Name Heinrich Bunau | ||
Count Heinrich von Bunau (German: Heinrich Graf von Bunau; 2 June 1697 – 7 April 1762) was a statesman and historian from the Electorate of Saxony, now part of Germany.
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Life
Born in Weissenfels, he was the son of the Chancellor of the Elector of Saxony, Heinrich von Bunau (1665–1745), who was created an Imperial Count on 24 March 1742. After studying at the University of Leipzig he entered the service of the Electors of Saxony and became an assessor in the Upper Court (Oberhofgericht) at Leipzig. Later he became Senior Consistorial President and Privy Councillor (Wirklicher Geheimrat).
He received advancement through the good offices of the Cabinet Minister of the Electors of Saxony, Count von Hoym, the uncle of his second wife. After Hoym had been ousted by Count Bruhl, Heinrich von Bunau was relegated in 1734 to the position of Senior Overseer of the County of Mansfeld in Eisleben.
In 1741 however he entered the service of the Emperor Charles VII, who made him an Imperial Privy Councillor (Reichshofrat), the first Protestant to fill that role, and employed him as an ambassador in the area of Upper and Lower Saxony. After the death of the emperor, he withdrew (in 1745) to his estate at Nothnitz near Dresden to pursue his scientific and historical studies.
Between 1744 and 1751 he had Dahlen Castle built, on the Dahlen estate he had acquired by marriage, and for the decoration of which he commissioned Adam Friedrich Oeser in 1756.
In 1751 he was appointed Guardian Governor of the Duchy of Saxe-Eisenach during the minority of Duke Constantin, for whom in 1756 he became Prime Minister in Weimar. In 1759, after the death of the Duke, he entered on his retirement and spent the evening of his life on his estate at Ossmannstedt near Weimar, where he died on 7 April 1762.
Library
Von Bunau's private library comprised some 42,000 volumes. It was housed at first in Dresden, then on his estate at Nothnitz, and was publicly accessible. The archaeologist Johann Joachim Winckelmann from Stendal worked there between 1748 and 1754 as secretary.