Theodor Baron von Neuhof

Neuhof, Theodor, Baron von (tā'ōdôr' bärōn' fən noi'hōf), 1694-1756, German adventurer, b. Metz, France. After a career as a soldier and diplomat, he was persuaded by Corsicans rebelling against Genoese rule to become (1736) their king as Theodore I of Corsica. Driven from Corsica by the Genoese with French aid in 1738, he tried (1738, 1743) unsuccessfully to regain his throne. After 1749 he lived in poverty in England and was once released from debtors' prison through the influence of Horace Walpole. He figures grotesquely in Voltaire's Candide.

Bibliography

See A. Vallance, The Summer King (1956).