Marshal von Bieberstein, Ernst Franz Ludwig Baron

Minister

born: 02.08.1770 in Wallerstein

died: 22.01.1834 in Wiesbaden

At the Hohe Karlsschule in Stuttgart, Biebestein devoted himself to philosophical, legal, historical and scientific studies alongside his military training. In 1791, he began his service in Nassau-Ussing, initially as a lieutenant in the district contingent, in 1792 as an assessor at the government and court, in 1793 as a government councillor, in 1795 as a privy clerk, in 1796 as a privy government councillor, in 1800 as a privy councillor and after the accession to power of Prince Friedrich August in 1803 as government president or minister, as his title became in 1806.

His rapid rise was accompanied by a change in his political views. During his student days, he had enthused about the French Revolution, but its violent excesses increasingly turned him into a staunch opponent. He made determined use of the opportunities presented by secularization and mediatization as well as the imminent extinction of the using line to create a territorially well-rounded and tightly organized Nassau unitary state. While he still had to share the leadership role in the Duchy of Nassau, which was established in 1806, with his Weilburg minister colleague Christoph von Gagern, after the latter's departure in 1809 he acted as the sole responsible conducting minister of state until his death.

After Duke Wilhelm of Nassau ascended the throne in 1816, he initially adhered to a centralist-bureaucratic reform course, but then developed into a doctrinaire advocate of autocratic legitimism under the influence of Metternich and the duke.