Alexander von Westerholt

Count Alexander Ferdinand von Westerholt (1763 – 1827) was a Bavarian statesman and scholar.

Alexander, Count von Westerholt

Early life
Coat of arms of the Counts of Westerholt

Westerhold was born in the Free Imperial City of Regensburg in 1763. He was the son of Johann Jakob von Westerholt (1727–1814), who had been born in Koblenz and had inherited the position of postmaster.[1] In 1755, he became Hofmarschall (essentially Chamberlain) for Alexander Ferdinand, 3rd Prince of Thurn and Taxis in Regensburg before becoming President of the Court Economy. He was also Electoral Treasurer of the Electorate of Trier and Cologne. He was raised Imperial vicar to the Imperial count by Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria in Munich in 1790.[2]

His paternal grandparents were Johann Karl Albert von Westerholt, who owned the Vilckrath estate in the Duchy of Berg through his mother.[3]

Career

Westerholt was a Privy Councilor and statesman who served as vice president of the government during the Napoleonic Wars.[4] He was also a scholar who served as chief librarian.[5] He was based in Regensburg when it was the permanent seat of the Imperial Diet. In April 1803, Regensburg was mediatised to the new Principality of Regensburg before being ceded to the Kingdom of Bavaria by the Treaty of Paris in 1810. Letters between Westerholt and Jesuit theologian Johann Michael Sailer were published by the Regensburg diocese.[6]

Reportedly, he was a member of the Illuminati under the code name Montaigne/Themistocles.[7]

Personal life

He married English born Countess Winifred von Jenison-Walworth (1767–1825), a daughter of Count Francis Jenison of Walworth who moved his family to the Electoral Palatinate.[8] Among her siblings were Count Franz von Jenison-Walworth (whose second wife, Mary Beauclerk, was a daughter of Topham Beauclerk and Lady Diana Spencer)[9] and Countess Susan von Jenison-Walworth (wife of Count Franz von Spreti and William Robert Spencer). Together, they were the parents of:

Count von Westerhold died in Regensburg 1827.[12]

Descendants

Through his son Karl, he was a grandfather of Heinrich Friedrich von Westerholt (1820–1859), an Officer in the Austrian Army who married Countess Sophia von Stainlein-Saalenstein (sister of the composer Ludwig von Stainlein-Saalenstein).[3][13]

References
  1. Knesebeck, Friedrich Wilhelm Boldwin Ferdinand (1840). Historisches Taschenbuch des Adels im Königreich Hannover (in German). p. 296. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
  2. Thurn und Taxis-Studien (in German). M. Lassleben. 1966. pp. 6, 7, 12. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
  3. Gothaisches genealogisches Taschenbuch der gräflichen Häuser (in German). Perthes. 1855. p. 905. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
  4. "Thomas Barth: Wir sind unnütze Knechte". schnell-und-steiner.de (in German). Verlag Schnell & Steiner. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
  5. "Bildnis des Alexander von Westerholt". www.portraitindex.de (in German). Digitaler Portraitindex. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
  6. Sailer, Johann Michael; Westerholt, Alexander von (2020). Die Briefe Johann Michael Sailers (1751-1832) an Graf Alexander von Westerholt (1763-1827): Edition und Kommentar (in German). Verlag des Vereins für Regensburger Bistumsgeschichte. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
  7. Gottfried, Paul (1979). Conservative Millenarians: The Romantic Experience in Bavaria. Fordham University Press. p. 53. ISBN 978-0-8232-0982-8. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
  8. Barth, Thomas (2008). "Wir sind unnütze Knechte": die Familie Westerholt in Regensburg und ihr Beitrag zur bayerischen Kulturgeschichte (in German). Universitätsverlag Regensburg. p. 256. ISBN 978-3-930480-51-7. Retrieved 1 February 2023.
  9. Burke, John Bernard (1852). A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire. Colburn. p. 860. Retrieved 1 February 2023.
  10. Marquis Ruvigny, Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal, being a complete table of all the descendants now living of Edward III, King of England: Essex Volume (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1907), p.89.
  11. Gothaisches genealogisches Taschenbuch der gräflichen Häuser (in German). Perthes. 1872. p. 915. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
  12. Bernsdorf, Elisabeth (2020). Livreen und ihre kulturelle Bedeutung für die Fürstenfamilie von Thurn und Taxis: Zur männlichen Dienstkleidung seit 1748 (in German). Waxmann Verlag. p. 109. ISBN 978-3-8309-9195-3. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
  13. Gothaisches genealogisches Taschenbuch der gräflichen Häuser (in German). Justus Perthes. 1880. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
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