Sigmund von Haimhausen

Sigmund Ferdinand Graf von und zu Haimhausen was born on 28 December 1708 in Munich, in the Electorate of Bavaria. He came from a family ennobled by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558). His father was Franz Joseph von und zu Haimhausen and his mother Maria Magdalena Baroness von Rehlin.

Sigmund attended the Jesuit school in Munich, then in 1724 went with his older brother Charles Ferdinand to the University of Salzburg. After two years they moved on to study law in Prague. In the late summer of 1728 the two brothers began to travel, visiting Dresden, Berlin, Lübeck, Hamburg and Amsterdam. They spent a semester in Leyden where they and hundreds of young men heard Johann Jacob Vitriarius deliver his annual lectures on public law. They then visited London and spent eight months in Paris before returning home in July 1730.