchist and an economic conservative
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...

 who promoted the unification of Germany
Unification of Germany
The formal unification of Germany into a politically and administratively integrated nation state officially occurred on 18 January 1871 at the Versailles Palace's Hall of Mirrors in France. Princes of the German states gathered there to proclaim Wilhelm of Prussia as Emperor Wilhelm of the German...

 with his attempts at a tariff union. Later he served as Regent
Regent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...

 of Greece for the underage Bavarian-born king and as his Prime Minister.

Early life

Von Armansperg was born in Kötzting, Lower Bavaria in 1787. In the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...

, in 1813 - 1814, he was Commissioner of Bavaria in the allied army, and belonged to the board which governed the conquered regions on the Rhine River. He participated in the Congress of Vienna
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars,...

 in 1815, and was one of the plenipotentiaries with the allied army during the occupation of France, and administered a large district of that country. In 1825 he was chosen President of the Bavarian Chamber of Deputies, and became leader of the moderate opposition. King Ludwig of Bavaria made him Finance Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs. He was one of the founders of the German Zollverein
Zollverein
thumb|upright=1.2|The German Zollverein 1834–1919blue = Prussia in 1834 grey= Included region until 1866yellow= Excluded after 1866red = Borders of the German Union of 1828 pink= Relevant others until 1834...

, a tariff union instrumental in advancing German unification. By his opposition to the Catholic ultramontanes
Ultramontanism
Ultramontanism is a religious philosophy within the Roman Catholic community that places strong emphasis on the prerogatives and powers of the Pope...

, he forfeited the confidence of the king, and retired into private life.

In Greece

When King Ludwig's son Otto
Otto of Greece
Otto, Prince of Bavaria, then Othon, King of Greece was made the first modern King of Greece in 1832 under the Convention of London, whereby Greece became a new independent kingdom under the protection of the Great Powers .The second son of the philhellene King Ludwig I of Bavaria, Otto ascended...

 was offered the Greek
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 throne in 1832, King Ludwig made von Armansperg the President of the Privy Council and the 1st representative (or Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Greece
The Prime Minister of Greece , officially the Prime Minister of the Hellenic Republic , is the head of government of the Hellenic Republic and the leader of the Greek cabinet. The current interim Prime Minister is Lucas Papademos, a former Vice President of the European Central Bank, following...

) of the new government. The other members of the Regency Council were Karl von Abel
Karl von Abel
Karl von Abel was a Bavarian statesman.Born in Wetzlar, Abel was the son of a procurator at the superior Court of Justice...

 and Georg Ludwig von Maurer
Georg Ludwig von Maurer
Georg Ludwig Maurer, since 1831 Georg Ludwig von Maurer was a German statesman and legal historian.-Biography:Maurer was born at Erpolzheim, near Dürkheim as the son of a Protestant pastor....

 with whom von Armansperg clashed often. After the King reached his majority in 1835, von Armansperg was made Arch-Secretary but was called Arch-Chancellor by the Greek press. Von Armansperg became an almost independent political actor in Greek politics as time went on; finding himself increasingly at odds with the king he was sent to support and advise. The situation came to a head when Otto was in Bavaria for his wedding to Queen Amalia
Amalia of Oldenburg
Amalia of Oldenburg, Queen of Greece was the consort of King Otto of Greece . Born the daughter of Augustus, Grand Duke of Oldenburg and Princess Adelheid of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym, she married King Otto on 22 December 1836, in Oldenburg...

 and the king discovered that his physician had been sending dispatches (presumably at the behest of von Armansperg) to the king's father describing young Otto as deranged.

In 1837, von Armansperg was dismissed from his post and he returned to the von Armansperg residence of Schloss Egg near Deggendorf
Deggendorf
Deggendorf is a town in Bavaria, capital of the district Deggendorf.The earliest traces of settlement in the area are found near the Danube, about 8,000 years ago. Both Bronze Age and Celtic era archeological finds indicate continuous habitation through the years...

 in Lower Bavaria. He died in 1853 in Munich
Munich
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...

.
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