Friedrich Ludwig of Mecklenburg

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Hereditary Prince Friedrich Ludwig around 1807

Friedrich Ludwig, Duke of Mecklenburg [-Schwerin] (born June 13, 1778 in Ludwigslust ; † November 29, 1819 ibid) was a member of the House of Mecklenburg , Hereditary Prince from 1785, Hereditary Grand Duke of the Mecklenburg-Schwerin region from 1815 and fought as Lieutenant General against Napoleon's troops.

Life

Friedrich Ludwig came from the Mecklenburg-Schwerin line of the Mecklenburg Princely House. He was the eldest son of Duke (later Grand Duke) Friedrich Franz I (1756–1837) and his wife, Princess Luise of Saxe-Gotha (1756–1808). With the accession of his father to the throne in 1785, Friedrich Ludwig became Hereditary Prince in the Schwerin part of Mecklenburg.

Under the tutelage of his open-minded and art-loving mother, the prince's upbringing lay in different hands. His teaching took over from 1784 the later Ludwigsluster seminar teacher and court preacher Moritz (Joachim Christoph) Passow (1753-1830) and his brother Josua Friedrich Passow (* 1758). The Swiss Jean Renaud was appointed to teach French and mathematics. The knowledge of French he acquired here would be of use to him later. Lieutenant Colonel Friedrich Wilhelm von Lützow, who was appointed governor in 1784, was responsible for his upbringing.

After his confirmation on September 30, 1792, the Hereditary Grand Duke began his studies at the University of Rostock , which lasted until December 3, 1795. A longer educational trip followed, accompanied by his governor. During this trip the Hereditary Prince used the pseudonym "Graf von Grabow" . The trips initially led to Central Germany . In spring 1796 followed a stay of several weeks in Vienna, finally Bavaria as the last travel destination. At the age of 19, the Hereditary Prince received his own court . The chamberlain and later court marshal Detlof Joachim von Oertzen (1771-1820) was appointed chamberlain. In 1797 the Hereditary Prince began his military training. For this he spent a few weeks with the “Regiment von Pressentin” in Rostock . Subsequently he was promoted to lieutenant general on November 15 and appointed chief of the regiment, which from now on was called "Regiment Hereditary Prince". However, his military skills remained limited throughout his life, while he was to prove talented in politics and diplomacy .

From 23 to 25 August 1803, the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III. and his wife, Queen Luise, on one of their few trips to Mecklenburg incognito, paid a visit to the seriously ill hereditary princess in Ludwigslust in order to pay a surprise visit from there to Luise's family in Hohenzieritz .

After the French took possession of Mecklenburg, the ducal family of Mecklenburg-Schwerin - including the Hereditary Prince - was expelled on December 22, 1806. On January 8, 1807, the family and the entourage left Ludwigslust. They found a new place to stay in the Danish-occupied Hamburg-Altona for the near future. The reinstatement of his father in July 1807 ended the involuntary stay in Altona and finally made it possible to return home.

Even before the French invasion of Mecklenburg, the Hereditary Prince was appointed head and president of the ducal chamber and forestry council. On December 8, 1808, he was also Minister of Finance for the (partial) duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. The Hereditary Prince held both positions until his death in 1819. Duke Friedrich Franz recognized the Hereditary Prince's talents early on. The Hereditary Prince's first chamber transactions were recorded as early as 1798. Officially, however, he was only commissioned to participate in all chamber business from 1805.

In the French era , Friedrich Ludwig was very active diplomatically. When the Duchy became interested in Swedish Pomerania , he traveled to Paris and to the Prince's Congress in Erfurt, which was convened by Napoleon. On September 26, 1808, Friedrich Ludwig presented the Russian Foreign Minister Nikolai Petrowitsch Rumjanzew with a memorandum written by him in which he set out the rank and compensation requirements of the ducal house of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Here the Russian Tsar Alexander I was supposed to intervene with Napoleon , since the requests of the Hereditary Prince during his visit to Paris did not lead to the desired success. The diplomatic efforts to acquire Swedish Pomerania lasted until 1813, according to the reports of the Oberhofmeister von Lützow, who was sent to Paris.

In the Wars of Liberation he commanded the Mecklenburg Landwehr and from February 27 to April 24, 1814, the 4th Swedish Division of the Northern Army . In the course of taking over command, the Mecklenburg troops were assigned to the division as the 8th Brigade.

The influence of Tsar Alexander I and the consistently national stance of his father brought the ranks of the two (ruling) dukes of Mecklenburg to the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg at the Congress of Vienna (meeting from September 18, 1814 to June 9, 1815) . Friedrich Ludwig took part in the congress.

Hereditary Prince Friedrich Ludwig never came to the government. He died shortly after the age of 41 before his father. Friedrich Ludwig was buried in the Helenen-Paulownen-Mausoleum in Ludwigslust, which was built from 1804 to 1806 according to plans by Joseph Ramée .

Remnants of the library of Hereditary Prince Friedrich Ludwig are now in the Rostock University Library.

Marriages and offspring

On October 22, 1799, in Gatchina near St. Petersburg , he married the Russian Grand Duchess Helena Pawlowna Romanowa (1784–1803), the second daughter of Tsar Paul, who was murdered in 1801, and Princess Sophie Dorothee von Württemberg ; and the sister of his successor Alexander I. The connection resulted in two children:

In 1808 a son was born from an affair between Friedrich Ludwig and Luise Charlotte Ahrens in Ludwigslust . This was named Friederich Eduard Carl Plüschow, after the summer residence of the ducal family, Schloss Plüschow, near Grevesmühlen . Eduard Carl Plüschow is the progenitor of the Plüschow family .

On July 1, 1810, in Weimar , he married Princess Karoline Luise (1786-1816), only surviving daughter of Grand Duke Karl August of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach and Princess Luise of Hesse-Darmstadt . The connection resulted in three children:

On April 3, 1818, in Homburg , he married Princess Auguste Friederike (1776–1871), a daughter of Landgrave Friedrich V of Hesse-Homburg and Princess Karoline of Hesse-Darmstadt. The marriage remained childless.

literature

  • Klaus-Ulrich Keubke and Ralf Mumm: Soldiers from Mecklenburg. Pictures of life from 1701 to 1871 , writings on the history of Mecklenburg, Schwerin (2004), ISBN 3-00-014908-2 .
  • Carl Schröder: Diary of the Hereditary Prince Friedrich Ludwig von Mecklenburg-Schwerin from the years 1811–1813 , in: Yearbooks of the Association for Mecklenburg History and Archeology 65 (1900), pp. 123–304 ( full text )
  • Hélène de Mecklembourg-Schwerin; Madame la duchesse d'Orléans; Nouvelle édition. Paris: Michel Lévy (1859).
  • Sabine Bock : Plüschow. History and architecture of a Mecklenburg estate. Thomas Helms Verlag , Schwerin 2013, ISBN 978-3-940207-60-9 .
  • Jürgen Borchert : Mecklenburg's Grand Dukes. 1815–1918 , Demmler Verlag Schwerin 1992, ISBN 3-910150-14-4 .
  • René Wiese: Friedrich Ludwig. A Hereditary Grand Duke as Minister . In: Bernd Kasten , Matthias Manke , René Wiese: The Grand Dukes of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Hinstorff Verlag GmbH, Rostock 2015, ISBN 978-3-356-01986-5 , pp. 48-55.

See also

Web links

Commons : Friedrich Ludwig zu Mecklenburg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Hugo Lübeß: Friedrich Ludwig Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin 1778-1819 . In: Yearbook of the Association for Mecklenburg History and Archeology , Volume 92, Schwerin 1928, pp. 201-300.
  2. ↑ Peter Starsy: Queen Luise of Prussia (1776-1810). A search for clues in Mecklenburg. In: Neubrandenburger Mosaik , Vol. 33 (2009), pp. 92-131.
personal data
SURNAME Friedrich Ludwig
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mecklenburg, Friedrich Ludwig zu (wrong name form)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Hereditary Prince of Mecklenburg, Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg in Mecklenburg-Schwerin, member of the House of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
DATE OF BIRTH June 13, 1778
PLACE OF BIRTH Ludwigslust
DATE OF DEATH November 29, 1819
Place of death Ludwigslust