Schwarzenberg
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a princely family of Germany, the head of which was raised (1429) by the Emperor Sigismund to the ire. Three dignity of Baron of the Empire. a European of this family have acquired reputation. ADAM, Count of Schwarzen- ) prime berg, born in 1584, became (1619 William, minister and adviser of George Elector of Brandenburg. He was all powerful during the Thirty Years' War, and brought down terrible calamities on Brandenburg by his obstinate refusal to join the Protestant union and his firm adherence to a policy of neutrality. He died in prison, 1641, shortly after the death of his master. KARL PHILIPP, Prince of Schwarzenberg; born in Vienna, April 15, 1771, and first served against against the Turks. In the war the French republic he fought with especial honor at the battles of Cateau- ), Cambresis (1794), Würzburg (179) 1796 1800), and reached the and Hohenlinden ( grade of lieutenant field marshal. He the was under the orders of Mack in campaign of 1805; and when he saw that the Ulm was lost he cut his way through Eger. He French army and retired to court in was ambassador at the Russian 1808 by the express wish of the Emperor Alexander, fought at Wagram in 1809, for the and conducted the negotiations marriage between Napoleon and Maria Louisa. In this capacity and as ambassador at Paris he so far gained the esteem of Napoleon that the latter express- -in-Chief of ly demanded him as General the Austrian contingent which was sent Russia to aid France in the invasion of in 1812. Schwarzenberg passed the Bug and achieved some slight successes, but " was driven into the "duchy of Warsaw, where, acting on secret instructions from lowing year he was appointed to the obsercommand of the Austrian army of vation in Bohemia; and, when Austria joined the allied powers he became generalissimo of the united armies and_won Leipthe great battles of Dresden and sic. The year after (1814) he marched . He died into France and captured Paris 1820. of apoplexy in Leipsic, Oct. 15, His nephew, FELIX LUDWIG JOHANN FRIEDRICH, born Oct. 2, 1800, was sent on 1826, a diplomatic mission to London in was ambassador at Naples in 1846, distinguished himself in the Italian camthe head of paign of 1848, was placed at affairs at Vienna, called in the aid of the pursued Russians against Hungary, and being a bold absolutist policy, his object to make Austria supreme among the German states. He died in Vienna, April 5, 1852. FREDERICK, an
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's in 1921 treats the Schwarzenbergs purely as a closed historical file, ending with Felix's death in 1852 — yet the family's most public figure was still to come. Austria had in fact abolished noble titles by law in 1919, two years before this account called them "a princely family of Germany," and Czechoslovakia stripped the senior line of its vast Bohemian holdings by a special 1947 statute known as the Lex Schwarzenberg. From the other branch came Karel Schwarzenberg (1937–2023), who returned from Austrian exile after 1989, recovered Orlík castle, served as chancellor to President Václav Havel and twice as Czech foreign minister, and lost the 2013 presidential run-off to Miloš Zeman. Karl Philipp's command of the allied armies at Leipzig in 1813 is still recorded much as here, commemorated at the Monument to the Battle of the Nations opened in 1913.
Written for this edition, 2026.