Count Richard von Belcredi (; 12 February 1823 – 2 December 1902) was an

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n civil servant and statesman, who served as Minister-President (and 'Minister of State') of the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Austria, was a Multinational state, multinational European Great Powers, great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the Habsburg monarchy, realms of the Habsburgs. Duri ...

from 1865 to 1867. During 1881–1895, Belcredi was President of the

Cisleithania Cisleithania, officially The Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council (), was the northern and western part of Austria-Hungary, the Dual Monarchy created in the Compromise of 1867—as distinguished from ''Transleithania'' (i.e., ...

n Administrative Court.

Early life and ancestry

Richard Graf von Belcredi was born on 12 February 1823, in

Jimramov Jimramov () is a market town in Žďár nad Sázavou District in the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 1,200 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monume ...

(Ingrowitz), in the

Margraviate of Moravia The Margraviate of Moravia (; ) was one of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown within the Holy Roman Empire and then Austria-Hungary, existing from 1182 to 1918. It was officially administered by a margrave in cooperation with a provincial diet. I ...

, the youngest son of Count Eduard von Belcredi (1786–1838) and his wife Countess Maria von Fünfkirchen (1790–1860). He had one sister, Countess Almeria (1819-1914), who married Prince Hugo Maximilian von

Thurn und Taxis The Princely House of Thurn and Taxis (, ) is a family of German nobility that is part of the ''Briefadel''. It was a key player in the mail, postal services in Europe during the 16th century, until the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, and ...

(1817-1889). The Belcredi noble family originally descended from

Lombardy The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...

, where they had been vested with the estates of

Montalto Pavese Montalto Pavese is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Pavia in the Italy, Italian region Lombardy, located about 50 km south of Milan and about 25 km south of Pavia. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 941 and an ar ...

by the

Sforza The House of Sforza () was a ruling family of Renaissance Italy, based in Milan. Sforza rule began with the family's acquisition of the Duchy of Milan following the extinction of the Visconti of Milan, Visconti family in the mid-15th century and ...

dukes of

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

. Count Richard's ancestors settled in Moravia from 1769 onwards. He studied law at the universities of

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

and

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

; in 1854, he was appointed

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

captain (''Bezirkshauptmann'') in

Znojmo Znojmo (; ) is a town in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 34,000 inhabitants. Znojmo is the historical and cultural centre of southwestern Moravia and the second most populated town in the South Moravian Region. The hi ...

(Znaim). In 1861, he was elected member of the ''

Landtag A ''Landtag'' (State Diet) is generally the legislative assembly or parliament of a federated state or other subnational self-governing entity in German-speaking nations. It is usually a unicameral assembly exercising legislative competence ...

'' diet of

Austrian Silesia Austrian Silesia, officially the Duchy of Upper and Lower Silesia, was an autonomous region of the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Habsburg monarchy (from 1804 the Austrian Empire, and from 1867 the Cisleithanian portion of Austria-Hungary). It is la ...

and MP of the Imperial Council. He became head of the Austrian Silesian regional government one year later. In 1864, he was promoted to the official rank of ''

Geheimrat was the title of the highest advising officials at the imperial, royal, or princely courts of the Holy Roman Empire, who jointly formed the ''Geheimer Rat'' reporting to the ruler. The term remained in use during subsequent monarchic reigns in Ge ...

'' (Secret Councillor) and appointed Imperial-Royal governor of

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

Three Count Ministry

In February 1865, Count Richard Belcredi, as the Austrian minister of state, convened a meeting of Viennese bankers to find ways to finance projects. In June 1865, Emperor

Franz Josef I Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I ( ; ; 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the ruler of the other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 1848 until his death in 1916. In the early part of his reig ...

chose Belcredi, a declared Conservative, to become Prime Minister and Minister of State, replacing the government of

Archduke Rainer Ferdinand of Austria Archduke Rainer Ferdinand Maria Johann Evangelist Franz Ignaz of Austria (11 January 1827 – 27 January 1913) was an Austrian prince and politician who served as Minister-President of Austria from 1861 to 1865. Later in his life, he took up the ...

and

Anton von Schmerling Anton Ritter von Schmerling (23 August 180523 May 1893) was an Austrian statesman. Life Von Schmerling was born in Vienna, where his father held a high position on the judicial side of the civil service. After studying law at Vienna, in 1829 Sch ...

, who had resigned after failure in his

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...

centralizing policies. Belcredi accepted his nomination, by his own accounts only from a sense of duty. His cabinet was called the "Three Count Ministry" although, actually, four counts were in charge: Minister President Belcredi himself, Alexander von Mensdorff-Pouilly as foreign minister, Johann Larisch von Moennich as finance minister, and Moritz Esterházy de Galantha as a minister without portfolio. The Austrian government had to face the rising " Hungarian question", that eventually led to the

Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 The Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 (, ) established the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary, which was a military and diplomatic alliance of two sovereign states. The Compromise only partially re-established the former pre-1848 sovereign ...

. On 20 September 1865, Belcredi had the 1861

February Patent The February Patent was a constitution of the Austrian Empire promulgated in the form of letters patent on 26 February 1861. Background In the Austrian Empire, the early 1860s were a period of significant constitutional reforms. The revolutions ...

suspended. "Belcredi, Richard Graf" (bio), ''aeiou Encyclopedia'', 2008 (see below: References). Against delaying actions by Belcredi, the Compromise was achieved after the Austrian defeat in the

Austro-Prussian War The Austro-Prussian War (German: ''Preußisch-Österreichischer Krieg''), also known by many other names,Seven Weeks' War, German Civil War, Second War of Unification, Brothers War or Fraternal War, known in Germany as ("German War"), ''Deutsc ...

and the 1866 Peace of Prague, ending the monarchy's membership in the

German Confederation The German Confederation ( ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe. It was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as a replacement of the former Holy Roman Empire, which had been dissolved ...

. On October 30, Foreign Minister Mensdorff-Pouilly was succeeded by

Friedrich Ferdinand von Beust Count Friedrich Ferdinand von Beust (; 13 January 1809 – 24 October 1886) was a German and Austrian statesman. As an opponent of Otto von Bismarck, he attempted to conclude a common policy of the German middle states between Austria and Pruss ...

who conducted the negotiations with Hungary and prepared a draft for the Cisleithanian

December Constitution The December Constitution (German: ''Dezemberverfassung'') is a set of six acts that served as the constitution of the Cisleithanian half of Austria-Hungary. The acts were proclaimed by Emperor Franz Joseph on 21 December 1867 and functioned as the ...

. Beust's concept of a Dual Monarchy finally prevailed against Belcredi's plans to implement a

federation A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...

of the Austrian crown lands, similar to later proposals of

United States of Greater Austria The United States of Greater Austria () was an unrealised proposal made in 1906 to federalize Austria-Hungary to help resolve widespread ethnic and nationalist tensions. It was conceived by a group of scholars surrounding Archduke Franz Ferdinand ...

. On 7 February 1867, Belcredi handed in his resignation. In 1881 he was appointed president of the Imperial-Royal Administrative Court and life member of the Austrian

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

Orders and decorations

* : ** Grand Cross of the Royal Hungarian Order of St. Stephen, ''1867'' ** Knight of the

Order of the Golden Fleece The Distinguished Order of the Golden Fleece (, ) is a Catholic order of chivalry founded in 1430 in Brugge by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, to celebrate his marriage to Isabella of Portugal, Duchess of Burgundy, Isabella of Portugal. T ...

, ''1878'' *

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

: Knight of the Royal Order of the Crown, 1st Class, ''29 July 1864''

Notes

References

* "Belcredi, Richard Graf" (bio), ''aeiou Encyclopedia'', 2008, webpage
AEIOU-Belcredi
* Ludwig Graf Belcredi, "Fragmente aus dem Nachlasse des ehemaligen Staatsministers Grafen Richard Belcredi" ("Fragments from the Literary Legacy of Former Minister Count Richard Belcredi"), in: ''Die Kultur''. Vierteljahresschrift für Wissenschaft, Literatur und Kunst 7 (1906).

External links

Otto
* "Belcredi, Richard Graf" (bio), ''aeiou Encyclopedia'', 2008, webpage

Staatsminister wider Willen (''Hrsg''.: Parlamentskorrespondenz, Wien 2001)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Belcredi, Richard 1823 births 1902 deaths People from Jimramov People from the Margraviate of Moravia Counts of Austria Moravian-German people 19th-century minister-presidents of Austria Members of the Austrian House of Deputies (1861–1867) Members of the House of Lords (Austria) Members of the Diet of Austrian Silesia Members of the Bohemian Diet Politicians from the Austrian Empire Grand Crosses of the Order of Saint Stephen of Hungary Knights of the Golden Fleece of Austria