Georg Heinrich Ludwig Nicolovius

Georg Heinrich Ludwig Nicolovius (13 January 1767 – 2 November 1839) was a senior Prussian whose responsibilities primarily encompassed church and school affairs.

Life

Family provenance and early years Ludwig Nicolovius was born in the capital of East Prussia, Königsberg. His father, (1717–1778), was a senior in the Ministry of State. One of his brothers, (1768–1836), later became a publisher whose authors included Immanuel Kant. When he was only 11 Georg Heinrich was orphaned, after which, with his siblings (two brothers and two sisters), he was bought up by an unmarried great aunt called Johanna Catherina Reußner, who ensured that the boys were educated at the well regarded Collegium Fridericianum (secondary school). This respected the wishes of their deceased father who had attended the same establishment. At least five of their children would grow to adulthood. Stolberg had been at the heart of the which now began to break up. Nicolovius was much affected. The (of which Eutin formed a part) was undergoing a crisis of its own, involving secularisation of the state: Nicolovius was urged by the Grand Duke, who had become a personal friend, not to abandon his post. It was only after much soul searching that in April 1805 he reigned his office and returned to Königsberg.

Later that year he accepted an with the based in Königsberg. This gave him audit and control responsibilities (ein "Assessorenstelle") for the entire school system and the affairs in East Prussia of the Catholic Church. However, just a few months later, at the end of August 1805, the king had him promoted to the East Prussian secular "consistory" with a mandate to overhaul he entire school system and related church matters. In 1806/07 he was given additional responsibilities, as a Teaching Advisor ("Vortragender Rat") the Königsberg University Curatorium (governing council) and as chief librarian of the university's important "Silver Library" ("Silberbibliothek").

Starting in 1807, when Prussia had just lost half of its territory following military defeats and the Treaties of Tilsit, a series of far reaching administrative reforms were set in train. In 1808 Nicolovius was given the rank of State Councillor (Staatsrat) and leadership of the Department for Culture and Public Education (Sektion für Kultus und öffentlichen Unterricht) within the Prussian Interior Ministry. In 1817, with Napoleon defeated and many "normal" prewar borders restored, Nicolovius in effect retained his responsibilities within the newly launched . Between 1824 and 1832 he had to give up the education portion of his brief to Karl Albert von Kamptz, but apart from this interlude his responsibilities remained very little changed till 1839.

Within the ministry headed up by Minister Altenstein, Nicolovius pushed through the reforms initiated by the king involving the Prussian Union of churches. Among other things he drafted the "memorandum" on the liturgy and . In the that broke out between the king and various church leaders after 1821, Nicolovius represented the government's position, but nevertheless worked to find acceptable compromises. His education reforms reflected the lengthy discussions that he had entered into over the years with Pestalozzi and Jacobi. Along with his government roles he was also vice-president of the Prussian National Bible Society.