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Concept
Ferdinand August von Spiegel
Summary
Count Ferdinand August von Spiegel zum Desenberg und Canstein (25 December 1764, in Marsberg – 2 August 1835, in Cologne) was Archbishop of Cologne from 1824 until 1835.
He was born the fifth son of Theodor Hermann von Spiegel zum Desenberg und Canstein (1712-1779), the Landdrost (Lord High Steward) of the Duchy of Westphalia who had ruled that province from 1758 in the service of the Elector-Archbishop of Cologne and Duke of Westpahlia, Clemens August of Bavaria. Descendant of an old Westphalian noble family and raised at Canstein Castle, Marsberg, Ferdinand August von Spiegel studied theology, law and economics at Fulda and Münster. There he became a canon in 1783, whereupon he received the tonsure and the lower orders. Educated in the spirit of the Enlightenment, Spiegel was in no way inclined to the status of clergy from which he only hoped for greater career opportunities, as did his elder half-brother Franz Wilhelm (1752-1815), who in 1758 succeeded his father and in 1786 became finance minister of the Electorate of Cologne. In 1788 Ferdinand August himself applied in vain for the Westphalian Landdrost position. However he obtained further canon benefices, in Osnabruck and Hildesheim. He was ordained a subdeacon in 1793.
In 1790 he accompanied the Elector-Archbishop of Cologne and Bishop of Münster, Archduke Maximilian Francis of Austria, to the coronation of the latter's brother Emperor Leopold II, in Frankfurt am Main. Always striving for a leading position, he succeeded in being appointed Geheimrat in the Prince-Bishopric of Munster in 1796, especially since he had already shown enormous talent in administration as a vidame. In 1796 he was ordained deacon, but was not appointed vicar general as he had hoped. In 1799 he received ordination as priest. In August 1802, Prussian troops occupied Munster and Ferdinand August lost his secular office. But soon he was in good agreement with the Prussians and worked closely with them, especially since he hoped that this would give him a position in the secular administration.
Official source
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