Alexandrine Mathilde of Württemberg
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Alexandrine Mathilde von Württemberg (born December 16, 1829 in Carlsruhe , Silesia ; † September 2, 1913 ibid.) Was a Duchess of Württemberg , benefactress and abbess of the noble women's foundation in Oberstenfeld .
Origin and life
Duke Eugen von Württemberg married his first wife Mathilde zu Waldeck-Pyrmont (* 1801, † 1825) in 1817 , from this marriage they had three children. After his first wife died giving birth to a third child, the duke decided to have a second marriage. Therefore, on September 11, 1827, he married Princess Helene zu Hohenlohe-Langenburg (* 1807, † 1880). Four children emerged from this connection:
- Wilhelm of Württemberg (* 1828, † 1896)
- Alexandrine Mathilde von Württemberg (* 1829, † 1913)
- Nikolaus von Württemberg (* 1833, † 1903) ∞ (1868) his niece: Princess Wilhelmine of Württemberg (* 1844, † 1892)
- Agnes von Württemberg (* 1835, † 1886) ∞ (1858) Prince Heinrich XIV Reuss younger line (* 1832, † 1913)
Alexandrine Mathilde von Württemberg was born on December 16, 1829 as the first daughter of Duke Eugen von Württemberg and his second wife Princess Helene zu Hohenlohe-Langenburg in Carlsruhe, Silesia. The girl's baptismal name already indicates the family's close ties to Russia . The father, Duke Eugen, was a first cousin to the Russian Tsars Alexander I and Nikolaus I. But this branch of the royal family also maintained friendly and familiar relationships with other dynasties. Such was Alexandrines grandfather Eugen Friedrich von Württemberg 's brother - standing as a cavalry general in the Russian service - Duke Ludwig of Württemberg , Maria Dorothea's father, with the Palatine of Hungary Archduke Joseph of Austria was happily married.
The mother, Princess Helene, took care not only of her own four children, but also of the two (living) children Marie and Eugen Erdmann from the first marriage of Duke Eugen. Whenever possible, she raised all of her children herself, an indication of an intact family life. Numerous letters have survived from this period. As a young girl, Alexandrine Mathilde was likely to have been quite messy, as her mother constantly admonished her to “be modest, hardworking and tidy and to take care of her clothes”. Music and literature played a fairly large part in family life. At that time, Carl Maria von Weber was also a frequent guest of the family in Carlsruhe. But the family home was also a popular meeting place for important writers who inspired Alexandrine Mathilde to read and write. She was also encouraged to learn foreign languages and learned English and French , although she wrote French better than English.
Alexandrine Mathilde was very fond of the children of her married siblings; however, she herself had no desire to have children of her own and she also showed little inclination to look for a husband and to marry herself. Therefore she remained unmarried all her life. She apparently shared this attitude with her favorite brother Wilhelm, who also remained unmarried and, according to her mother's request, she ran the household in Carlsruhe from 1880 onwards.
The years 1857/58 marked a major cut in her life. With the death of her father, who had been ill for a long time - who was sorely missed not only by Alexandrine Mathilde and her mother - the Majorat Carlsruhe passed to her half-brother Eugen Erdmann. Together with her mother, she undertook numerous spa treatments ( Bad Cudowa , Franzensbad ) as well as trips to the warmth of the south, especially to Italy and France .
In 1874 the now 45-year-old Alexandrine Mathilde of King was Karl von Württemberg to Abbess of pen Oberstenfeld near Marbach appointed. Whether she was actually dependent on this “supply” as an unmarried member of the Württemberg royal family is, however, doubtful. Their care after the death of their parents was in part already regulated by the Württemberg house law, and ten times the amount was added from the "sibling fund" set up in 1828 for the children by their mother Helene, whose universal heir she was to become in 1880. Years later, she also received an annual pension from the Queen Charlotte Mathilde Foundation.
Immediately after taking office as abbess, she worked as a benefactress of the community: In addition to generous financial support, she made two rooms available in her women's monastery for the newly founded toddler school, which was inaugurated in 1875. In later years she opened her wallet again and again - in the hailstorm year 1905, when the water pipe was built in 1909, for the nursing association, to purchase a new flag for the military association that bears her name, to name just a few examples.
Between 1888 and 1891, extensive renovation work took place in the collegiate church during her tenure as abbess. In essence, the church was "de- Baroque "; numerous baroque elements were removed from the church and replaced by neo-Romanesque elements. Thanks to their initiative, however, the valuable baroque side portal from 1735 was not smashed, but moved further back and thus was preserved.
In her hometown of Carlsruhe, too, she was not only known for her charity, but also extremely popular with the local population.
She spent the last two years of her life due to illness and for some time "completely paralyzed" in Carlsruhe, where she died on September 2, 1913 and three days later, as requested, was buried as the last representative of the House of Württemberg next to her parents in the family crypt in the Sophienkirche.
ancestors
| Pedigree of Alexandrine Mathilde von Württemberg | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great grandparents |
Duke |
Prince |
Prince |
Count |
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| Grandparents |
Duke Eugen Friedrich Heinrich von Württemberg (1758–1822) |
Prince |
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| parents |
Prince |
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Alexandrine Mathilde of Württemberg (1829–1913) |
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literature
- Sönke Lorenz , Dieter Mertens , Volker Press (ed.): The house of Württemberg. A biographical lexicon. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-17-013605-4 , p. 371.
- Ernst Schilder: Royal Highnesses in the noble women's monastery in Oberstenfeld . Duchess Alexandrine Mathilde von Württemberg KH, in: Bulletin of the community of Oberstenfeld No. 16 (April 20, 2012), p. 3 f.
- Heike Drechsler-Meel: Alexandrine Mathilde von Württemberg , in: Ostdeutsche Gedenktage 2013, personalities and historical events. Bonn 2016, pp. 144–151.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Marie (* 1818, † 1888), Eugen Erdmann (* 1820, † 1875) and Wilhelm Alexander (* / † 1825)
- ↑ today the place is called Pokój and belongs to Poland.
- ↑ The Evangelical Sophienkirche in Carlsruhe is located in the southeast of the village. The initiator of the building was Duke Carl Christian Erdmann von Württemberg-Oels (* 1716, † 1792). He had tombs built under the church, which should serve as a hereditary burial for him and his family. The construction of the church was planned and carried out by the Brandenburg master builder Georg Ludwig Schirrmeister . However, construction had to stop between 1767 and 1771. The Sophienkirche was consecrated on August 8, 1765.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Württemberg, Alexandrine Mathilde von |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Duchess of Württemberg, benefactress and abbess of the noble women's monastery in Oberstenfeld |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 16, 1829 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Carlsruhe , Silesia |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 2, 1913 |
| Place of death | Carlsruhe , Silesia |