Lorenz von Westenrieder


Lorenz von Westenrieder was a well-known author and historian in Bavaria and a critic of the Elector Karl Theordor and supporter of Maximilian IV Joseph. There are several memorials to him in Munich.

Biography and politics

Lorenz von Westenrieder was a prominent figure in Bavarian intellectual life, as limited as that life was. He started his career as a professor at the Gymnasium in Landshut. There he taught both rhetoric and poetry until 1774 when he transferred to Munich. In 1776 he was the secretary for history at the Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Westenrieder was, for a short time, a member of the Illuminati. Later, in 1799, under the rule of Maximilian IV Joseph he would work for the new revised College for Book Censorship that Maximilian von Montgelas had founded. Westenrieder's membership in the Illuminati may have helped his selection by Von Montgelas, a fellow Illuminatus. Westenrieder was one of the voices in the intellectual movement known as the Bavarian Enlightenment. This occurred much later than the Enlightenment that had already reached its zenith in much of Europe, and would occur in a syncopated form, first under Maximilian III Joseph in the middle of the eighteenth century, and then this enlightenment would come full circle during the reign of Maximilian IV Joseph 1799-1806, ending in 1817 with Montgelas's dismissal from King Maximilian I.

Works

Lorenz von Westenrieder is better known as an author of German literature than a political figure. During his life, he wrote over thirty separate works: