Autocracy or Consensus – Oriented Governance? Prince Leopold III Friedrich Franz of Anhalt-Dessau (1758–1817) and “Regierung aus dem Kabinett”

Leopold III Friedrich Franz, Ruling Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, is mainly known as the builder of the Garden Kingdom of Wörlitz. He is considered one of the most representative examples of the enlightened rulers of the late 18^th century. The image we have of his cultural, educational, social and economic creativity is based primarily on the statements of prominent contemporaries such as Winckelmann, Goethe or Graves. It does not, however, rely on a serious investigation of what his governance consisted of in practice. We would like to dedicate this project to this praxis of rulership. The Cabinet protocols of Prince Franz provide a unique source inventory. The collection of all supplications directed to the Prince of Anhalt-Dessau between 1759 and 1817 (105,000 entries) provides detailed insights into the government practice of an autocrat in the “saddle period” between the Seven Years War and the collapse of the Napoleonic Empire.

The aim of this study is, through an evaluation of the minutes of the cabinet, to examine thoroughly for thefirst time the rulership of the Prince and thus to provide a new assessment of Leopold III Friedrich Franz. The image of the ruler as an enlightened reformer previously established by the scholarship should be critically reviewed based on his practice of "Regierung aus dem Kabinett" and revised accordingly. The project will thus also contribute to the study of rulership as a communicative exchange between the sovereign, his ministers and his subjects. The small-scale nature of the political relationships and the related possibility of mostly direct communication between the subjects and the sovereign also allows for interesting comparisons with the type of consensus-based territorial sovereignty that could be found in the Old Empire.