Blackwell Reference Online

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(1778–1861), Prague-born aristocrat who made his career in service of the habsburg empire . As governor of bohemia from 1810, he was a notable promoter of Czech culture. In 1825 he joined the state council, and in 1835 became a permanent member of the State Conference which administered the regency required after the accession of the mentally frail ferdinand i . Here a bitter rivalry developed between Kolowrat and chancellor metternich , the “foreign” Rhinelander. On issues of domestic and especially financial policy, the former tended increasingly to encroach upon the authority of the latter. The upshot was a growing stagnation in imperial governance, which contributed to making Vienna one of the earliest centers of upheaval in the revolutions of 1848–9. After Metternich's resignation in March 1848, Kolowrat succeeded him as first minister for barely a month, before he too was driven from office. ... log in or subscribe to read full text