Christian Albrecht (Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf)

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Christian Albrecht of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf
Christian Albrecht of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf (painting by Jürgen Ovens )

Christian Albrecht (born February 3 jul. / February 13, 1641 greg. In Gottorf ; † 27 December 1694 jul. / January 6, 1695 greg. Ibid) was archbishop of Lübeck 1655-1666 and Duke of gottorf rule shares of the duchies Schleswig and Holstein from 1659 to 1695. He was the founder of the Christian Albrechts University in Kiel . He himself carried the titleChristian Albrecht, heir to Norway by the grace of God, postulated coadjutor of the Lübeck foundation, Hertzog zu Schlesswig, Hollstein, Stormarn and Dittmarschen, Graff zu Oldenburg and Dellmenhorst .

Life

Family and youth

Christian Albrecht was the tenth child and fifth son of Duke Friedrich III. von Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf and Maria Elisabeth von Sachsen , daughter of Johann Georg I von Sachsen . Two of his older brothers had died as young children.

Hereditary Prince Friedrich (* 1635) died in 1654 during the mandatory European trip to Paris for young nobles . This moved Johann Georg, born in 1638, who was still traveling, to the first place in the line of succession. Therefore, the coadjutur for the office of prince-bishop of the Lübeck bishopric was transferred to Christian Albrecht, since the second son should become prince-bishop, like Friedrich III. 1647 had agreed with the cathedral chapter . When his uncle, Prince-Bishop Johann von Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf , died in 1655 , Christian Albrecht succeeded him as Prince-Bishop. But Johann Georg, who continued the journey alone, also died on November 25, 1655 in Naples , so that Christian Albrecht moved to first place in the line of succession. At the same time he remained bishop on the condition that he should pass the office on to his younger brother August Friedrich when he came to power .

Christian Albrecht's father and his chancellor Johann Adolph Kielmann von Kielmannsegg pursued a policy of detaching the Gottorf Duchy from the Kingdom of Denmark after the Thirty Years' War . The aim of this policy was the full sovereignty of the duchy and the abolition of the joint government with Denmark. One way to do this was to move closer to Sweden , the leading power in Northern Europe after the Thirty Years' War. The marriage between Christian Albrecht's sister Hedwig Eleonora and the Swedish King Karl X. Gustav contributed to this in 1654 . At first this alliance seemed to pay off when Sweden entered the Second Northern War in 1657 , achieved a quick victory against Denmark and Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf, which had allowed the Swedish troops free passage, gained sovereignty in the Peace of Roskilde on February 24, 1658 was awarded. This meant that the Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf no longer had any feudal obligations to the Danish king in the Duchy of Schleswig. In addition, he received the office of Schwabstedt and half of the possessions of the secularized diocese of Schleswig. However, the union with Denmark enshrined in the Ripen Treaty and the common government have not been repealed. In the middle of 1658 Karl X. Gustav started a new campaign against Denmark. This time no surprise attack succeeded. The Danish King Friedrich III. was supported by Elector Friedrich Wilhelm von Brandenburg , who drove the Swedish troops out of Holstein and occupied the lands of the Gottorf Duke.

Regency

First years of government

Christian Albrecht took over the reign at the age of 18 when almost his entire empire was occupied. His father died on August 10, 1659 in the besieged Tönning fortress , while his successor was in the army of his brother-in-law outside Copenhagen and had to hurry to the site of the battle. The death of Karl X. Gustav in 1660 ended the war. The peace of Copenhagen on June 5, 1660 confirmed the result of the Roskilder Treaty by confirming the annulment of the feudal relationship , but dashed the hope of full sovereignty. On the one hand, the duke was independent of the Danish king, on the other hand, the joint government forced cooperation and through the still existing union with Denmark he remained subordinate to the king.

As a duke, Christian Albrecht initially remained prince-bishop because his brother was still too young. The chapter agreed to this because it wanted to prevent Johann August, the feeble-minded son of his predecessor, from becoming bishop. It was not until 1666 that the duke handed over the diocese to his brother, who was now 20 years old, but allowed himself to be elected coadjutor, which remained until the end of his life after Johann August's death and the birth of his second son.

Friedrich III. had recommended Kielmann to his son for a leading position in his government. Despite the attempts of his mother and the knightly district administrators to force him out of office, Christian Albrecht confirmed his position and in 1662 appointed him president of the government and chamber. He continued to strive for the sovereignty of the duchy. To this end, Kielmann signed a secret treaty with Sweden in Christian Albrecht's name, where Christian Albrecht's sister Hedwig Eleonora took over the guardianship government for her underage son Karl XI. led.

Wedding picture of Christian Albrecht and Friederika Amalie

In 1666, the Second Bremen-Swedish War made it necessary to clarify the relationship with Denmark. After lengthy negotiations, Christian Albrecht closed the Glückstadt Recess with Friedrich III in October 1667 . from Denmark. It was also included agreement on the will of the 1,667 childless late Count Anton Günther of Oldenburg and Delmenhorst , who in 1664 both from the House of Oldenburg coming ruler of Denmark and Schleswig-Holstein Gottorfs had equally determined as heirs. To confirm this contract, Christian Albrecht married 18-year-old Friederike Amalie (1649–1704), the second daughter of the Danish king, two weeks after the contract was signed on October 24, 1667 . In contrast to the usual princely weddings, the wedding in Glückstadt Castle was celebrated rather modestly.

At the same time Christian Albrecht tried to expand the economic position of the duchy at the expense of a partisan of the Danish king. If his father founded Friedrichstadt by inviting Dutch remonstrants to settle, Christian Albrecht offered the Kappelnern, who had quarreled with Detlef von Rumohr , the island of Arnis, which he had owned since the Peace of Copenhagen, for settlement. The new shipping location was given extensive economic privileges. Conversely, the duke was interested in damaging Kappeln economically. This intervention led to a sharp conflict with Detlef von Rumohr, who also acted against Chancellor Kielmannsegg outside the Duchy.

The first ten years of his government remained peaceful in spite of such tensions with Denmark, which enabled Christian Albrecht to realize cultural projects as well as some trips.

Conflict with Denmark and exile

But when Christian V of Denmark took office in 1670, hostilities broke out again. Christian V tried to regain the sovereignty and control of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf. Although his father had agreed with the duke of Oldenburg and Delmenhorst, Christian V. now supported the claims of Joachim Ernst of the divided line Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Plon , who also looked to be entitled to inherit. King Christian V reached a settlement with Joachim Ernst, in which the Duke of Plön ceded his claimed shares in Anton Günther's legacy to Christian V and was awarded areas in the Duchy of Holstein. After Joachim Ernst's death, his son Johann Adolf continued to litigate Christian Albrecht in Vienna . In 1673 the Reichshofrat in Vienna decided in his favor, whereupon Johann Adolf ceded his shares to the Danish king, who from then on administered Oldenburg and Delmenhorst in personal union, and Christian Albrecht got nothing. This approach prompted Christian Albrecht to renew the alliance with Sweden. In 1674 he traveled to Sweden to negotiate personally with his nephew, who had come of age.

The beginning of the Swedish-Brandenburg War in 1674 brought Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf back into opposition to Denmark. The final break came when the Danish king demanded funds from the Schleswig-Holstein estates in Kiel to finance the war, whereupon the duke dissolved the state parliament . It was the last parliament in the duchies. This ended the co-determination rights of the estates. Under the pretext of wanting to negotiate the Tondern office as a replacement for Oldenburg-Delmenhorst, Christian V lured the Duke to the Rendsburg fortress , where he forced him to go to Rendsburg on July 10, 1675 , in which the small Gottorf state relied on its sovereignty and had to renounce all foreign alliances. Gottorf's share in the Duchy of Schleswig was occupied from 1675 to 1679, and the Tönning fortress was razed. Christian Albrecht fled to Hamburg , where he owned a palace at Speersort . By occupying his countries, Christian Albrecht lost his income, so that he even had to move his jewels in Hamburg. Kielmannsegg and his sons were deported to Copenhagen, where the Chancellor died. In the course of the war, the re-establishment of the Arnis shipping base also ran into major problems, and failure could not be ruled out. Detlef von Rumohr in turn became - again in the service of the Danish army - governor of the king on Rügen , where he fell in 1678.

The victory of the Swedish-French alliance turned things around. In the Treaty of Fontainebleau in 1679 Christian Albrecht got his lands back, but had to pay large amounts of compensation to Denmark. For this he had to pledge several offices in Holstein. He initiated a lawsuit against Kielmannsegg and his sons for embezzlement, which, however, never opened, but led to Kielmannegg's sons also leaving the country. The rival court parties were no substitute for the loss of the able chancellor.

In 1682 Denmark allied with France . Christian Albrecht feared for his safety and fled to Hamburg again. Since he did not pay the annual installment of the agreed compensation, Christian V. had Fehmarn occupied. In the following year he tried to force Christian Albrecht to sign a contract that would have forbidden him to pursue any independent policy. When the duke refused to sign, in 1684 he occupied the Gottorf part of Schleswig and was the only duke to pay homage there . In the following year he also filled the pledged Holstein offices. Christian Albrecht no longer felt safe in Hamburg either, as the Danish king was now also claiming the free imperial city . Only after the Danish siege of Hamburg (1686) did Emperor Leopold I intervene and force the feuding dukes to negotiate in Altona . Since Christian Albrecht refused financial compensation for Oldenburg-Delmenhorst on Swedish advice and Christian V refused to surrender the Gottorf lands, the negotiations dragged on for two years. Only the weakening of his ally France by the Palatinate War of Succession forced the Danish king to sign the Altona Treaty on June 20, 1689 in order not to be completely isolated. Christian Albrecht returned to Gottorf at the end of the year. He tried to get a grip on his debts, which were considerably increased by corrupt officials, by allowing the court Jew Jacob Mussaphia to mint inferior coins in Tönning.

Culture

Friedrich III. had left his son with high debts, which Christian Albrecht increased through military spending. As a result, the cultural life at his court did not reach the level it had during the reign of his father. Nevertheless, in 1663 he brought Jürgen Ovens from Tönning to his court, who worked as a court painter until his death in 1678. At Gottorf Castle , he had the Prince's Garden at Gottorf completed, which his father had begun, and which fell into disrepair in the 19th century and was finally forgotten. From 2001 it was partially restored and provided with a new building of the globe house and a reconstruction of the globe , which was opened in 2005.

The longest lasting innovation of his reign was the founding of the Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel on October 5th, 1665. This too was based on Kielmannsegg's endeavors. Already in 1652, on behalf of Christian Albrechts father of Emperor Ferdinand III. obtained a corresponding privilege. The main purpose of the university was to train Protestant pastors and to fill the administration with learned citizens who had enjoyed their education in their own country. The new university was located in the Kiel monastery, which was secularized during the Reformation . The basic inventory of the library was transferred from the Princely School in Bordesholm Monastery . Paul Sperling, the last rector of the abolished Latin school, was promoted to doctorate and professor of biblical and ecclesiastical antiquities as well as spiritual eloquence. The famous Brüggemann Altar, which Duke Friedrich donated to the monastery church in 1514, was moved to the Schleswig Cathedral .

Although he had to move his silver cutlery himself during his first exile in Hamburg, he still helped found the opera on Gänsemarkt in 1678 . On his intervention, the Orthodox preachers failed to preach against the supposedly sinful opera. The Gottorf Kapellmeister Johann Theile composed the Singspiel Adam and Eva for the opening of the opera. Even Johann Philipp Förtsch , his successor as court conductor, wrote for the Hamburg Opera.

The so-called Rant Zauberau - the west wing of the Amalienbau

He had the razed Tönning fortress rebuilt in 1692. However, he left the Kiel castle , which his wife had received as a personal property and widow's seat, as a ruin. Friederike Amalie had it renovated at her own expense and the architect Dominicus Pelli added a new west and south wing, of which only the west wing, the so-called Rant Zauberau, has been preserved.

progeny

In 1667 he married Friederike Amalie of Denmark, a daughter of King Friedrich III. from Denmark . He had the following children with her:

After his death, his son Friedrich IV became Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf.

ancestry

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Adolf I (Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf) (1526–1586)
Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Johann Adolf (Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf) (1575–1616)
Bishop, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Christine of Hesse (1543–1604)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Friedrich III. (Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf) (1597–1659)
Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Frederick II (Denmark and Norway)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Augusta of Denmark (1580-1639)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Sophie of Mecklenburg (1557–1631)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Christian Albrecht (Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf)
Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Christian I (Saxony) (1560–1591)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Johann Georg I (Saxony) (1585–1656)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Sophie of Brandenburg (1568–1622)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Maria Elisabeth of Saxony (1610–1684)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Albrecht Friedrich (Prussia) (1553-1618)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Magdalena Sibylle of Prussia (1586–1659)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Marie Eleonore von Jülich-Kleve-Berg (1550–1608)
Duchess of Prussia
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


See also

The founding of the Arnis shipping location, supported by Christian Albrecht, did not gain a certain importance until the late 18th century, and in 1860 the town had 88 merchant ships. Today Arnis is the smallest city in Germany with less than 300 inhabitants.

literature

Web links

Commons : Christian Albrecht (Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lohmeier (Lit.), p. 71
  2. ↑ 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. 162.
  3. ↑ Lohmeier (Lit.), p. 72
  4. ↑ Melanie Greinert: "Auff dem Hoch-Fürstlichen Beylager". Procedure, staging and dynastic significance Gottorf marriages in the 17th century at the Electoral Saxon, Danish and Swedish courts . In: Journal of the Association for Schleswig-Holstein History 139 (2014), pp. 49–76; Pp. 63-69
  5. ↑ Nicolaus Schmidt : Arnis 1667 - 2017. Wachholtz Verlag, 2017, p. 34f.
  6. ↑ 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. 164.
  7. ↑ Nicolaus Schmidt : Arnis 1667 - 2017. Wachholtz Verlag, 2017, p. 41
  8. ↑ Lohmeier (Lit.), p. 77
  9. ↑ Jens Martin Neumann: "To awaken the castle from ruins". Friederike Amalie von Gottorf and her widow's residence in Kiel. In: Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft für Kieler Stadtgeschichte 87 (2013), pp. 1–30
predecessor Office successor
Friedrich III. Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf
1659–1695 		Friedrich IV.
Johann X. Bishop of Lübeck
1655–1666 		August Friedrich
personal data
SURNAME Christian Albrecht
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prince-Bishop of Lübeck and Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf
DATE OF BIRTH February 13, 1641
PLACE OF BIRTH Gottorf
DATE OF DEATH January 6, 1695
Place of death Gottorf