HOHENLOHE-SCHILLINGSFIURST, CHLODWIG KARL VICTOR, PRINCE OF (1819-1901), German chancellor, was born on March 31, 1819, at SchillingsfUrst in Bavaria, of mixed Catholic and Protestant parentage, which perhaps accounts for his tolerance in religious matters. He studied law, and en tered the Prussian civil service in 1844, but his accession, under a family distribution of the Hohenlohe estates, as reigning prince of Schillingsf first, entailed his resignation from the Prussian serv ice in 1846. He then took his seat in the Bavarian Reichsrat, but his liberal sympathies and his desire to see a united Germany compromised his chances of advancement at the Bavarian court. Prince Hohenlohe married, in 1847, a Russian heiress, the Prin cess Marie of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg. He spent much time at various European courts, and was in touch with important people in Vienna, St. Petersburg (now Leningrad), and London. It was Wagner, apparently, who persuaded the Bavarian king to place Hohenlohe at the head of his Government (Denkwurdig keiten, i. 178, 211), and on Dec. 31, 1866, the prince was duly appointed minister of the royal house and of foreign affairs and president of the council of ministers.
As head of the Bavarian Government Hohenlohe's principal task was to discover some basis for an effective union of the South German States with the North German Confederation, and during the three critical years of his tenure of office he was, next to Bismarck, the most important statesman in Germany. He re organized the Bavarian army on the Prussian model, brought about the military union of the southern States, and took a lead ing share in the creation of the customs parliament (Zollparla ment), of which on April 28, 1868, he was elected a vice-president. On the question of the Vatican council Hohenlohe took up an atti tude of strong opposition to the ultramontane position. He be lieved that the policy of Pius IX. of setting the Church in op position to the modern State would prove ruinous to both, and that the definition of the dogma of papal infallibility, by raising the pronouncements of the Syllabus of 1864 into articles of faith, would commit the Church to this policy irrevocably. This view he embodied into a circular note to the Catholic powers (April 9, 1869) drawn up by Dollinger, inviting them to exercise the right of sending ambassadors to the council and to combine to prevent the definition of the dogma. The only practical outcome of Hoh enlohe's action was that in Bavaria the powerful ultramontane party combined against him with the Bavarian "patriots" who accused him of bartering away Bavarian independence to Prussia. The combination was too strong for him ; a bill which he brought in for curbing the influence of the Church over education was defeated, the elections of 1869 went against him, and in spite of the continued support of the king he was forced to resign (March 7, 1870).
Though out of office, his personal influence continued very great both at Munich and Berlin, and had not a little to do with fa vourable terms of the treaty of the North German Confederation with Bavaria, which embodied his views, and with its acceptance by the Bavarian parliament. Elected a member of the German reichstag, he was, on March 23, 1871, chosen one of its vice presidents, and was one of the founders of the Liberal Imperial Party (Liberale Reichspartei), the objects of which were to sup port the new empire, to secure its internal development on Liberal lines, and to oppose clerical aggression as represented by the Catholic Centre. Hohenlohe strenuously supported Bismarck's anti-papal policy, the main lines of which (prohibition of the So ciety of Jesus, etc.) he himself suggested.
In 1873 Bismarck chose Prince Hohenlohe to succeed Count Harry Arnim as ambassador in Paris. In 1878 he attended the Congress of Berlin as third German representative, and in 188o, on the death of von Billow (Oct. 2o), secretary of State for for eign affairs, he was called to Berlin as temporary head of the Foreign Office and representative of Bismarck during his absence through illness. In 1885 he was chosen to succeed Manteuffel as governor of Alsace-Lorraine. In this capacity he had to carry out the coercive measures introduced by the chancellor in 1887-88, though he largely disapproved of them; his conciliatory disposi tion, however, did much to reconcile the Alsace-Lorrainers to Ger man rule. He remained at Strasbourg till Oct. 1894, when, at the urgent request of the emperor, he consented, in spite of his age, to accept the chancellorship in succession of Caprivi. The events of his chancellorship belong to the general history of Germany. In general, during his term of office, the personality of the chan cellor was less conspicuous in public affairs than in the case of either of his predecessors. His appearances in the Prussian and German parliaments were rare, and great independence was left to the secretaries of State. What influence the tact and experience of Hohenlohe exercised behind the scenes on the masterful will and impulsive character of the emperor cannot as yet be generally known.
Prince Hohenlohe resigned the chancellorship on Oct. 17, 1900, and died at Ragaz on July 6, 1901.
Prince Hohenlohe's Denkwurdigkeiten (2 vols., Stuttgart and Leipzig, 1906) are singularly full and outspoken, the latter qual ity causing no little scandal in Germany and bringing down on his son, Prince Alexander, who was responsible for their publication, the disfavour of the emperor.