Leopold, Count von Thun und Hohenstein

Leopold Graf von Thun und Hohenstein ( called Leo von Thun- Hohenstein, born April 7, 1811 in Decin, † December 17, 1888 in Vienna ) was an Austrian politician and author. He was one of the fathers of political Catholicism.

Life

After studying law at the Charles University in Prague went from Thun 1836 in the civil service and worked at the Prague Criminal Court, later in different departments of the United Court Chancery. 1848 he was appointed Gubernialpräsidenten of Bohemia and in 1849 was appointed Austrian Minister of Culture and Education.

During his term of office lasting until 1860 reformed from Thun, the Austrian education system. The basis for the proposals made ​​by Franz Serafin Exner. He introduced the university autonomy in Austria and structured the Vienna Academy of Sciences new. His education policy was marked by tolerance. Scientists Protestant or Jewish faith received authorization to teach at the universities and renowned foreign scholars were appointed to the country. The Evangelical Theological educational institution was granted the status of a faculty, the Institute for Austrian Historical Research has been converted into a modern training center modeled on the École Nationale des Chartes.

Thun was one of the fathers of the Concordat of 1855, which transferred the Catholic Church full capabilities of the state. In 1857 he was made an honorary citizen of Innsbruck. As chairman of the Catholic conservatives, he became involved in 1860 unsuccessfully for a creation of a federal Austrian state largely autonomous part of the States. Between 1865 and 1888 he was responsible for the publication of the magazine The Fatherland.

From 1861 until his death belonged to Leo von Thun- Hohenstein as a hereditary member of the Austrian House, and was the spokesman of the Catholics. Between 1861 and 1867, 1870 and 1871 and from 1883 to 1888 he belonged to the Bohemian Diet, where he served from 1883, the Czech autonomy fraction.

Writings (selection )

  • About the current situation of Czech literature. 1842
  • The position of the Slovaks in Hungary. 1843
Josef Kriehuber August Eisenmenger Constantin von Wurzbach Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie Integrated Authority File
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