Johannes van Rossum
Johannes van Rossum (born August 21, 1809 in The Hague ; † April 10, 1873 at Reinhartshausen Castle in Erbach im Rheingau ) was initially a coachman in the service of Marianne von Oranien-Nassau , later her partner and cabinet secretary. His résumé was decisively shaped by the fate of Marianne, whom he stood by as the closest confidante for over 25 years. He was also the father of their illegitimate son Johann Wilhelm von Reinhartshausen (1849–1861), on the occasion of whose early death Marianne donated the Johanneskirche in Erbach , now a district of Eltville am Rhein .
Life
Early years
Van Rossum's father was Willem van Rossum, his mother Maria Tammerlijn. Growing up in a working-class district of The Hague, he first worked as an assistant in a notary's office. After his military service he entered the service of Wilhelm I of the Netherlands. After the death of Wilhelm I in 1843, his daughter Marianne von Oranien-Nassau took him over into her service, initially as a coachman and later as cabinet secretary. In 1837 he married Catharina Wilhelmina Keijzer from the Netherlands. The childless marriage lasted until Catharina's death in 1861.
Civil partnership with Marianne von Oranien-Nassau
Johannes van Rossum and Marianne von Oranien-Nassau began a love affair in March 1848 when Marianne bought the “Rusthof” estate in Voorburg near The Hague in her home in the Netherlands. The two stayed together for a lifetime. Marianne had separated from her husband Prince Albrecht von Prussia as early as 1844 because he had entered into an extramarital relationship with Rosalie von Rauch , the daughter of the Prussian Minister of War Gustav von Rauch . The Dutch and Prussian courts had not agreed to a divorce until then.
From then on, Johannes van Rossum accompanied Marianne as her cabinet secretary on all her travels and became her closest confidante. Their son Johann Wilhelm (1849–1861) was born on October 30, 1849 in Cefalù , Sicily . In order to prevent an even bigger scandal, the Prussian and Dutch courts agreed to the divorce that Marianne and Albrecht had long wanted. In 1851 van Rossum bought the Villa Celimontana in Rome in the name of Mariannes , in which the two settled with their son. Van Rossum is listed as the owner of the villa, which shows how close his relationship was to Marianne.
Marianne confessed to her partner throughout her life, but the two never got married morganatically , because van Rossum did not divorce and widowed only in 1861. He and Marianne lived together out of wedlock and also appeared together at public events. This drew the anger of the royal families on them. The connection was not befitting, Marianne was divorced, van Rossum was still married, and their son was born out of wedlock. In addition, the child was not, as was common in the nobility back then, given into the hands of strangers as a "misstep", but lived with his parents. Marianne was ostracized for her unconventional way of life and expelled by the Prussian court. The outrage over the presumptuous behavior of van Rossum, a common man, was probably even greater. A portrait of the painter Johan Philip Koelman , made in Rome in 1852, shows van Rossum as a well-dressed, wealthy and self-confident man.
The new home in the Rheingau
In 1855 van Rossum and Marianne returned to their homeland. Marianne acquired Reinhartshausen Castle in Erbach (Rheingau) in the Duchy of Nassau (now a hotel), which was to remain their common residence until their death. She had the castle expanded, added a gallery building in which she housed her art collections, and together with van Rossum made it a cultural attraction in the Rheingau .
The death of the son
Reinhartshausen Castle became the home of their son, and Marianne arranged for the boy, who was to inherit this castle, to be given the surname "von Reinhartshausen" by Duke Adolph von Nassau. She and van Rossum had their son raised in a civil society, he was supposed to become a theologian or lawyer. From October 1861 on, Johann Wilhelm was no longer taught by private teachers, but attended a boarding school in nearby Dauborn . However, during the Christmas holidays he fell ill with scarlet fever at home. On Christmas Day 1861 he died unexpectedly, leaving his parents in deep grief. The deeply religious Marianne then donated a piece of land to the community on the evening of the day of his death as well as 60,000 guilders for the construction of the first Protestant church in the Rheingau, including a parsonage and parsonage, because a few weeks before his death little Johann wanted his own place of worship for Protestants Christians expressed in the Rheingau. After the solemn inauguration of the church in 1865, Johann Wilhelm was buried in the crypt behind the altar. In honor of the apostle Johannes and in memory of Johann Wilhelm, the church was named Johanneskirche .
death
After a long illness, Johannes van Rossum died of consumption on April 10, 1873 at the age of 63 at Reinhartshausen Castle.
Grave site
Although Marianne had reserved space for two more graves next to her son in the deed of foundation of the Johanneskirche , for herself and van Rossum, van Rossum was buried on April 14th in the public cemetery of Erbach. This is listed in the church book of the Johanneskirche . There had been arguments with the pastor, as recorded in the pastor's wife's memoir. One can assume that he was bothered by the unconventional way of life of the couple and therefore refused to have Johannes van Rossum buried in the church crypt.
Funerary monument
For van Rossum's grave, Marianne had a blessing figure of Christ made by the Dutch sculptor Johann Heinrich Stöver based on a statue by the Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen , who also had the angel on her son's sarcophagus and the three statues Faith, Love and Hope in front of the entrance to Church tomb of the Johanneskirche had created. She decorates the grave to this day.
Marianne died in 1883 and had meanwhile decreed that she would not be buried in the crypt next to her son, but also in the public Erbacher cemetery, side by side with van Rossum, with whom she had spent 25 years together. However, there is no mention of Johannes van Rossum on the tombstone of the common grave. It is not known what his grave once looked like, whether he was buried anonymously or whether his grave slab had to make way for Mariannes, who died 10 years later. Only Marianne's marriage to Prince Albrecht of Prussia is mentioned on the grave slab, from whom she had been divorced for 34 years at the time of her death.
literature
- Hartmut Heinemann: Princess Marianne of the Netherlands (1810-1883) and the Rheingau. A woman between tradition and emancipation. In: Rheingau Forum, Volume 11/2002, Issue 2, pp. 1–11.
- Nassau-Orange, Princess of the Netherlands, Princess Marianne of. Hessian biography. (As of March 25, 2010). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).
- Annette Dopatka: Marianne von Preußen, Princess of the Netherlands , Waldemar Kramer Verlag, 2003, ISBN 3-7829-0538-5
- Gerhard Schiller: Marianne of Prussia, Princess of the Netherlands. Memories of the life of the self-confident princess in Berlin, Kamenz, Weißwasser and the Rheingau. Part 2. In: "Schlesien heute", No. 8 (2010).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Schiller, Gerhard: "Marianne von Preußen, Princess of the Netherlands - memories of the life of the self-confident princess in Berlin, Kamenz, Weißwasser and the Rheingau. In: Schlesien heute, 8/2010, S. 54.
- ↑ Heinemann, Hartmut: "Princess Marianne of the Netherlands (1810-1883) and the Rheingau - A woman between tradition and emancipation. In: Rheingau-Forum 2/2002, p. 9.
- ^ Directory of the deceased in the church play of the upper Rheingau, Amt Eltville, directory 1873, no.3
- ↑ Klipstein, HU: "From the memoirs of a Nassau pastor's wife. In: Nassovia 13, 1912, p. 56f.
- ^ Heinemann, Hartmut: "Princess Marianne of the Netherlands (1810-1883) and the Rheingau - A woman between tradition and emancipation. In: Rheingau-Forum 2/2002, p. 10/11.
- ^ Annette Dopatka: Marianne von Preußen, Princess of the Netherlands. Waldemar Kramer Verlag, 2003, ISBN 3-7829-0538-5 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Rossum, Johannes van |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Dutch librarian, secretary and partner |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 21, 1809 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | The hague |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 10, 1873 |
| Place of death | Reinhartshausen Castle , Erbach , Rheingau |