Friedrich Kasimir Kettler
Friedrich (II.) Kasimir Kettler (* July 6, 1650 in Mitau ; † January 22, 1698 ibid) was from 1682 to 1698 the penultimate ruling Duke of Courland and Semigallia from the Kettler dynasty .
Life
Friedrich Kasimir Kettler was a son of Duke Jakob Kettler and his wife Louise Charlotte , daughter of Elector Georg Wilhelm von Brandenburg (1595–1640) and sister of the Great Elector Friedrich Wilhelm .
Kettler was initially in Dutch service as a colonel in the Courland cavalry regiment and participated in the Dutch war against the French King Louis XIV . After the death of his father in 1682 he took over the government of the duchy. While Jakob Kettler had brought his country to an economic and political boom, Friedrich Kasimir tended to be more outwardly pompous than to fortify the country permanently by expanding a strong military power. He ran an elaborate court, for the financing of which the colony of Tobago was sold to British colonists.
Friedrich Kasimir died in 1698, shortly before the outbreak of the Third Northern War , leaving an underage son. After him, the Duchy of Courland, which was in no way able to cope with the diverse hostility and thirst for conquest of the neighboring states, became the plaything of the powers that be until it finally came under Russian sovereignty through the marriage of the last Duke Friedrich Wilhelm with the later Tsarina Anna Ivanovna . Tsarina Anna forced the Kurlanders after the death of the last Kettler offspring Ferdinand Kettler in 1737 to elect their favorite Ernst Johann von Biron as Duke.
Marriages and offspring
Friedrich Kasimir was married twice. First marriage to Countess Sophie Amalie von Nassau-Siegen (born January 10, 1650, † December 25, 1688), daughter of Count Heinrich von Nassau-Siegen .
- Friedrich (1682–1683)
- Marie Dorothea (1684–1743) - married in 1703 to Margrave Albrecht Friedrich von Brandenburg-Schwedt
- Eleonore Charlotte (1686–1748) - married in 1714 to Duke Ernst Ferdinand of Braunschweig-Bevern
- Amalie Luise (1687–1750) - married in 1708 to Prince Friedrich Wilhelm Adolf von Nassau-Siegen
- Christina Sophia (1688-1694)
Friedrich Kasimir married Elisabeth Sophie (1674–1748) in 1691 , the daughter of the Great Elector Friedrich Wilhelm of Brandenburg .
- Friedrich Wilhelm Kettler (1692–1711), Duke of Courland
- Leopold Karl (1693–1697)
literature
- Irene Neander: Friedrich Kasimir Kettler. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 5, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1961, ISBN 3-428-00186-9 , p. 513 f. ( Digitized version ).
- Theodor Schiemann: Kettler . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 15, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1882, pp. 685-688.
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Jakob Kettler |
Duke of Courland 1682–1698 |
Friedrich Wilhelm Kettler |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Kettler, Friedrich Kasimir |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Kettler, Friedrich II. Casimir |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Duke of Courland and Semigallia from the Kettler dynasty (1682–1698) |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 6, 1650 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Mitau |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 22, 1698 |
| Place of death | Mitau |