Georg of Hessen-Darmstadt (1669–1705)

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Prince Georg of Hesse-Darmstadt (1669–1705)
(Source: Darmstadt City Archives)

Prince Georg von Hessen-Darmstadt (born April 25, 1669 in Darmstadt ; † September 13, 1705 outside Barcelona ) was an imperial general in the service of the Austrian Habsburgs . From 1698 to 1701 he was Viceroy of Catalonia , in 1704 he conquered the fortress of Gibraltar .

Life

Georg von Hessen-Darmstadt was born in 1669 as the third son of Landgrave Ludwig von Hessen-Darmstadt . After his father died in 1678, his wife Elisabeth Dorothea von Sachsen-Gotha-Altenburg took over the upbringing of Georg. In 1686 he and his older siblings went on a cavalier tour through France and Switzerland.

As the youngest son in the family, he had little chance of assuming his father's inheritance. He therefore decided on a career in the military , entered Austrian service and served first under Prince Eugene of Savoy in the Turkish Wars and in 1690 under William of Orange , King of England in the campaign against Ireland . Immediately after his return to Austria he converted to the Catholic faith and in 1694, at the age of 24, received the rank of sergeant-general . In 1695 he became a field marshal lieutenant . He was then sent to Spain by Emperor Leopold I in 1695 to defend Catalonia against the French armed forces during the War of the Palatinate Succession (1688-1697), and in 1696 gained greater prominence for the defense of Barcelona , which he successfully led. The following year, however, he had to surrender to his own displeasure at the siege of Barcelona in 1697 after 52 days by order from Madrid . After the end of this war he was showered with honors in Spain. He was made Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece , Colonel of the Royal Guard, and finally Viceroy of Catalonia in 1698 , carrying out some reforms and learning Catalan . From 1698 to 1701 he was appointed Viceroy of Catalonia because of his services; in Spain he was known as Jorge de Darmstadt or in Catalan as Jordi Darmstadt .

In the War of the Spanish Succession

When Charles II, the last Habsburg king of Spain, died in 1700 and the Bourbon Philip V inherited him at Charles's request, a Viceroy loyal to the Bourbon was appointed to Catalonia in 1701. In the following War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714), Georg sided with the Habsburgs against the Bourbons. He went back to Austria, where Emperor Leopold I commissioned him to enter into negotiations with England to form an alliance. After this had come about, Georg, Field Marshal since 1699, took over command of the imperial contingent on board the English fleet , which operated along the Spanish coast , in 1703 .

In 1704 , Georg conquered the strategically important fortress of Gibraltar with 1,800 men and defended it against a siege by Spanish-French troops. From August 4th to 6th, he was briefly the first governor of Gibraltar . A bastion there is named after him to this day .

After the siege troops withdrew, Georg rejoined the Allied army and took part in the 1705 siege of Barcelona . There he fell on September 13, 1705 during a storm on Fort Montjuïc (Castell de Montjuïc). His body was embalmed and buried in the Església dels Josepets de Gràcia monastery near Barcelona. His heart was buried separately and, after many entanglements, came to Darmstadt in 1711, where it still hangs in a silver box on the ceiling in the princely crypt of the city ​​church .

Georg von Hessen-Darmstadt is largely unknown today. His name is also often forgotten in British historiography , although his merit, the conquest of Gibraltar, is highly valued and has an impact up to the present day. The United Kingdom maintains the strategically important fortress as British overseas territory to this day.

ancestors

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ludwig V Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (1577–1626)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Georg II Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (1605–1661)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Magdalena of Brandenburg (1582–1616)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Louis VI. Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (1630–1678)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Johann Georg I Elector of Saxony (1585–1656)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Sophie Eleonore of Saxony (1609–1671)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Magdalena Sibylle of Prussia (1586–1659)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Georg of Hessen-Darmstadt
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Johann III. of Saxe-Weimar (1570–1605)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ernst I of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (1601–1675)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Dorothea Maria of Anhalt (1574–1617)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Elisabeth Dorothea of ​​Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (1640–1709)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Johann Philipp von Sachsen-Altenburg (1597–1639)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Elisabeth Sophia of Saxe-Altenburg (1619–1680)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Elisabeth of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel (1593–1650)
 
 
 
 
 
 

Honors, funeral

The Prince of Hesse half-bastion in Gibraltar is named after him. His heart rests in a silver capsule in the landgrave's crypt in the Darmstadt city church .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Princely crypt in the city church
personal data
SURNAME Georg of Hessen-Darmstadt
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hessen-Darmstadt, Prince Georg von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Officer in the Austrian service
DATE OF BIRTH April 25, 1669
PLACE OF BIRTH Darmstadt
DATE OF DEATH September 13, 1705
Place of death Barcelona