August (Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg)

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Duke August of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg

Emil Leopold August, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (born November 23, 1772 in Gotha ; † May 17, 1822 there ) was the penultimate prince of the Thuringian duchy of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg . He came from the Saxon-Gotha-Altenburg branch of the Ernestine Wettin family .

Life

August was the second son of Duke Ernst II of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg and his wife Charlotte of Saxe-Meiningen . After the early death of his older brother Ernst (1770–1779), he became Hereditary Prince. In his youth he was excellently trained, his Jacobin-friendly environment imparted to him the new ideals of freedom, equality and brotherhood.

Augustgotha.jpg

When he took office in 1804, he was already considered an ardent admirer of Napoleon , which was an advantage for him and the country in the Napoleonic wars. In 1806 Sachsen-Gotha-Altenburg joined the Rhine Confederation . During the invasion of the French army that year, August stayed in Gotha and thus prevented a possible escalation. He also stood up for the imprisoned critical journalist Rudolph Zacharias Becker and obtained his immediate release from the military commander.

Napoleon Bonaparte, who always his letters to August mon cousin started (my cousin) and votre cousin (your cousin) ended, visited the duke as a token of appreciation several times in Gotha, but stayed never (as Gothaer forecast The bed as Sarg reports) on the Friedenstein. The following (sometimes very short) stays by Napoleon I in the royal seat and meeting with Duke August are documented: July 23, 1807 (reception at the castle and lunch with the duke couple), September 27, 1808 (on the way to Erfurt Prince's Congress, conversation with Duke August and dinner at the castle), October 14, 1808 (on the way back from the Prince's Congress, stop at Friedrichsthal Castle and brief conversation with August), December 15, 1812 (on the way back from Russia, no meeting with August ), October 25th, 1813 (on the way back from Saxony, overnight stay at the Gasthof Zum Mohren , no encounter with August).

"Napoleon Room" designed by August at Friedenstein Castle

From 1811 to 1813, the Duke celebrated Napoleon Bonaparte's birthday on August 15 with a gala reception at Friedenstein Castle . As early as 1807 he had acquired a bicorn from the emperor from Napoleon's valet Louis Constant Wairy, which is still shown on the Friedenstein today. On the occasion of Napoleon's visit on July 23, 1807, August gave the French Emperor an extravagant black carriage, but Napoleon refused to use it because of its resemblance to a skull (hence the current name of the death's head carriage ). August's Napoleon mania culminated in the establishment of a Napoleon room furnished in Empire style and personally designed by him in Friedenstein Castle - still a highlight of the museum today. The ceiling of the room shows a starry sky with the sun and moon, the sun bears the features of Napoleon, which shines on the moon with the features of August.

Duke August as a Greek, Die Gartenlaube 1857

August was known as a patron and art collector. Carl Maria von Weber , whose debts he paid, dedicated the Second Piano Concerto to him as a thank you. In addition, August was considered an eccentric with a penchant for provocative and shocking appearances. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe called him “pleasant and disgusting at the same time” and noted: “I have nothing to complain about him, but I was always afraid to accept an invitation to his table because one couldn't foresee which of the guests of honor he would treat relentlessly would like to be inclined by chance ”. August's tendency to transvestism is characteristic , in that he liked to show himself in women's clothing and thus knew how to shock the Gothaer Hof. The well-known painter Caroline Louise Seidler , who stayed at the Gothaer Hof in the winter of 1811 to portray the ducal family, described the duke as the “greatest original of his time”, whose appearance had something “ladylike” about it. August's literary works also contain allusions to a presumed homosexual orientation. In 1805 he wrote the poetic novel Kyllenion - A year in Arcadia . In addition, he was in lively correspondence u. a. with Jean Paul , Madame de Staël and Bettina von Arnim .

With Napoleon's final defeat in Waterloo and the Congress of Vienna , August became a persona non grata in aristocratic and diplomatic circles , and he was also frowned upon by the nationalist public. The circumstances of his sudden death after a brief illness remained unexplained.

August was buried on the funeral island in the large park pond in the palace gardens in a crypt specially set up for him, in which his second wife Karoline Amalie also found her final resting place in 1848 . Like all the graves of the ducal family located here, August's is not marked by any monument. The simple oval of flowers, which once marked the crypt, has not existed for decades, so that the exact burial place of the couple is now unknown.

Since August left no male offspring, his younger brother Friedrich became Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg as Friedrich IV .

Anecdotes

“At the congress in Erfurt in 1808 Napoleon had the Duke sit across from the table, and as the latter ate little or nothing, Napoleon asked him why he wasn't eating, to which he gallantly replied: 'I feed on the rays the sun that shines on me now. ' When Napoleon asked how big his country was, he replied: 'Sire, as big as Ew. Command your majesty. '"

“Duke August was once represented by the Gothic original Wachtelborn. This was a deaf and dumb man who probably lived his life more badly than right. Still, the town was known for always being in the mood for fun. One day the Duke was on a visit to a noble lady. Whether out of reluctance or as a joke: August put the deaf and mute Wachtelborn into his magnificent carriage and let it drive up. When the lady arrived, who had thrown herself in the large toilet and opened the door of the carriage expectantly, the happily grinning Wachtelborn stepped out of her in his usual rundown elevator. "

On the trip to the Erfurt Prince Congress, Napoleon stopped on the Friedenstein in 1808. During a conversation with Duke August, the emperor asked for a cup of hot chocolate. This was served to him by August himself with the indication that the cup had been made in his own porcelain factory. However, the Duke refused Napoleon's request to keep the fine piece as a souvenir. When the Emperor asked in consternation why he couldn't keep the cup, August replied that he'd rather give him his duchy. The great French emperor drank from that very cup and he, August, will therefore cherish it like a relic in future. Napoleon was then extremely flattered.

Family and offspring

Duke August was married twice. With his first wife Luise Charlotte (1779–1801), daughter of the Duke and later Grand Duke Friedrich Franz I of Mecklenburg , he had his only child:

Through his daughter Luise, Duke August is the grandfather of Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and, among other things, the ancestor of the British Queen Elisabeth II.

August 1802, the second marriage to Karoline Amalie (1771–1848), daughter of the future Elector Wilhelm I of Hesse , remained childless. Just a few years after the marriage, the couple became increasingly estranged, "because the mutual outlooks on life offered absolutely no points of contact." Joint appearances in public were already a rarity from 1810, from 1813 Karoline Amalie no longer lived with August at Schloss Friedenstein , but in Friedrichsthal Palace and the Gotha Winter Palace .

literature

Web links

Commons : August (Sachsen-Gotha-Altenburg)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Andreas M. Cramer: Die Gothaer Sagen , Gotha 2005, p. 70.
  2. ↑ Text of the legend on Echt-gothsch.de
  3. ^ Richard Waitz: The ducal park of Gotha from its creation to the present time , Gotha 1849, p. 14 f.
  4. ↑ August Beck: History of the regents of the Gotha land , Gotha 1868, p. 449.
  5. ^ Andreas M. Cramer: Genuine Goth'sch. Small handbook of the Gothaer vernacular, the mock names, originals and sagas , Gotha 1995, p. 115.
  6. ↑ Max Berbig, Karoline Amalie von Hessen-Kassel , in: Die Gewahlinnen der Regenten des Gothaischen Land , Gotha 1890, p. 142
  7. ↑ Jean Paul discusses freedom of the press with the Duke , a pamphlet
predecessor Office successor
Ernst II Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg
1804 - 1822 		Friedrich IV.
personal data
SURNAME August
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Emil Leopold August
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg
DATE OF BIRTH November 23, 1772
PLACE OF BIRTH Gotha
DATE OF DEATH May 17, 1822
Place of death Gotha