Paul Gautsch von Frankenthurn

Hochwohlgeboren Paul Gautsch Freiherr von Frankenthurn
Baron Paul Gautsch, 1905
14th Minister-President of Cisleithania
In office 28 November 1897 – 5 March 1898
Monarch	Franz Joseph I
Preceded by	Kasimir Felix Graf von Badeni
Succeeded by	Franz Anton Fürst von Thun und Hohenstein
19th Minister-President of Cisleithania
In office 31 December 1904 – 2 May 1906
Monarch	Franz Joseph I
Preceded by	Ernest von Koerber
Succeeded by	Konrad Fürst von Hohenlohe-Waldenburg
23rd Minister-President of Cisleithania
In office 28 June 1911 – 3 November 1911
Monarch	Franz Joseph I
Preceded by	Richard Graf von Bienerth-Schmerling
Succeeded by	Count Karl Graf von Stürgkh
Personal details
Born	(1851-02-26)26 February 1851 Döbling, Austrian Empire
Died	20 April 1918(1918-04-20) (aged 67) Vienna Austria-Hungary
Religion	Catholic

Paul Gautsch Freiherr von Frankenthurn (26 February 1851 – 20 April 1918) was an Austrian politician and statesman who served three times as Minister-President of Cisleithania.

Paul Gautsch was born in Döbling (a Vienna suburb incorporated in 1892), the son of a civil servant. He attended the elite Theresianum boarding school and, having obtained his Matura degree, went on to study law at the University of Vienna. Gautsch achieved the promotio sub auspiciis Praesidentis, the highest possible honor for the country's best students, and began his career as a government official in the Austrian Ministry of Education.

In 1881 Gautsch became head teacher of the Theresianum school. On 5 November 1885 Emperor Franz Joseph I appointed him Minister of Education in the second cabinet of Minister-President Eduard Taaffe, an office he held until the downfall of Taaffe's government in 1893. Ennobled to the rank of Freiherr in 1890, he again served as Minister of Education in the Cisleithanian government of Kasimir Felix Badeni from 1895 to 1897.

After Badeni's resignation amidst the national crisis of the German-Czech language conflict, Gautsch was appointed Minister-President on 30 November 1897. He delayed the convening of the Imperial Council parliament, declared a state of emergency in Prague, and largely ruled by emergency decrees. His attempts to resolve the conflict by attenuating the language ordinances made by Badeni finally failed and Gautsch resigned on 5 March 1898, after only three months in office. The Badeni ordinances were finally revoked under Minister-President Manfred von Clary-Aldringen in October 1899, nevertheless the language dispute remained insuperable.