George of Oldenburg

The title of this article is ambiguous. Further meanings are listed under Georg von Oldenburg (disambiguation) .

Prince Georg of Oldenburg

Peter Friedrich Georg von Oldenburg (* 9. May 1784 in Oldenburg , † December 15 ^{. Jul} / 27. December  1812 ^greg. In Tver ) was a prince of the Duchy of Oldenburg from the House of Gottorp's Oldenburg . He is considered the founder of the Russian branch line of the House of Oldenburg.

Life

Georg was the son of Duke Peter Friedrich Ludwig von Oldenburg and Duchess Friederike Elisabeth Amalie Augusta von Württemberg . His older brother was the Hereditary Prince and later Grand Duke August von Oldenburg (1783-1853).

After completing his studies, Georg went to Russia in 1808 and pursued an administrative career there. On August 7, 1808, Tsar Alexander I , his first cousin, appointed him Governor General of Estonia . On August 3, 1809, he married the Tsar's daughter Katharina Pavlovna , Alexander's sister. The marriage was carried out quickly, as Napoleon Bonaparte had also campaigned for Katharina, which was in complete contrast to the political intentions of the Tsarist house and Katharina's wishes. As a sign of belonging to the imperial family, Alexander subsequently awarded his brother-in-law Georg the title of Imperial Highness . Then Georg received the position of governor general in Tver in central Russia , where he lived with his wife from 1809. His private secretary at that time was the later State Councilor Gerhard Friedrich von Buschmann . His tasks there also included the administration of roads and waterways, for which Georg, however, had too few engineers available. Therefore, he founded a school for transport engineers in Saint Petersburg (today part of the State Polytechnic Peter the Great University of Saint Petersburg ).

When the war against Napoleon flared up again, Georg initially set up military hospitals in his general government, but finally asked for a front command, which the Tsar gave him after some hesitation. Immediately afterwards Georg became infected with typhus while visiting the hospital and died in December 1812 after only a few years of happy marriage to Katharina.

There were two sons from the marriage:

• Alexander (1810-1829)
• Peter (1812-1881)

George was first in the after plans of Oldenburg Field Marshal Burkhard Christoph von Munnich built, Lutheran St. Peter's Church buried in Saint Petersburg. When the church was to be renewed in 1826, Grand Duke Peter had the body transferred to the family mausoleum in Oldenburg in Oldenburg.

His widow married the Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Württemberg on January 24, 1816 and shortly afterwards became Queen of Württemberg.

literature

• August Mutzenbecher :  Georg Peter Friedrich . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 8, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1878, p. 683 f.
• Huno von Oldenburg: The Russian branch of the House of Oldenburg and other members of the House in Russian service. Published in: Jörg Michael Henneberg u. a. (Ed.): History of the Oldenburger Land. Edited on behalf of the Oldenburg landscape. Aschendorff Verlag, Münster 2014, ISBN 978-3-402-12942-5 , p. 171 ff.

Web links

• Biography , Russian Imperial Army (Russian)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Gerhard Friedrich Buschmann. 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 , p. 114 ( online ).