Ludwig Günther II. (Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt)

Ludwig Günther II of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt

Ludwig Günther II of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt , (also Ludwig Günther IV. ), (Born October 22, 1708 in Rudolstadt ; † August 29, 1790 ibid) was the ruling Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt from 1767 to 1790 and belonged to the House of Schwarzburg .

Life

Ludwig Günther was the youngest son of Prince Ludwig Friedrich I of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and his wife Anna Sophie , born Princess of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg . The prince grew up as the thirteenth and youngest child with seven sisters and three brothers in Rudolstadt. Since he was only fourth in the line of succession, and since 1726 second, he was one of the apanaged princes. Between 1722 and 1731 Ludwig Günther hardly stayed in Rudolstadt; he only visited the principality twice. First he began studying in Utrecht in 1722 , where lectures on constitutional law were heard. This was followed by a stay in Geneva in 1723 and the return to Utrecht. The prince had health problems, so Italy was chosen as the travel destination in 1724. There he could admire the country's works of art. The trip ended in 1725 with visits to Geneva and Bern .

Ludwig Günther accepted a post in Milan in the service of Austria from 1726 to 1731 . Due to hearing problems, he ended his military career at his own request. Back in Rudolstadt he lived between 1731 and 1733 on the Friedensburg and then on the Heidecksburg . In 1734 the construction of Ludwigsburg Palace as the future residence was started below the Heidecksburg . The baroque palace was named Ludwigsburg in his honor and was ready to move into in 1742. A ceiling fresco in the castle shows Ludwig Günther with Greek gods. After the death of his nephew, Prince Johann Friedrich , he moved from Ludwigsburg to Heidecksburg in 1767 as ruler of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt.

Since then, the palace has served as the princely drawing school and natural history cabinet of Hereditary Prince Friedrich Karl . Ludwig Günther had a coin cabinet built here as early as 1738 . His mother, who owned a collection of rarities herself, awakened her son's passion for collecting, who was able to inspect the important coin collection of his uncle, Duke Friedrich II of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg , when he visited Gotha as a child . Its collection, together with the coin collection of Prince Anton Günther from Arnstadt, which was purchased in 1712 , was one of the most important of its kind in the 18th century and also showed over 600 German bracteates in a separate medieval collection. After moving to Heidecksburg, Prince Ludwig Günther II had his coin collection moved here, expanded it with coin cabinets and targeted coin purchases, and archived the collection in 1776. Since there was little interest among his successors and some of them were lost, there were 1,710 exhibits in 1919, which are now part of the 5,000-piece coin collection at Heidecksburg.

12 horse pictures painted by Prince Ludwig Günther II of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt; exhibited in the Heidecksburg; originally from the horse room of Schloss Schwarzburg

In 1767 Ludwig Günther became a prince at an advanced age. Government affairs were done by Chancellor Christian Ulrich von Ketelholdt . There was a good relationship with him and regular social contact was maintained. So the reign was de facto done by the Chancellor. The prince had various occupations, among other things he was very enthusiastic about horses. In 1778, Prince Ludwig Günther II laid the foundation stone for the palace library, which now has around 7,000 books, with the establishment of a court library in the west wing of Heidecksburg. In addition to portfolios that the prince brought back from Italy, he also had works by renowned artists purchased. The scholar Hirsching , in his description of interesting libraries in Germany from 1786, emphasizes the part of the prince who enriched the library with his tasteful copper engraving collection of several thousand pieces, including the Hogarthic copper . 1784 gave the prince three from Dessau had moved Jewish a trading families concession and thus laid the foundation for the emergence of a Jewish community in Rudolstadt.

Ludwig Günther II died on August 29, 1790 and was followed by his son Friedrich Karl as ruling prince.

Marriage and offspring

Ludwig Günther married Countess Sophie Henriette Reuss zu Untergreiz (1711–1771) in Greiz on October 22, 1733 . The following four children were born from this marriage:

• Friederike Sophie (* / † 1734)
• Christiane Friederike (born July 5, 1735 - † April 17, 1788), Canon of Gandersheim
• Friedrich Karl (1736–1793), Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
• Christian Ernst (* / † 1739)

See also

• Family list of the Schwarzburg family

literature

• The Princes of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt , Thuringian State Museum Heidecksburg, Rudolstadt 1997 (3rd edition 2001), ISBN 3-910013-27-9
• Heinrich Friedrich Theodor Apfelstedt : The House of Kevernburg-Schwarzburg from its origins to our time: depicted in the family tables of its main and secondary lines and with biographical notes on the most important members of the same , Bertram, Sondershausen 1890, ISBN 3-910132-29-4
• Johann Christian August Junghans: History of the black castle regents , Leipzig 1821 E-Text
• Heinrich Schöppl: The regents of the Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt , Rudolstadt 1915

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.thueringen.info/rudolstadt-ludwigsburg.html Ludwigsburg Palace
2. ↑ The coin and medal collection , Doreen Winker (PDF; 18 kB), accessed on October 9, 2011
3. ↑ Residenzschloss Heidecksburg - The Coin Collection , accessed on October 9, 2011
4. ↑ Residenzschloss Heidecksburg - The Castle Library , accessed on October 9, 2011
5. ^ Thuringian State Museum Heidecksburg - Graphic Collection , accessed on October 9, 2011
6. ^ Thuringian State Museum Heidecksburg - Regional History Collection , accessed on October 9, 2011

predecessor	Office	successor
Johann Friedrich	Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt 1767–1790	Friedrich Karl