Friedrich August (Oldenburg)

Friedrich August of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf

Friedrich August von Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf (born September 20, 1711 in Gottorf Castle , Schleswig ; † July 6, 1785 in Oldenburg ) was Prince-Bishop of Lübeck and later Duke of Oldenburg from the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf .

family

Friedrich August was born as the third son and sixth child of the Holstein Duke and Prince-Bishop of Lübeck Christian August (1673–1726) and the Princess Albertine Friederike von Baden-Durlach (1682–1755). His eldest sister Hedwig (1705–1764) became abbess of Herford Abbey , his eldest brother Karl August (1797–1727) succeeded his father as prince-bishop and was engaged to Elisabeth , a daughter of Peter the Great . However, he died before the wedding in Saint Petersburg . His older brother Adolph Friedrich (1710–1771) became Prince-Bishop of Lübeck from 1727 to 1750 and became King of Sweden in 1751 . His sister Johanna Elisabeth (1712–1760) married Christian August von Anhalt-Zerbst and was the mother of Sophie Auguste Friederike von Anhalt-Zerbst (1729–1796), who later became Empress Catherine II of Russia. His younger brother Georg Ludwig (1719–1763) was the Imperial Russian Field Marshal and the father of the future Duke Peter Friedrich Ludwig von Holstein-Oldenburg (1755–1829).

Friedrich August as a young man, contemporary painting, Eutin Castle

Life

Friedrich August was appointed General War Commissioner in Kiel by his paternal nephew, the ruling Duke Karl Friedrich (1700–1739) , who was responsible for equipping, arming and paying the Holstein-Gottorp troops. In addition, Karl Friedrich designated him in his will as the guardian of his son Karl Peter Ulrich (1728–1762), who later became Tsar Peter III. and grandson of Peter the Great, and thus also administrator of the Duchy of Holstein-Gottorp until his son came of age. When Duke Karl Friedrich died in 1739, Friedrich August's brother, Prince-Bishop Adolf Friedrich, suppressed the will and made himself administrator of the duchy and guardian of Karl Peter Ulrich. Friedrich August then left Kiel, acquired what had previously been a Prussian infantry regiment in the Netherlands and, as head of this regiment, was appointed colonel by the Dutch States General , and later appointed General of the Infantry . As chief he did not lead this regiment, but initially paid for a battalion and later only for the body company until the end of his life; his deputy, a lieutenant colonel , led the regiment in the War of the Austrian Succession .

Karl Peter Ulrich, who in 1742 as Grand Duke Peter had been appointed heir to the Russian throne by his childless aunt Empress Elisabeth I of Russia, married the Anhalt-Zerbstische Princess Sophie in 1745, who was now called Grand Duchess Katharina. Friedrich August traveled to Saint Petersburg for this wedding and was appointed Russian governor of the Duchy of Holstein-Gottorp in Kiel. In 1743 his brother Adolf Friedrich became heir to the Swedish throne and Friedrich August was also elected coadjutor of the Principality of Lübeck. When his brother became King of Sweden in 1751 and renounced his Gottorper rights, Friedrich August officially succeeded him as Prince-Bishop of Lübeck with the residence in Eutin . Grand Duke Peter took over the governorship in Kiel.

After the death of Empress Elisabeth I in 1762, Grand Duke Peter was named Peter III. Emperor of Russia. However, he was overthrown by his wife Katharina after only six months. Friedrich August's younger brother, Georg Ludwig, had been appointed governor of the Duchy of Holstein-Gottorp by Catherine II, but died soon after taking office in Kiel. Katharina then appointed Friedrich August as the Russian governor there for the second time.

In order to secure the Russian dominance in the Baltic Sea area, Catherine II operated the balance of interests between Russia and Denmark . It offered Denmark the waiver of the ducal shares of Holstein ruled by the older Holstein-Gottorf line in order to detach Denmark from its connection with France, which enabled Denmark to own Schleswig-Holstein up to the Elbe with the exception of the Principality of Lübeck. The Danish consideration was extensive cash payments and the waiver of the inherited counties of Oldenburg and Delmenhorst . A preliminary contract from 1767 outlined the so-called Gottorper Exchange , which was carried out with the definitive contract of Tsarskoye Selo of 1773 after Katharina's son, Grand Duke Paul , came of age . This ended Oldenburg's 106-year reign from Denmark outside of the empire . In 1774, Emperor Joseph II made Oldenburg a duchy .

Friedrich August became the first Duke of Oldenburg. The background was Katharina's endeavor to help the younger Gottorper line to become a solid and decent establishment . Accordingly, he was no longer governor in Kiel. On December 14, 1773, Friedrich August received the tribute from the delegations of his new subjects in Oldenburg Castle . Friedrich August did not reside in Oldenburg, however, but stayed in his prince-bishop's residence in Eutin, Holstein , where he had the hunting pavilion built on the Ukleisee and where the ducal widow's palace was built for his widow after his death . However, the ducal family visited the Oldenburger Land about every two years , and visits were also made to outposts such as land dignitaries.

Friedrich Levin von Holmer was appointed head of the state administration in Oldenburg . In the spirit of enlightened absolutism , the ducal administration tried to revive the state welfare and the foundations of a state transport and economic policy through social (widows and orphans' fund, 1779) and administrative measures (abolition of torture and censorship, improvement of pilotage and surveying) to lay. Friedrich August soon won the trust of his Oldenburg subjects as a “good old gentleman”, especially since he liked to talk to the rural residents in Low German . His personal preferences were military and botanical-forestry issues. He was a supporter of Frederick II of Prussia and his politics and was closely related to the tsarist family. Friedrich August died on July 6, 1785 while riding across the razed Oldenburg ramparts and was buried in the Gottorpschen Fürstenkapelle of Lübeck Cathedral .

Marriage and offspring

On November 21, 1752 he married Ulrike Friederike Wilhelmine von Hessen-Kassel in Kassel . In total, the couple had three children:

• Peter Friedrich Wilhelm (born January 3, 1754, † July 2, 1823); After it was determined that he was incapable of governing, he lived under the personal tutelage of the King of Denmark at Plön Castle until 1823 .
• Luise Caroline (October 2, 1756 - July 31, 1759)
• Hedwig Elisabeth Charlotte (* March 22, 1759 - † June 20, 1818): In 1774 she married Karl Duke of Södermannland, who later became King Karl XIII. from Sweden and son of her uncle Adolf Friedrich.

Succession

Friedrich August's son, Peter Friedrich Wilhelm, was declared incapable of government in 1774 because of schizophrenia and religious delusions. In his will of April 4, 1777, Friedrich August therefore designated his nephew Peter Friedrich Ludwig, son of his brother Georg Ludwig, as guardian for his son and as coadjutor of Lübeck and administrator of the Duchy of Oldenburg. This succession was confirmed in a family contract between Russia and Denmark in 1777. As a state administrator, Peter Friedrich Ludwig received all the rights of a ruling sovereign and only accepted the title of Duke as Peter I after the death of Peter Friedrich Wilhelm.

Awards

• Order of St. Andrew the First Called

ancestors

Friedrich III. of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf (1597–1659)

Christian Albrecht of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf (1641–1695)

Maria Elisabeth of Saxony (1610–1684)

Christian August of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf (1673–1726)

Friedrich III. King of Denmark (1609–1670)

Friederike Amalie of Denmark (1649–1704)

Sophie Amalie of Braunschweig-Calenberg (1628–1685)

Friedrich August

Friedrich VI. of Baden-Durlach , (1617–1677)

Friedrich VII. Magnus of Baden-Durlach (1647–1709)

Christine Magdalena of Pfalz-Zweibrücken-Kleeburg (1616–1662)

Albertine Friederike von Baden-Durlach (1682–1755)

Friedrich III. of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf (1597–1659)

Augusta Maria of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf (1649–1728)

Maria Elisabeth of Saxony (1610–1684)

Note: Due to weddings within the family, Friedrich III. von Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf and his wife Maria Elisabeth are two-time great-grandparents of Friedrich August ( ancestral loss ).

literature

• Bernd Müller: Duke and Prince-Bishop Friedrich August von Holstein-Gottorp. A biographical study . (Eutin Research Volume 14), Eutin 2018, ISBN 978-3-939 643-20-3 .
• Friedrich August, Duke of Oldenburg, Prince-Bishop of Lübeck. In: Hans Friedl u. a. (Ed.): Biographical manual for the history of the state of Oldenburg . Edited on behalf of the Oldenburg landscape. Isensee, Oldenburg 1992, ISBN 3-89442-135-5 , pp. 210-211 ( online ).
• Johann Friedrich Ludwig Theodor Merzdorf:  Friedrich August, Duke of Oldenburg . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 7, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877, p. 575 f.

predecessor	Office	successor
Adolf Friedrich	Prince-Bishop of Lübeck 1750–1785	Peter I.
Paul	Count of Oldenburg and Delmenhorst from 1774/77 Duke of Oldenburg 1773–1785	Peter Friedrich Wilhelm as Duke Peter I as Administrator (from 1823 as Duke)