Herman Wedel Jarlsberg: Difference between revisions

{{short description|Norwegian politician}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix =

| name = Count Wedel Jarlsberg

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| image = Johan Caspar Herman Wedel-Jarlsberg.jpg

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| office = [[Governor-general of Norway]]

| term_start = 16 September 1836

| term_end = 27 August 1840

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| monarch = [[Charles XIV John of Sweden|Karl III Johan]]

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| predecessor = [[Baltzar von Platen (1766–1829)|Baltzar von Platen]]

| successor = [[Severin Løvenskiold]]

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| birth_date = 21 September 1779

| birth_place = [[Montpellier]], France

| death_date = 27 August 1840 (aged 60)

| death_place = [[Wiesbaden]], Germany

| restingplace = [[Jarlsberg Manor]]

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| birthname = Johan Caspar Herman Wedel Jarlsberg

| nationality = [[Norwegian people|Norwegian]]

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| spouse = {{marriage|[[Karen Wedel-Jarlsberg|Karen Anker]]|1807|}}

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| children = Harald Wedel-Jarlsberg<br/>Herman Wedel-Jarlsberg

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[[File:Herman Wedel Jarlsberg 1779-1840.jpg|thumb|250 px| Portrait of Herman Wedel Jarlsberg (by the Danish painter [[Christian Horneman]], circa 1805)]]

[[File:Herman Wedel-Jarlsberg.JPG|thumb|250 px|Bust of Herman Wedel Jarlsberg at Bygdøy in Oslo]]

'''Count Johan Caspar Herman Wedel Jarlsberg''' (21 September 1779 – 27 August 1840) was a [[Norway|Norwegian]] statesman and nobleman. He played an active role in the [[Norwegian Constituent Assembly|constitutional assembly]] at [[Eidsvoll]] in [[Norway in 1814|1814]] and was the first native Norwegian to hold the post of [[Governor-general of Norway]] with the authority of a [[viceroy]], representing the absent [[king of Norway]] as head of the Norwegian cabinet during the [[Union between Sweden and Norway|union with Sweden]].<ref name=snl>Knut Dørum. [http://www.snl.no/.nbl_biografi/Herman_Wedel_Jarlsberg/utdypning ''Herman Wedel Jarlsberg'' (Store norske leksikon)]</ref>

==Background==

Wedel Jarlsberg was born in [[Montpellier]], [[France]], son of diplomat [[Frederik Anton Wedel-Jarlsberg]] (1748–1811) and Catharina von Storm (1756–1802). His younger brother [[Ferdinand Carl Maria Wedel-Jarlsberg]] (1781–1857) was a military officer and commanding general of the Royal Norwegian Army.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://snl.no/Ferdinand_Wedel_Jarlsberg |title= Ferdinand Wedel Jarlsberg|publisher= Store norske leksikon|author= Knut Dørum|accessdate= 1 April 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url = https://snl.no/Wedel_Jarlsberg |title= Wedel Jarlsberg|publisher= Store norske leksikon |author= Jon Gunnar Arntzen|accessdate= 1 April 2018}}</ref>

He grew up in [[London]], where his father were serving as diplomat on behalf of [[Denmark-Norway]]. From 1794 to 1798, he was tutored by Friedrich August Nitsch, who had studied under [[Immanuel Kant]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Vogt |first1=Carl Emil |title=Herman Wedel Jarlsberg |date=2014 |publisher=Cappelen Damm |location=Oslo |isbn=978-82-02-49240-3 |page=37}}</ref> Wedel Jarlsberg fled with his brother Frederik Anton in June 1799, to get away from their abusive father. After getting to [[Edinburgh]], they got on a boat to [[Copenhagen]], where their mother had fled to some years earlier, to get away from her husband. There he studied law at the [[University of Copenhagen]] and graduated in 1801. He accepted a commission as the king's county governor for the district of [[Buskerud]] in 1806.<ref name=nbl>{{cite web|url = https://nbl.snl.no/Herman_Wedel_Jarlsberg |title= Herman Wedel Jarlsberg|publisher = Norsk biografisk leksikon|author= Odd Arvid Storsveen |accessdate= 1 April 2018}}</ref>

==Career==

During the [[Napoleonic Wars]], his connections with Sweden increased, and when the appointed and adopted Swedish crown prince, [[Carl August of Sweden|Carl August]] died in 1810, his name was mentioned as a possible substitute in a desperate situation. [[Charles XIV John of Sweden|Jean Baptiste Bernadotte]] was appointed and adopted and changed his name to [[Carl Johan]].

Wedel Jarlsberg was elected to the National Assembly at Eidsvold in April–May 1814 as representative of the County of Jarlsberg.

His engagement for a Norwegian union with Sweden did not diminish. He maintained strongly that Norwegian interests were often contrary to the Danish, and that after the Swedes had adopted a constitution in 1809, Norwegian interests would be more strongly secured in a union with that country. He was of course well aware of the Swedish campaign to incorporate Norway as a substitution for the lost Finnish provinces. In some popular works, Count Wedel Jarlsberg has been described as a traitor – a fifth-columnist – which is completely unjust. His opinions were well known to the educated public, and even if he was politically isolated to some extent, his title and position in the Norwegian society never changed much.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.regjeringen.no/en/the-government/previous-governments/ministries-and-offices/offices/governor-1814---1873/herman-wedel-jarlsberg--------------/id479782/|title= Herman Wedel Jarlsberg|date= 20 March 2013|publisher = regjeringen.no|accessdate= 1 April 2018}}</ref>

During Norway's efforts to secure independence from Denmark and Sweden in 1814, he hence advocated a moderate approach to the issue. He was the obvious leader of the party, which has been named "the Union Party"or "the Swedish Party". He maintained that Norway would not manage to stand completely alone, alienated from all the leading powers in Europe, which had unanimously guaranteed Norway as a Swedish province. But there is no evidence that his point of view in any sense prevented him from fighting for a Norwegian constitution inspired by those of the United States and France, which the Swedish constitution was not. He belonged to the minority in the main topic on the Constitutional Assembly at [[Eidsvoll]], but he was vindicated by subsequent events.<ref name="snl"/>

He was made Minister of Finance in 1814 and served in this role until 1822. His efforts to restore a Norwegian monetary policy were successful, and he was without contest as the leading force of the government – even with Swedish governors as the formal leaders of the cabinet. His relations with King Carl Johan had at that time cooled to a point where close cooperation was no longer possible. He was elected to [[Stortinget]] in 1824, where he served until 1832. He was president of Parliament twice, in 1824 and 1830, and in 1836, after relations with the king had improved again, he was appointed governor and held that post until his death at [[Wiesbaden, Germany|Wiesbaden]] in 1840. The choice of him as governor was a popular one. He was almost unanimously respected because of his obvious political and administrative talents. His status as a nobleman in a country where nobility had been abolished as early as in 1821 (those wearing a title were still maintaining them, but no new titles would ever be given or inherited), did not diminish Norwegian affection for him. It is beyond doubt that his contributions to diminish the rather aggressive relations between the Parliament – the [[Storting]] – and King Carl Johan were decisive.<ref name="nbl"/>

==Personal life==

[[File:Jarlsberg hovedgaard 400.jpg|250 px|thumb|[[Jarlsberg Manor|Jarlsberg Hovedgård]]]]

Wedel Jarlsberg was married to [[Karen Wedel-Jarlsberg|Karen Anker]], the only child of prime minister [[Peder Anker]]. From her family he inherited a vast fortune, consisting mostly of the forests around [[Oslo|Christiania]] – present day [[Oslo]]. At the death of his father-in-law Peder Anker in 1824, Wedel also inherited Bogstad gård, Vækerø gård and Bærums Verk.

In 1812, Johan Caspar Herman Wedel Jarlsberg rebuilt the manor house at [[Jarlsberg Manor|Jarlsberg]] (''Jarlsberg hovedgård'') in the empire style. Around the manor there were arranged big, but simple garden and parks areas.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://snl.no/Bogstad_g%C3%A5rd|title= Bogstad gård|publisher = Store norske leksikon|author= Anne-Sofie Hjemdahl|accessdate= 1 April 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url = https://snl.no/V%C3%A6ker%C3%B8_g%C3%A5rd|title= Vækerø gård|publisher = Store norske leksikon|author= Knut Are Tvedt|accessdate= 1 April 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url = https://snl.no/B%C3%A6rums_Verk|title= Bærums Verk|publisher = Store norske leksikon|author= Pål Thonstad Sandvik|accessdate= 1 April 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www-bib.hive.no/tekster/sem_slagen/gaardshistorie1/51.html |title=''Jarlsberg hovedgård'' (Sem og Slagen – en bygdebok. Gårdshistorie, bind 1, Tønsberg: Høgskolen i Vestfold, 2002) |access-date=9 July 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303193046/http://www-bib.hive.no/tekster/sem_slagen/gaardshistorie1/51.html |archive-date=3 March 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==References==

{{reflist}}

==Other sources==

*{{Cite book|last=Barton|first=Hildor Arnold |title=Sweden and visions of Norway: politics and culture, 1814–1905|publisher=(SIU Press)|year=2003|isbn=0-8093-2441-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pWYDQsDqBKMC&q=Page+15+Count+Wedel&pg=PA15}}

*Carl Emil Vogt (2014) [https://www.cappelendamm.no/_herman-wedel-jarlsberg-carl-emil-vogt-9788202446888 ''Herman Wedel Jarlsberg. Den aristokratiske opprøreren''] (Oslo: Cappelen Damm) {{ISBN|9788202448080}}

==External links==

*[http://www.regjeringen.no/en/the-government/previous-governments/the-structure-of-the-registry/ministries-and-offices/offices/governor-1814---1873/herman-wedel-jarlsberg--------------.html?id=479782 Government Administration Services, Oslo, Norway]

*[http://vestraat.net/TNG/getperson.php?personID=I34072&tree=IEA Family genealogy]

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{{Succession box| before=[[Baltzar von Platen (1766-1829)|Baltzar von Platen]]| title=[[Governor-general of Norway]] | years=1836–1840 | after=[[Severin Løvenskiold]]}}

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{{Governors-general of Norway}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wedel-Jarlsberg, Johan Caspar Herman}}

[[Category:1779 births]]

[[Category:1840 deaths]]

[[Category:University of Copenhagen alumni]]

[[Category:Presidents of the Storting]]

[[Category:18th-century Norwegian nobility|Wedel-Jarlsberg, Herman]]

[[Category:Norwegian counts|Wedel-Jarlsberg, Herman]]

[[Category:Fathers of the Constitution of Norway]]

[[Category:Wedel-Jarlsberg family|Herman]]

[[Category:Members of the Storting]]

[[Category:Ministers of finance of Norway]]

[[Category:Governors-general of Norway]]

[[Category:19th-century Norwegian politicians]]