Friedrich Ludwig (Nassau-Ottweiler)

Friedrich Ludwig of Nassau-Ottweiler

Friedrich Ludwig von Nassau-Ottweiler (* 3rd November ^July / 13th November  1651 ^greg. In Ottweiler ; † 25 May 1728 in Saarbrücken ) was Count of Ottweiler from 1680 to 1728 and Count of Saarbrücken from 1723 to 1728 . From 1702 he was also the senior of the Nassau House . With his death in 1728 the Nassau-Ottweiler line ended in the male line and was inherited by Nassau-Usingen .

family

His parents were Count Johann Ludwig von Nassau-Ottweiler and Dorothea Katharina von Pfalz-Birkenfeld-Bischweiler . In 1680 he married Christiana von Ahlefeldt, the daughter of the Grand Chancellor of Denmark Friedrich von Ahlefeldt . With this he had eight daughters. After her death in 1697 he married Luise Sophie von Hanau -Lichtenberg. The marriage resulted in a stillborn son in 1698.

Life

He studied with an educator in Paris from 1661 until, at the age of 14, he joined his father's regiment, Royal Alsace, which was in French service. In this he served from 1666 to 1676. When his father gave up this post, Friedrich Ludwig moved to the Palatinate-Birkenfeld Regiment, which was in the service of the Netherlands . There he rose to lieutenant colonel.

During the Reunion Wars in 1680 his father asked him to take over the government. Friedrich Ludwig was forced by the reunion policy to pay homage to Louis XIV . The County of Ottweiler was already heavily in debt due to earlier wars and the contributions to the French exacerbated the situation. In addition, the Wadgassen Abbey made claims to various places such as Neunkirchen and Spiesen . On the other hand, Friedrich Ludwig initiated a process that was decided in his favor after years.

After the death of his father in 1690, he also officially held the rule. After the Peace of Rijswijk in 1697, Ottweiler's sovereignty was restored. With the death of Walrad von Nassau-Usingen in 1702, Friedrich Ludwig became senior of the entire Nassau house and stood up for the other lines as a senior. So he turned against the encroachments of Lorraine in the county of Saar Werden . He urged the return of the places Saar Werden ( French : Sarrewerden) and Bockenheim (French: Bouquenom, today: Sarre-Union ). Due to the War of the Spanish Succession there were no decisions. To make up for the loss of Bockenheim, he founded Neu-Saar Werden (French: Ville Neuve de Sarrewerden, 1794 merger with Bouquenom to form Sarre-Union) for the entire Nassau house. He granted the settlers privileges. The pressure from Lorraine was so strong that Friedrich Ludwig appealed to the Reichstag in 1708 . There was no relief worth mentioning. He used the peace negotiations to end the War of the Spanish Succession to represent the interests of the House of Nassau. He also took care of fiefdoms of the house with various feudal lenders.

In 1721 he and Karl Ludwig von Nassau-Saarbrücken owned the Nassau-Idstein and Nassau-Wiesbaden lines . Because of problems in the county of Saar Werden, he had to seek help from the Upper Rhine Empire . The district troops restored order.

After the death of his son-in-law Karl Ludwig, the county of Saarbrücken and other possessions unexpectedly came to him. In 1725 there was another revival of trials with the Wadgassen Abbey, which had already begun under Karl Ludwig. It was about the sovereign rights in the monastery area. The abbot tried to achieve complete independence. The abbey initially had some successes before the Reich Chamber of Commerce. On the other hand, Friedrich Ludwig turned to the Reichstag and called on the help of the Corpus Evangelicorum . In 1727 the Reich Chamber of Commerce decided essentially in favor of Nassau. An imperial commission was set up to settle new disputes with Lorraine over Saar Werden.

Friedrich Ludwig resided in various places, such as Saarbrücken, Idstein and Ottweiler. Ottweiler remained the main residence and seat of government. In 1718 he had the Protestant church in Dörrenbach built , in 1727 new Protestant churches in St. Johann and Neunkirchen, and he financed the choir of the town church in Idstein. To promote the economy, he had a glassworks founded in Friedrichsthal in 1723 and another in 1724 in Fischbachtal . The town of the same name later emerged from the hut in Friedrichsthal, and Rußhütte was later built on the site of the short-lived glassworks in Fischbachtal . In 1726 he founded the village of Friedrichweiler and in 1727 he had Sulzbach repopulated. For a time he ran the Neunkirchen ironworks on his own.

After his death he was buried in the hereditary funeral in Ottweiler. The Nassau-Ottweiler line also ended with his death. The possessions were transferred to the Nassau-Usingen line .

progeny

from the first marriage with Christina Countess von Ahlefeldt :

• Dorothea Friederike (1681–1691)
• Marie Charlotte (1684–1690)
• Christiane Charlotte (1685–1761)

⚭ I. April 22, 1713 Karl Ludwig , Count of Saarbrücken

⚭ II. October 17, 1728 Friedrich III. , Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg

• Louise (1686–1773)

⚭ January 19, 1704 Karl (1675–1733), Count of the Wild and Rhine of Dhaun

• Sophie Amalie (1688–1753)

⚭ May 9, 1708 Georg Friedrich (1683–1749), Burgrave of Kirchberg zu Hachenburg

• Marie Charlotte (1690-1714)
• Dorothea (1692-1740)

⚭ October 8, 1721 Walrad (1686–1730), Wild and Rhine Count of Dhaun

• Eleonore (* / † 1693)

literature

• Georg Christian Woytt: [Commemorative Sermon from July 27th 1728] The Blessed Friedrichs-Burg of a Friedrich dying blissfully in the Lord, or Christian: should and wolte, as ... Friedrich Ludwig ruling Graff zu Nassau etc. May 25th, Anno 1728 ... fell asleep, and his corpse ... was brought to the High Countess's funeral crypt in Ottweiler, where the ... Solennen funeral ceremony ... in a Christian funeral sermon ... present ... and handed over for printing, Georg Christian Woytt, Your Highgrave Grace ... last year's confessor. 208 p., Zweibrücken: Nicolai 1728. ( Online )
• Georg Christian Woytt: [Personalia] The Nassau-Saarbrück-Ottweillerische Landes-Sonne: or Hochgräffliche Personalia, of the Weyland Hochgebohrnen Count and Lord, Mr. Friedrich Ludwig, ruling Count of Nassau ... To the on July 27th, 1728 ... held Corpse sermon, due, ... so considered and prepared for printing, by ... Georg Christian Woytten , 64 p., Zweibrücken: Nicolai 1728. ( Online )
• Friederich Köllner : History of the former Nassau-Saarbrück'schen country and its rulers. Part 1. Saarbrücken 1841, pp. 427-434. ( Online )

Web links

• Entry on saarland-biografien.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Friedrich Ludwig von Nassau-Saarbrücken on saarland-biografie.de after Albert Ruppersberg , Geschichte der Grafschaft Saarbrücken, vol. 2, Saarbrücken 2nd edition 1910 (ND St. Ingbert 1979), pp. 204-213

predecessor	Office	successor
Karl Ludwig	Count of Nassau-Saarbrücken 1723–1728