New Work & Research

In view of current events in UK politics, I thought I would put up some research I have been doing on one of Austria’s shadowy figures: Matthias Von Fasbender. I was going to place this on Wiki, but they have said there is too much primary material and not enough “reliable secondary material” - the lack of the latter is why Fasbender is a shadowy figure! He is also called an ‘eminence guise’, so I was interested to read that this term does not derive from Cardinal Richelieu, but his own adviser, who as a Capuchin monk, work the grey robes of that order.

So, you will all be saying “Fasbender - who is he?”. He was the chief civilian adviser to Archduke Charles from 1796 to 1805 and did much of the implementation work in the First Reform Period (1801-5), before siding with the Archduke’s opponents in 1805 in pushing for war. Inevitably, he finished up being booted from Court by both sides. Nothing new in politics then?!

Johann Matthias von Fasbender (also spelt Faßbender or Fassbender) (1763/4-1809) was born in Trier, although the date is uncertain, either 25 April 1763 or 17 March 1764. Fasbender was the son of the Electorate of Trier Hofrat ^[2] (government adviser), J. Fasbender.

He was educated at the Hochchule at Mainz, where Peter von Frank singled him out, and at the University of Göttingen, where he attended the lectures of the celebrated Johann Stephan Pütter on public law and history. After his education, he went on an 18-month trip through several French provinces, before, in 1788 at the age of 24, being appointed a professor in German law and German Imperial history at University of Trier. In 1790, he was sent to the coronation of Leopold II at Frankfurt as a ‘Botschaftsrat’ (advisor to the ambassador) in the Electorate of Trier delegation. On his return, the Elector appointed him a ‘wirkliche Hofrat’ (senior government adviser).

Initial Austrian Service

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After the French occupation of his homeland in 1794, he remained devoted to Germanic ideals and emerging nationalism. So, he took a position in the Reichskriegskanzlei ^[3] with the title of supernumerary Hofrat. There, this clever jurist was able to quickly establish an influential position in the countless legal negotiations with the Imperial Estates. He also wrote several published pamphlets on the new political circumstances.

In 1796, Fasbender was based at the headquarters of Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen, where he came to the notice of the new commander-in-chief. He was also favourably looked upon by Maximilian Anton Karl, Count Baillet de Latour, commander of the troops in the south of Germany for his tireless activity and expertise. In 1797, he was appointed Direktor of the Reichskriegskanzlei, where his skills as a negotiator with the Bavarian ministers at the end of 1798 earned him praise from Archduke Charles, who wrote to Emperor Franz: "He is an honest, active and very talented man .. You can expect very great service in time from this talented man".^[4]

He was appointed Reichs-General-Kriegscommissar (head of the Imperial War Supply and Administration department) in 1798 and on 8 February 1799, the Archduke appointed Fasbender his geheime Sekretär (private Secretary).^[5] When war resumed in 1799 in the War of the Second Coalition, Fasbender wrote intelligence reports about events at the Second Congress of Rastatt for Charles. ^[6]

However, not everyone held Fasbender in such high regard. Graf Lehrbach,^[7] who was the Minister (political representative) at the Army in Germany, (although always at a considerable distance from the Archduke's headquarters), on the directions of Foreign Minister Johann Amadeus von Thugut, particularly disliked the Archduke's key assistant. Lehrbach's spiteful reports influenced also Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, who never liked to see Fasbender in person and only allowed him to be in an important capacity on the express wishes of the Archduke. Foreign Minister Thugut believed Fasbender was intentionally poisoning the mind of Archduke Charles towards him. ^[8] A rather condescending letter written by Charles to the commander of Russian forces in Switzerland, Alexander Suvorov, on 6 December 1799, which further strained already difficult relations between the allies, was attributed by Thugut to the work of Fasbender. In particular, he characterised the letter as legalistic and lacking any military nuance. ^[9]

Archduke Charles resigned from the command of the army in Germany early in 1800. So, Fasbender was then notified on 27 May 1800, that he had been appointed Kanzlei Director of the Prinzipalkommission (Director of the Chancelry at the Imperial Principal Commission, which was the standing assembly of the Holy Roman Empire). However, he appears never to have taken up this position. When Archduke Charles resumed command of the army in Germany on 13 December 1800, he recalled Fasbender to be Direktor of the Reichskriegskanzlei. Leaving his own headquarters in Prague on 14 December 1800, Archduke Charles decided to take Graf Anton Sztáray, Generalmajor Peter Duka von Kadar and Hofrat Fasbender with him.^[10]

End of Part 1 - see Part 2