Ernst (Saxony-Hildburghausen)
Ernst von Sachsen-Hildburghausen (born July 12, 1655 in Gotha ; † October 17, 1715 in Hildburghausen ) was Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg , and the first duke and founder of the Saxe-Hildburghausen line .
Life
origin
Ernst was the sixth of the seven sons of Duke Ernst I of Saxe-Gotha (1601–1675) from his marriage to Elisabeth Sophia (1619–1680), the only daughter of Duke Johann Philipp of Saxe-Altenburg .
First Duke of Saxony-Hildburghausen
At first the seven sons of Ernst the Pious ruled jointly over Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg . Ernst was initially under the tutelage of his eldest brother Friedrich . On February 24, 1680, a treaty between the brothers led to the division of the country. Ernst became the founder and first Duke of Saxony-Hildburghausen . He received the offices and cities of Hildburghausen, Heldburg and Eisfeld as well as the office Veilsdorf and half of the office Schalkau . After a comparison with his brother Friedrich, in 1683 he also received the office of Königsberg from the property of his brother Heinrich and, after the death of his brother Albrecht in 1699, the office of Sonnefeld . He had a serious dispute with his brother Bernhard over Albrecht's inheritance and was resigned in 1705 in a settlement with Sonnefeld. After Heinrich von Römhild's death in 1714 , the land was enlarged to include the office of Behrungen , the Echter fiefs and the Spleen. In 1702 the country had been detached from the “Nexus Gothanus” and Ernst received full sovereign sovereignty.
In 1685 Ernst began building the palace and creating a garden in Hildburghausen . Until the completion of the residence in 1695, he had lived in the castles in Eisfeld and Heldburg. In 1711 the duke approved the construction of the new town as part of a city expansion plan with the settlement of French Huguenot families in Hildburghausen, who were expelled from France after the edict of Nantes was repealed and which Ernst endowed with special privileges. In the same year the emperor confirmed the primogeniture order in the principality that Ernst had laid down in his will in 1703. In 1706 Duke Ernst was awarded the Reich vote , which had come from the County of Henneberg , at the Reichstag in Regensburg. In 1714 he founded a grammar school in Hildburghausen and died the following year of the " Schlagfluss ". Ernst was buried in the princely crypt of the Hildburghausen palace church, the crypt was moved to the Hildburghausen cemetery in 1925.
Through the establishment of the new residence, which also included the construction of the ducal summer and hunting lodge Seidingstadt , the court and the government, but also through its expensive campaigns and the maintenance of a body regiment, the principality began to be heavily indebted, as with his brothers which could no longer be reduced even by increasing tax levies. For the castle in Hildburghausen alone, the extra taxes had been increased from five to fourteen.
Military career
Ernst began his military service in 1675. As Rittmeister of the cavalry he fought together with his father-in-law in the relief of Vienna in 1683 , in 1685 during the pursuit of the retreating Turkish troops near Gran and in the conquest of Neuhäusel . Later Ernst was in the Dutch service against Louis XIV. As a colonel , he was involved in the conquest of Kaiserswerth and took part in the battle of Fleurus .
Marriage and offspring
On November 30, 1680 Ernst married Countess Sophia Henriette (1662–1702), daughter of Count (since 1682 Prince) Georg Friedrich zu Waldeck in Arolsen , with whom he had the following children:
- Ernst Friedrich I (1681–1724), Duke of Saxony-Hildburghausen
- ⚭ 1704 Countess Sophia Albertine von Erbach-Erbach (1683–1742)
- Sophie Charlotte (1682–1684)
- Sophie Charlotte (1685-1710)
- Karl Wilhelm (1686–1687)
- Joseph Friedrich (1702–1787), Field Marshal General
- ⚭ 1738 (separated in 1752) Anna Victoria of Savoy (1683–1763)
literature
- Rudolf Armin Human: Chronicle of the city of Hildburghausen , Hildburghausen, 1886
- Oliver Heyn: Military prestige and financial security. The Dukes of Saxony-Hildburghausen in the service of the United Netherlands (1680-1760) , in: Zeitschrift für Thüringische Geschichte 71 (2017), pp. 45–72.
- Heinrich Ferdinand Schoeppl: The dukes of Saxony-Altenburg. Bolzano, 1917, reprint Altenburg, 1992
- Johann Samuel Publication: General Encyclopedia of Sciences and Arts , p. 300 ( digitized version )
Web links
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| --- |
Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen 1680 - 1715 |
Ernst Friedrich I. |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | serious |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Ernst von Sachsen-Hildburghausen |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Duke of Saxony-Hildburghausen |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 12, 1655 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Gotha |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 17, 1715 |
| Place of death | Hildburghausen |