Karl Graf von Zinzendorf - Band 3

The total series of diaries written by Count Karl von Zinzendorf (1739-1813) is preserved in the Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv, Vienna, and covers more than sixty years. So far, scholars have had no direct access to these complex diaries except through wearisome investigations of the originals or through fragments of mostly amateurish editions. It is the first time that a complete text of the diaries is to be published. The entries, all written in French, give evidence of Zinzendorf`s stupendous variety of interests and of his great versatility and dexterity in perceiving, observing and judging persons and situations, and of his great skill in crossing geographical spaces, real and virtual. The information is very dense and precise and reflects the high degree of introspection and self-observation which are characteristic of the writer. It is the editors` aim to facilitate the access to the diaries and their utilization not by presenting a selection, but a complete text. For this purpose, they have developed special criteria for the transcriptions. It is assumed that such an edition will satisfy present research demands and stimulate new research. In this sense, the edition constitutes a contribution to long-term basic research in 18th century studies. The complete transcriptions of the diaries kept by Zinzendorf as governor of the multi-ethnic free port of Trieste, 1776 to 1782, are contained in two volumes (vol. 2 and 3 of the edition). Vol. 3, presented here, covers the period of January 1, 1779 to February 11, 1782, his final return to Vienna, while the previous years - 31 May 1776 to 31 December 1778 - are contained in vol. 2. The division is due only to practical considerations. Main contents of this volume are: the reform of local taxes and duties, the introduction of corporate government in the self-administering board of the stock exchange, the reform of the local police system, the completion of the new road which accelerated Trieste`s access to the main high way leading from Central to Southern Europe, the extension of public tolerance to Lutherans, the split within orthodoxy between Greeks and Serbs, the proclamation of general tolerance by Joseph II, problems arising from the 1775-customs union which did not include Tyrol and Hungary, the beginnings of direct trade with East Asia, the change of rulers in Vienna, and the circumstances and consequences of wars in Central Europe and in America, especially echoes of discussions in the British parliament and of Necker`s economic policies in France. As in his previous sojourns in Vienna, he witnesses and comments political, economic, social and cultural events at home and abroad, and, as an expert, is now being directly involved in top- level consultation processes at the court. As in the first volume of transcriptions (volume 2 of the edition), the geographical horizons of the diaries are not restricted to Europe, but also comprise, besides America and Asia, Africa and the Pacific. The transcriptions also contain the annual lists of correspondence which, so far, have escaped researchers` attention. The text of the transcriptions is not accompanied by extensive footnotes referring to source material spread over many countries but instead is complemented by a comprehensive index (volume 4 of the edition) which includes a glossary and translations of Latin, Greek, dialect and obsolete words. It covers the extraordinary number of personal and geographical names and the highly differentiated spheres of topics and reading material which includes word-by-word citations extracted from scientific publications, newspapers, magazines, novels and poetry. Volume 1 of the edition is conceived as an individual monography and as such serves as an introduction to the edition.