1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Münch-Bellinghausen, Eligius Franz Joseph, Freiherr von
MÜNCH-BELLINGHAUSEN, ELIGIUS FRANZ JOSEPH, Freiherr von (1806–1871), Austrian poet and dramatist (who wrote under the pseudonym “Friedrich Halm”), was born at Cracow on the 2nd of April 1806, the son of a district judge. Educated at first at a private school in Vienna, he afterwards attended lectures at the university, and in 1826, at the early age of twenty, married and entered the government service. In 1840 he became Regierungsrat, in 1845 Hofrat and custodian of the royal library, in 1861 life member of the Austrian Herrenhaus (upper chamber), and from 1869 to 1871 was intendant of the two court theatres in Vienna. He died at Hütteldorf near Vienna on the 22nd of May 1871. Münch-Bellinghausen’s dramas, among them notably Griseldis (1835; publ. 1837; 11th ed., 1896), Der Adept (1836; publ. 1838), Camoens (1838), Der Sohn der Wildnis (1842; 10th ed., 1896), and Der Fechter von Ravenna (1854; publ. 1857; 6th ed., 1894), are distinguished by elegance of language, melodious versification and clever construction, and were for a time exceedingly popular.
His poems, Gedichte, were published in Stuttgart, 1850 (new ed., Vienna, 1877). His works, Sämtliche Werke, were published in eight volumes (1856–1864), to which four posthumous volumes were added in 1872. Ausgewählte Werke, ed. by A. Schlossar, 4 vols. (1904). See F. Pachler, Jugend und Lehrjahre des Dichters F. Halm (1877); J. Simiani, Gedenkblätter an F. Halm (1873). Halm’s correspondence with Enk von der Burg has been published by R. Schachinger (1890).