Karl Ludwig Schulmeister (Charles Louis Schulmeister)

Karl Ludwig Schulmeister (1770–1853)[1] (also known as Carl Schulmeister or Charles Louis Schulmeister) was an Austrian double agent for France during the reign of Napoleon I.

Schulmeister was born in Baden and raised as a shepherd. His father was a Lutheran minister.[2] Later in life he became a businessman and started a career as a smuggler at the "3, rue des Récollets" in Strasbourg, France, [2] and drifted into trading information as well as goods.[3] He was a spy for the Austrian Empire and the Holy Alliance, but was recruited by General Savary to spy for France. His information led to the French capture of Louis-Antoine-Henri de Bourbon and also contributed to the victory at Austerlitz. Schulmeister also acted as a General in Napoleon's army, undertook espionage missions that took him into England and Ireland, and was appointed commissioner of police for Vienna during Napoleon's second occupation in 1809.[4] At the peak of his career, he was director of the French Secret Service, but he ended life as a modest tobacconist in Strasbourg after the Hundred Days ended Napoleon's rule. Several books (in German and in French) have been written about him:[5]

  • L. F. Dieffenbach, Carl Ludwig Schulmeister, der Hauptspion, (1897)
  • A. Elmer, Napoleon's Leibspion, (1931)
  • Gérald Arboit, Schulmeister, l'espion de Napoléon, Paris, Edilarge, 2011, 176 pages
  • Abel Douay, Gérard Hertault, Schulmeister. Dans les coulisses de la Grande Armée, Paris, Éditions de la Fondation Napoléon - Nouveau Monde Éditions, série Biographies, 2002, 350 p.
  • Alexandre Elmer, L'Agent secret de Napoléon, Charles-Louis Schulmeister, Paris, Payot, 1932 [réédité en 2006 chez Lavozelle].
  • Paul Muller, L'espionnage militaire sous Napoléon Ier. Ch. Schulmeister, Paris, Berger-Levrault, 1896.

References

  1. ↑ "Encyclopædia Britannica Online". Britannica.com. Retrieved 2013-09-25.
  2. 1 2 Spies and secret service By Hamil Grant at Google Books
  3. ↑ The Entity: Five Centuries of Secret Vatican Espionage By Eric Frattini and Dick Cluster at Google Books
  4. ↑ Encyclopædia Britannica 2010, v10 p541 ISBN 978-1-59339-837-8
  5. ↑ "The Hidden Hand - Espionage and Napoleon". Ospreypublishing.com. 2008-03-18. Archived from the original on 2013-09-27. Retrieved 2013-09-25.
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