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Count Leo Thun: A Conservative Savior of Educational Reform in the Decade of Neoabsolutism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2009

Peter Wozniak
Peter Wozniak
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor of History, Auburn Universityat Montgomery, Montgomery, AL 36117
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Extract

Since theCounter-Reformation, education in Catholic Europe was in the hands of the church. Over the course of the eighteenth century, various rulers attempted to break this monopoly by increasing secular control over schools. Their record was very uneven. In Habsburg lands, the first significant reforms occurred during the reign of Maria Theresa (1740–80), who stated that “education is, and shall remain for all time, a Politicum,” that is, the business of the state.

Type
Articles
Information
Austrian History Yearbook , Volume 26 , January 1995 , pp. 61 - 81
Copyright
Copyright © Center for Austrian Studies, University of Minnesota 1995

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References

1 Quoted in Meister, Richard, Entwicklung und Reformen des österreichischen Bildungswesens (Vienna, 1963), 25Google Scholar. See also Strakosch-Grassmann, Gustav, Geschichte des österreichischen Unterrichtswesens, 2 vols. (Vienna, 1905), 2:88Google Scholar.

2 Boyer, John, Political Radicalism in Late Imperial Vienna: Origins of the Christian Social Movement, 1848–1897 (Chicago, 1981), 18Google Scholar.

3 Brandt, Harm Hinrich, Der österreichische Neoabsolutismus. Staatsfinanzen und Politik 1848–1860, 2 vols. (Göttingen, 1978), 2:1025–28Google Scholar.

4 Entwurf der Organisation der Gymnasien und Realschulen in Österreich (Vienna, 1849) (henceforth cited as Entwurf).

5 Wiener Zeitung, March 24, 1848, no. 84 Ämtlicher Theil, reprinted in Helmut Engelbrecht, Geschkhte des österreichischen Bildungswesens, 5 vols. (Vienna, 1986), 4:515–16. In all, there were six ministers in 1848 alone.

6 See Charmatz, Richard, Österreichs innere Geschichte von 1848–1895, 2 vols. (Leipzig, 1909), 1:55, 65, 112Google Scholar; Friedjung, Heinrich, Österreich von 1848–1860 (Stuttgart, 1912), 1:156 and 2:277Google Scholar; Redlich, Josef, Das österreichische Staats- und Reichsproblem (Leipzig, 1920), l:676ff.Google Scholar; and especially Rogge, Walter, Österreich von Vilagos bis zur Gegenwart (Leipzig, 1872), 130, 212, 238, 317–20Google Scholar. Rogge saw Thun not as a reformer, but as a restorer of the old Jesuit system and even as a tool of that order. Rogge was a politically active journalist with strong liberal leanings.

On recent historiography, see Lentze, Hans, Die Universitätsreform des Ministers Graf Leo Thun-Hohenstein (Vienna, 1962)Google Scholar, and the entry under “Graf Leo Thun” in the Neue österreichische Biographie 1815–1918 (Vienna, 1923-). See also Winter, Eduard, Revolution, Neoabsolutismus und Liberalismus in der Donaumonarchie (Vienna, 1969)Google Scholar; and especially Thienen-Adlerflycht, Christoph, Graf Leo Thun in Vormärz (Graz, 1967)Google Scholar.

7 Thienen-Adlerflycht, Graf Leo Thun, 1–38.

8 The literature on the circle and on Thun in particular is substantial. See all the works by Eduard Winter; Thienen-Adlerflycht, Graf Leo Thun, 13; and Lebensbilder zur Geschichte der böhmischen Länder, ed. Bosl, Karl (Vienna, 1976)Google Scholar.

9 Johnston, William M., The Austrian Mind (Berkeley, Calif., 1972), 278Google Scholar.

10 Lentze, Die Universitätsreform, 81.

11 Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv (HHStA), Thun Nachlaβ, A 3 XXI C13. This was a position that transcended the ethnic rivalries of both Czechs and Germans.

12 Allmayer-Beck, Johann Christoph, Der Konservatismus in Österreich (Munich, 1959)Google Scholar.

13 HHStA, Thun Nachlaβ, A 3 XXI C13.

14 Ibid., A 3 XXI C120.

15 For more details of Thun's philosophy, see the excellent introduction to Thienen-Adler-flycht's biography.

16 As Thienen-Adlerflycht notes, Thun intended to use “the nobility to awaken all responsible powers in bourgeois society,” rather than to recreate a noble-dominated social structure. Thienen-Adlerflycht, Graf Leo Thun, 35.

17 Thun had solicited this advice himself. While Hans Lentze feels that this document guided Thun throughout his tenure as minister, Thienen-Adlerflycht contends that Thun had fully developed his own conception of the role of education well before this. See Lentze, Die Universitätsreform, 84; and Thienen-Adlerflycht, Graf Leo Thun, 16–17.

18 Lentze, Die Universitätsreform, reprint of memo, 295–99.

19 Jarcke evinced no blind fear of either public education per se or inordinate Protestant influence thereupon, even though he himself was a conservative, ultramontane Catholic. He wrote that “public instruction…should encourage the worship of God and the well-being of mankind, and thus consequently, the welfare…of both church and state.” Ibid., 295.

20 Foremost among such individuals were Franz Exner and Hermann Bonitz, the two men who actually composed the Entwurf. In addition, the ministry drew on the abilities of Pavel Josef Šafařík, Josef Alexander von Helfert, Josef Mozart, Georg Curtius, and Father Gregor Szaszkiewicz (Hryhorü Shashkevych), all young and, with the exception of Curtius and Father Szaszkiewicz, from Bohemia.

21 Verwaltungsarchiv (VA), Bestand-Unterricht, Fasz. 1553 Sig. 10A #6357/111. Vortrag Thuns, Sept. 12, 1849.

22 See Josef Redlich, Das österreichische Staats- und Reichsproblem, 323ff; and Walter, Friedrich, Die österreichische Zentralverwaltung III. Abt. Von der Märzrevolution bis zur Dezemberverfassung 1867 (Vienna, 1964)Google Scholar.

23 See the following works by Lentze: “Graf Leo Thun” in Neue österreichische Biographie; Die Universitatsreform, 156; and “Andreas Freiherr von Baumgartner und die Thunsche Studienre-form,” in Anzeiger der philosophisch-historischen Klasse der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, no. 11, 1959 (Vienna, 1959). It should be noted that Hermann Bonitz was a Protestant from Prussia.

24 Had Thun resigned at this point in time, Bach would have taken over his portfolio and undone everything the Entwurf stood for. See Walter, Freidrich, ed., Aus dem Nachlaβ des Freiherrn Carl Friedrich Kübeck von Kubau. Tagebücher, Briefe, Aktenstücke 1841–1855 (Graz, 1960), 59Google Scholar.

25 HHStA, Kabinettskanzlei, MCZ 2194/1852.

26 Die neue Organisation der östreichischen Gymnasien in ihrer Durchführung und ihren Ergebnissen während der Schuljahre 1850, 1851, 1852 (Vienna, 1853) (henceforth cited as Die neue Organisation).

27 HHStA, Kabinettskanzlei, MCZ 305/1853.

28 Die neue Organisation, 18.

29 Ibid., 20.

30 Ibid., 27–28.

31 Ibid., 34.

32 Ibid., 45.

33 Ibid., 46–47.

34 Ibid., 30–31.

35 Ibid., 50.

36 Ibid., 51–52.

37 Ibid., 72.

38 Ibid., 76.

39 Ibid., 78. In all, only 168 teachers had been approved, of these 11 in 1850, 64 in 1851, and 93 in 1852. The steady increase was, of course, emphasized.

40 Ministerial Konferenz (MK) Apr. 19, 1853, MCZ 1279–KZ 1385 (Prot. #33/1853), reprinted in Die Protokolle des österreichischen Ministerrates 1848–1867, ed. Helmut Rumpler (Vienna, 1970-), Abt. 3, Vol. 2, Mar. 15, 1853, to Oct. 9, 1853, #114 (henceforth cited as Rumpler; # indicates document number).

41 MK Apr. 29, 1853, MCZ 1371-KZ 1740 (Prot. #37/1853), in Rumpler, #118.

42 MK July 8, 1853, MCZ 2247-KZ2657 (Prot. #60/1853), in Rumpler, #140.

43 MK July 23, 1853, in Rumpler, #144.

44 HHStA, Kabinettskanzlei, MCZ 2619/1853, Vortrag Buols, Aug. 6, 1853.

45 Indeed, as C. A. Macartney points out, the Reichsrat rarely had any real effect on policy. See Macartney, C. A., The Habsburg Empire, 1790–1918 (London and New York, 1969), 456Google Scholar.

46 Lentze, Die Universitätsreform, 188–92.

47 Ministerial Verordnung Dec. 16, 1854, reprinted in Reichsgesetzblatt für das Kaiserthum Öster–reich (Vienna, 1850–68), #315.

48 The concordats were established in 1851 with Spain and with Tuscany; in 1855 with the Habsburg Empire; in 1857 with Portugal, Württemberg, and Modena; and in 1859 with Baden.

49 The cardinal was the brother of the minister president at the time. Rauscher, who became archbishop of Vienna in 1853, had been Franz Joseph's personal tutor.

50 Boyer, Political Radicalism, 128.

51 Aubert, Roger, The Church between Revolution and Restoration, vol. 7 of the History of the Church, ed. Jeden, H. and Dolan, J., 10 vols. (London, 1981), 219Google Scholar; and The Church in the Age of Liberalism, vol. 8 of History of the Church. See also the pertinent entries in Eliade, Mircea, Encyclopedia of Religion (New York, 1987)Google Scholar, and Bunnell's, Adam excellent work, Before Infallibility: Liberal Catholicism in Biedermeier Vienna (London, 1989)Google Scholar.

52 There was no unanimity on the issue of the exact relationship of church to state. Differences among the various circles, reflecting in large measure a debate among the episcopate, the lower clergy, and the Roman Curia, eventually led to Rauscher's successful attempt to achieve papal condemnation of Günther's teachings in 1857. This process is clearly developed in Boyer, Political Radicalism, 122–36.

53 As one prominent historian assessed succinctly, “Austria was thus thrown back into the era of the Counter Reformation in its most intransigent form.” Kann, Robert, A History of the Habsburg Empire, 1526–1918 (Berkeley, Calif., 1974), 332Google Scholar.

54 For the text of the concordat, see Weinzierl–Fischer, Erika, Die österreichischen Konkordate von 1855 und 1933 (Vienna, 1960), 250–58Google Scholar.

55 Boyer, Political Radicalism, 21. Winter, Lentze, and Thienen-Adlerflycht all examine Thun's connections with these circles, especially those of Görres and Jarcke.

56 Vortrag Apr. 13, 1850, reprinted in Zeitschrift für die österreichische Gymnasien, 1850.

57 Ministerial Erlaß (ME) Oct. 5, 1850, Z7224, in Normalien für die Gymnasien und Realschulen in Österreich (Vienna, 1884), #27, compiled by Marenzeller, E. E. (henceforth cited as Marenzeller)Google Scholar.

58 ME Jan. 16, 1854, Z11.851 ex 1853, in Marenzeller, #489.

59 ME Nov. 15, 1853. Regulations are one thing, implementation is another. In Kraków, the German language teacher was the local Lutheran minister, August Otremba, who had taught at the Jagiellonian University since 1832 and at the prestigious Gymnasium of Saint Anne since 1849. After the regulation in question, Otremba simply continued in his second post as German instructor in the local technical school until 1863.

60 The Fachlehrersystem, according to which specialists taught their subject matter and no other, was the methodologically preferred mode of instruction and stood in opposition to the older Klassenlehrersyslem, under which one teacher taught all subjects in a given grade.

61 For more information on the Jesuits, see Strakosch-Grassman, Geschichte. On the order in Galicia see HHStA, Kabinettskanzlei, MCZ 1819/1853, Vortrag Thuns, May 23, 1853.

62 Die neue Organisation, 118–19.

63 Most of the literature, including Boyer but excepting Lentze and Thienen-Adlerflycht, paints such a picture.

64 See Lentze, Die Universitätsreform, 232–36.

65 For example, in Galicia the extra supervisory capacity of the church in no way impeded the work of the ministry's inspector, Andreas Wilhelm. During the Bach era, Wilhelm and the bishop's representative, Edward Linzbauer, worked well together.

66 Lentze, Die Universitätsreform, 236.

67 These were known as the Modifikations-Anträge. Ficker, Adolf, Bericht über österreichisches Unterrichtswesen. Aus Anlaβ der Weltausstellung 1873 (Vienna, 1873), 144Google Scholar.