Vincent Rumpff

Vincent II, Count von Rumpff (10 January 1789 – 13 February 1867) was a German diplomat who served as Minister of the Hanseatic cities to the United States and Paris. Early life Count von Rumpff was born on 10 January 1789 in Hamburg, Germany, then a part of the Holy Roman Empire. His paternal grandfather was Vincent Rumpff (1701–1781), a Senator who served as Mayor of Hamburg in 1765. Rumpff studied at the University of Heidelberg and the University of Göttingen, receiving a law degree. Career Upon the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the Free Imperial City of Hamburg became a sovereign state with the official title of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg. Hamburg was briefly annexed by Napoleon I to the First French Empire, but Russian forces under General Bennigsen freed the city in 1814. Hamburg re-assumed its pre-1811 status as a city-state in 1814 when Rumpff returned to his hometown. He joined the diplomatic service and served as attaché at the Congress of Vienna which confirmed Hamburg's independence and it became one of 39 sovereign states of the German Confederation.