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

AUERSPERG, ow'ėr-spĕr H, Anton Alexander, , 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 &lsquo;Der letzte Ritter&rsquo; (1830), written m the metre of the &ldquo;Nibelungenlied,&rdquo; and eulogizing Maximilian I. Among his other noteworthy works are &lsquo;Die Niebelungen im Frack&rsquo; (1843); &lsquo;Der Pfaff vom Kahlenberg&rsquo; (1850); &lsquo;Volkslieder aus Krain&rsquo; (1850); &lsquo;Robin Hood&rsquo; (1864). His collected works were edited by L. A. Frankl (5 vols., Berlin 1877).