Carl of Denmark

Carl of Denmark (born October 26, 1680 in Copenhagen , † July 8, 1729 ) was a prince from the Danish royal family. He was the fourth son of King Christian V and his wife Charlotte Amalie and a younger brother of King Frederik IV.

Childhood and youth

Portrait of Prince Carl by Georg Saleman , copy after a painting by Hyacinthe Rigaud

Prince Carl grew up under the supervision of the Minister of State and Chief Chamberlain Johann Georg von Holstein and Christian Siegfried von Plessen , who was in charge of Carl's education . In 1696 Carl von Ahlefeldt replaced JG von Holstein. The upbringing was therefore German until Christian V decided that he should read the Danish rather than the German Bible and that his chaplain ( denominational ) should speak Danish and Latin with the prince .

The prince, who was ailing as a child, went on a grand tour from 1695 . In the instructions for the trip, he and his companion Karl Adolf von Plessen were instructed to avoid courtiers and capital cities as far as possible, where the stay would not be of use either to his studies or his religiosity. The longest he stayed in Montpellier , the journey went to Italy . He returned to Denmark in April 1699, shortly before his father died in May and his older brother succeeded the throne.

From 1697 Denmark pursued the plan to forge an alliance with Sweden through a double wedding. The Swedish King Charles XII. should marry Princess Sophia Hedwig of Denmark and Prince Carl Princess Hedwig Sophia of Sweden . In 1698, however, Hedwig Sophia was married to Duke Friedrich IV of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf . Negotiations about an engagement by Carl to the then 10-year-old youngest sister of the Swedish king, Ulrika Eleonora , also failed. Denmark and Sweden faced each other as enemies in the Great Northern War from 1700 onwards . Both Sophia Hedwig and Carl remain unmarried.

Principality of Lübeck

On October 28, 1699, Carl received a canon - prebende in the Lübeck cathedral chapter . This began a diplomatic dispute with the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf to succeed Prince-Bishop August Friedrich of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf . This was part of the long simmering power struggles between the two houses for supremacy in the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein . Gottorf was also allied with Sweden, Denmark's opponent in the Great Northern War.

In the Lübeck chapter , two factions or parties, one Danish and one Gottorfische, faced each other. When asked about a coadjutor with the right to succeed Prince-Bishop August Friedrich, claims were made for both Prince Christian August of Gottorf and Prince Carl of Denmark. Emperor Leopold I recommended to the Chapter Prince Carl and explanatory preparing him prematurely mature . The Gottorf side sent the then chamberlain Georg Heinrich von Görtz to Vienna; he obtained an order from the Reichshofrat on July 28, 1700, which approved the resolutions of the cathedral chapter and confirmed that the coadjutorate should be left with Gottorf.

On May 12, 1701 the cathedral chapter or its Gottorf faction went to the coadjutor election and elected the Gottorf prince Christian August. The Danish party did not appear; the following day they met specially and in turn elected Prince Carl as coadjutor. Both parties made their complaints; the imperial court now seemed less favorable to the Gottorf family, but Görtz once again knew how to obtain an advantageous decision from the imperial secret council on June 3, 1702. This was rejected on the Danish side because only the Reichshofrat could see the matter. The matter was still undecided when Bishop August Friedrich von Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf suddenly died in Eutin on October 2, 1705.

There were now two coadjutors who both claimed the right of succession, which led to a military conflict and at Christmas 1705 to the siege and occupation of Eutin Castle by the Danes. However, through diplomatic intervention by Queen Anne of England and the States General and after the assurance of a pension, Prince Carl was forced to give up his claim, so that Christian August von Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf, the candidate of the Gothenburg party, which was allied with Sweden , could succeed. The dispute was finally settled only after the conclusion of the Altranstädter Convention , when Christian August was enfeoffed with the Lübeck Monastery by the Emperor in 1709 .

Carl kept his prebend until 1715.

Landlord and horse breeder

Prince Carl on horseback

In 1703 Frederik IV left the Jægerspris hunting lodge to him for life. Carl ran a stud here and later also in Vemmetofte . After the death of his mother Charlotte Amalie, he inherited Vemmetofte and Højstrup on Zealand and Charlottenborg Palace in Copenhagen . He also owned a pleasure garden outside the then town, later known as Blågård ; a name that has been preserved in the name Blågårds Plads in the Copenhagen district of Nørrebro .

Carl led a quiet life as the owner of his estates. He stood up for his farmers and encouraged them to teach. He was considered pious and seems to have been influenced by Pietism . Nevertheless, he also dealt with alchemy .

Family disputes

Prince Carl of Vemmetofte

When Frederik IV married his previous mistress Anna Sophie von Reventlow in 1721 and made her queen, the brothers broke up. From then on, Prince Carl boycotted court life with his sister Sophia Hedwig and withdrew with her to the Vemmetofte estate. However, they retained an elaborate court management, which was headed by Karl Adolph von Plessen as court marshal.

Carl died almost 49 years old. He was buried in Roskilde Cathedral. His main heiress was his sister Sophia Hedwig.

Awards

1680 Elephant Order

literature

Edvard Holm : Carl . In: Carl Frederik Bricka (Ed.): Dansk biografisk Lexikon. Tillige omfattende Norge for Tidsrummet 1537-1814. 1st edition. tape 3 : Brandt – Clavus . Gyldendalske Boghandels Forlag, Copenhagen 1889, p. 358-359 (Danish, runeberg.org ).

Web links

Commons : Carl of Denmark - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ Svante Norrhem: Kvinnor vid maktens sida: 1632-1772. Lund: Nordic Academic Press. 2004 ISBN 978-91-89116-91-7 .
↑ Peter von Kobbe : Schleswig-Holstein history from the death of Duke Christian Albrecht to the death of King Christian VII (1694 to 1808). Altona: Hammerich 1834, p. 42
^ Eduard Vehse: History of the small German courts since the Reformation. Part 14: The spiritual courts , Volume 4, Hamburg: Hoffmann & Campe 1860, p. 85
↑ CR Rasmussen, E. Imberger, D. Lohmeier, I. Mommsen: The princes of the country - dukes and counts of Schleswig-Holstein and Lauenburg . Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2008., p. 195.

personal data
SURNAME	Carl of Denmark
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Charles of Denmark
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Prince from the Danish royal family
DATE OF BIRTH	October 26, 1680
PLACE OF BIRTH	Copenhagen
DATE OF DEATH	July 8, 1729

[1] Svante Norrhem: Kvinnor vid maktens sida: 1632-1772. Lund: Nordic Academic Press. 2004 ISBN 978-91-89116-91-7 .

[2] Peter von Kobbe : Schleswig-Holstein history from the death of Duke Christian Albrecht to the death of King Christian VII (1694 to 1808). Altona: Hammerich 1834, p. 42

[3] Eduard Vehse: History of the small German courts since the Reformation. Part 14: The spiritual courts , Volume 4, Hamburg: Hoffmann & Campe 1860, p. 85

[4] CR Rasmussen, E. Imberger, D. Lohmeier, I. Mommsen: The princes of the country - dukes and counts of Schleswig-Holstein and Lauenburg . Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2008., p. 195.