Karl Ludwig von Leiningen-Dagsburg-Emichsburg

Karl Ludwig von Leiningen-Dagsburg-Emichsburg (born February 16, 1704 , on the Hardenburg , today Bad Dürkheim , † March 20, 1747 in Battenberg ) was a Count of Leiningen-Hardenburg , founder of the short-lived line or county "Leiningen-Emichsburg “ And General Palatinate .

Life

Origin and family

Portal of the Emichsburg in Bockenheim . Count Karl Ludwig mainly resided here and named his branch of the family after her.

Former Leininger Hofgut in Battenberg, where the count partly lived and died in 1747.

Martinskirche (Battenberg) . Count Karl Ludwig is buried here on the bottom floor of the tower.

Crypt chapel in Battenberg, resting place of Count Karl Ludwig and his son; There are no epitaphs.

Karl Ludwig was born as the youngest son of the ruling Count Johann Friedrich von Leiningen-Dagsburg-Hardenburg (1661–1722) and his second wife Katharina von Baden-Durlach , sister of Margrave Karl III. Wilhelm , the founder of the city of Karlsruhe .

The father died in 1722, and the surviving sons Karl Ludwig and his older brother Friedrich Magnus (1703-1756) remained as heirs of the County of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Hardenburg.

Both brothers were initially under the age of majority and were under the guardianship of their mother or her brother Karl Wilhelm von Baden. Originally Friedrich Magnus was supposed to inherit the entire County of Leiningen-Hardenburg, but the younger brother Karl Ludwig also raised claims to a part, which was in accordance with the prevailing house laws. As early as 1726 he had married Karolina Magdalena Wild and Rhine Countess zu Salm von Dhaun (1706–1786). In 1728 the land was divided.

Count of Leiningen-Emichsburg

Karl Ludwig received the so-called "Lower County of Leiningen-Hardenburg" , which included some villages and properties in the area around Grünstadt , but also included Bechtheim in Rhineland-Hesse as an exclave . Among the most important places were Klein- and Großbockenheim , where there was a modest, albeit rather desolate Leininger residence, the so-called Emichsburg , after which the new sovereign named his branch of the family. Battenberg with its castle of the same name was another important point of the new area, especially since a Leininger estate was located there. Count Karl Ludwig had the Emichsburg in Kleinbockenheim largely rebuilt in 1730 and resided there, but also partly on the Gut zu Battenberg; In 1731 he founded a Lutheran school in Großbockenheim.

Both brothers, like their parents, were of the Lutheran denomination, and the Catholic Church was strictly suppressed in the County of Leiningen-Hardenburg until 1700. It was only when Elector Johann Wilhelm von der Pfalz left the incline of the abolished Limburg Abbey to the Count's father as a fiefdom that the Catholics were allowed to practice their religion freely from 1700, with public services being limited to the three churches of Pfeffingen , Großbockenheim and Bechtheim . These regulations were retained even after the division of the area.

In 1736 Count Karl Ludwig and his wife converted to the Catholic faith. As a result, the restrictions directed against Catholicism fell away in their territory, the sovereign promoted it rather. In December 1736 he returned cult objects to the Catholic parish of Bockenheim that had been confiscated in Emichsburg for 140 years. He also had the destroyed pilgrimage chapel “Heiligenkirche” on the Bockenheimer Berg renovated and the source of grace there redesigned. In 1741 he demonstratively attended the Catholic service here. His new religious convictions provoked violent protests from the Protestant clergy and residents. They complained u. a. with the count's brother Friedrich Magnus, who in turn turned to King George II of England , who in 1741 sent a warning letter to Count Karl Ludwig. From this it emerges that the sovereign wanted to build a Capuchin monastery at the Bockenheimer chapel mentioned and had introduced the Catholic holidays as generally mandatory rest days in the county. Karl Ludwig also founded a Catholic school in Bockenheim. The religious disputes completely overshadowed his reign after the conversion.

Count Karl Ludwig was a knight of the Wittelsbach House Order of St. Hubertus and held the ranks of a general from the Palatinate and a colonel of the electoral Swiss guard .

He died in 1747 in the Leininger Gutshof zu Battenberg and was buried in the local Martinskirche , where one of his sons also rested.

Offspring and relatives

Karl Ludwig and his wife had two sons who died in infancy. The county therefore fell back on his death to his brother Friedrich Magnus, who reunited it with his part. The line "Leiningen-Emichsburg" newly established by him also became extinct in the male line.

Karl Ludwig's only daughter Katharina Louise (1735–1805) married Prince Theodor Alexander zu Löwenstein-Wertheim- Rochefort (1722–1780). They became the grandparents of Prince Karl Thomas zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg (1783–1849), who established the commitment of this family to the Catholic Church, which continues to this day, through his mindset over generations. His grandson Prince Karl IV zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg became a widower Dominican , the granddaughter Adelheid von Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg , exiled queen of Portugal, lived a widowed Benedictine and is the grandmother of the last Austrian Empress Zita .

Karl Ludwig's sister-in-law Sophie Charlotte von Salm-Dhaun (sister of his wife, 1719–1770) married Duke Johann von Pfalz-Zweibrücken-Gelnhausen in 1743 , progenitor of the dukes in Bavaria and commander-in-chief of the Palatinate Army .

Carl Friedrich Wilhelm , the first Prince of Leiningen (1724–1807), was the son of his brother Friedrich Magnus.

literature

• Johann Georg Lehmann : Documented history of the castles and mountain palaces in the former districts, counties and lordships of the Bavarian Palatinate , Volume 3, Kaiserslautern 1863, pp. 258 and 259; (Digital scan).
• Ludwig Stamer : Church history of the Palatinate , part 3, Pilger Verlag, Speyer 1959, p. 34; (Detail scan).
• Friedrich Schlatter: The Holy Church of Bockenheim through the ages , Progressdruck, Speyer 1994, pp. 31–34.
• Carl Eduard Vehse : History of the German courts since the Reformation , Volume 43, 6th department, 9th part, Hamburg 1858, p. 46; (Digital scan).

Individual evidence

1. ^ Website about the history of Bechtheim.
2. ^ Website on the history of the schools in Bockenheim.
3. ^ Website of the Holy Church Bockenheim with mention of the count.
4. ^ Anton Faber: European State Cantzley , Register, Volume 7, Frankfurt am Main 1752, pp. 412 and 413; (Digital scan).
5. ^ Anton Faber: European State-Cantzley , Volume 79, Frankfurt am Main 1741, pp. 25-28; (Digital scan of the king's letter).
6. ^ Gottlob Friedrich Krebel: European genealogical manual , Leipzig 1782, p. 6; (Digital scan).
7. ^ Genealogical website of Count Karl Ludwig von Leiningen.
8. ^ Family genealogical website.