Friederike Luise of Prussia
Friederike Luise von Ansbach (born September 28, 1714 in Berlin , † February 4, 1784 at her retirement home, Unterschwaningen Castle near Ansbach ) was a daughter of the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm I and his wife Sophie Dorothea, Princess of Hanover .
childhood
After the death of her older sister Charlotte Albertine (1713–1714), the princess experienced particular indulgence and was allowed to grow up relatively freely. That is why she has often been described as rash, with a tendency to use blatant words. Her sister Wilhelmine von Bayreuth criticizes her in her memoirs as a 'capricious and petty being'. However, she praised her talent and beauty.
marriage
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Friederike Luise was married on May 30, 1729 at the age of 14 in Berlin to Carl Wilhelm Friedrich, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1712–1757), the “wild margrave”. This marriage was sought by the Ansbach regent Christiane Charlotte , but also by her father Friedrich Wilhelm I , who tried to expand his power in the south of the empire.
Her brother King Friedrich II supported her ( apanage ) and in return received a regiment of soldiers from Ansbach (the same happened to sister Wilhelmine, who was married in Bayreuth ). These non-Prussian troops fought successfully for Prussia; they appear in the text of the Hohenfriedberger March : "Auf Ansbach Dragoons, on Ansbach-Bayreuth".
The marriage was not a happy one. The margrave accused the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm I of betraying him with the marriage. He only had in mind to bring his country to Prussia. On the trip to Ansbach in June 1729, Friederike Luise was already suffering from symptoms that suggest the metabolic disease porphyria from which her father suffered. They plagued nausea, vomiting and again and again so severe fainting that one could take her for dead, she “seemed to have died, as it were”. When the couple reached Ansbach, "the Margrave went up the stairs on foot, but Your Highness were carried in a magnifique porte chaise". Muscle weakness or even paralysis can be associated with porphyria. The margrave accused her of limping and bad teeth. He couldn't sleep with her. She wouldn't have any children either. As early as February 1732,
Crown Prince Friedrich von Prussia commented on the marriage: “My Ansbach sister and her husband hate each other like fire.” (»... ma sœur d'Anspac et Mr. son mari qui se haïssent comme le feu. «) The margravine even immortalized her suffering on a window pane in the family room of the Ansbach residence: she scratched the following slogan into the glass with a diamond:" Je souffre sans oser le dire ". (I am suffering without daring to say it.) This disc survived until 1945, then it was broken by a bomb explosion during the Second World War.
In 1730 Friedrich Wilhelm I undertook the momentous journey to the courts of southern Germany, during which the Crown Prince attempted to escape.
At the beginning of the trip, the Prussian king stayed in Ansbach for a few days to analyze the financial situation of the margrave and to look for ways out of the misery. For falconry the margrave had until February 1736 z. B. spent 40,000 thalers. The king prescribed bitter medicine to his son-in-law, the later so-called Prussian virtues, with the help of which he had already rehabilitated the state finances of Prussia. The margrave has to restrict his lifestyle. He must save, take care of his land and exercise budgetary discipline. The margrave had to pay 8% interest on a loan from the king. The loan brought him "more loss than profit," he complained. If the margrave thought that this Prussian king was financing his feudal lifestyle, then that was a fundamental mistake.
Friederike Louise gave birth to Prince Carl Friedrich August on April 8, 1733 . In 1736 the future Margrave Karl Alexander was born. Soon after, she had another miscarriage .
One day after the birth of the Hereditary Prince, Friederike Louise received the Hofmark Unterschwaningen as a fiefdom for life. However, the Hereditary Prince Carl Friedrich August died on May 8, 1737 . The margrave and the entire court blamed Friederike Louise for the child's death. Whereupon a break went through their marriage and they withdrew more and more into the seclusion of Unterschwaningen. In the years that followed, she had the castle there expanded and designed in an artistic manner.
Even after the death of the margrave in 1757 , Friederike Louise did not return to the court in Ansbach . Even her own son had turned away from her in the meantime. Her loneliness and suffering turned into depression over the years .
On Wednesday, February 4th, 1784 , the pastor of Unterschwaningen wrote in the death register: "At noon at 3/4 to 1 o'clock is here in the local palace in God after an illness that lasted six weeks and initially did not seem to be so dangerous Blessedly different, Your Royal Highness, the Most Serene Princess Friederica Louise, born royal princess in Prussia, widowed Margravine of Brandenburg-Ansbach and Culmbach, who stayed 39 years and 1/2 year here in Schwaningen and spent the days in Christian silence and solitude decided her glorious life ".
progeny
- Karl Friedrich August (* April 7, 1733 ; † May 9, 1737 ) died at the age of four.
- Karl Alexander (* February 24, 1736 ; † 1806 ) was the successor of the "wild margrave". He inherited Bayreuth, later abdicated and went to England after Prussia had offered him an annuity for the two margravates of Brandenburg-Ansbach and Brandenburg-Bayreuth . Napoléon handed over the Principality of Ansbach in 1806 and the Principality of Bayreuth to the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1810 .
literature
- Arno Störkl: Friederike Louise. Princess in Prussia. Margravine von Ansbach (= Society for Franconian History Series IX - Representations from Franconian History - Volume 60). Wissenschaftlicher Kommissionsverlag, Stegaurach 2018, ISBN 978-3-86652-960-1 .
- Anna Eunike Röhrig : Family Prussia: the siblings of Frederick the Great . Tauchaer Verlag, Taucha b. Leipzig 2008, ISBN 978-3-89772-145-6
- Karin Feuerstein-Praßer: Friedrich the Great and his sisters . Verlag Friedrich Pustet, Regensburg 2006, ISBN 3-7917-2016-3 .
- Helmut Schnitter (ed.): The unequal sisters . In the S. (Ed.): Gestalten around Frederick the Great. Biographical sketches . Preußischer Militär-Verlag, Reutlingen 1992, ISBN 3-927292-07-9 , Vol. 1, pp. 67-82.
Web links
- Website of the Hohenzollern family
- Correspondence with Frederick the Great
- Half-length portrait of Friederike Luise von Prussia in the painting collection of the Dessau-Wörlitz Cultural Foundation
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Friederike Luise of Prussia |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Friedrike Luise von Ansbach |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Princess of Prussia |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 28, 1714 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Berlin |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 4, 1784 |
| Place of death | Unterschwaningen Castle near Ansbach |