Josef Kalasanz von Erberg

Josef Kalasanz Freiherr von Erberg ( or ) (27 August 1771 – 10 July 1843) was a Carniolan botanist, cultural historian, collector, and patron of the arts.

Biography Von Erberg was born in Ljubljana. After graduating from mathematics, logics, philosophy, and administrative law, he was at first a board councillor at the Carniolan Provincial Estates. In 1794, he married Josephine, Countess of Attems. They had seven children. In 1804, he became a chamberlain at the Austrian Court, and from 1809 until 1814 was the educator of the young Ferdinand I of Austria.

In 1825, von Erberg wrote the Attempt at a Sketch of the Literary History of Carniola , which he intended for his personal use. It consists of twelve questions about the literary history of his homeland and extensive answers to them. Even today, it represents a source of information about older Slovenian literary history.