20 Kreuzer Salzburg Silver Count Hieronymus von Colloredo (1732 - ...

Salzburg, Count Hieronymus Collerdo. Scarce Silver 20 Kreuzer Coin.

Reference: KM-460.
Denomination: 20 Kreuzer
Mint place: Salzburg (Austria)
Mint Mark: M (Franz Xavier Matzenkopf Jr.)
Diameter: 28mm
Material: Silver
Weight: 6.68gm

Obverse: Bust of the Count right in clerical robes, titles as Archbishop, Prince of the Empire and Primate of Germany.
Legend: HIERONYMVS D.G. A. & P. S. A. S. L. N. G. PRIM.
Exergue: M. (mintmaster´s initial – Franz Xavier Matzenkopf Jr.)

Reverse: Crowned, mantled and tasseled cross-topped oval arms within foliage with a small central Austrian shield.
Comment: Papal legate’s hat above oval arms, showing the status of the Prince-Bishop as such in the catholic church!
Exergue: 17 20 93

The count is known as the first patron of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. He became exceptionally annoyed with Mozart’s frequent absences. After a number of arguments, he ultimately dismissed him with the words, "Mai er verlassen, ich nicht brauchen ihn!" ("May he leave, I don’t need him!"). Leopold Mozart stayed in Salzburg but "continued to bemoan the failure to replace musicians who had left or died, and the consequent shambles in the court music." Colloredo "sometimes played the violin in the court orchestra."

Count Hieronymus Joseph Franz de Paula Graf Colloredo von Wallsee und Melz (31 May 1732 in Vienna, Austria – 20 May 1812 in Vienna) was Prince-Bishop of Gurk from 1761 and Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg from 1771 until 1803, when the Archbishopric was secularized.

He was the second son of Count Rudolf Wenzel Joseph Colloredo von Wallsee und Melz (1706-1788), a high-ranking Imperial official. He was educated at the Theresian Military Academy, and served in various ecclesiastical appointments.

The Prince-Archbishopric of Salzburg fell vacant in December 1771, and (with considerable pressure from the Imperial court in Vienna), he was elected Prince-Archbishop on 14 March 1772 on the 13th ballot. According to Clive (1993) "it was an unpopular choice in Salzburg whose citizens remained cool to him until the end."

Colloredo was the ruler of Salzburg at the time that the long-standing arrangement of placing this sovereign state under the rule of an Archbishop came to an end. On 12 December 1801, as French troops under Napoleon drew near to occupying the city, Colloredo fled the city, never to return. The political fate of Salzburg was first secularization (it was awarded to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, who had lost his state), then incorporation into Austria (1805), then Bavaria (1809), then permanently to Austria (1816). Colloredo remained the eccleciastical head of the diocese. According to Clive, "he was extremely autocratic and his dictatorial attitude at times provide the hostility of the cathedral chapter and of civic officials."