Karl Heinrich of Nassau-Siegen

Karl Heinrich Nikolaus Otto von Nassau-Siegen (French: Charles Henri Nicolas Othon, prince de Nassau-Siegen ; Russian: Карл Генрих Нассау-Зиген ; * January 5, 1743 in Senarpont ; † April 10, 1808 in Tynna ) was a French adventurer and naval officer.

Life

Karl Heinrich Nikolaus Otto, Prince of Nassau-Siegen

Nassau's family origins are controversial. His father, Maximilien Guillaume Adolphe, who died in 1748, was posthumously legitimized by French jurisprudence in 1756 as a legitimate descendant of Emmanuel Ignatius zu Nassau-Siegen . He was thus entitled to use the title “ Prince de Nassau-Siegen ” in France , but this judgment was never recognized by any member of the Nassau noble house .

At the age of fifteen, Nassau entered the Royal Navy of France. He later led an existence as a libertine woman and gambler at the courts of Vienna , Warsaw , Madrid and Versailles . Probably on the run from his creditors, he joined Bougainville's circumnavigation of the world in 1766 , which led back to France through the Atlantic, around Cape Horn , through the Pacific and along the coast of Africa. During this trip, Nassau developed diplomatic skills in contacting the residents of the South Sea islands. For example, in 1768 he was able to convince King Ereti of Tahiti of the peaceful intentions of the French.

In 1769, after the expedition's successful return, the naval officer fought in French, Spanish and Russian services in the theaters of war in Europe. In 1779 Nassau's attempt to conquer the island of Jersey for France failed. From King Charles III. from Spain he received after the siege of Gibraltar (1779–1783) the promotion to major general and the appointment of grande first class.

Tsarina Catherine the Great appointed him Russian Rear Admiral in 1783 . In 1788 Nassau was victorious in the sea battle of Ochakov against a vastly superior Turkish fleet, whereupon this city could be conquered by the Russian troops . In the Russo-Swedish War (1788-1790) he won on 24./25. August 1789 in the first archipelago battle on Svensksund and 1790 on Björkösund over the Swedes under King Gustav III. On the night of July 2nd to 3rd, he attacked a division of the Swedes from the south while running the gauntlet of Vyborg and forced them to retreat after 3½ hours of fighting. On July 9, 1790 he suffered a defeat against the Swedes in the second archipelago battle on Svensksund. In this sea battle, the largest that ever took place in the Baltic Sea, he lost a third of his fleet . The war ended in a draw.

Then Nassau was sent to the Rhine by the Tsarina , where he was to take part in the struggle against revolutionary France. After the Peace of Amiens in 1802, he tried in vain for a post in the French army of Napoleon Bonaparte . He returned to Russia, where he died on the Tynna estate in Ukraine in 1808. - During his travels Nassau met Giacomo Casanova in Spa in 1783 and the naturalist Georg Forster in Grodno in 1784 .

Nassau was married to the Polish Countess Karolina Gozdzka (* 1747, † 1807) since 1780. The marriage remained childless.

Awards:

1774: Knight of the Order of the White Eagle
1788: Commander of the Order of St. George
1789: Knight of the Order of St. Andrew
The plant genus Nassauvia Comm. ex Juss. named from the sunflower family (Asteraceae).

literature

Marquis Louis Albert d'Aragon: Un Paladin au XVIIIe siècle. Le Prince Charles de Nassau victories. D'après sa correspondance originale inédite de 1784 à 1789. Plon, Paris 1893.
Uwe Schögl (Red.): Orange. 500 years of portraits of a dynasty from the portrait collection of the Austrian National Library, Vienna and the Dutch Royal Collection The Hague. (Exhibition from February 1 to March 19, 2002, Camineum of the Austrian National Library, Vienna). Austrian National Library et al., Vienna 2002, ISBN 3-01-000028-6 , pp. 136-137.
Charles de Ligne, letter to the Comte de Ségur, dated August 10, 1788 [1]

Remarks

↑ Emmanuel Ignatius von Nassau-Siegen (1688–1735), a younger son of Prince Johann Franz Desideratus von Nassau-Siegen (1627–1699), was with the French noblewoman Charlotte de Mailly-Nesle (1688–1769) from 1711 to 1718 married. The mother of Karl Heinrich von Nassau-Siegen was the French noblewoman Amicie de Monchy († 1752).
↑ Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymous plant names - Extended Edition. Part I and II. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin , Freie Universität Berlin , Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-946292-26-5 doi: 10.3372 / epolist2018 .
^ Charles de Ligne: His Memoirs, Letters, and Miscellaneous Papers in 2 volumes . Ed .: CA Sainte-Beuve, Madame de Stael-Holstein. tape 7 . PF Collier & Son, 1899 (English).

personal data
SURNAME	Nassau-Siegen, Karl Heinrich von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Nassau Siegen, Charles Henri Nicolas Othon, prince de; Nassau-Siegen, Karl Heinrich Nikolaus Otto Prince of
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	French adventurer and marine
DATE OF BIRTH	January 5, 1743
PLACE OF BIRTH	Senarpont
DATE OF DEATH	April 10, 1808
Place of death	Tynna in Ukraine

[1] Emmanuel Ignatius von Nassau-Siegen (1688–1735), a younger son of Prince Johann Franz Desideratus von Nassau-Siegen (1627–1699), was with the French noblewoman Charlotte de Mailly-Nesle (1688–1769) from 1711 to 1718 married. The mother of Karl Heinrich von Nassau-Siegen was the French noblewoman Amicie de Monchy († 1752).

[Burkhardt_2018-2] Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymous plant names - Extended Edition. Part I and II. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin , Freie Universität Berlin , Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-946292-26-5 doi: 10.3372 / epolist2018 .

[3] Charles de Ligne: His Memoirs, Letters, and Miscellaneous Papers in 2 volumes . Ed .: CA Sainte-Beuve, Madame de Stael-Holstein. tape 7 . PF Collier & Son, 1899 (English).