Ernst to Lippe-Biesterfeld

Ernst to Lippe-Biesterfeld

Ernst zur Lippe-Biesterfeld (monument by Heinrich Wefing in Detmold)

Ernst Kasimir Friedrich Karl Eberhard Graf zur Lippe-Biesterfeld (born June 9, 1842 in Oberkassel near Bonn , † September 26, 1904 in Lopshorn Castle ) was regent of the Principality of Lippe from 1897 to 1904 .

origin

Ernst was the son of Julius zur Lippe-Biesterfeld (1812–1884) and his wife, Adelheid Klotilde zu Castell-Castell . Ernst grew up on his parents' estate in Oberkassel (the Lippesches Landhaus ) and gained fame primarily through the Lippe succession dispute , which was ultimately decided in his favor.

Lippe succession dispute

Starting position

When Prince Woldemar, who ruled in the Principality of Lippe , died childless in 1895, the only survivor of the Detmold line of the House of Lippe , the ruling Princely House, was his brother Alexander , who had been incapacitated since 1871 and thus incapable of governing . Three younger lines of the Lippe family fought over the reign - and thus also the subsequent successor:

• the princely line of Schaumburg-Lippe ,
• the Count's line Lippe-Biesterfeld and
• the count's line Lippe-Weißenfeld .

According to the house law , Count Ernst zur Lippe-Biesterfeld was considered an heir. Due to personal aversion and with the desire to bequeath his land to a member of a ruling princely house, Prince Woldemar concluded a secret treaty with the Schaumburg-Lippe branch in 1890, according to which Adolf zu Schaumburg-Lippe , brother-in-law of Kaiser Wilhelm II , was to become his successor. Woldemar based his approach also on a provision of the house law, according to which members from unequal marriages were excluded from the succession, because Wilhelm Ernst , grandfather of Ernst von Lippe-Biesterfeld, had married Modeste von Unruh (1781-1854) a lower nobility . Prince Woldemar denied her equality.

However, since Woldemar was unable to enforce a corresponding regency law in the Lippe state parliament and was also not allowed to regulate the regency and succession on his own authority, he tried by means of a will to obtain the succession for Prince Adolf zu Schaumburg-Lippe.

confrontation

In 1895 the state parliament and the regent, Prince Adolf von Schaumburg-Lippe, agreed to submit to an arbitration decision up to which Adolf was to lead the regency.

Due to the intervention of the German Emperor, the Lippe succession dispute aroused Europe-wide interest. The dispute also caused a temporary upset between Kaiser Wilhelm II and his then Chancellor Prince Hohenlohe , because he stood up for Ernst von Lippe-Biesterfeld on the one hand for legal reasons and on the other because of his relationship with the pretender of the Biesterfeld line - Hohenlohe was through his cousin Adelheid Klotilde zu Castell-Castell, Ernst's mother, his second uncle.

The decision

On June 22, 1897, under the chairmanship of King Albert of Saxony , an arbitration tribunal made the decision which granted Count Ernst zur Lippe-Biesterfeld the right to exercise the regency and to succeed him.

progeny

Ernst zur Lippe-Biesterfeld with his three daughters

Ernst zur Lippe-Biesterfeld was married to Caroline Countess von Wartensleben (1844–1905). They had six children:

• Adelheid Karoline Mathilde Emilie Agnes Ida Sophie (born June 22, 1870 in Oberkassel, † September 3, 1948 in Detmold), married to Friedrich von Sachsen-Meiningen
• Leopold IV. Julius Bernhard Adalbert Otto Karl Gustav (born May 30, 1871 in Oberkassel; † December 30, 1949 in Detmold)
• Bernhard Kasimir Friedrich Gustav Heinrich Wilhelm Eduard (born August 26, 1872 in Oberkassel, † June 19, 1934 in Munich ), through his son, the Dutch prince consort Bernhard , grandfather of the Dutch Queen Beatrix
• Julius Ernst Rudolf Friedrich Franz Victor (born September 2, 1873 in Oberkassel; † September 15, 1952 there), married to (Victoria) Marie von Mecklenburg-Strelitz
• Karola Elisabeth Alwine Auguste Kyda Leonore Anna (born September 2, 1873 in Oberkassel, † April 23, 1958 in Lemgo )
• Mathilde Emma Hermine Anna Minna Johanna (born March 27, 1875 in Oberkassel; † February 12, 1907 in Halberstadt )

literature

• Helmut Reichold: Bismarck's wrens. Duodez in the 20th century. Paderborn 1977.
• Elisabeth Fehrenbach , The Lippe succession dispute. In: Political Ideologies and Nation-State Order. Studies on the history of the 19th and 20th centuries, Festschrift for Theodor Schieder, ed. v. kurt Kluxen and Wolfgang J. Mommensen, Munich, Vienna 1968, pp. 337–355.
• Anna Bartels-Ishikawa: The Lippe succession dispute. A study on constitutional problems of the German Empire as reflected in contemporary constitutional law. Frankfurt am Main u. a. 1995, (Legal History Series, Vol. 128), pp. 24–37.
• Erich Kittel: History of the state of Lippe. Home chronicle of the Detmold and Lemgo districts. Cologne 1957, pp. 234-244.
• Oskar Asemissen : Consequences of the behavior of the highest organs of the German Empire in the Lippe succession dispute. Berlin 1897. ( LLB Detmold )
• Heinrich Thorbecke: Count Ernst to Lippe-Biesterfeld, regent of the principality of Lippe. A memorial sheet in grateful memory. Detmold 1904 ( LLB Detmold )
• Arbitration award in the legal dispute over the succession to the throne in the Principality of Lippe. Leipzig 1897. ( LLB Detmold )
• Paul Schoen: The Lippe Award and the Pinsker's Critique. Heymann, Berlin 1899. ( digitized version )

Web links

Wikisource: Ernst zur Lippe-Biesterfeld  - Sources and full texts

Wikisource: Lippe succession dispute  - sources and full texts

Commons : Ernst of Lippe-Biesterfeld  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Cf. Volker Stalmann: The Lippische inheritance dispute. In the other: Prince Chlodwig zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst 1819–1901. A German Chancellor. Schöningh, Paderborn 2009.
2. ↑ Award of June 22, 1897 (LLB Detmold)

predecessor	Office	successor
Adolf zu Schaumburg-Lippe	Regent of Lippe 1897–1904	Leopold IV.