Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Charles Theodor Anton Maria, Prince of Dalberg

DALBERG, Charles Theodor Anton Maria, Prince of (1744–1817), was the son of a prince of Dalberg who was one of the chief councillors of the elector of Mainz. Having attended the universities of Göttingen and Heidelberg, he devoted himself to the study of canon law, and entered the church. In 1772 he was appointed counsellor and governor of Erfurt by the elector of Mainz, the duties of which position he fulfilled in the most exemplary manner, displaying the highest conscientiousness, and doing all that he could to promote the interests of his people. After other advancements, he became in 1802 archbishop and elector of Mainz. Being obliged by the terms of the peace of Lunéville to give up Worms and Constance, he received Ratisbon, Aschaffenburg, and Wetzlar. In 1804 he visited Paris in order to discuss with Pius VII. the affairs of the Catholic Church of Germany. The result was that he gave way to the wishes of Napoleon, and thereby considerably diminished his popularity at home. The emperor did not fail to reward him; and, on the formation of the Confederation of the Rhine, though he was forced to resign his post as archchancellor of the emperor, he received more than compensating dignities. These, however, on the fall of Napoleon, he was forced to resign; and he died, holding no other office than that of archbishop of Ratisbon (10th February 1817). The friend of Goethe, Schiller, and Wieland, Dalberg was himself a scholar and author.

He produced several works on art and philosophy, including Grundsätze der Æthetik, Betrachtung über das Universum, Von dem Bewusztsein als allgemeinem Grunde der Weltweisheit, and two works on the social influence of art. See Krämer, Karl Theodor von Dalberg (Leip. 1821).