GORTZ, GEORG HEINRICH VON, BARON VON SCHUTZ (1668-1719)

This article appears in Volume V12, Page 262 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: GOA-GRA

GORTZ, GEORG HEINRICH VON, BARON VON SCHUTZ (1668-1719) , Holstein statesman, was educated at Jena. He entered the Holstein-Gottorp service, and after the death of the duchess Hedwig

Sophia

SOPHIA (1630-1714)

, Charles XII.'s sister, became very influential during the minority of her son Duke Charles Frederick. His earlier policy aimed at strengthening Holstein-Gottorp at the expense of Denmark. With this object, during Charles XII.'s stay at Altranstadt (x706-1707), he tried to divert the king's attention to the Holstein question, and six years later, when the Swedish

commander

COMMANDER

, Magnus Stenbock, crossed the Elbe, Gortz rendered him as much assistance as was compatible with not openly breaking with Denmark, even going so far as to surrender the fortress of Tanning to the Swedes. Gortz next attempted to undermine the grand alliance against Sweden by negotiating with Russia, Prussia and Saxony for the purpose of isolating Denmark, or even of turning the arms of the allies against her, a task by no means impossible in view of the strained relations between Denmark and the tsar. The plan foundered, however, on the refusal of Charles XII. to save the rest of his German domains by ceding Stettin to Prussia. Another simultaneous plan of procuring the Swedish crown for Duke Charles Frederick also came to nought. Gortz first suggested the

marriage

MARRIAGE

between the duke of Holstein and the tsarevna Anne of Russia, and negotiations were begun in St

Petersburg

PETERSBURG

with that object. On the arrival of Charles XII. from Turkey at Stralsund, Gortz was the first to visit him, and emerged from his presence

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

minister or " grand-vizier " as the Swedes preferred to

call

CALL (from Anglo-Saxon ceallian, a common Teutonic word, cf. Dutch kallen, to talk or chatter)

the bold and crafty satrap, whose absolute devotion to the Swedish king took no account of the intense wretchedness of the Swedish nation. Gortz, himself a man of uncommon audacity, seems to have been fascinated by the heroic

element

ELEMENT (Lat. elementum)

in Charles's nature and was determined, if possible, to save him from his difficulties. He owed his extra-

ordinary

ORDINARY (med. Lat. ordinarius, Fr. ordinaire)

influence to the fact that he was the only one of Charles's advisers who believed, or pretended to believe, that Sweden was still far from exhaustion, or at any rate had a sufficient reserve of power to give support to an energetic diplomacyCharles's own

opinion

OPINION (Lat. opinio, from opinari, to think)

, in fact. Gortz's position, however, was highly peculiar. Ostensibly, he was only the Holstein minister at Charles's court, in reality he was everything in Sweden except a Swedish subjectfinance minister, plenipotentiary to foreign powers, factotum, and responsible to the king alone, though he had not a line of instructions. But he was just the man for a hero in extremities, and his whole course of procedure was, of necessity, revolutionary. His

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

financial

FINANCIAL

expedient was to debase, or rather ruin, the currency by issuing copper tokens redeemable in better times; but it was no fault of his that Charles XII., during his absence, flung upon the market too enormous an amount of this copper money for GSrtz to deal

End of Article: GORTZ, GEORG HEINRICH VON, BARON VON SCHUTZ (1668-1719)

If you wish, you can link directly to this article.

<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/GOA_GRA/GORTZ_GEORG_HEINRICH_VON_BARON.html">
GORTZ, GEORG HEINRICH VON, BARON VON SCHUTZ (16...
</a>

(Previous)
GORTYNA, or GORTYN

(Next)
GORZ (Ital. Gorizia ; Slovene, Gorica)

JCSM was founded in 1997 and exists to help the community and bring people into a life-changing and productive relationship with Jesus Christ. JCSM offers over 200,000 free web pages, including its weekly inspirational emails that were sent continuously for over a decade.

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
P.O. Box 9297
San Diego, CA 92169
1-888-887-0417 or Email