Ernst August I. (Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach)

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Duke Ernst August I of Saxe-Weimar; In 1729 he was appointed Field Marshal Lieutenant in the Imperial Army by the Roman-German Emperor , and in 1732 he was appointed General of the Imperial Cavalry .

Ernst August I (born April 19, 1688 in Weimar , † January 19, 1748 in Eisenach ) was Duke of Saxe-Weimar and from 1741 also of Saxe-Eisenach . He came from the Ernestine line of the House of Wettin .

Life

Ernst August I was the son of Duke Johann Ernst III. von Sachsen-Weimar and his first wife Sophia Augusta, a born princess of Anhalt-Zerbst .

He moved into the University of Jena around 1706 and was a. a. Taught in French by François Roux . In 1707 Ernst August I became co-regent of his uncle Wilhelm Ernst for his late father . As long as his uncle lived, however, he held the reins of government firmly in hand and hardly involved Ernst August I in the administration of the duchy. It was not until Wilhelm Ernst died in 1728 that Ernst August I began to exercise the de facto government of Saxe-Weimar.

Ernst August I was a pompous Baroque ruler who drove his country into financial ruin through his antics. He was notorious for arresting former confidants of the court, whose fortunes he had kept an eye on, for no reason and only releasing them once they had transferred their fortune to the duke or had paid high ransom money. A number of his victims did not put up with this behavior and successfully sued the Duke at the Reichshofrat in Vienna and the Reichskammergericht in Wetzlar . The trials lasted for years and contributed to the financial ruin of the duchy. This also includes expenses for the military and buildings. The Duke maintained a standing army , the size of which was grossly disproportionate to the number of inhabitants of the small country and its financial means. The soldiers were hired out to Electoral Saxony or the Kaiser. Among the 20 castles that he initiated or expanded are as important as Belvedere Palace near Weimar and the Rococo Palace in Dornburg , but not all of them could be preserved. He also cultivated his passion for hunting (when he died he left 1,100 dogs and 373 horses) and women. The Duke entertained u. a. two noble “ladies of honor” and three bourgeois “chambermaids”.

Ernst August I was married since 1716 to Eleonore Wilhelmine , a born princess of Anhalt-Köthen (1696–1726). He took his chapel, including Johann Sebastian Bach, with him to the wedding in Nienburg (Saale) , and it was here that the composer met the bride's brother, his future employer, Leopold von Anhalt-Köthen . One child of the marriage with Eleonore Wilhelmine was the Hereditary Prince Johann Wilhelm (1719–1732).

After the death of his first wife, Ernst August I did not remarry at first, but enjoyed himself with maids of honor and chambermaids. It was not until the Hereditary Prince Johann Wilhelm died in 1732 that the Duke began looking for a bride again, as he needed a son to save the dynasty from extinction. In 1734 he finally married Sophie Charlotte Albertine, a born Margravine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth . In 1737 the Hereditary Prince Ernst August Constantin was born.

In 1741, the new line from Saxony-Eisenach died out with the death of Duke Wilhelm Heinrich , and Eisenach fell again, this time permanently, to Saxony-Weimar. One of the few positive decisions of the Duke was that he now firmly wrote the Primogenitur (confirmed by Emperor Karl VI. In 1724) for Saxe-Weimar , so that further country divisions would not take place in the future. From 1741 the state was called Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach and had reached the shape it was to keep until the Napoleonic turmoil. The country consisted of two larger areas around the two main residences Weimar and Eisenach, which were not connected to each other, and a patchwork of smaller areas and offices in between.

After the attack on Saxony-Eisenach, the hunting-obsessed duke stayed for the most part in the Eisenach part of the country, as it seemed to him better suited for hunting. He left the Hereditary Prince in Weimar in the Belvedere Palace in the care of a court marshal. He rarely looked after his son, at most he sent written instructions from Eisenach regarding his upbringing. The prince did not see his father for the last time in 1743 and afterwards until his death in 1748.

Ernst August I tried to enforce absolutism in the Duchy of Saxony-Weimar . The secret council as an advisory body to the sovereign (the previous government) was dissolved. According to the French model, political decisions were made “in the cabinet”; H. the duke made his decision after the senior officials had spoken in his private chambers. In 1746 the state estates in Eisenach presented the duke with a memorandum in which the duke's constant violations of the traditional rights of the estates were denounced. The process showed that the introduction of absolutism encountered resistance, the absolutist, in the case of Ernst August I even despotist style of government could not be fully realized. The Duke's death prevented the dispute between the sovereign and the Eisenach estates from coming to a head.

Ernst August I left a financially ruined country and a minor heir to the throne when he died.

Coffin of Ernst August I (left) and his wife in the royal crypt

His coffin is in the Princely Crypt of the Weimar Historical Cemetery .

progeny

From his first marriage to Eleonore Wilhelmine (1696–1726), daughter of Prince Emanuel Lebrecht von Anhalt-Köthen , he had the following children:

  • Wilhelm Ernst (1717–1719)
  • Wilhelmine Auguste (1717–1752)
  • Johann Wilhelm (1719–1732)
  • Charlotte Agnesa (1720-1724)
  • Johanna Eleonora (1721-1722)
  • Ernestine Albertine (1722–1769)
⚭ 1756 Count Philipp II. Ernst zu Schaumburg-Lippe (1723–1787)
⚭ 1744 Prince Johann Friedrich von Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1721–1767)
  • Emanuel Friedrich (1725–1729)

He married his second wife Sophie Charlotte Albertine (1713–1747), daughter of Margrave Georg Friedrich von Brandenburg-Bayreuth on April 7, 1734 in Bayreuth . He had the following children with her:

⚭ 1756 Princess Anna Amalia of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel (1739–1807)
⚭ 1758 Duke Ernst Friedrich III. Carl von Sachsen-Hildburghausen (1727–1780)
  • Ernst Adolf (1742–1743)

He also had other children born out of wedlock:

  • Ernestine Auguste Wilhelmine (née Münchthal) (1730–1772), baroness of Brenn
⚭ Christian Heinrich Wilhelm von Voss (1730–1771)

From his relationship with Friederike von Marschall, a granddaughter of the Thuringian Hereditary Marshal Friedrich Wilhelm Marschall , he had the son born out of wedlock:

literature

Web links

Commons : Ernst August I.  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Volker Giel: September 18, 1786 - June 10, 1788 , 2012
  2. ↑ Stefanie Freyer: The Weimarer Hof around 1800: A social history beyond the myth , 2013
  3. ^ GHdA , Adelslexikon Volume II, Lieber an der Lahn 1974, p. 95.
predecessor Office successor
Johann Ernst III.
Wilhelm Ernst 		Duke of Saxe-Weimar
1707–1741 		---
Wilhelm Heinrich Duke of Saxe-Eisenach
1741 		---
--- Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
1741–1748 		Ernst August II.
personal data
SURNAME Ernst August I.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Duke of Saxe-Weimar and Saxe-Eisenach
DATE OF BIRTH April 19, 1688
PLACE OF BIRTH Weimar
DATE OF DEATH January 19, 1748
Place of death Eisenach