Johann Ernst (Nassau-Weilburg)

Johann Ernst of Nassau-Weilburg

Johann Ernst von Nassau-Weilburg (born June 13, 1664 in Weilburg ; † February 27, 1719 in Heidelberg ) from the House of Nassau was Prince Count of Nassau-Weilburg and Imperial Field Marshal .

Guardianship and Government

Johann Ernst was the eldest son of Count Friedrich von Nassau-Weilburg (* 1640; † 1675) and his wife Christiane Elisabeth born. von Sayn-Wittgenstein (* 1646; † 1678). When his father died as a result of a riding accident in 1675, he was 11 years old, and Johann Ernst inherited the county of Nassau-Weilburg together with his brother Friedrich Ludwig (* 1665; † 1684). Johann von Nassau-Idstein was appointed as his guardian . Johann Ernst spent his childhood in Weilburg, where he was tutored by private teachers Ph. L. Engel from Darmstadt (from 1671) and Franz Ertzmann from Korbach (from 1676). When his mother died in 1678, he was 14 years old. Since his guardian Johann von Nassau-Idstein had also died in 1677, the guardianship passed to Johann Ludwig von Nassau-Ottweiler , and Johann Ernst and his brother moved in 1679 to their guardian in Ottweiler . In July 1679, Johann Ernst began studying at the University of Tübingen . From 1681 to 1682 he stayed at the court of the French King Louis XIV in the Palace of Versailles .

After the death of his brother Friedrich Ludwig in 1684 , Johann Ernst took over the sole rule of the county of Nassau-Weilburg. Initially he only controlled the area on the right bank of the Rhine from Nassau-Weilburg, because the parts of the county on the left bank of the Rhine, Kirchheim and Stauf ( Eisenberg (Pfalz) ), were occupied by France. It was not until the Peace of Rijswijk in 1697 that he regained the areas on the left bank of the Rhine. He also acquired other areas, including Bolanden , for the Nassau-Weilburg house, and ordered the primogeniture for his house.

In 1688, the Walram lines of the House of Nassau (Nassau-Weilburg, Nassau-Idstein and Nassau-Usingen ) on the right bank of the Rhine were renewed by Emperor Leopold I. Since Johann Ernst refused to pay his share of the costs of 21,420 guilders in the certification fee, Walrad von Nassau-Usingen and Georg August von Nassau-Idstein withheld the certificate of appointment. Johann Ernst never assumed the title of prince, but lived in the knowledge that already his ancestor Johann I. by Emperor Charles IV. In 1366, both for his descendants, the rank of princely Counts of the empire had received. However, on September 27, 1737 , his son Karl August accepted the title of Prince of the Empire, but without reimbursing the Nassau-Usingen line (Nassau-Idstein went out in 1721 with his father-in-law Georg August ) for the costs presented in 1688.

Johann Ernst died in 1719 while taking a spa stay in Heidelberg . After his death, his second son Karl August took over the government.

Memorial to Johann Ernst in Weilburg

Military career

In 1684 Johann Ernst entered the service of the Landgraves of Hessen-Kassel as a lieutenant colonel . In 1686 he was promoted to colonel and in 1688 he became the commander of a newly formed dragoon regiment with which he fought in the Palatinate War of Succession in the defense of Koblenz in the same year . In 1689 he was involved in the siege of Mainz . In 1690 he took part in the Battle of Fleurus . There he faced Count Ludwig Kraft von Nassau-Saarbrücken , who was in French service. In 1691 he was appointed major general . In 1693 he took part in the battle of Neer winds . In 1696 he was appointed lieutenant general in Hesse .

In September 1696, Johann Ernst switched to the service of the Electorate of Palatinate as General of the Upper Rhine Empire . Landgrave Karl von Hessen-Kassel resented this change and became one of his fiercest opponents. After the Peace of Rijswijk in 1697, Johann Ernst also became governor of the Palatinate residence city of Düsseldorf .

In 1701 he organized the formation of the Upper Rhine Imperial troops for the War of the Spanish Succession . He was involved in the siege and storming of the fortress Landau in the Palatinate in 1702 and then drove a French army under Marshal Tallard from the Hunsrück. For this he was appointed field marshal of the Electoral Palatinate .

While the imperial general Prince Eugene of Savoy marched in Bavaria against the French marshal Villars , Johann Ernst stayed on the Rhine to defend Landau against Tallard. On November 15, 1703 the battle of the Speyerbach broke out , in which the imperial troops were defeated by the French. Johann Ernst's eldest son, Colonel Friedrich Ludwig von Nassau-Weilburg, was among the approximately 8,000 fallen. After that, Johann Ernst did not take part in any major battles. In 1706 he withdrew completely from active military service and became Grand Chamberlain of the Palatinate Elector. In 1716 his office as governor of Düsseldorf and grand court master ended and he returned to his residence in Weilburg. For his achievements he was accepted into the Order of Hubert .

Construction activity

During his reign in Weilburg, work began on redesigning the castle and the castle church in 1702 . For the construction management was Julius Ludwig Rothweil committed. Johann Ernst did not see the completion of the palace in 1721 . In addition to the palace buildings, the market square, the baroque gardens and administration buildings such as the office (today the mining and city museum) were laid out. Furthermore, the zoo was newly laid out, the Windhof and Wehrholz farmyards were built and an elaborate water pipe was built. In addition, the old city wall was dismantled and the important streets and squares redesigned in the baroque style (including Mauerstrasse, Neugasse, Marktplatz, Frankfurter Strasse and Limburger Strasse). Johann Ernst paid most of the costs of the construction work from the salaries of his military career.

Coinage

Johann Ernst made use of the Nassau counts' right to mint again. For this purpose, he had a mint built in Weilburg and transferred it to the mint master JU Böttger on May 19, 1690. On November 15, 1692, the mint was transferred to D. Schlueter by contract. Schlüter was obliged to mint inferior guilders with a self-made stamp ; Johann Ernst undertook to take the risk. It was mainly Kurpfälzer and Brandenburg money that was forged.

Johann Wilhelm von der Pfalz sued Johann Ernst before the Coin Commission and the Reichshofrat, but Johann Ernst was able to avert the process in December 1695 by paying 5,000 guilders. On April 15, 1696, troops from Pfalz-Neuburg came to Weilmünster and had to withdraw again without evidence. After Johann Ernst switched to the Palatinate service, troops came from Hessen-Kassel to Weilburg on December 6, 1696. Maria Polyxena fled to Frankfurt . The Hessian troops arrested the chamber clerk Boller, the mint master Schlüter and the gunsmith Conradi. Boller and Conradi were released again, and Schlueter was handed over to soldiers from Brandenburg. He confessed that he had forged about 90,000 guilders, 600 of which had been in circulation. Schlueter was sentenced to two years in prison. Johann Ernst made atonement to the Brandenburg Elector. Johann Wilhelm von der Pfalz forgave his deserving general.

There was a second counterfeiting workshop in Weilmünster. Presumably this was known to Johann Ernst. In May 1695, Brandenburg dragoons suddenly entered Weilmünster, but could no longer find any traces of the counterfeit coin. The suspected Jews Jakob and Beer had disappeared without a trace. A participation of Johann Ernst in this counterfeit coin could never be proven.

family

Johann Ernst married on April 3, 1683, still under guardianship, Countess Maria Polyxena von Leiningen-Dagsburg-Hartenburg (* February 7, 1662, † April 22, 1725). With the marriage the guardianship ended. Johann Ernst is said to have enforced the marriage against the will of his guardian. In memory of this, he is said to have planted the Linden tree in the Weilburg palace garden . The marriage resulted in four sons and five daughters:

• Friedrich Ludwig (1683–1703), killed in the Battle of the Speyerbach
• Karl August (1685–1753) ⚭ August 17, 1723 Princess Auguste Friederike von Nassau-Idstein (* August 17, 1699 - † June 8, 1750)
• Maria Polyxena (1686–1687)
• Johanna Louise (1687–1688)
• Karl Ernst (1689–1708)
• Heinrich Ludwig (1690–1691)
• Magdalene Henriette (1691–1725) ⚭ April 15, 1719 Friedrich Wilhelm, Count (later Prince) of Solms-Braunfels (born January 11, 1696; † February 24, 1761)
• Albertine (1693-1748)
• unnamed daughter, died in childbirth (1694)

The since 2000 as Grand Duke of Luxembourg reigning Henri of Nassau is the seven-time great-grandson of Johann Ernst.

literature

• Dr. C. Spielmann: History of the city and rule of Weilburg, 1896, new edition 2003

Web links

Commons : Johann Ernst von Nassau-Weilburg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Weilburg legends - Die Kusslinde on www.weilburg-lahn.info
• Family tree on genealogy.euweb.cz

Individual evidence

1. ^ Ernst Joachim: "Johann Ernst von Nassau-Weilburg", in: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (1881), pp. 272–273 ( online version )
2. ↑ Vinzenz Czech (2003), Legitimation and Representation: On the Dynamic Self-Image of Thuringian-Saxon Imperial Counts in the Early Modern Era , p. 282 f.
3. ↑ Ernst Joachim: "Johann I. von Nassau-Weilburg", in: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (1881), p. 272 ​​( online version )
4. ^ Martin Mattheiss, overview of the history of Ramsen from 1146 to 1816 , in: Clemens Jöckle and Dagmar Witte: 850 years of Ramsen: contributions to local history, Lingenfeld 1996; P. 53 f.
5. ^ Mining and City Museum Weilburg: Johann Ernst / Carl August / Carl Christian (accessed April 10, 2014)

predecessor	Office	successor
Friedrich	Count of Nassau-Weilburg from 1688 Prince 1675–1719	Karl August