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March 14, 1647: Death of Frederik Hendrik, Prince of Orange, Stadtholder of the Netherlands

14 Thursday Mar 2024

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Frederik Hendrik (January 29, 1584 ? March 14, 1647) was the sovereign Prince of Orange and Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, Overijssel in the Dutch Republic from 1625 until his death in 1647. In the last seven years of his life, he was also the stadtholder of Groningen (1640-1647).

Early life

Frederik Hendrik was born on January 29, 1584 in Delft, Holland, Dutch Republic. He was the youngest child of Prince Willem the Silent, Prince of Orange and Louise de Coligny. His father Prince Willem of Orange was Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, and Friesland. His mother Louise was daughter of the Huguenot leader Gaspard de Coligny, and was the fourth wife of his father. He was thus the half brother of his predecessor Prince Maurice of Orange, deceased in 1625.

As the leading soldier in the Dutch wars against Spain, his main achievement was the successful Siege of ‘s-Hertogenbosch in 1629. It was the main Spanish base and a well-fortified city protected by an experienced Spanish garrison and by formidable water defenses.

His strategy was the successful neutralization of the threat of inundation of the area around ‘s-Hertogenbosch’ and his capture of the Spanish storehouse at Wesel. The successful sieges under his command earned him the epithet ‘city forcer’ (Dutch: stedendwinger).

Biography

Frederik Hendrik was born six months before his father’s assassination on 10 July 1584. The boy was trained to arms by his elder brother Maurice, one of the finest generals of his age. After Maurice threatened to legitimize his illegitimate children if he did not marry, Frederik Hendrik married his first cousin once removed Amalia of Solms-Braunfels in 1625, she was a daughter of Count Johann Albrecht I of Solms-Braunfels (1563-1623) and his wife, Countess Agnes of Sayn-Wittgenstein (1568-1617). She was a member of the House of Solms, a ruling family with Imperial immediacy.

Frederik Hendrik’s illegitimate son by Margaretha Catharina Bruyns (1595?1625), Frederick Nassau de Zuylestein was born in 1624 before his marriage. This son later became the governor of the young King William III of England for seven years.

Frederik Hendrik proved himself almost as good a general as his brother, and a far more capable statesman and politician. For twenty-two years he remained at the head of government in the United Provinces, and in his time the power of the stadtholderate reached its highest point. The “Period of Frederik Hendrik,” as it is usually styled by Dutch writers, is generally accounted for the golden age of the republic.

Frederik Hendrik died on March 14, 1647 in The Hague, Holland, Dutch Republic. He left his wife Amalia of Solms-Braunfels, his son Willem II, Prince of Orange, four of his daughters, and his illegitimate son Frederick Nassau de Zuylestein.

On Frederik Hendrik’s death, he was buried with great pomp beside his father and brother at Delft. The treaty of Munster, ending the long struggle between the Dutch and the Spaniards, was not actually signed until 30 January 1648, the illness and death of the stadtholder having caused a delay in the negotiations.

February 1, 1666: Princess Marie Therese de Bourbon

01 Thursday Feb 2024

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Marie Therese de Bourbon (February 1, 1666 ? February 22, 1732) was the titular Queen Consort of Poland in 1697. She was the daughter of the Prince of Conde. As a member of France’s reigning House of Bourbon, she was a Princesses du Sang.

Biography

Princess Marie Therese de Bourbon, was born at the Hotel de Conde in Paris on February 1, 1666 to Prince Henri-Jules de Bourbon, Prince de Conde, a purely honorary title, but one of the highest ranking in France, and the then Duke Henri III of Bourbon, and Princess Anne Henriette of the Palatinate of the Rhine, Countess of Simmern the second of the three daughters of Prince Edward of the Palatinate of the Rhine and her mother was Anna Gonzaga,

Princess Marie Therese de Bourbon known from birth as Mademoiselle de Bourbon, she was named after the Queen, Maria Theresa of Spain (wife of King Louis XIV of France and Navarre).

On her father’s side she belonged to a cadet branch of the French royal House of Bourbon, and on her mother’s side, from English royalty and the House of Nassau.

Princess Marie Therese de Bourbon’s mother, Princess Anne Henriette of the Palatinate of the Rhine, was the daughter of Prince Eduard of the Palatinate of the Rhine, who was the sixth son Prince-Elector Friedrich V, Palatinate of the Rhine (of the House of Wittelsbach), the “Winter King” of Bohemia, by his consort, the British princess Elizabeth Stuart, the daughter of King James I-VI of England, Scotland and Ireland and his wife Princess Anne of Denmark.

It was planned for her to marry Prince Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy, Prince de Carignan, but on January 22, 1688, Princess Marie-Therese married Prince Francois Louis, Prince of Conti, le Grand Conti, head of the Conti cadet branch of the House of Bourbon, in the Chapel of Versailles. He was son of Prince Armand de Bourbon, Prince of Conti and Anne Marie Martinozzi, daughter of Girolamo Martinozzi and niece of Cardinal Mazarin, through her mother.

The bride was passionately in love with her husband, but his attentions were elsewhere. It was well known at court that he had an affair with his wife’s sister-in-law, Princess Louise-Francoise de Bourbon, wife of Prince Louis III, Prince of Conde, who was the eldest legitimated daughter of King Louis XIV of France and Navarre and his mistress, Madame de Montespan. Princess Marie Anne de Bourbon, the daughter of Louise-Francoise de Bourbon, was thought to have been the fruit of this affair.[

It was also said that Prince Francois Louis, had homosexual tendencies and did not pay his wife much attention.

Princess Marie Therese had a difficult relationship with her children and, as a result, lived quietly at the various Conti residences, mainly at the Chateau de L’Isle-Adam. The family later reconciled after the death of the Prince de Conti.

Princess Marie Therese was known for her quiet personality and her piety, much praised by many at court such as Princess Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate of the Rhine, Dowager Duchess of Orleans and mother of the Regent Philippe II d’Orleans, wrote of the widowed Marie Therese:

This Princess is the only one of the House of Conde who is good for anything. I think she must have some German blood in her veins. She is little, and somewhat on one side, but she is not hunchbacked. She has fine eyes, like her father; with this exception, she has no pretensions to beauty, but she is virtuous and pious. What she has suffered on account of her husband has excited general compassion;

Queen of Poland

In 1697, Marie Therese’s husband was offered the Crown of Poland by Louis XIV of France and Navarre. The Prince de Conti went to Poland to inspect his potential new kingdom, while Marie Therese stayed in France. During this time, she was considered the titular Queen of Poland and her husband the King. Based on votes that were cast by the Polish nobility, her husband was the more popular candidate, but when he arrived in Gda?sk, he found that Prince-Elector Friedrich August of Saxony who reigned as King Augustus II the Strong of Poland had taken his place on the throne, and so he returned to France.

Dowager princess

In 1709, her husband died in Paris. In order to tell the widows apart after the death of their respective husbands, the dowager Princesses of Conti were each accorded the title of Douairiere preceded by the number corresponding to the order in which they had been consort to the head of the Bourbon-Contis, e.g., Madame la Princesse de Conti premiere douairiere. In 1727 the two dowager Princesses de Conti were joined by a third, Princess Louise Elisabeth de Bourbon.

After the death of her husband, she started to renovate the Parisian home of the Conti family, the Hotel de Conti on the Quai de Conti on the left bank of the Seine.

In 1713, her daughter Princess Marie Anne de Bourbon-Conti married Prince Louis Henri, Duke of Bourbon, known as Monsieur le Duc, the son of her husband’s former mistress Louise-Francoise de Bourbon, Princess de Conde, on the same day, in a double wedding ceremony at Versailles, her son, the new Prince de Conti, married another child of the Princess de Conde, Princess Louise Elisabeth de Bourbon, who then took the title that Marie Therese had had for almost thirty years.

Princess Marie Therese died on February 22, 1732 at the Hotel de Conti, probably due to the syphilis she had contracted from her husband. She was buried at the Eglise Saint-Andre des Arcs, in L’Isle d’Adam.

Through her granddaughter Louise Henriette de Bourbon-Conti, Duchess d’Orleans, grandmother of Louis Philippe, King of the French, Marie Therese is an ancestor of several of Europe’s 19th and 20th century monarchs

Duchess Helene in Bavaria, Family & Marriage

08 Monday Jan 2024

Posted by in Archduchess of Austria , Archduke of Austria , Duchy/Dukedom of Europe , Empire of Europe , Featured Royal , Kingdom of Europe , Principality of Europe , Royal Birth , Royal Genealogy , Royal House , Royal Titles , royal wedding , Uncategorized

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Duchess Helene in Bavaria (April 4, 1834 ? May 16, 1890), nicknamed Nene, was the Hereditary Princess of Thurn and Taxis as the wife of Prince Maximilian of Thurn and Taxis.

She was a Duchess in Bavaria by birth as the daughter of Duke Maximilian Joseph in Bavaria and his wife Princess Ludovika of Bavaria.

Family

Duchess Helene in Bavaria’s father, Duke Maximilian Joseph of Bavaria (4 December 4, 1808 ? November 15, 1888), known informally as Max in Bayern, was a member of a junior branch of the royal House of Wittelsbach who were Kings of Bavaria. He is most famous today as the father of Empress Elisabeth of Austria (“Sisi”) and great-grandfather of King Leopold III of the Belgians.

Duke Maximilian Joseph in Bavaria was born at Bamberg, the only son of Duke Pius August in Bavaria (1786?1837) and his wife, Princess Amelie Louise of Arenberg (1789?1823). On September 9, 1828, at Tegernsee, Duke Maximilian Joseph married Princess Ludovika of Bavaria, the sixth daughter of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria, his father’s cousin. They had ten children.

Princess Amelie Louise of Arenberg was the only daughter of Prince Louis of Arenberg (1757?1795) and his first wife, Marie Adelaide Julie de Mailly-Nesle, Dame d’Ivry-sur-Seine (1766?1789).

Princess Ludovika of Bavaria was born to King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria and Princess Caroline of Baden as their fifth child. The birth of Princess Ludovika was known to be difficult. Ludovika was christened one day after her birth as Ludovika Wilhelmine.

Ludovika and her sisters received many lessons in literature as well as geography and history. They both spoke German and French.

Princess Caroline of Baden was the eldest child of Prince Charles Ludwig, Hereditary Prince of Baden, and his wife Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt. She was born 13 July 1776, twin sister of Katharina Amalie Christiane Luise.

Princess Caroline was considered as a bride for Louis Antoine Henri de Bourbon, Duke of Enghien, but the fear of attracting opposition from France made her family hesitate.

Marriage prospects

In 1853 Princess Helene in Bavaria traveled with her mother, Ludovika, and her younger sister Elisabeth to Bad Ischl, Upper Austria for the birthday of her cousin, Franz Joseph I, then the Emperor of Austria. During this visit, Franz Joseph asked for Elisabeth’s hand in marriage.

Historical accounts often contain the assertion that according to a plan by the two mothers, Franz Joseph was to be engaged to Helene instead. However, recent source investigations have shown that there is no written evidence to support this claim. Neither in the correspondence of Archduchess Sophie nor in the surviving correspondence of Duchess Ludovika are there indications of a planned engagement in Bad Ischl.

By 22 years old, Helene was not yet married, and Ludovika became concerned that her incredibly pious daughter would take the veil and join a convent. Therefore, Ludovika arranged for her to meet the wealthy Maximilian Anton, Hereditary Prince of Thurn and Taxis. Duke Maximillian Joseph, Helene’s father, invited the Thurn and Taxis family to Possenhofen for a hunting party, at which Prince Maximilian was introduced to Helene.

Maximilian was born on 28 September 1831 in Regensburg, Kingdom of Bavaria to Maximilian Karl, 6th Prince of Thurn and Taxis and Baroness Wilhelmine of Dornberg.

While the prince was vacationing at Possenhofen, he brought his marriage plans to his parents, who immediately agreed. The only difficulty involved was that, although the Thurn and Taxis family were counted among the richest in the land, they were not considered social equals for a princess of royal blood and a member of the House of Wittelsbach. Because of this, King Maximilian II of Bavaria, who was a cousin of Helene, did not at first agree to a marriage between the two, but through Elisabeth’s influence on the king, the marriage took place nevertheless.

Marriage (1858)

The wedding ceremony was held on August 24, 1858 at Possenhofen Castle. To mark the occasion, the in-laws gave the bride a necklace worth 160,000 Gulden.[citation needed] In spite of the earlier objections to the match, Helene is considered to have had the only happy marriage among the five Wittelsbach sisters.

December 23, 1544: Birth of Princess Anna of Saxony, Princess of Orange. Part I

23 Saturday Dec 2023

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Anna of Saxony (December 23, 1544 ? December 18, 1577) was the heiress of Prince-Elector Maurice of Saxony and Agnes of Hesse, eldest daughter of Landgrave Philipp I of Hesse and his first wife Princess Christine of Saxony the daughter of Duke Georg the Bearded of Saxony and the Polish Princess Barbara Jagiellon.

Anna was born and died in Dresden. After the death of her younger brother Prince Albrecht (November 28, 1545 – April 12, 1546), Anna grew up as an only child, and might have been spoiled by her parents, particularly her mother. There are indications that Anna suffered from a physical deformity (a back problem or uneven shoulders) and that she might have walked with a limp.

After her father’s death on July 11, 1553, his younger brother, August (1526?1586), succeeded him as Prince-Elector of Saxony, resulting in a loss of Anna’s in rank. Shortly afterwards, Anna’s mother married Duke Johann Friedrich II of Saxony (1529?1595). On November 4, 1555, six months after her second marriage, her mother died under mysterious circumstances.

The 11-year-old orphan then returned to her late father’s Dresden court and was placed under the guardianship of her uncle August and his wife, Anne of Denmark and Norway, a daughter of King Christian III of Denmark and Norway and his wife Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg.

Sources indicate that the young princess chafed under her aunt’s regime, was often unhappy and felt alone. At the same time, she was described as proud, defiant, and stubborn as well as intelligent and passionate.

Due to her late parents’ legacies, Anna was considered the wealthiest heiress in the Holy Roman Empire at the time. In 1556, Prince Eric, son of King Gustaf II Vasa of Sweden, and the future King Eric XIV of Sweden from 1560 to 1569, sought her hand in marriage, followed two years later by Prince Willem of Orange. A marriage with a rich heiress and relation to the important electoral houses of the Empire for him seemed of great value.

Money may have not been one of the main motives for the marriage, but was probably the furthest planned course of the marriage. Anna’s maternal grandfather, Prince Philipp the Magnanimous of Hesse, was opposed to the marriage. First, he did not consider Prince Willem of Orange, already having a male heir, as befitting for an elector’s daughter, believing she could marry someone of even higher rank.

Secondly, there would have been too much debt incurred in the event of Prince Willem’s death. Prince Philipp’s negative attitude delayed the marriage for a full year. Ultimately, however, the decisive factor was probably that Prince Willem the Silent of Orange was a valuable ally for the Empire and his Dutch resources for the Protestant cause.

On June 2, 1561 the marriage contract was signed in Torgau. Anna’s dowry would be the large sum of 100,000 thalers. The wedding took place on August 24, 1561 in Leipzig. On September 1, 1561 Prince Willem of Orange, along with his young wife, relocated to the Netherlands.

December 17, 942: Assassination of William I Longsword of Normandy

17 Sunday Dec 2023

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William I Longsword (c. 893 ? December 17, 942) was the second ruler of Normandy, from 927 until his assassination in 942.

He is sometimes dubbed “Duke of Normandy”, though the title Duke (dux) did not come into common usage until the 11th century. Longsword was known at the time as Count of Rouen. Flodoard?always detailed about titles?consistently referred to both Rollo and his son William as Principes (chieftains) of the Normans. There are no contemporary accounts of William’s byname, ‘Longsword’, either; it appears first in later eleventh-century sources.

Birth

William Longsword was born “overseas” to the Viking Rollo (while he was still a pagan) and his wife Poppas of Bayeux. Poppa’s parentage is uncertain.

The Viking Rollo and Poppas of Bayeux had a marriage described as more danico which is a Medieval Latin legal expression which designates a type of traditional marriage practiced in northern Europe during the Middle Ages. A marriage more danico was neither an informal marriage nor even legitimized abduction, but simply secular marriage contracted in accordance with Germanic law, rather than ecclesiastical marriage.

Dudo of Saint-Quentin in his panegyric of the Norman dukes describes Poppas of Bayeux as the daughter of a Count Berengar, the dominant prince of that region. In the 11th-century Annales Rotomagenses (Annals of Rouen), she is called the daughter of Guy, Count of Senlis, otherwise unknown to history. According to the Longsword’s planctus, William was baptized a Christian probably at the same time as his father, which Orderic Vitalis stated was in 912, by Franco, Archbishop of Rouen. William is not an Old Norse forename, and he must have been renamed as part of this process.

Life

William succeeded Rollo (who continued to live about five more years) in 927 and, early in his reign, in 933, faced a rebellion from Normans who felt he had become too Gallicised. According to Orderic Vitalis, the leader of the rebellion was Riouf of Evreux, who besieged William in Rouen. Sallying forth, William won a decisive battle, proving his authority to be Duke. At the time of this rebellion, William sent his pregnant wife more danico, Sprota, to Fecamp where their son Richard was born.

In 933, William recognized King Raoul, who was struggling to assert his authority in Northern France, as King of West Francia. In turn, Raoul gave him lordship over much of the lands of the Bretons including Avranches, the Cotentin Peninsula and the Channel Islands. The Bretons resisted these changes, led by Alan II, Duke of Brittany, and Count Berengar of Rennes, but this ended shortly with great slaughter and Breton castles being razed to the ground, Alan fled to England and Berengar sought reconciliation.

In 935, William married Luitgarde, daughter of Count Herbert II of Vermandois, whose dowry gave him the lands of Longueville, Coudres and Illiers-l’Eveque. He also contracted a marriage between his sister Adela (whose Norse name was Gerloc) and William, Count of Poitou, with the approval of France’s most powerful magnate, Hugh the Great.

In addition to supporting King Raoul, William was now a loyal ally of his father-in-law, Herbert II, both of whom his father had opposed. In January 936, Raoul died and the 16-year-old Louis IV, who was living in exile in England, was persuaded by a promise of loyalty by William to return and became king of West Francia. The Bretons returned from exile seeking to recover the lands taken by the Normans, resulting in fighting in the expanded Norman lands.

King Louis IV of West Francia was not capable of controlling his Barons and, after William’s brother-in-law, Herluin II, Count of Montreuil, was attacked by Flanders, William went to their assistance in 939, whereupon Arnulf I, Count of Flanders retaliated by attacking Normandy.

Arnulf captured the castle of Montreuil-sur-Mer, expelling Herluin, after which Herluin and William cooperated to retake the castle. William was excommunicated for his actions in destroying several estates belonging to Arnulf. William pledged his loyalty to King Louis IV when they met in 940 and, in return, he was confirmed in lands that had been given to his father.

In 941, a peace treaty, brokered in Rouen by King Louis IV, was signed between the Bretons and Normans, which limited Norman expansion into Breton lands. The following year, on December 17, 942 at Picquigny on an island on the Somme, William was ambushed and killed by followers of Arnulf while at a peace conference to settle their differences.

Family

William had no children with his Christian wife, Luitgarde. He fathered a son, Richard, with Sprota, his wife more danico. Richard, then aged 10, succeeded as Ruler of Normandy upon William’s death in December 942.

November 29, 1690: Birth of Prince Christian August of Anhalt-Zerbst

29 Wednesday Nov 2023

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Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst (November 29, 1690 ? March 16, 1747) was a German Prince of the House of Ascania, and the father of Empress Catherine II the Great of Russia.

He was a ruler of the Principality of Anhalt-Dornburg. From 1742, he was a ruler of the entire Principality of Anhalt-Zerbst. He was also a Prussian Generalfeldmarschall.

Life

Christian August was the third son of Prince Johann Ludwig I of Anhalt-Dornburg and Christine Eleonore of Zeutsch (1666?1699) who was of an old Thuringian noble family. The circumstances of their courtship are not known. However, it is certain that it was not a political marriage, since it was morganatic.

However, despite the children of Prince Johann Ludwig and Christine Eleonore being a morganatic marriage where their children would not inherit their father’s titles, a family compact was submitted to the Emperor Leopold I for confirmation in 1689.

Prince Johann Ludwig obtained from Emperor Leopold the insertion of a clause protecting the rights of his morganatic children as born of a legitimate and lawful marriage.

In 1693 Prince Charles Friedrich, the younger son of Johann Ludwig’s eldest brother, died, leaving only one sibling, the later Prince Johann August; Johann Ludwig’s next two older brothers were either unmarried or without male heirs, which made the possibility that the Zerbst inheritance would pass to his line more likely.

Consequently, he took further steps to insure the succession for his children, and on January 7, 1698 secured an Imperial Decree making the children of his marriage Princes and Princesses of Anhalt. Indeed, they were considered dynastic, and at the death without heirs of Prince Johann August in 1742, the surviving sons of Prince Johann Ludwig succeeded him.

After the death of his father in 1704, Prince Christian August inherited Anhalt-Dornburg jointly with his brothers Prince Johann Ludwig II, Prince Johann August (died 1709), Christian Ludwig (died 1710) and Johann Friedrich (died 1742).

After possibly six months as a captain in the regiment guard in 1708, on February 11, 1709 he joined the Regiment on foot in Anhalt-Zerbst (No. 8) which later changed its name to the Grenadier’s Regiment King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia. It was stationed in Stettin.

In 1711, Christian August was awarded the Order De la Generosite, later renamed in Pour le Merite, and on March 1, 1713 was elevated to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. After he took part in several military campaigns during the Spanish War of Succession and in the Netherlands, in 1714 Christian August was appointed Chief of the Regiment; two years later, on January 4, 1716 he was named colonel and on August 14, 1721 became major-general.

On January 22, 1729 he became commander of Stettin, after having been chosen there on May 24, 1725 as a knight of Order of the Black Eagle. Christian August was designated on May 28, 1732 lieutenant-general and on April 8, 1741 infantry general. On June 5, of that year he was designated Governor of Stettin. On May 16, 1742 King Friedrich II of Prussia awarded him the highest military dignity, the rank of Generalfeldmarschall.

Generalfeldmarschall translates into the rank of General Field Marshal, which was a rank in the armies of several German states and the Holy Roman Empire; in the Habsburg monarchy, the Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary, the rank Field Marshal was used.

Six months later, the death of his cousin John Augustus, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst, without any issue made him and his older and only surviving brother, Prince Johann Ludwig II, the heirs of Anhalt-Zerbst as co-rulers. Christian August remained in Stettin and his brother took full charge of the government, but he died only four years later, unmarried and childless. For this reason, Christian August had to leave Stettin and return to Zerbst, but he only reigned four months until his own death.

Marriage and issue

On November 8, 1727 in Vechelde, Christian August married Johanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp (1712 ? 1760), daughter of Prince Christian August of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp, Prince of Eutin and sister of King Adolf Frederick of Sweden. They had five children:

1. Sophie Auguste Fredericka (1729 ? 1796), who later became Catherine II the Great, Empress of Russia. Wife of Emperor Peter III of Russia.

2. Wilhelm Christian Friedrich (1730 ? 1742).

3. Friedrich August (1734 ? 1793). last ruler of the Principality of Anhalt-Zerbst.

4. Auguste Christine Charlotte (1736 ? 1736).

5. Elisabeth Ulrike (1742 ? 1745).

Prince Friedrich August of Anhalt-Zerbst married twice but both unions were childless. On his death the line of Anhalt-Zerbst became extinct and the succession to the principality was disputed between the other branches of Anhalt-Bernburg, Anhalt-Kothen and Anhalt-Dessau; finally, in 1796 Anhalt-Zerbst was divided and ceased to exist.

November 9, 1918: Collapse of the German Monarchies

09 Thursday Nov 2023

Posted by in Abdication , Duchy/Dukedom of Europe , Empire of Europe , Exile , Featured Monarch , Featured Noble , Featured Royal , Grand Duke/Grand Duchy of Europe , Kingdom of Europe , Prime Minister , Principality of Europe , Revolution , Royal Genealogy , Royal Succession , This Day in Royal History

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As the first Word War was drawing to a close, throughout the month of November 1918, all 22 monarchs within the German Empire were either forced to abdicate, or stepped down of their own accord.

After the Oberste Heeresleitung stated the German front was about to collapse and asked for immediate negotiation of an armistice, the cabinet of Chancellor Georg von Hertling resigned on September 30, 1918.

Hertling, with the support of Conrad Haußmann, Oberst Hans von Haeften [de] and Erich Ludendorff suggested Prince Maximilian of Baden as his successor and to have Emperor Wilhelm II appoint Prince Maximilian as Chancellor of Germany and Minister President of Prussia.

When Maximilian arrived in Berlin on October 1st, Emperor Wilhelm II convinced him to take the post and appointed him as Chancellor of Germany and Minister President of Prussia on October 3, 1918. The message asking for an armistice went out on October 4th, hopefully to be accepted by President of the United States Woodrow Wilson.

In late October, Wilson’s third note seemed to imply that negotiations of an armistice would be dependent on the abdication of Emperor Wilhelm II. On November 1st, Prince Maximilian wrote to all the ruling Princes of Germany, asking them whether they would approve of an abdication by the Emperor.

On November 6th, Prince Maximilian urged Emperor Wilhelm II to abdicate. The Emperor, who had fled from Berlin to the Spa, Belgium OHL-headquarters, was willing to consider abdication only as German Emperor, not as King of Prussia.

Around November 4th, delegations of sailors had dispersed to all of the country’s big cities. By November 7th the revolution had seized all large coastal cities as well as Hanover, Braunschweig, Frankfurt on Main, and Munich.

On November 7th, Prince Maximilian met with Friedrich Ebert, leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, and discussed his plan to go to Spa and convince Emperor Wilhelm II to abdicate. He was thinking about Prince Eitel Friedrich of Prussia, Wilhelm’s second son, being the Regent.

However, the outbreak of the German Revolution in Berlin prevented Maximilian from implementing his plan. Ebert decided that to keep control of the socialist uprising, the Emperor had to resign quickly and that a new government was required.

In Munich, a “Workers’ and Soldiers’ Council” forced the last King of Bavaria, Ludwig III, to issue the Anif declaration. Bavaria was the first member state of the German Empire to be declared a Volksstaat, the People’s State of Bavaria, by Kurt Eisner of the USPD who asserted that Ludwig III had abdicated his throne via the Anif declaration.

Abdication and flight

Even though the uprising in Berlin had swelled into a revolution, Emperor Wilhelm II could not decide whether to abdicate. He recognized that he had likely lost his imperial crown, but he hoped to retain the Prussian kingship, believing that as monarch of two-thirds of Germany he could play a role in any new government.

This ultimately proved to be impossible. Emperor Wilhelm II had believed that he ruled as Emperor in a personal union with Prussia. Under the Constitution of the German Empire, however, the Empire was a federation of states under the permanent presidency of Prussia.

This meant that the Imperial Crown was legally tied to the Prussian Crown, and one crown could not be renounced without renouncing the other.

General Wilhelm Groener, then informed Emperor Wilhelm II that the army definitely would not fight to keep him on the throne. Army commander and lifelong royalist Paul von Hindenburg felt obliged, and with some embarrassment, to advise Wilhelm to give up the crown. It was only then that Emperor Wilhelm II accepted the fait accompli and agreed to give up the throne.

Hope of preserving the monarchy dwindled rapidly in the face of growing revolutionary unrest. With masses gathering in Berlin, Prince Maximilian unilaterally announced Wilhelm’s abdication of both crowns at noon on November 9, 1918, (which he would not officially confirm until November 28) as well as the renunciation of Crown Prince Wilhelm.

The proclamation, written by Theodor Lewald, the Under Secretary of State at the Imperial Home Office, read:

“His Majesty the Emperor and King has made the decision to renounce to the throne.

The Imperial Chancellor shall remain in office only until the matters related to the abdication of the Emperor, the renunciation of His Imperial and Royal Highness the Crown Prince to the thrones of the German Empire and of Prussia, and the establishment of the regency have been settled.

He intends to propose to the Regent the appointment of Deputy Ebert as Imperial Chancellor and the introduction of a bill for the election by universal suffrage of a constituent German national assembly, on which it would fall to determine the future definitive form of government of the German people, inclusive of the populations who should wish to request their entry into the Reich.

Berlin, 9 November 1918.

The Imperial Chancellor, Prince Max von Baden.”

There was a final mention which referred to the potential reunion of German-Austria to the rest of Germany, following the dissolution of the multi-ethnic Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Maximilian himself was forced to resign later the same day when it became clear that only Friedrich Ebert could effectively exert control.

MSDP co-chairman Philipp Scheidemann proclaimed the new “German Republic” from the Reichstag building to gathered crowds, while two hours thereafter Spartacist leader Karl Liebknecht proclaimed the “Free Socialist Republic of Germany” at the Berlin Palace.

Neither proclamation of a Republic was constitutional, and the political situation remained chaotic for several more months, with a short Civil War between radical leftist revolutionaries and the more moderate post-imperial social democrat government that would emerge victorious and form the Weimar Republic.

On November 9th, Emperor Wilhelm II boarded a train and went into exile in the Netherlands, which had remained neutral throughout the war.

Nevertheless, the proclamations and Wilhelm II’s abdication triggered a powerful domino effect: the same day a number of other princes stepped down, and within a week most monarchs in Germany had followed suit. The last to abdicate was King Wilhelm II of Wurttemberg on November 30, 1918.

Following the abdication of Wilhelm II on November 9, 1918 and German Revolution of 1918?1919, the German nobility and royalty as legally defined classes were abolished on August 11, 1919 with the promulgation of the Weimar Constitution, under which all Germans were made equal before the law, and the legal rights and privileges, and all following German Houses, titles, insignia and ranks of nobility were abolished.

The Emperor as Head of State held the title German Emperor (the style “Emperor of Germany” being deliberately avoided), and was simultaneously a Federal Prince as King of Prussia, the sovereign of its largest federal state. Of the princely heads of state, 4 held the title King (the Kings of Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, and Wurttemberg), 6 held the title Grand Duke, 5 held the title Duke and 7 held the title Prince (i.e. Sovereign Prince, Furst).

This is a list of German Monarchs of the Empire that abdicated in November of 1918.

Wilhelm II, The German Emperor, King of Prussia

King Ludwig III of Bavaria
King Friedrich August III of Saxony
King Wilhelm II of Wurttemberg

Grand Duke Friedrich II of Baden
Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse and By Rhine
Grand Duke Friedrich Franz IV of Mecklenburg-Schwerin*
Grand Duke Friedrich August II of Holstein-Gottorp
Grand Duke Wilhelm Ernst of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach

Duke Joachim Ernst of Anhalt
Duke Ernst August of Brunswick
Duke Ernst II of Saxe-Altenburg
Duke Charles Eduard of Saxe-Gotha-Gotha
Duke Bernhard III of Saxe-Meiningen

Prince Leopold IV of Lippe-Biesterfeld
Prince Adolph II of Schaumburg-Lippe
Prince Gunther of Schwarzburg
Prince Friedrich of Waldeck and Pyrmont
Prince Heinrich XXVII, Prince Reuss Younger Line

* On February 23, 1918, Grand Duke Adolph Friedrich VI of Mecklenburg-Strelitz committed suicide, leaving his cousin Charles Michael of Mecklenburg-Strelitz as heir to the Strelitz throne. Being in Russia, however, Charles Michael did not assume the throne, and in 1918 he wrote to Grand Duke Friedrich Franz IV of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, who was acting as Regent in Strelitz, stating that he wished to renounce his rights of succession to Strelitz, though the letter was only received by Grand Duke Friedrich Franz IV in 1919 after the end of the German monarchies, so the issue of succession could not be resolved at the time.

October 13, 1453: Birth of Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales

13 Friday Oct 2023

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Edward of Westminster (October 13, 1453 ? May 4, 1471), also known as Edward of Lancaster, was the only son of Henry VI of England and Margaret of Anjou. He was killed aged seventeen at the Battle of Tewkesbury.

Early life

Edward was born at the Palace of Westminster, London, the only son of King Henry VI of England, Lord of Ireland and his wife, Margaret of Anjou, who was born in the Duchy of Lorraine into the House of Valois-Anjou. Margaret was the second eldest daughter of Rene, King of Naples, and Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine. King Rene was a member of the House of Valois-Anjou, a cadet branch of the French Royal House, and the great-grandson of King Jean II of France.

At the time of the birth of Edward of Westminster, there was strife between King Henry VI’s supporters and those of Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York, who had a claim to the throne and challenged the authority of King Henry’s officers of state.

King Henry VI was suffering from mental illness, and there were widespread rumours that the prince was the result of an affair between his mother and one of her loyal supporters. Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset and James Butler, 5th Earl of Ormond, were both suspected of fathering Prince Edward; however, there is no firm evidence to support the rumours, and Henry himself never doubted the boy’s legitimacy and publicly acknowledged paternity. Edward was invested as Prince of Wales at Windsor Castle in 1454.

War over the English throne

In 1460, Henry was captured by the supporters of the Duke of York at the Battle of Northampton and taken to London. The Duke of York was dissuaded from claiming the throne immediately, but he induced Parliament to pass the Act of Accord, by which King Henry was allowed to reign but Edward was disinherited, as York or his heirs would become king on Henry’s death.

Queen Margaret and Edward had meanwhile fled through Cheshire. By Margaret’s later account, she induced outlaws and pillagers to aid her by pledging them to recognise the seven-year-old Edward as rightful heir to the crown. They subsequently reached safety in Wales and journeyed to Scotland, where Margaret raised support, while the Duke of York’s enemies gathered in the north of England.

After York was killed at the Battle of Wakefield, the large army which Margaret had gathered advanced south. They defeated the army of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, one of York’s most prominent supporters, at the Second Battle of St Albans. Warwick had brought the captive Henry in the train of his army, and he was found abandoned on the battlefield.

Two of Warwick’s knights, William Bonville, 1st Baron Bonville, and Sir Thomas Kyriell, who had agreed to remain with Henry and see that he came to no harm, were captured. The day after the battle, Margaret asked Edward what death the two knights should suffer. Edward readily replied that their heads should be cut off.

Exile in France

Margaret hesitated to advance on London with her unruly army, and subsequently retreated. They were routed at the Battle of Towton a few weeks later. Margaret and Edward fled once again, to Scotland. For the next three years, Margaret inspired several revolts in the northernmost counties of England, but was eventually forced to sail to France, where she and Edward maintained a court in exile. (Henry had once again been captured and was a prisoner in the Tower of London.)

In 1467 the ambassador of the Duchy of Milan to the court of France wrote that Edward “already talks of nothing but cutting off heads or making war, as if he had everything in his hands or was the god of battle or the peaceful occupant of that throne.”

After several years in exile, Margaret took the best opportunity that presented itself and allied herself with the renegade Earl of Warwick. King Louis XI of France wanted to start a war with Burgundy, allies of the Yorkist Edward IV. He believed if he allied himself to restoring Lancastrian rule they would help him conquer Burgundy.

As a compliment to his new allies King Louis XI made young Edward godfather to his son Charles. Prince Edward was married to Anne Neville, Warwick’s younger daughter, in December 1470, though there is some doubt as to whether the marriage was ever consummated.

Warwick returned to England and deposed Edward IV, with the help of Edward IV’s younger brother, George, Duke of Clarence. Edward IV fled into exile to Burgundy with his youngest brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, while Warwick restored Henry VI to the throne.

Prince Edward and Margaret lingered behind in France until April 1471. However, Edward IV had already raised an army, returned to England, and reconciled with Clarence. On the same day Margaret and Edward landed in England (April 14), Edward IV defeated and killed Warwick at the Battle of Barnet. With little real hope of success, the inexperienced prince and his mother led the remnant of their forces to meet Edward IV in the Battle of Tewkesbury. They were defeated and Edward of Westminster was killed.

According to contemporary sources, Edward was overtaken and slain in the battle during the rout of the Lancastrians, with some accounts attributing the deed to the Duke of Clarence, to whom the prince appealed to for help.

Paul Murray Kendall, a biographer of Richard III, accepts this version of events. Another version states that Clarence and his men found the grieving prince near a grove following the battle, and immediately beheaded him on a makeshift block, despite his pleas.

Another account of Edward’s death is given by three Tudor sources: The Grand Chronicle of London, Polydore Vergil, and Edward Hall. It was later dramatised by William Shakespeare in Henry VI, Part 3, Act V, scene v.

Their story is that Edward was captured and brought before the victorious Edward IV and his brothers, the Duke of Clarence and the Duke of Gloucester, and his followers. The king received the prince graciously, and asked him why he had taken up arms against him. The prince replied defiantly, “I came to recover my father’s heritage.” The king then struck the prince across his face with his gauntlet hand, and Gloucester and Clarence killed the prince with their swords.

However, none of these accounts appears in any of the contemporaneous sources, which all report that Edward died in battle.

Edward’s body is buried at Tewkesbury Abbey. His widow, Anne Neville, married the Duke of Gloucester, who eventually succeeded as King Richard III in 1483.

July 10, 1584: Assassination of Willem I, Prince of Orange

10 Monday Jul 2023

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Willem I, Prince of Orange (April 24, 1533 ? July 10, 1584) was the main leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish Habsburgs that set off the Eighty Years’ War (1568?1648) and resulted in the formal independence of the United Provinces in 1648.

He is the founder of the Orange-Nassau branch and the ancestor of the monarchy of the Netherlands. In the Netherlands, he is also known as Father of the Fatherland.

Willem was born on April 24, 1533 at Dillenburg Castle in the County of Nassau-Dillenburg, in the Holy Roman Empire (now in Hesse, German Federal Republic). He was the eldest son of Count Willem I of Nassau-Siegen and Juliana of Stolberg.

Willem’s father had one surviving daughter by his previous marriage, and his mother had four surviving children by her previous marriage. His parents had twelve children together, of whom Willem was the eldest; he had four younger brothers and seven younger sisters. The family was religiously devout and Willem was raised a Lutheran.

In 1544, Willem’s agnatic first cousin, Rene of Chalon, Prince of Orange, died childless in the siege of St Dizier. In his testament, Rene of Chalon named Willem the heir to all his estates and titles, including that of Prince of Orange, on the condition that he receive a Roman Catholic education. Willem’s father acquiesced to this condition on behalf of his 11-year-old son, and this was the founding of the House of Orange-Nassau.

Besides the Principality of Orange (located today in France) and significant lands in Germany, Willem also inherited vast estates in the Low Countries (present-day Netherlands and Belgium) from his cousin. Because of Willem’s young age, Emperor Charles V, who was the overlord of most of these estates, served as regent until Willem was old enough to rule them himself.

A wealthy nobleman, Willem originally served the Habsburgs as a member of the court of Margaret of Parma, governor of the Spanish Netherlands. Unhappy with the centralisation of political power away from the local estates and with the Spanish persecution of Dutch Protestants, Willem joined the Dutch uprising and turned against his former masters.

The most influential and politically capable of the rebels, he led the Dutch to several successes in the fight against the Spanish. Willem I, Prince of Orange was declared an outlaw by King Felipe II of Spain in 1580.

Assassination

The Burgundian Catholic Balthasar Gerard (born 1557) was a subject and supporter of King Felipe II of Spain, and regarded Williem of Orange as a traitor to the king and to the Catholic religion. In 1581, when Gerard learned that Felipe II had declared Willem an outlaw and promised a reward of 25,000 crowns for his assassination, he decided to travel to the Netherlands to kill Willem. He served in the army of the governor of Luxembourg, Peter Ernst I von Mansfeld-Vorderort, for two years, hoping to get close to Willem when the armies met.

This never happened, and Gerard left the army in 1584. He went to the Duke of Parma to present his plans, but the Duke was unimpressed. In May 1584, he presented himself to Willem as a French nobleman, and gave him the seal of the Count of Mansfelt. This seal would allow forgeries of the messages of Mansfelt to be made. Willem sent Gerard back to France to pass the seal on to his French allies.

Gerard returned in July, having bought two wheel-lock pistols on his return journey. On July 10, he made an appointment with Willem of Orange in his home in Delft, the Prinsenhof. That day, Willem was having dinner with his guest Rombertus van Uylenburgh. After Willem left the dining room and walked downstairs, van Uylenburgh heard Gerard shoot Willem in the chest at close range. Gerard fled immediately.

Gerard was caught before he could escape Delft, and was imprisoned. He was tortured before his trial on July 13, where he was sentenced to an execution brutal even by the standards of that time. The magistrates decreed that the right hand of Gerard should be burned off with a red-hot iron, that his flesh should be torn from his bones with pincers in six different places, that he should be quartered and disembowelled alive, that his heart should be torn from his chest and flung in his face, and that, finally, his head should be cut off.

Willem I of Orange was the first head of state to be assassinated by handgun. (The Scottish Regent Moray had been shot 13 years earlier in the first firearm assassination.)

April 6, 1573: Birth of Margaret of Brunswick-Luneburg, Duchess of Saxe-Coburg

06 Thursday Apr 2023

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Margaret of Brunswick-Luneburg (April 6, 1573 ? August 7, 1643), was a German noblewoman member of the House of Welf and by marriage Duchess of Saxe-Coburg.

Born in Celle, she was the ninth of fifteen children born from the marriage of Wilhelm the Younger, Duke of Brunswick-Luneburg and Princess Dorothea of Denmark, the youngest child of King Christian III of Denmark-Norway and Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg.

Life

Margaret’s future husband , Johann Casimir of Saxe-Coburg was born at Grimmenstein Castle in Gotha on June 12, 1564 as the middle of three sons of Duke Johann Friedrich II, Duke of Saxony and his wife Countess Palatine Elisabeth of Simmern-Sponheim. Because of the Holy Roman Empire’s sanctions (Reichsexekution) against Gotha, his father, Duke Johann Friedrich II of Saxony, lost his dominions and freedom on April 15, 1567.

Later, Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor used the two surviving sons of Johann Friedrich II against their uncle Johann Wilhelm; in 1572 the Division of Erfurt was made. The duchy of Saxony was divided into three parts. The older son, Johann Casimir, received Coburg, and the younger, Johann Ernst, received Eisenach. Johann Wilhelm retained only the smaller part, the limited region of Weimar, but he added to his duchy the districts of Altenburg, Gotha and Meiningen.

Between 1578 and 1581 Johann Casimir studied at the University of Leipzig. On May 6, 1584 he became engaged, without the consent of his father, with his cousin Anna of Saxony, the daughter of Elector August of Saxony and Princess Anna of Denmark a daughter of King Christian III of Denmark and Norway and his wife Dorothea of Saxe-L auenburg.

The marriage between Johann Casimir and Anna of Saxony finally took place in Dresden on January 16, 1586, and she received 30,000 Thalers as a dowry, as well as the city of Romhild as her Wittum (Dower land). The cheerful and high-spirited Duchess soon produced magnificent festivities in her new court.

However, the marriage soon failed: John Casimir preferred hunting to marital life. By the end of September 1593, the Duchess was caught in adultery by her husband. John Casimir immediately ordered the arrest of Anna and her lover, Ulrich of Lichtenstein.

Despite the letters which Anna wrote to her husband and her relatives asking for mercy, on December 12, the Schoppenstuhl (High Court Chamber) in Jena formally annulled her marriage and sentenced both lovers to beheading by sword. For Duchess Anna and her lover Ulrich of Lichtenstein the death sentence was commuted, suddenly, to life imprisonment.

Ulrich of Lichtenstein died in prison twenty years later, on December 8, 1633, just three days after being granted his freedom.

Only after the death of the Elector Augustus of Saxony on February 11, 1586 was Duke John Casimir at the age of 22 years able to undertake with his brother John Ernest the government of his principality.

In Coburg on September 16, 1599, Margaret married Johann Casimir, Duke of Saxe-Coburg as his second wife. Margaret and Johann Casimir’s first wife, Anna of Saxony, were first cousins.

For the wedding of Margaret of Brunswick-Luneburg and Duke Johann Casimir of Saxe-Coburg most of the wedding guests stayed before and during the marriage festivities at Heldburg Castle. Gilded state coaches, which belonged to the dowry of her mother Dorothea, were used for the occasion; they are one of the oldest still functioning coaches in the world and currently displayed at the Veste Coburg.

Johann Casimir celebrated his marriage with the famous Coburg Taler: on the obverse showed a kissing couple with the inscription WIE KVSSEN SICH DIE ZWEY SO FEIN (A well kiss between two), while on the reverse, showed a nun with the inscription: WER KVST MICH – ARMES NVNNELIN (who kiss you now, poor nun?). This nun was Anna of Saxony, his first wife, whom he repudiated and imprisoned for adultery.

Johan Casimir and Margaret had a happy marriage, but they had no children. After Johann Casimir’s death in 1633 Saxe-Coburg was inherited by his brother Johann Ernst. Margaret returned to her homeland, Celle, where she died ten years later, aged 70. She was buried in the Stadtkirche, Celle.