AUERSPERG, JOHANN WEIKHART, PRINCE (FRST) VON

born March 11, 1615 died Nov. 13, 1677, Laibach, Carniola, Austrian Empire [now Ljubljana, Slovenia] Austrian diplomat and statesman, head of the Aulic Council (Reichshofrat) under the Habsburg emperor Leopold I. After serving briefly as a Habsburg court councillor, Auersperg was sent to The Hague (1641), and later he took part in peace negotiations at Osnabrck, which ultimately ended the Thirty Years' War with the Peace of Westphalia (1648). After the death of the empire's chief minister, Maximilian von Trauttmansdorff (1650), Auersperg gradually achieved preeminence, especially after Leopold I became emperor. As chief privy councillor (166569) he concluded a secret treaty with France for the partition of Spanish territories (January 1668) but nonetheless supported the Roman Catholic alliance of Austria, France, and Spain. His continued secret dealings with France, however, caused his downfall in December 1669. He was later banished by Leopold to his estate in Carniola.