Maximilian von Holnstein

Count Maximilian Carl Theodor von Holnstein aus Bayern (19 October 1835 – 1 February 1895) was a German nobleman who was a playmate of princes Ludwig and Otto (both later kings of Bavaria), and friend of Ludwig on his accession as Ludwig II. Count Maximilian brought Ludwig's "Kaiserbrief" to Otto von Bismarck.

Early life

Holnstein was born on 19 October 1835 in Munich, Germany. He was the eldest surviving son of celebrated beauty Caroline Maximiliana Maria, Baroness von Spiering (1815–1859) and her first husband, Carl Theodor, Count Holnstein from Bayern (1797–1857). After his father's death, his mother remarried to Wilhelm, Baron von Künsberg, and had a daughter, Wilhelmine Maria Caroline von Künsberg (wife of Friedrich von Breidbach-Bürresheim).[1]

His maternal grandparents were Carl Theodor Baron von Spiering of Schloss Fronberg and his wife Johanna Nepumukena (née Baroness von Enzberg). His paternal grandparents were Maximilian Joseph, Count of Holnstein, married to Princess Maria Josepha of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst (eldest daughter of Prince Charles Albert II).[2] He was the great-grandson of Count Franz Ludwig von Holnstein, the illegitimate son of Emperor Charles VII of Bavaria and his mistress Maria Caroline Charlotte von Ingenheim.[3]

From an early age, Holnstein was playmate and confidants of the Bavarian princes Ludwig (King Ludwig II from 1864) and Otto (King Otto I from 1886).[4]

Career
Schwarzenfeld Castle

Since 1794, the Holnstein family owned extensive estates in Schwarzenfeld in the Upper Palatinate, where the family seat, Schwarzenfeld Castle, was located. After the death of his father, Holnstein became a hereditary member of the Kammer der Reichsräte (meaning "House of Councillors"). He took over his family's possessions in Schwarzenfeld, Rauberweiherhaus, Thanstein and Pillmersried in the Upper Palatinate and Thalhausen and Palzing in Upper Bavaria.

In 1863, Holnstein was convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for a legally forbidden honor duel with pistols, but was pardoned by Ludwig II. In 1866, Ludwig II appointed Holnstein Royal Bavarian master of the horse ("Oberstallmeister" in German) as successor to Baron Otto von Lerchenfeld-Aham, whom Ludwig II had dismissed at the end of 1865 because Lerchenfeld had reported a groom, who was considered the king's lover, for an alleged moral offense to the public prosecutor's office. Holnstein has also been claimed as a lover of the king.[5]

In 1868, he was part of the contingent that established the private commercial bank known as Bayerische Vereinsbank (today known as HypoVereinsbank) which was formally established by the King on 11 April 1869.[6]

Holnstein enjoyed Ludwig's confidence and was directly involved in the creation of the "Kaiserbrief" written at Hohenschwangau Castle, which offered the Prussian King William I the imperial dignity of the newly founded German Empire,[7] likely due to Ludwig II's financial difficulties and debts.[8] Holnstein eventually lost Ludwig II's confidence three years before the King's incapacitation because of his opposition to the king's increasing expenditures. He was also involved with Ludwig II being declared "mentally disturbed" and "incurable" by Dr. Bernhard von Gudden and Dr. Hubert von Grashey and Holnstein was appointed the king's guardian.[9] After King Ludwig II died, Holnstein remained chief equerry for Prince Regent Luitpold until 1892.[4]

Later life

Holnstein retired to his castle in Schwarzenfeld in 1893, which he had lived in since 1857. Between 1890 and 1892, he had Julius Hofmann (the engineer behind Neuschwanstein Castle) extend the castle and construct the outbuilding and the two towers in the historic style. Holnstein lived in the castle until his death in 1895 after which he was buried in the mausoleum, built at his behest between 1882 and 1884, in the Schwarzenfeld cemetery, where his family was also buried.[8]

Personal life

On 18 May 1867, Holnstein was married to Maximiliane, Baroness von Gumppenberg (1850–1937), a daughter of Caroline, Baroness von Bayrstorff and Adolf, Baron von Gumppenberg.[8] Her maternal grandparents were Prince Karl Theodor of Bavaria and, his first wife, Marie-Anne-Sophie Petin (who was created Baroness von Bayrstorff in 1823). Her grandfather was the second son of King Maximilian I of Bavaria and his first wife Princess Augusta Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt. His sister, Princess Charlotte of Bavaria was the wife of William I, King of Württemberg and, after their divorce, Franz I, Emperor of Austria.[10] Together, Maximilian and Maximiliane were the parents of:[3][11]

  • Ludwig Carl, Count von Holnstein aus Bayern (1868–1930), who married Maria Apushckina (1869–1924) in 1894. They divorced in 1903 and he married Anna von Alvensleben (1865–1945) in 1904.[12]
  • Caroline, Countess von Holnstein aus Bayern (1870–1915), who married Baron Otto von Ritter zu Groenesteyn (1864–1940) in 1888.[13]
  • Carl, Count von Holnstein aus Bayern (1877–1916), who married American heiress Mildred Harrison (1879–1942), a daughter of Alfred Craven Harrison, in 1905.[14]

Holnstein died at Schwarzenfeld on 1 February 1895. His widow Maximiliane and his descendants lived moved out in 1907, and the castle remained unused for a long periods apart from several short-term leases. In 1936, financial difficulties forced Maximiliane to sell the castle to the National Socialist People's Welfare shortly before her death in 1937.[15]

References
  1. Gothaisches genealogisches Taschenbuch der freiherrlichen Häuser: zugleich Adelsmatrikel der im Ehrenschutzbunde des Deutschen Adels vereinigten Verbande (in German). Julius Perthes. 1888. p. 433. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  2. zu), Chlodwig Karl Viktor Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst (Fürst (1906). Memoirs of Prince Chlodwig of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfuerst. Macmillan. p. 158. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  3. Raineval, Melville Henry Massue marquis de Ruvigny et; Raineval, Melville Henry Massue Marquis of Ruvigny and (1914). The Titled Nobility of Europe: An International Peerage, Or "Who's Who," of the Sovereigns, Princes, and Nobles of Europe. Burke's Peerage. p. 793. ISBN 978-0-85011-028-9. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  4. Pötzsch, Oliver (2013). The Ludwig Conspiracy. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 978-0-547-74010-2. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  5. Joll, Christopher (30 April 2018). The Speedicut Papers: Book 7 (1884–1895): Royal Scandals. AuthorHouse. p. 356. ISBN 978-1-5462-9139-8. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  6. Pohl, Manfred (1 January 1994). Handbook on the History of European Banks. Edward Elgar Publishing. p. 357. ISBN 978-1-78195-421-8. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  7. Pflanze, Otto (10 November 2020). Bismarck and the Development of Germany: The Period of Unification, 1815-1871. Princeton University Press. p. 491. ISBN 978-0-691-22157-1. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  8. Craemer, Josef Ludwig (1900). The Royal Bavarian Castles in Word and Picture: A Brief History of All the Royal Buildings and an Exact Guide to the Palaces. Craemer. p. 134. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  9. McQuaid, Chris (20 October 2020). My Travels with Wagner. Strategic Book Publishing & Rights Agency. p. 122. ISBN 978-1-68235-274-8. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  10. Ripley, George; Dana, Charles A. (1879). The American Cyclopaedia: A Popular Dictionary of General Knowledge, Vol. 13. p. 309. ISBN 9781360210124. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  11. "Bayerischer Kurier: 1877,9/12". Bayerischer Kurier (in German). Lentner. 1877. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  12. Rieder, Ines; Voigt, Diana (2004). Sidonie Csillag: la "joven homosexual" de Freud (in Spanish). El cuenco de plata. p. 82. ISBN 978-987-21615-3-8. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  13. Engelmann, Bernt (1972). Das Reich zerfiel, die Reichen blieben: Deutschlands Geld- und Machtelite (in German). Hoffmann und Campe. p. 9. ISBN 978-3-455-01877-6. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  14. TIMES, Special to THE NEW YORK (1 February 1942). "COUNTESS VON HOLSTEIN". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
  15. Gothaisches genealogisches Taschenbuch der gräflichen Häuser (in German). Justus Perthes. 1942. pp. 9–10. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
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