Christian Ernst (Brandenburg-Bayreuth)

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Margrave Christian Ernst of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, around 1685
Cartouche of the Margrave Christian Ernst in the St. Jakobuskirche in Creußen

Christian Ernst von Brandenburg-Bayreuth (* July 27, 1644 in Bayreuth ; † May 10, 1712 in Erlangen ) was a German military leader and from 1655 until his death Margrave of the Franconian Principality of Bayreuth .

Life

Origin and family

Christian Ernst came from the Hohenzollern family . He was a son of Erdmann August and grandson of the Bayreuth Margrave Christian . Because Erdmann August did not survive his father, Christian Ernst succeeded him as heir in 1655. It was under the reign of Elector Friedrich Wilhelm zu Brandenburg and Margrave Georg Albrecht the Elder . From 1657 on he studied at the University of Strasbourg for two years . He then went on a cavalier tour of Italy, the Netherlands and France, where he took part in the marriage of Louis XIV to Maria Teresa of Spain in 1660 . On September 25, 1661 he took over the government of the Bayreuth region from his guardian.

Military career in the empire

Portrait of Christian Ernst von Brandenburg-Bayreuth as a young man
Portrait of the Margrave, mezzotint sheet (around 1710) by Christoph Weigel
Another portrait of the margrave

The margrave was a supporter of Emperor Leopold I , whom he supported on military expeditions , for example in the Dutch War , in Lorraine and in the liberation of Vienna from the Turks. He consistently pursued a military career, the starting point of which was on February 12, 1664, the election as district bishop of the Franconian Empire . Christian Ernst was also chief of the Franconian cuirassier regiment . Subsequently, from 1668, the armament and development of his own rule began as a source of military aid, which soon led the Margraviate Brandenburg-Bayreuth to the limits of its capacity. The first financial crisis occurred as early as 1672.

In 1673 he led the Franconian district troops to war against France. With them he joined the imperial army under Montecuculi and took part in the expulsion of Turenne from the Main area.

He is said to have shown personal courage in the siege of Bonn (1673) , in which an enemy cannonball killed two gunners at his side, in the meeting near Schlettstadt and in the battle near Goldscheuer (1675). At the emperor's request, the Reichstag (February 1674) appointed him general sergeant .

After his district troops had been distributed as garrison troops in the Palatinate fortresses, the margrave himself recruited a regiment on horseback for the emperor and participated in many operations at its head during the following four years of war up to 1678, namely the meeting at Goldscheuer August 1, 1675 and took part in the siege and conquest of Philippsburg in the summer of 1676.

Due to his military ambitions, Christian Ernst was the only Margrave of Bayreuth who achieved greater political importance. After the Emperor's support in the Dutch War, he was appointed Lieutenant General Field Marshal on March 27, 1676 . During the illness of Margrave Friedrich von Baden , the emperor gave him command of the entire imperial army.

When Vienna was liberated from the Turks in 1683, he was a member of the relief army. He brought numerous trophies with him that were on display in the town church of Bayreuth until the 19th century. To proclaim his fame, he had himself portrayed as the conqueror of the Turks in an absolutist glorification on an equestrian fountain in Bayreuth and an equestrian statue in Erlangen . In 1691 he was appointed imperial field marshal and in 1692 he took over the supreme command of the units of the imperial army on the Upper Rhine , but he soon passed the command to Ludwig Wilhelm von Baden . In 1701 he founded the Brandenburg-Bayreuth Dragoon Regiment. In 1704, Bayreuth troops defeated two regiments of Bavarian militia near Waldeck, forcing the city and fortress of Waldeck to surrender, which was razed on Emperor Joseph's orders. During the War of the Spanish Succession , he won a few more victories until his fateful decision was made after the death of Ludwig Wilhelm on May 22, 1707. Christian Ernst lost track of what was happening on site and joined the judgment of a subordinate general who backed away from the associations of Louis XIV and disclosed the Stollhofen line to Marshal Villars . The Imperial Army under Margrave Christian Ernst of Brandenburg-Bayreuth then withdrew unnecessarily far to Aalen and Ellwangen . As a result, the front was opened wide and French troops were able to invade Swabia and raid far into Bavaria. He gave up the Palatinate, Hesse-Darmstadt, the Franconian and large parts of the Swabian Empire ; Ulm could just be held, Schorndorf was handed over. Villar's cavalry used this as much as possible for looting and contribution surveys: The loot in Franconia and Swabia was estimated at 9 million guilders, the damage caused was far greater. Christian Ernst took action against Villars again in July and crossed the Rhine in the middle of the month with reinforcements at Philippsburg and Rheinhausen . In September, Elector Elector Duke Georg Ludwig von Braunschweig-Lüneburg took over command of the Imperial Army and pushed Villars completely back behind the Rhine. The serious mistake at Stollhofen ended Christian Ernst's military career.

Promoter of art and education

In addition to his military career, he was also an advocate and promoter of the arts. As the successor to the Bayreuth Latin School, he founded a grammar school in 1664 that still bears his name, the Christian-Ernestinum grammar school . In Erlangen he founded a knight academy , the basis for the State University of Erlangen .

Christian Ernst centralized the state authorities in the new residence in Bayreuth . In 1672 he built the castle church where the horse stables used to be . With his own hand he laid the foundation stone for the northern tower of the city ​​church in 1666 , which had been in ruins since the fire of 1621. From 1697 to 1702 the old castle in Bayreuth was rebuilt in the Italian style according to plans by Charles Philippe Dieussart (1625–1696). Christian Ernst had the castle extended by the Bamberg architect Leonhard Dientzenhofer (1660–1707) to include the castle courtyard, with a further north and a west wing. In the great hall of the palace, Christian Ernst had a theater stage installed, on which German and Italian operas and comedies by Molière were performed.

In 1686 he had a new town built in Erlangen for the Huguenots expelled by Louis XIV , who were soon joined by refugees from the Palatinate, which was destroyed in the War of the Palatinate Succession . In Erlangen in 1703 he acquired his son's unfinished city ​​palace , which he had completed in order to give it as "Elisabethenburg" to his third wife Elisabeth Sophie, who did not approve of the assigned residence in the New Palace in Neustadt an der Aisch.

The well-known Baroque poet Sigmund von Birken created a literary monument to Christian Ernst with the Prince of Brandenburg Ulysses , published in 1668 .

Christian Ernst was also the first German prince who wanted to introduce potato cultivation in his country .

Passion for hunting

The margrave was a lover of horses and dogs. He owned 85 of the latter. He began to convert the former Himmelkron monastery into a hunting lodge , including the construction of the Baille-Maille-Lindenallee and the conversion of the Marienkirche in the margrave style that was beginning .

He showed his ambitions as a hunter around 1664 with the sow hunt , in 1665 with a three-week stay at the Hirschfeiste and in 1668 with a badger and sow hunt in the castle courtyard in Neustadt an der Aisch , where he had received the hereditary homage and city key during a five-day stay in 1662 . The passionate hunters had to create wildlife parks and build more hunting lodges, so Castle Thiergarten , Castle birch and castle Unternschreez in Hague .

Financial overload of the principality

The margrave's military ambitions became a burden. They far exceeded his country's financial resources, but also exceeded his own capabilities. In the first year of his reign in 1662, Margrave Christian Ernst taxed the Vogtland knighthood for the first time, which , like the imperial knighthood , had previously only taxed the Reich and the Reichskreis (dejure only voluntary) had paid taxes (subsidium caritativum).

Since he had a large court and servants and also often went on long journeys and found great amusement in hunting and building at home, there were large gaps in the state budget, especially in the last years of his government, and although his wife Sophie Luise hers Jewels on Aaron Abrahams Beer in Frankfurt, which were only released after her death by the margrave, found a large debt burden of over 200,000 guilders on his death.

He did not impose any extraordinary taxes on his subjects, but was rather concerned about the revenue from them and also seeks to enrich the country by buying up mansions, according to the Schnabelwaid estate , although this was on credit. Nevertheless, the margrave was forced to buy back mansions sell, like the former manor of Hans Wilhelm von Streitberg for 5000 Reichstaler to Marquard Sebastian Schenk von Stauffenberg . In 1686 he had to sell the Birken Palace to his court marshal Johann Wilhelm von Erffa because of his salary arrears . In his need, Christian Ernst resorted to the arts of the gold maker Krohnemann . The Count of Giech took advantage of the Margrave's financial shortage and acquired the long-disputed high and fraish authorities in the 1699 recession for 26,000 guilders, as well as cents and blood spells for the Thurnau rulership as an imperial loan.

Marriage and offspring

  • Princess Erdmuthe Sophie of Saxony

  • Sophie Louise of Württemberg

  • Elisabeth Sophie of Brandenburg

He got his first marriage on October 29, 1662 in Dresden with his cousin Erdmuthe Sophie von Sachsen , daughter of the Saxon Elector Johann Georg II. Erdmuthe Sophie died of an illness after attending the Leipzig Easter fair in 1670, childless.

Eight months after her death, he married a second time on February 8, 1671 in Stuttgart, Sophie Luise von Württemberg , daughter of the Württemberg Duke Eberhard III. She died in 1702 and is buried in Bayreuth in the princely crypt. According to Döllner, she was buried in 1702 in the royal crypt, which was removed in 1812 and filled in in 1820 or 1821, in front of the high altar in the town church of Neustadt an der Aisch . She gave birth to six children:

Five months after her death, he married a third time on March 30, 1703 in Potsdam Elisabeth Sophie , daughter of the Brandenburg Elector Friedrich Wilhelm . This marriage was also childless.

The lifestyle of the margrave and the last two wives as well as the gifts to them worsened the financial situation of the margravate considerably.

tomb

The grave is located in the princely crypt of the town church of Bayreuth .

Honor

Relief portrait at the Paulibrunnen in Erlangen, 2011

At the Paulibrunnen inaugurated on September 8, 1889 on the castle and market square in Erlangen, there is a relief with a portrait of Margrave Christian Ernst. Below a plaque bears the inscription: “Margrave Christian Ernst, founder of the Neustadt Erlangen. 1661-1712. "

Since 1952, the humanist wear (today humanistic-linguistic-scientific-technological) High School Christian-Ernestinum in Bayreuth, successor institute founded by Christian Ernst 1,664 high school illustrious , and since 1965 the musical Christian-Ernst-Gymnasium in Erlangen the name of the Marquis.

literature

Chronologically, newest first.

  • Rainald Becker, Iris von Dorn (ed.): Politics - Representation - Culture. Margrave Christian Ernst of Brandenburg-Bayreuth 1644–1712. Verlag Historischer Verein für Oberfranken, Bayreuth 2014, ISBN 978-3-9816862-0-3 .
  • Rudolf Endres : Christian Ernst . In: Christoph Friederich, Bertold Freiherr von Haller, Andreas Jakob (Hrsg.): Erlanger Stadtlexikon . W. Tümmels Verlag, Nuremberg 2002, ISBN 3-921590-89-2 ( complete edition online ).
  • Gustav Schmid: The Bayreuth margraves. A synopsis. In: Local supplement to the Upper Franconian School Gazette. No. 273. Bayreuth 2000, pp. 13-17.
  • Hanns Hubert Hofmann :  Christian Ernst. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 3, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1957, ISBN 3-428-00184-2 , p. 225 ( digitized version ).
  • Heinz Polster: The Margrave Christian Ernst of Brandenburg-Bayreuth and his role in the Imperial Wars (1689–1707). Palm & Enke, Erlangen 1935.
  • Theodor Hirsch :  Christian Ernst . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 4, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1876, pp. 159-162.
  • Christian Ernst of Brandenburg-Bayreuth; Sigmund von Birken (Hrsg.): HochFürstlicher Brandenburgischer Ulysses: or course of the country trip / Which The… Prince and Mr. Christian Ernst / Marggraf zu Brandenburg /…… Through Germany / France / Italy and the Netherlands / Also to the Spanish frontiers / most commendable performed. 1668 ( digital-sammlungen.de in the MDZ ).
  • Christian Ernst of Brandenburg-Bayreuth; Sigmund von Birken (Hrsg.): Art speech of the translucent: Hochgebornen Fürsten and Mr. / H. Christian Ernst Marggrafens to Brandenburg / etc. from right princely regir arts. Gebhardt, Bayreuth 1660 ( diglib.hab.de digitized version of the HAB Wolfenbüttel ).

Web links

Commons : Christian Ernst (Brandenburg-Bayreuth)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Johann Wilhelm Holle : The princely tombs of the Hohenzollern in Kulmbach, Bayreuth and Himmelkron. Buchner, Bayreuth 1845, p. 33 ( books.google.de ).
  2. ↑ a b c Markgrafenbrunnen at the New Palace , markgrafenkultur.de.
  3. ^ Johann Wilhelm Holle: The princely tombs of the Hohenzollern in Kulmbach, Bayreuth and Himmelkron. Buchner, Bayreuth 1845, p. 34 ( books.google.de ).
  4. ↑ See list of regiments of the Frankish Reichskreis
  5. ↑ a b c d Theodor Hirsch :  Christian Ernst . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 4, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1876, pp. 159-162.
  6. ^ A b Johann Wilhelm Holle: The princely tombs of the Hohenzollern in Kulmbach, Bayreuth and Himmelkron. Buchner, Bayreuth 1845, p. 37 ( books.google.de ).
  7. ^ Order from Emperor Leopold for Margrave Christian Ernst von Brandenburg-Kulmbach to advertise a regiment on horseback in 1674 at: Landesarchiv NRW, Westphalia department
  8. ↑ On March 17th according to Johann Wilhelm Holle: The princely tombs of the Hohenzollern in Kulmbach, Bayreuth and Himmelkron. Buchner, Bayreuth 1845, p. 37 ( books.google.de ).
  9. ↑ Herbert Schindler : Great Bavarian Art History. Süddeutscher Verlag, Munich 1963, Volume 2, p. 219.
  10. ^ The Reichsfeldmarschallstelle for Margrave Christian Ernst 1702, Bamberg State Archives Secret Archives Bayreuth, No. 1608 ( deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de ).
  11. ^ Johann Friedrich Seyfart : Brief history of all imperial royal regiments on horseback and on foot. Frankfurt / Leipzig 1760, p. 37 ( books.google.de ).
  12. ^ From which the Austro-Hungarian hussar regiment "Archduke Franz Salvator" later emerged.
  13. ^ Johann Wilhelm Holle: The princely tombs of the Hohenzollern in Kulmbach, Bayreuth and Himmelkron. Buchner, Bayreuth 1845, p. 35 ( books.google.de ).
  14. ^ Rainer Trübsbach : History of the City of Bayreuth. Bayreuth 1993, ISBN 3-922808-35-2 , p. 31.
  15. ↑ Bernd Mayer : Mysterious Bayreuth. 1st edition. Wartberg Verlag, Gudensberg-Gleichen 2003, ISBN 3-8313-1297-4 , p. 4.
  16. ↑ Eva-Maria Bast , Heike Thissen: Bayreuth Secrets. Bast Medien Service, Überlingen 2014, ISBN 978-3-9816796-1-8 , p. 151.
  17. ^ A b marriage records of Duchess Sophia Luise von Württemberg and Margrave Christian Ernst von Brandenburg-Bayreuth. In: Main State Archives Stuttgart. G 119 Bü 3 ( archivportal-d.de ).
  18. ↑ Clemens Wachter : The Erlanger Castle - From the margravial residence to the seat of the central university administration. In: Small writings on the culture and history of the Friedrich Alexander University. Issue 1, FAU University Press 2005 ( opus4.kobv.de PDF).
  19. ^ Max Döllner: History of the development of the city of Neustadt an der Aisch until 1933. 1950, p. 264, note 15.
  20. ↑ Eberhardt C. von Hagen: Archive for Bayreuth History and Antiquity, Volume 1 Bayreuther Zeitungs-Comptoir, 1828 p. 81
  21. ^ Max Döllner : History of the development of the city of Neustadt an der Aisch up to 1933. Ph. C. W. Schmidt, Neustadt a. d. Aisch 1950, OCLC 42823280 ; New edition to mark the 150th anniversary of the Ph. C. W. Schmidt publishing house, Neustadt an der Aisch 1828–1978. Ibid 1978, ISBN 3-87707-013-2 , p. 277.
  22. ↑ Margravial Hunting Pleasures at: markgrafenkultur.de
  23. ^ Richard Winkler: Bayreuth-Kulmbach, Markgrafentum in: Historisches Lexikon Bayerns
  24. ^ Reinhard Heydenreuter , Birgit Strobl (Ed.): Bavarian State History. Munich, September 2009; Reprinted ibid 2011, ISBN 978-3-88795-360-7 , p. 145.
  25. ^ A b Johann Wilhelm Holle: The princely tombs of the Hohenzollern in Kulmbach, Bayreuth and Himmelkron. Buchner, Bayreuth 1845, p. 36 ( books.google.de ).
  26. ^ "News about the credit of Duke Ernst of Saxony for Margrave Christian Ernst in the amount of 10,000 thalers for the purchase of the Schnabelwaid estate in 1668" Bamberg State Archives Sign. Ex C 53 II.
  27. ^ State Archives Sigmaringen (ed.): Provisional purchase and receipt letter from Markwart Sebastian [Schenk von Stauffenberg], Bishop of Bamberg on August 11 [1691], Dep. 38 T 1 No. 498 ( archivportal-d.de ).
  28. ↑ Bayreuth City Archives, files from the 15th to the 18th century. Collection item no. 27154: Purchase contract between Margrave Christian Ernst and his court marshal Johann Wilhelm von Erffa on the little estate, known as the birches.
  29. ↑ Johann Christian Lünig : The German Reich Archive Spicilegium seculare. Volume 1, 1719, p. 216 ( books.google.de ).
  30. ↑ Uta von Pezold: Giech, Lords / Counts of. In: Historical Lexicon of Bavaria. ( historisches-lexikon-bayerns.de ).
  31. ^ Eberhardt C. von Hagen: Archives for Bayreuth History and Antiquity, Volume 1 Bayreuther Zeitungs-Comptoir, 1828 80
  32. ^ Gerhard Raff : Hie gut Wirtemberg every way. Volume 3: The House of Württemberg from Duke Wilhelm Ludwig to Duke Friedrich Carl. Hohenheim, Stuttgart / Leipzig 2002, ISBN 3-89850-084-5 , pp. 25-52. Raff names January 29th as the wedding date on p. 26, but this is simply the Julian count ("st.vet.") For February 8th ("st.n."), which was still used in Stuttgart at that time , see Raff p. 43 and p. 45.
  33. ^ Johann Wilhelm Holle: Old history of the city of Bayreuth: from the oldest times to the cession of the same to the Crown of Prussia in 1792. Bayreuth 1833, p. 210 f. ( List of the princely persons resting in the princely crypt under the town church )
  34. ↑ List of the sarcophagi of the Bayreuth Gruf (No. 18) www.markgrafenkultur .
  35. ^ Max Döllner : History of the development of the city of Neustadt an der Aisch up to 1933. Ph. C. W. Schmidt, Neustadt a. d. Aisch 1950, OCLC 42823280 ; New edition to mark the 150th anniversary of the Ph. C. W. Schmidt publishing house, Neustadt an der Aisch 1828–1978. Ibid 1978, ISBN 3-87707-013-2 , pp. 270 and 276.
  36. ↑ Döllner leaves open the circumstances of how the sarcophagus got into the Bayreuth crypt, in which it can still be viewed today
  37. ^ Harald Popp : Christian-Ernst-Gymnasium . In: Christoph Friederich, Bertold Freiherr von Haller, Andreas Jakob (Hrsg.): Erlanger Stadtlexikon . W. Tümmels Verlag, Nuremberg 2002, ISBN 3-921590-89-2 ( complete edition online ).
predecessor Office successor
Christian Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth
1655 - 1712 		Georg Wilhelm
personal data
SURNAME Christian Ernst
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Christian Ernst of Brandenburg-Bayreuth
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth
DATE OF BIRTH July 27, 1644
PLACE OF BIRTH Bayreuth
DATE OF DEATH May 10, 1712
Place of death gain