The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Auersperg, Anton Alexander, Count of

AUERSPERG, ow'ėr-spĕrH, Anton Alexander, Count of, Austrian poet and statesman, wrote under the name Anastasius Grün: b. Laibach, Carnolia, 11 April 1806; d. Gras, 12 Sept. 1876. Studied engineering in Graz, but later took up philosophy and law in the University of Vienna. In 1848 he was elected to the German preliminary Parliament, and later became a member of the National Assembly in Frankfurt. In 1861, under the ministry of Schmerling, he was created a life member of the Austrian upper house, where he became prominent as a Liberal. Already as a youth his poetry had been attracting attention, his first works being of a political nature. His best known, non-political poem was ‘Der letzte Ritter’ (1830), written m the metre of the “Nibelungenlied,” and eulogizing Maximilian I. Among his other noteworthy works are ‘Die Niebelungen im Frack’ (1843); ‘Der Pfaff vom Kahlenberg’ (1850); ‘Volkslieder aus Krain’ (1850); ‘Robin Hood’ (1864). His collected works were edited by L. A. Frankl (5 vols., Berlin 1877).