Eugen Friedrich Heinrich of Württemberg

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Prince Eugene of Württemberg

Eugen Friedrich Heinrich Duke of Württemberg (born November 21, 1758 in Schwedt / Oder , † June 20, 1822 in Meiningen ) was a ducal prince from the house of the dukes of Württemberg. At the same time he was a descendant of the Margraves of Brandenburg from the House of Hohenzollern on his mother's side.

Life

Eugen was a younger son of Duke Friedrich Eugen von Württemberg (1732–1797) from his marriage to Friederike Dorothea Sophia , b. Princess of Brandenburg [-Schwedt] and Princess in Prussia (1736–1798), daughter of Margrave Friedrich Wilhelm von Brandenburg-Schwedt . He was a brother of the first king of Württemberg, Frederick I , and the tsarina Maria Feodorowna.

Eugen was raised by Johann Georg Schlosser , a brother-in-law of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe . The prince entered Prussian service early and was stationed with his hussar regiment No. 4 in the Silesian town of Oels , the residence of Eugen's Württemberg relatives who ruled the Duchy of Oels . The latter's last duke, Karl Christian Erdmann von Württemberg-Oels , bequeathed the city and Carlsruhe Palace to Eugen as entails .

From 1795 Eugen was governor of the Glogau fortress . In the battle of Jena and Auerstedt , as a cavalry general , he commanded the Prussian reserve army, which was defeated by Bernadotte on October 18, 1806 near Halle .

Carlsruhe became permanent residence through Duke Eugen, which he furnished with a theater and court chapel. The Duke was a great patron of the composer Carl Maria von Weber , whom he brought to Carlsruhe as Kapellmeister in September 1806. Eugen's son distinguished himself in the Wars of Liberation , due to which the theater had to be closed and Carl Maria von Weber had to be dismissed. In 1820, Eugen had the cavalier houses built on Schlossplatz in Carlsruhe.

From 1820 until his death, Duke Eugen was a member of the First Chamber of the Württemberg states . However, he never appeared in person at the meetings, but was represented by Count Karl von Reischach . Eugen spent the last months of his life up to his death on June 20, 1822 in Meiningen, where he was buried on June 23, 1822 with military honors and 25 gun salutes near today's ducal crypt chapel .

Religiousness: Eugene as a Pietist, Rosicrucian and Freemason

Eugen Friedrich Heinrich's uncle Karl II. Eugen Duke of Württemberg was, like his following brothers Ludwig Eugen and - Eugen's father - Friedrich Eugen, privately Catholic, but the Duchy of Württemberg as a state according to the provisions of the Peace of Westphalia was Lutheran; the heir to the throne, Duke Friedrich Eugen, was supposed to be Lutheran according to the treaty. Eugen's mother was Calvinist Reformed, just like since the conversion of Elector Johann Sigismund von Brandenburg, who had ruled since 1608 and subsequently (since 1618) ruling Duke in Prussia, to the Reformed Confession on December 25, 1613 jul. / 4th January  1614 greg. the Brandenburg-Prussian ruling house Hohenzollern, while the subjects almost all remained Lutheran.

Eugen Friedrich Heinrich came from a "mixed marriage" of two different faiths: the Lutheran son of the Catholic Duke Friedrich Eugen von Württemberg, was a pietist under the influence of his pious mother; he was also a Rosicrucian and theosophically oriented Freemason , so he belonged to the conservative wing of the Masonic movement . He was a member of the Brandenburg Freemason Lodge Friedrich for permanence . With his religiosity, he was in contrast to his firstborn brother, who was also raised in a Lutheran manner but had a rationalistic attitude, who later became the Hereditary Prince, then ruling Duke Friedrich Wilhelm Karl or Elector Friedrich II. And later King Friedrich I (1754-1816) himself Freemasons who were critical of traditional religiosity, but did not lift the ban on Masonic lodges issued by his Catholic uncle, Duke Karl II. Eugen von Württemberg in 1784 for fear of conspiracies. As a non-dogmatic Freemason, Duke or Elector Friedrich II. Or King Friedrich I of Württemberg promoted the transformation of the predominantly Orthodox-Lutheran regional church into the old Duchy of Württemberg, which is known as "Lutheran Spain" in his office as regional bishop of the Evangelical Church in Württemberg "Mild Lutheran" regional church in the Kingdom of Württemberg, which was enlarged thanks to Napoleon I , to which large Catholic areas in Neuwuerttemberg were added. He also promoted approaches to the emergence of the later Israelite religious community of Württemberg.

Affinity to the literary figure of the "enthusiast" in Schiller's novel Der Geisterseher

Adalbert von Hanstein found favor with many researchers with one thesis: a historical model for the literary figure of the " enthusiast " in Schiller's fragment of the novel The Ghost Seer was Prince Eugene Friedrich Heinrich von Württemberg.

Since the 1712 completed military reasons in the duchy Württemberg conversion Duke Karl Alexander existing complicated, potentially unstable, re-conversions non-exclusive confessional relations could wake up the suspicion that the Jesuits could the Protestant try to thwart succession. Eugen Friedrich Heinrich published an essay in July 1786 in which he affirmed the existence of ghosts. For religious reasons, he declared necromancy to be permissible. In this situation, the “enthusiast” Prince Friedrich Heinrich Eugen provided Schiller with the material for the tragic figure of the prince. For the spiritual background of the prince and Schiller, who later met him personally in Lauchstädt in July 1803, the family connection of both personalities with the circle of the temporary "Swedenborg Apostle" Friedrich Christoph Oetinger (1702–1782) is significant . Prince Eugen's mother Dorothea was in personal contact with the pietistic Murrhardt prelate and pastor Oetinger, who also worked as a translator for the Swedish visionary Emanuel Swedenborg ("ghost seer"). Common discourses about the Kabbalist Princess Antonia Duchess of Württemberg (1613–1679) are attested, those about Swedenborg are well conceivable.

progeny

On January 21, 1787, Eugen married Princess Luise zu Stolberg-Gedern (1764–1834) , daughter of Prince Christian Carl zu Stolberg-Gedern, in the castle church in Meiningen . Luise had been the widow of Duke Karl von Sachsen-Meiningen since 1782 . With Luise, Eugen had the following children:

⚭ 1. 1817 Princess Mathilde zu Waldeck and Pyrmont (1801–1825)
⚭ 2. 1827 Princess Helene zu Hohenlohe-Langenburg (1807–1880)
  • Luise (1789–1851), ⚭ 1811 Prince August zu Hohenlohe-Öhringen (1784–1853)
  • Georg Ferdinand (1790–1795)
  • Heinrich (1792–1797)
  • Paul (1797–1860), ⚭ 1827–1835 Princess Maria Sophia von Thurn and Taxis (1800–1870)

Awards

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cf. Adalbert von Hanstein: How did Schiller's spirit seer come about ? Berlin 1903 ( Research on the Modern History of Literature , 22).
  2. ↑ See Friedrich. H [einrich] Eugen Prinz von Württemberg: About Elisens [dd Elisa von der Recke] essay in May of the Berlin monthly 1786. In: Adalbert von Hanstein: How did Schiller's ghost seers come about? Berlin 1903, pp. 52-55.
  3. ↑ See the new research results by Reinhard Breymayer : Between Princess Antonia von Württemberg and Heinrich von Kleist's Käthchen von Heilbronn . News on the magnetic and tension fields of Prelate Friedrich Christoph Oetinger . Heck, Dußlingen, 2010, especially p. 16. 24 - 28 (especially 26 - 28). 48. 50. 60. 62. 71. 74. 80. See also KLL [Kindlers Literatur-Lexikon (editorial article)]: Der Geisterseher. In: [Helmut] Kindlers Literature Lexicon . 3rd, completely revised edition. Edited by Heinz Ludwig Arnold, vol. 14. Metzler, Stuttgart, Weimar 2009, p. 508 f.
  4. ^ Royal Württemberg Court and State Manual 1815, page 9

literature

  • Harald Schukraft: A Brief History of the House of Württemberg Tübingen 2006
  • Kurt von Priesdorff : Soldier leadership . Volume 2, Hanseatische Verlagsanstalt Hamburg, undated [Hamburg], undated [1937], DNB 367632772 , pp. 226-229, no. 731.
  • Frank Raberg : Biographical handbook of the Württemberg state parliament members 1815-1933 . On behalf of the Commission for Historical Regional Studies in Baden-Württemberg. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-17-016604-2 , p. 1041 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Württemberg, Eugen Friedrich Heinrich von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Duke of Württemberg
DATE OF BIRTH November 21, 1758
PLACE OF BIRTH Schwedt / Oder
DATE OF DEATH June 20, 1822
Place of death Meiningen