The Private Correspondence (in French) of Prince Archbishop Hieronymus Graf Colloredo

Salzburg developed under the reign of its last prince archbishop, Hieronymus Graf Colloredo (1732-1812; time of reign 1772-1812), into one of the most important European centers of the Catholic Enlightenment. Even though many of Colloredo`s reforms of the baroque Catholicism failed due to the powerful resistance of his populace, he was, nonetheless, an internationally well known and acknowledged enlightened ruler. Furthermore, Colloredo was known throughout his country for his liberal censorship of the press as well as his reforms in primary teaching, charity, medicine and economy. With the beginning of the French Revolutionary Wars, Colloredo had to face on the one hand side the constant danger that his country might be besieged by the French Revolutionary Army and on the other hand side the beginning process of the secularization of the imperial church. Thanks to Hieronymus` unrestless efforts, the church of Salzburg could remain archdiocese. The historical source, which is in the focal point of this project, is the private correspondence of Hieronymus Graf Colloredo, with his brother, the imperial vice-chancellor Gundakar Fürst Colloredo. 601 letters (from 1772-1776, 1783-1784 and 1789-1801), written in French, have been preserved in the state archive Zmrsk in the Czech Republic. As both, Hieronymus Graf Colloredo and his brother Gundakar Fürst Colloredo, were major and influential political figures of their time, they dedicated a great part of their correspondence to the exchange of topical news and developments as well as the analysis concerning the politics of the prince archbishopric of Salzburg, the Habsburg monarchy, Bavaria, France and many more. The detailed analysis and interpretation of this historical source will open up completely new perspectives. Due to this shift in perspective from official documents of that time to ego-documents of the prince archbishop, we get insight into how Hieronymus Graf Colloredo saw himself as a sovereign and (inter)national political figure and how he surveyed and analyzed this time of radical change and substantial progresses. Furthermore, this historical source will reveal details of Colloredo`s everyday business life and the social environment he lived in. In addition, we receive background information about various aspects of his political decisions, about which other historical sources and official documents cannot give clear answers. The analysis of these ego-documents helps us to look behind the "official scenes" e. g. we learn how Colloredo came to a specific political decision, what different factors played an influencing role and about which alternatives were discussed about. The project is also expected to yield detailed insights into Colloredo`s European- wide network system as he reported his brother at length about his informants e. g. from where and from whom he had received specific information. Having only cursorily read - for the preparation of this application - a few letters of Hieronymus Graf Colloredo, it quickly became clear that he actually knew much more about the topical political developments and the "secret" international decisions than has been assumed so far by historians. Therefore new results relating to the international political networking of that time are expected from this project.

Hieronymus Colloredo, the last prince archbishop of Salzburg (17321812; time of reign 17721803/1812), was an internationally well-known and acknowledged enlightened clerical as well as secular sovereign. During his time of reign, especially in the 1770s and 1780s, he conducted a lot of reforms, e. g. he fought against baroque Catholicism, superstition, dogmatism and outdated ecclesiastical structures. In the 1790s, however, he had to face the beginning process of the secularization of the Imperial Church and that Salzburg might be besieged by the French Revolutionary Army. From this politically very turbulent time in European history, unique ego-documents of Hieronymus Colloredo have been preserved in the state archive Zmrsk in the Czech Republic (Sttn oblastn archiv v Zmrsku). The private correspondence with his brother, the imperial vice-chancellor Gundakar Colloredo, consists of 655 letters (from 17721776, 1783 1784 and 17891801), which have been written in French, as well as 90 attached documents, which have been written either in German or Latin. The majority (586 letters) of the letters was written between 1789 and 1801. A historical-critical edition of the correspondence including extensive German summaries (Regesten) of the letters as well as detailed name, place and keyword indices will be published soon (in print as well as in open- access). By analyzing these letters, we get an insight into how Hieronymus Colloredo saw himself as a sovereign and international political figure and how he surveyed and analyzed this time of radical change at the end of the 18th century. Furthermore, one gets to know the international network, in which he was embedded (with regard to his family and distant relatives, other influential representatives of the church, political figures from within the archbishopric of Salzburg, the Habsburg monarchy and the Holy Roman Empire). Moreover, he revealed in the letters to his brother his private opinion that relatively often did not correlate with his official views. E. g. during the First Coalition War (17921797) Hieronymus Colloredo officially fully supported the Emperor and his endeavors while complaining in his correspondence with his brother about the senselessness of the war.