Ernst Marschall von Bieberstein (2 August 1770 - 22 January 1834) served as Chief Minister (Staatsminister) of the Duchy of Nassau between 1806 and 1834. Between 1806 he was one of two chief ministers of Nassau, but after the resignation of Hans Christoph Ernst von Gagern (apparently as an unintended consequence of a new imperial decree), Marschall von Bieberstein became in effect the sole leading politician in Nassau in 1809. During his early years he pursued a liberal course, but as conservatism returned to favour after the fall of Napoleon, his approach became strikingly more "restorationist".

Family provenance Ernst (Franz Ludwig) Freiherr Marschall von Bieberstein was born into a protestant family at Wallerstein (approximately 80 kilometers / 50 miles north of Augsburg), a younger son of Conrad Otto Christoph Marschall von Bieberstein (1726–96), an army officer and senior government administrator from Württemberg. and his wife 'Johanna Theresia Henriette' née Wolf from Ludwigsburg (1738 – 1783), who came from an army family. The aristocratic Marschall von Bieberstein family could trace their rise to eminence back at least to the thirteenth century, and the medieval Margravate of Meissen.

Ernst Marschall von Bieberstein had at least two elder brothers. Karl Wilhelm Marschall von Bieberstein (1763 – 1817) became a leading politician in the Grand Duchy of Baden. Friedrich August Marschall von Bieberstein (1768 – 1816) became a pioneering botanist. All three brothers attended the Karlsschule (military academy) in Stuttgart, which was at that time the capital of Württemberg.

Life School Ernst attended the Karlsschule from 1782 till 1791. Along with a sound military training he also followed and successfully passed details courses in Philosophy and Law. The Karlsschule was an elite establishment: the younger two Marschall von Bieberstein brothers got to know Georges Cuvier (1769 – 1832) who later came to prominence as a notable naturalist-palaeontologist, and who became a lifelong family friend. Like many of his generation, Marschall von Bieberstein was initially sympathetic to many of the ideas underpinning the French Revolution.

Public service In June 1791 Ernst Marschall von Bieberstein entered military service as a lieutenant in the district militia ("Kreiskontingent") under the command of Prince William of Nassau-Usingen. However, he was already destined, in the longer term, for a career in civil administration and after a year of military service he made the switch, taking a post as Court and Government Assessor. Despite his relative youth, in 1793 he travelled to The Hague on a diplomatic mission. However, he found himself arrested and detained by French troops. He was evidently soon released, since his political career serving the Duchy of Nassau took off. He was appointed a Regierungsrat later in 1793, and in 1795 became a member of the Privy Council. Further promotion followed, and he emerged as one of the most influential members of the government. The pressing issue of the times was the aggressive advance across western Europe of the French Revolutionary Army. Given the overwhelming superiority in terms of resources and numbers of the French forces, Marschall von Bieberstein was pragmatic, counselling a conciliatory approach. As early as 1793, echoing the views of the men who later came to be known as the Prussian reformers in Berlin, Marschall von Bieberstein had shared his opinion that the best protection against the revolutionary tide lay in adopting a constitution, though it would be another twenty years before he would have the opportunity to implement his own advice on this. In order to diminish revolutionary tendencies he also warned against imposing excessive "feudal burdens" on the population. In 1797, in defiance of the wishes of "Regierungspräsident" (head of government) Karl Friedrich von Kruse, that Ernst Marschall von Bieberstein undertook a diplomatic mission to Paris as part of a mediatisation policy, apparently of his own.

Regierungspräsident

Karl-Wilhelm, Prince of Nassau-Usingen died in May 1803 and Karl Friedrich von Kruse's request that he be permitted to retire was accepted by the new prince. Ernst Franz Ludwig Freiherr Marschall von Bieberstein was appointed as the duchy's new "Regierungspräsident" (head of government). One of the most pressing tasks to be addressed involved the difficult negotiations over compensation for the duchy's lost territories on the left Bank of the Rhine. Marschall von Bieberstein's objective was to secure a discrete territory on the Right ("German") Bank of the Rhine, a goal which he pursued in close collaboration with government colleague, Hans Christoph Ernst von Gagern. The amalgamation of Nassau-Usingen with Nassau-Weilburg in 1806 represented an effective triumph for Marschall von Bieberstein, and incorporation of the territory into the French sponsored Confederation of the Rhine created a buffer state which suited French strategic objectives. For the newly enlarged Duchy of Nassau, there was a measure of security achieved through "French acknowledgement" of the duchy's (qualified) sovereignty.

After The creation of the enlarged Duchy of Nassau in 1806, Marschall von Bieberstein and Hans Christoph Ernst von Gagern headed up the government jointly. There were in effect two "Regierungspräsidenten". While von Gagern focused on foreign policy, von Bieberstein took responsibility for domestic matters. However, Nassau's sovereignty was not unconstrained, and a new edict imperial in 1809 debarred those who had been born on the Left Bank of the Rhine from government service in any state other than France. The edict caught von Gagern who had been born near Worms and he resigned his office in 1809 or 1811 (sources differ) before "retiring" in 1811 to Vienna, where French imperial edicts were of less effect, especially after 1812. After that Marschall von Bieberstein served as sole "Regierungspräsident" till his death in 1834.

Reformer Marschall von Bieberstein was still a relatively young man when he took over the government, and his early years in office are marked by a comprehensive strategy of financial, social and economic reform, all designed to create a modern and more unified state. On 1 January 1808 he was able to implement the abolition of serfdom and of "manumission fees" (whereby serfdom levies were compensated by the state), bringing the duchy more closely into line with its former territories on the left bank (which had been part of revolutionary France since 1798). A year later tax privileges for the nobility were diminished. In December 1809 there followed an edict abolishing all "demeaning physical punishments" ("... entehrenden Leibesstrafen"), a striking testimony to governmental respect for the human rights of the prince's subjects in Nassau, more than a century before such an approach became mainstream in much of western Europe. Marschall von Bieberstein's government also changed the rules so as to permit legal cases against the tax authorities. Inter-denominational marriages between Catholics and Lutherans were no longer prohibited. Some years later, in 1817, based on the detailed work of the lawyer-educationalist Carl Ibell, and with the enthusiastic (and very necessary) backing of Marschall von Bieberstein, education provision was removed from church control and interdenominational schooling was introduced. A wide range of administrative reforms included the imposition of "trading tax" ("Gewerbesteuer") on all persons deemed to earn a living through "work and industry" (§ 31 of the Edict on Taxes of February 1809) which included government officers, lawyers, physicians and private tutors. In February 1812 a further edict provided for the abolition of a plethora old direct taxes, among the more eye-catching are of which were "soldier tax", "voluntary grants" ("Verwilligungsgelder"), "road maintenance estimates" ("Chaussee-Schatzung"), "hussar estimates" ("Husaren-Schatzung"), "monthly-money" ("Monatgeld"), knight taxes, "river development money" ("Rheinbaugelder"), "squire money" and "kitchen money".

A national health service was introduced in 1818. Ernst Marschall von Bieberstein participated closely in reforms of the justice system, of financial policy and of the economy over which, as "Regierungspräsident", he presided. To that can be added his introduction of free trade in 1815 and business liberalisation policies introduced in 1819. Up to that point, there can be little doubt as to his commitment to the economic liberalism advocated by eighteenth century enlightenment thinkers.

Marschall von Bieberstein enthusiastically accepted the proposal from Baron vom Stein for a Nassau Constitution, which he implemented, formally, in 1814. Viewed in retrospect it becomes hard to understand just what a radical step (or, for constitutional conservatives, threat) this de facto guarantee of fundamental rights and liberties would have represented, both in 1814 and subsequently. Back in 1806, when Marschall von Stein had been running Nassau's foreign policy, his conciliatory approach towards France had generated tension and, at times, acrimony between himself and Baron vom Stein, at that time a senior Prussian government minister. After the Prussians suffered a crushing military defeat in 1806 at the hands of Napoleon, however, French pressure led eventually to vom Stein's exile from Prussia in 1808. As the fortunes of war turned after 1812 vom Stein was able to move around a little more freely, and by the time the Nassau Constitution was implemented in 1814 relations between vom Stein and Marschall von Bieberstein were much improved, and the two men seem to have worked closely together on the constitution project. Improved relations between the two men proved particularly important at the Congress of Vienna which between November 1814 and June 1815 set the template for Europe after Napoleon. Although vom Stein's ambitions for Europe were, for the most part, ignored or turned down by the leading protagonists at the Congress of Vienna, Stein's support for the Duchy of Nassau was important to Marschall von Bieberstein, who attended the congress of behalf of his prince. Marschall von Bieberstein was able to secure rejection by the congress of the initial wishes of the Prussian delegation that Nassau should simply be annexed to Prussia. In the event, Nassau was able to retain its sovereignty for another half century, till 1866. It was as a mark of gratitude concerning his diplomatic achievements at the Congress of Vienna that in 1815/16 Marschall von Bieberstein was given the moated chateau and surrounding lands at Hahnstätten which today carries the "Bieberstein" name.

Restorationist About-turn