Arnold van Keppel, 1st Earl of Albemarle
Arnold Joost van Keppel, 1st Earl of Albemarle KG (* 1669 in Zutphen , † May 30, 1718 in The Hague) was a Dutch nobleman in the service of William of Orange . When this English king became, Keppel accompanied him to England. He rose to be the king's influential favorite. After his death he returned to the Netherlands and rose to the high military. In 1712, during the War of the Spanish Succession, he lost the decisive battle at Denain , which led to the withdrawal of the Netherlands from the war coalition.
family
Keppel was the middle son of Oswald van Keppel and Anna Geertruid van Lintelo tot de Mars. He had been married to Geertruid Adam van der Denijn since 1718. In addition to a daughter, the son William Anne emerged from the marriage.
Life
He entered the service of governor Wilhelm as a page and followed him to England in 1688 after he had become king. He got a post as chamberlain. After a hunting accident he came into closer contact with the king, became his favorite and was entrusted with various tasks. Among other things, he served as a kind of unofficial secretary for Dutch questions.
Contemporaries suspected a homosexual relationship with the king. Liselotte von der Pfalz claimed that the king in Keppel was said to have been "in love with a lady" and kissed his hands in public. More recent works also assume a homosexual relationship , especially after the death of Queen Maria in 1694. Some other studies, however, consider it unproven that a homosexual relationship existed. Keppel rivaled Johann Wilhelm Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland , for the king's favor. After all, the affection for his new favorite was so great that King Bentinck, a childhood friend and his right-hand man since 1666, dropped it.
Keppel rose to the court of the king and became Master of the Robes in 1695. This gave him official daily unhindered access to the king. This gave him strong political influence. In the meantime he accompanied the king on various campaigns and was partly in English and partly in Dutch service. In 1697 he was major-general, colonel of various regiments and governor of 's-Hertogenbosch . The king made him Viscount Bury in Lancashire and Baron Ashford , of Ashford, Kent in 1696 . In February 1697, the elevation to Earl of Albemarle followed . In 1699, Keppel was given command of the First Life Guards .
When the King wanted to give large estates in Ireland to Van Keppel in 1700, Parliament appealed. Instead, he received £ 50,000. He also became a Knight of the Order of the Garter . In the Netherlands he had Huis De Voorst Castle built from 1696.
He was sent to Holland in 1702 to prepare for the king's next campaign. When he returned the king was dying. The king bequeathed him 200,000 guilders and land. Then Keppel returned to the Netherlands. He took his seat as a nobleman in the Dutch Parliament of the States General . He also became a cavalry general in the Dutch army. He took part in the War of the Spanish Succession since 1703. Keppel was in 1706 at the Battle of Ramillies and 1708 at the Battle of Oudenaarde . In 1710 he commanded the Allied troops at the siege of Aire. A year later he commanded the second meeting in the army of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough . In 1712 he was in command of the Dutch army. He was defeated by Claude-Louis-Hector de Villars in the decisive battle of Denain and was taken prisoner. After his release he returned to the Netherlands.
Individual evidence
- ↑ genealogical information at stanford.edu
- ↑ David Onnekink: The Anglo-Dutch Favorite. The Career of Hans Willem Bentick. Aldershot 1988, pp. 229f
- ^ A b Andrew Barclay: William's Court as King. In: Redefining William III. The impact of the king-stadholder in international context. Aldershot 2007, p. 245
- ^ Eduard Vehse: History of the German courts. Vol. 21, third section, part 4, Hamburg 1853, p. 281; Mareike Böth, Interwoven Positioning. An intersectional analysis of early modern self-education processes, in: Intersectionality and Research Practice. Mutual challenges (Forum Women's and Gender Studies 43), ed. v. Mechthild Bereswill, Folkert Degenring and Sabine Stange, Münster 2015, pp. 78–95, esp. Pp. 87–90.
- ^ Louis Crompton: Homosexuality & civilization. Cambridge 2006, p. 405
- ^ Wout Troost: William III. The Stadtholder-King. Aldersthot 1988, p. 26
- ^ Andrew Barclay: William's Court as King. In: Redefining William III. The impact of the king-stadholder in international context. Aldershot 2007, p. 318
literature
- Albermarle, Earls and Dukes of. In: Hugh Chisholm : Encyclopædia Britannica . Cambridge University Press , 1911 ( online version at en: Wikisource ).
- Arthur Collins: The Peerage of England. Containing a Genealogical and Historical Account of All the Peers of that Kingdom. Vol. 4, London 1768 ( digitized from a reprint ).
- Keppel. In: Johann Heinrich Zedler : Large complete universal lexicon of all sciences and arts . Volume 15, Leipzig 1737, column 471 f.
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| New title created |
Earl of Albemarle 1697-1718 |
Willem van Keppel |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Keppel, Arnold van, 1st Earl of Albemarle |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Keppel, Arnold Joost van 1st Earl of Albemarle (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Favorite of King Wilhelm III, English and Dutch commander |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1669 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | The hague |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 30, 1718 |
| Place of death | The hague |