Caroline of Pfalz-Zweibrücken

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Antoine Pesne : Countess Henriette Karoline von Hessen-Darmstadt with her Moor, around 1750 ( Darmstadt Castle Museum )
Landgravine Karoline Henriette of Hessen-Darmstadt

Karoline Henriette Christine Philippine Luise von Pfalz-Zweibrücken (born March 9, 1721 in Strasbourg ; † March 30, 1774 in Darmstadt ) was by marriage Landgrave of Hessen-Darmstadt , also known as the Great Landgrave Caroline of Hessen-Darmstadt .

Life

Origin and family

Karoline Henriette was the eldest daughter of the Count Palatine and Duke Christian III. von Zweibrücken (1674–1735) from his marriage to Karoline (1704–1774), daughter of Count Ludwig Kraft von Nassau-Saarbrücken . The princess grew up with her siblings Christian , Friedrich Michael and Christiane Henriette in Alsace and the southern Palatinate. Under the supervision of her mother, Karoline was trained extensively and carefully.

Landgrave of Hessen-Darmstadt

She married the later Landgrave Ludwig IX in Zweibrücken on August 20, 1741 . of Hessen-Darmstadt (1719–1790). The marriage was soon marked by arguments because of the differences between the spouses. Karoline Henriette was interested in music and literature, while Ludwig was mainly interested in the military. Ludwig was initially very fond of his wife, but she transformed the relationship into a toe of convenience . Karoline, who founded her own court four years after the marriage, mainly lived in Buchsweiler during the first years of the marriage , while her husband expanded Pirmasens into a garrison town. Buchsweiler was the residence of the County of Hanau-Lichtenberg , in which Ludwig acted as guardian. In 1750 Karoline followed her husband to Prenzlau , where he commanded a regiment as a Prussian general.

After the outbreak of the Seven Years' War and the assumption of government by her husband, he returned to Pirmasens and after another stay in Buchsweiler, Karoline finally moved into the residence in Darmstadt with the children. Karoline's artistic inclinations were limited by her husband's austerity measures, and her preferred parforce hunt was also banned. To relieve her finances, Karoline had a donut factory set up in Pfungstadt .

In the summer of 1761 she shot Ernestine Rosine Goll , a pregnant mistress of her husband, with a pistol in Pirmasens . However, it missed its target. At that time she had only lived with her husband for a few weeks a year for a long time.

Karoline was involved in the appointment of Friedrich Karl von Moser to Darmstadt in 1772 , who became Minister of State in 1780.

It was Friedrich Melchior Grimm who received a paid baronate from Karoline so that he would bring her marriageable daughters together with suitable European husbands.

Shortly before her death, Caroline witnessed the marriage of her daughter Wilhelmine to the Russian heir to the throne, later Tsar Paul I , which Frederick the Great had arranged.

The Great Landgrave

Karoline Henriette was better known as "The Great Landgrave", which Johann Wolfgang von Goethe had given her in his poetry and truth . She cultivated friendly relationships with various scholars of her time, such as Johann Gottfried Herder , Christoph Martin Wieland and Goethe, and was considered the most ingenious princess of her time. Wieland wanted the power to make her “Queen of Europe”.

Since the end of the 1740s, Karoline amassed an important library that was not for representative purposes but for private use. Reading was one of the established habits, whereby she preferred French philosophers and also processed what she had read in writing.

Tomb in the Herrngarten in Darmstadt

The Landgravine was in contact with Frederick II of Prussia and was one of the few women he respected. He once called her "admiration and admiration of our century" and on the occasion of her death he sent a marble urn with the Latin inscription "femina sexu, ingenio vir" (German: "by gender a woman, by spirit a man") to Darmstadt, which can still be seen today in the Herrngarten . Through her daughters, she became ancestral mother of the Prussian royal family or the later German imperial family and the Dutch royal family.

Karolinenplatz (Darmstadt) has been named in her honor since 1975 .

progeny

Henriette Karoline had the following children from their marriage:

⚭ 1768 Landgrave Friedrich V of Hessen-Homburg (1748–1820)
⚭ 1769 King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia (1744–1797)
  • Ludwig I (1753–1830), Grand Duke of Hesse and the Rhine
⚭ 1777 Princess Luise of Hessen-Darmstadt (1761–1829)
⚭ 1774 Hereditary Prince Karl Ludwig of Baden (1755–1801)
⚭ 1773 Grand Duke Paul, since 1796 Tsar Paul I of Russia (1754–1801)
⚭ 1775 Grand Duke Carl August of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (1757–1828)

literature

Web links

Commons : Karoline von Pfalz-Zweibrücken  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Heinrich Zehfu: Alterthümlichkeiten the residence city of Darmstadt. 1822, p. 84.
  2. ↑ Julius B. Lehnung: Beloved Pirmasens. Local history memories. Volume 1: 740-1790. Komet-Verlag, Pirmasens 1978, ISBN 3-920558-00-6 , p. 41.
  3. ^ Claudia Kollbach: Growing up at court: Enlightenment and princely education in Hesse and Baden. Campus Verlag, 2009, p. 36.
  4. ^ Wilhelm G. Jacobs: Read Schelling. Volume 3, Wallstein Verlag, 2004, p. 250.
  5. ↑ Anna Eunike Röhrig : Mistresses and Favorites - A Biographical Handbook , MatrixMedia Verlag GmbH, 2010, ISBN 978-3-932313-40-0 , pp. 138-140
  6. ^ German biography, online
  7. ^ Friedrich August Koethe, Friedrich Arnold Brockhaus: Contemporaries: Biographies and Characteristics. FA Brockhaus, 1830, p. 5.
  8. ^ Philipp A. Pauli: Darmstadt: A historical-topographical sketch and excursions in the surrounding area. Will, 1815, p. 89.
personal data
SURNAME Caroline of Pfalz-Zweibrücken
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Karoline Henriette Christiane of Pfalz-Zweibrücken; Karoline Henriette Christiane Luise Countess of Hesse-Darmstadt; Great Landgrave
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Landgrave of Hessen-Darmstadt
DATE OF BIRTH March 9, 1721
PLACE OF BIRTH Strasbourg
DATE OF DEATH March 30, 1774
Place of death Darmstadt