Friedrich Karl August (Waldeck-Pyrmont)

Friedrich Karl August (born October 25, 1743 , † September 24, 1812 in Arolsen ) was Prince of Waldeck -Pyrmont from 1763 to 1805 and then Prince of Waldeck until his death.

Friedrich Karl August, after a painting by Johann Friedrich August Tischbein around 1790

family

He was the son of Prince Karl August Friedrich von Waldeck-Pyrmont and his wife Christiane , geb. Countess Palatine von Birkenfeld. He came from the Waldeck family . He himself had an inappropriate relationship with Charlotte Hermann, the daughter of a government councilor. His mother's attempt to have his mistress elevated to the nobility by the imperial court failed. The resistance of both his own relatives and the government councilor Hermann led to the fact that there was no marriage. Therefore, Friedrich Karl August remained unmarried and had no legitimate descendants.

Life

He spent a year and a half in Lausanne for the purpose of training and undertook his Grand Tour through Italy and France .

Like his father and brother Christian August, he joined foreign military services. As early as 1757 he was an imperial lieutenant colonel . In 1766 he became major general and in 1772 lieutenant general in the Dutch army. There were already three Waldeck battalions in the service of the Netherlands , which his father had set up and rented out. Friedrich Karl August added a fourth battalion to these in 1767.

Bad Arolsen New Castle

From 1766 he was Prince of Waldeck-Pyrmont after the death of his father. In the first two years until he came of age, his mother reigned. In 1775 he made a trip to England. In Waldeck he undertook various modernization efforts. This included the promotion of the construction of roads , agriculture and industry, especially the wool and linen trade and iron manufacture. He issued various ordinances to regulate church affairs. During his reign a grammar school was built in Korbach and he improved the situation of the teaching staff. Like his parents and brothers, he was very fond of science. He himself left a story of the Seven Years' War written in French and some biographical sketches. He promoted the publication of his father's memoirs on the campaigns of 1745–1747. He was also a patron of the arts. The training of Johann Friedrich August Tischbein was funded by the Prince, and table leg was later appointed court painter. In 1778, during Friedrich Karl August's reign, the New Palace in Arolsen was completed. From 1809 to 1811 the “Great Hall” was set up in the residential palace of Arolsen , which contained paintings by Johann Friedrich August Tischbein and other contemporary artists.

Friedrich Karl August was not a Freemason himself , but became the protector of the Freemason Lodge named after him "Friedrich zu den drei Quellen" in Pyrmont , which his brother Ludwig led as a master from 1783 until his death in 1793. He was evidently religiously tolerant, as he allowed a Quaker community to settle in the county of Pyrmont . By decree of November 11, 1767, Friedrich forbade foreign Jews from trading in Waldeck from January 1768.

However, high spending led to a sharp increase in the country's debt. When he took office, he took over 800,000 Reichstaler debts, and this burden of debt continued to grow due to his lavish household and inadequate accounting. Friedrich Karl August therefore rented out Waldeck soldiers to Great Britain during the American War of Independence from 1775: the 3rd Waldeck Regiment was affiliated to the association from Hessen-Kassel . A total of over 1200 Waldeck soldiers fought in America. The losses were 720 men.

The income generated by renting out soldiers was not enough to stop the over-indebtedness. In 1784 there was a rescheduling of the debt, which now amounts to 1.2 million Reichstaler. Nevertheless, Friedrich Karl August had to file for bankruptcy at the imperial court . The prince also did not use the opportunity to refurbish himself financially through a befitting marriage. The attempted sale of the county of Pyrmont did not succeed either. The principality's own coin could not improve the situation either, as the precious metal deposits were exhausted.

The troops returning from America were integrated into the Waldeck units in Dutch service as a fifth battalion. In 1793 and 1794 the prince served as a Dutch officer in the First Coalition War against France. After that, he retired from active military service.

With the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss in 1803 he received a virile vote in the Reichsfürstenrat .

The principality, previously in one hand, was divided up in 1805. His brother Georg received Pyrmont, and Friedrich Karl August only remained in control of Waldeck. In 1807 he joined the Rhine Confederation and received a seat in the princes' college of the federal assembly .

After his death, his brother Georg also took over the government in Waldeck.

literature

• Karl Theodor Menke: Pyrmont and its surroundings . Hameln, Pyrmont, 1840, p. 65, History of the Principality of Pyrmont
• Louis Friedrich Christian Curtze: History and description of the principality of Waldeck . Arolsen, 1850, pp. 619f., Digitized
• Titus Malms: "Prince Friedrich von Waldeck-Pyrmont and his time". Bad Pyrmont, series of publications by the Museum im Schloß No. 12, 1989.

Web links

• Entry on waldecker-muenzen.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Chronicle of the Lodge  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ^ Contribution to the Quaker community of Pyrmont
3. ^ Ordinance by the grace of God Friederich Fürst zu Waldeck, Count of Pyrmont and Rappoltstein ... , Arolsen 1767 (quoted from: Antiquariat Tobias Müller: "91. Jews [...]", in: Catalog 10. Antiquariat Müller, Würzburg 2014, p. 33)

predecessor	Office	successor
Karl August Friedrich	Prince of Waldeck-Pyrmont 1763–1812	George I.