Eduard Fortunat (Baden-Baden)

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Eduard Fortunat von Baden-Rodemachern - medal around 1590

Eduard Fortunat von Baden-Rodemachern (born September 17, 1565 in London , † June 18, 1600 in Kastellaun Castle / Hunsrück ) was margrave of the margraviate of Baden-Rodemachern from 1575 to 1588 . From 1588 to 1594 he ruled the margraviate of Baden-Baden . He was probably the seediest personality in the Baden family.

Life

Territories of the margraviate of Baden-Baden
Eduard Fortunat

Eduard Fortunat was the son of Margrave Christoph II and the Swedish Princess Cäcilie Wasa . Queen Elizabeth I had christened him, named him Edward and adopted him like a child. From his mother Cäcilie Wasa he was used to a lifestyle of splendor and splendor.

When Christoph II died in 1575, Eduard Fortunat initially only took over the margraviate of Baden-Rodemachern. It was not until 1588, after the death of his cousin Philipp , that he took over the already heavily indebted Margraviate of Baden-Baden; he passed the margraviate of Baden-Rodenmachern to his brother Philipp III. His lifestyle made things worse, and he considered leasing or selling the margraviate to the Fuggers .

The indebtedness and the inappropriate relationship with the bourgeois Maria von Eicken , whom he married on March 13, 1591 in Brussels , prompted Ernst Friedrich von Baden-Durlach and his brother Georg Friedrich to occupy the margraviate of Baden-Baden , Eduard Fortunat , in 1594 had to flee. His cousin Ernst Friedrich never recognized the children who arose from his marriage to Maria von Eicken, whom he repeatedly betrayed.

After the loss of his margraviate, Eduard Fortunat tried to increase his fortune on the Yburg in 1594 by counterfeiting and running an alchemist's workshop in the cellar vaults and employed the alchemist Francesco Muskatelli and his assistant Paul Pestalozzi . After his cousin put increasing pressure on him, he commissioned the two Italians to poison the margrave that same year. The plan failed and the two were quartered in Durlach . Eduard Fortunat was able to flee and took refuge in Kastellaun Castle in the remaining county of Sponheim . He then entered the war against the Swedes in the Netherlands and Poland .

As unconventional as his life was his sudden death. Only 35 years old, Eduard Fortunat fell to his death on June 18, 1600 - probably as a result of excessive alcohol consumption - from a staircase in Kastellaun Castle. Together with his wife and the only daughter of this marriage, Anna Maria Lukretia, he found his final resting place in Engelport Monastery near the Moselle .

Marriage and offspring

Eduard Fortunat married Maria von Eicken († April 21, 1636), the daughter of Jobst von Eicken, quietly in a private house in Brussels on March 13, 1591 . Eduard initially wanted to deceive Maria with a fake wedding that a soldier disguised as a priest was supposed to undertake, but the attempt at fraud was exposed. The secrecy of the wedding and the fact that no legal regulations were made about the status of Maria and later descendants suggest that Eduard wanted to keep it open to interpret the marriage later as a morganatic marriage . Eduard married Maria von Eicken on May 14, 1593 in a second public ceremony at Hohenbaden Castle , which indirectly confirmed the doubtfulness of the first marriage. The low esteem Eduard showed his double wife was documented by the fact that he appeared in slippers for the wedding ceremony. The Hereditary Prince was born on July 30th of this year, at least as a legitimate child, even if his right to the throne remained in dispute.

Eduard Fortunat's descendants are:

See also

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ s. Köhler: Rare one-sided medal ..., p. 313/314
  2. ↑ s. Pütter pp. 125-135
  3. ↑ Spittler doubts Maria von Eicken's noble origins and describes her as the maid of a citizen in Brussels; Spittler p. 176
  4. ↑ Spittler, pp. 177-178
  5. ↑ s. Spittler p. 189

Web links

Commons : Eduard Fortunat  - collection of images, videos and audio files
predecessor Office successor
Philip II Margrave of Baden-Baden
1588–1596 		Wilhelm
Christopher II. Margrave of Baden-Rodemachern
1575–1588 		Philip III
personal data
SURNAME Fortunat, Eduard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Baden-Rodemachern, Eduard Fortunat von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Margrave of Baden-Baden
DATE OF BIRTH September 17, 1565
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH June 18, 1600
Place of death Kastellaun , Hunsrück