Philipp Ludwig Wenzel von Sinzendorf (26 December 1671 – 8 February 1742) was an Austrian diplomat and statesman who for nearly four decades served as Court Chancellor responsible of foreign affairs of the Habsburg monarchy.
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Origin
He was born in the Austrian capital Vienna, into the prominent House of Sinzendorf, as the son of Count Georg Ludwig von Sinzendorf (1616–1681), and his wife, Duchess Dorothea Elisabeth of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Wiesenburg (1645–1725). His father served as president of the Habsburg court chamber under Emperor Leopold I. After the emperor led a thorough examination of his financial irregularities, Georg Ludwig was sentenced to life imprisonment, but his wife managed the commutation of the sentence into house arrest in one of the palaces of the family. As a younger son of this marriage, Philipp Ludwig was designated early for an ecclesiastical career and joined the cathedral chapter in Cologne.
Rise
After his brother's death in the Battle of Mohács (1687), he returned to secular life. Philipp Ludwig von Sinzendorf initially entered military service. The emperor noticed him and appointed him in 1694 as treasurer. As a result, he was entrusted with various diplomatic missions. In 1696 he married the Countess Rosina Katharina Isabella Rosalia von Waldstein-Wartenberg (1672–1733), widow of Count Wilhelm of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rochefort (1669–1696). With her he had four children. Among them was the later Cardinal Philipp Ludwig von Sinzendorf.