Ludwig III. (Hessen-Darmstadt)

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Ludwig III. of Hesse and the Rhine (born June 9, 1806 in Darmstadt ; † June 13, 1877 in Seeheim ) was Grand Duke of Hesse from 1848 to 1877 .

Ludwig III. Grand Duke of Hessen-Darmstadt. Lithograph by Josef Kriehuber , 1845
Ludwig III.
20 marks from 1873 with a portrait of Ludwig III.

Origin and childhood

Ludwig was the eldest son of Grand Duke Ludwig II of Hesse and from his marriage to Princess Wilhelmine of Baden (1788–1836), daughter of Hereditary Prince Karl Ludwig of Baden . The Hereditary Grand Duke was brought up together with his younger brother Karl ; he received military training and studied for two years at the University of Leipzig . From 1827 Ludwig went on educational trips to France, England, Austria, Italy and Belgium.

politics

Regarded as more open-minded than his father, Ludwig was the hope of liberalism during the March Revolution . He was appointed co-regent in Hesse on March 5, 1848, after his father had de facto abdicated. Shortly after the death of his father, he dismissed Karl du Thil , appointed Heinrich von Gagern Prime Minister and confirmed the “ March demands ”. He left the government largely to his ministers. In his views he was conservative, but realistic enough to realize his dreams of absolutism primarily in historical studies and the maintenance of traditional cultural assets. Strictly concerned with the sovereignty of his country, he tended towards the Austrian Empire rather than the Kingdom of Prussia . From 1850, the Hessian federal policy under the reactionary Prime Minister Reinhard Carl Friedrich von Dalwigk was aligned accordingly. After the defeat in 1866 , the separation of Upper Hesse could only be prevented through intervention by Tsar Alexander II , brother-in-law of the Grand Duke, who threatened to invade East Prussia . However, the Grand Duchy with the province of Upper Hesse had to join the North German Confederation , which it - completely against the intentions of Ludwig III. - bound in a considerable way to Prussia. Hessen-Homburg , the Hessian hinterland , Rödelheim and Königsberg (Biebertal) were lost to Prussia. As a small compensation, the Grand Duchy received the Amt (Bad) Nauheim and Rumpenheim , which had belonged to the now lost Electorate of Hesse .

He did not take part in the imperial proclamation in Versailles on January 18, 1871. At the instigation of Bismarck , the Grand Duke had to finally dismiss Dalwigk in 1871 after the Prussians had come across documents during the occupation of France in the Franco-Prussian War that proved that Dalwigk and Napoleon III. had conspired against Prussia .

After his second (morganatic) marriage in 1868, Ludwig III retired. back from public life, and the designated successor Ludwig (IV.) largely took over the tasks and business. After his death, Grand Duke Ludwig III. initially buried in the landgrave's crypt in the city ​​church of Darmstadt , in 1910 his coffin was transferred to the old mausoleum in Rosenhöhe Park .

family

Ludwig married Princess Mathilde Karoline of Bavaria (1813–1862), a daughter of King Ludwig I of Bavaria , on December 26, 1833 in Munich . The marriage remained childless.

After the death of his first wife, Ludwig morganatically married the ballet dancer Anna Magdalena Appel on June 20, 1868 in Darmstadt , who was elevated to the rank of “Baroness of Hochstätten” on the occasion of the marriage. He lived very withdrawn with his second wife at Seeheim Castle (in the vicinity of his brother, Prince Alexander , who lived at Heiligenberg Castle ) and the Braunshardt Castle , which had been bought for his nephew Ludwig IV .

ancestors

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Louis IX Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (1719–1790)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ludwig I Grand Duke of Hesse (1753–1830)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Caroline of Pfalz-Zweibrücken (1721–1774)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ludwig II. Grand Duke of Hesse (1777–1848)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Georg Wilhelm of Hessen-Darmstadt (1722–1782)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Luise Henriette Karoline of Hessen-Darmstadt (1761–1829)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Maria Luise Albertine zu Leiningen-Dagsburg-Falkenburg (1729-1818)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ludwig III. Grand Duke of Hesse
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Karl Friedrich Grand Duke of Baden (1728–1811)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Karl Ludwig von Baden (1755–1801)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Karoline Luise of Hessen-Darmstadt (1723–1783)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Wilhelmine of Baden (1788–1836)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Louis IX Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (1719–1790)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Amalie of Hessen-Darmstadt (1754–1832)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Caroline of Pfalz-Zweibrücken (1721–1774)
 
 
 
 
 
 

Note: Through inter-family marriages, Louis IX. Landgrave of Hessen-Darmstadt and his wife Karoline are two-time great-grandparents of Grand Duke Ludwig III. Through further inter-family marriages the situation arises that the common ancestors Ludwig VIII. Landgrave of Hessen-Darmstadt and his wife Charlotte are four times great-great-grandparents of Ludwig.

literature

Dedication inscription on the veteran memorial in Worms (excerpt)

in alphabetical order by authors / editors

  • Lars Adler : Grand Duke Ludwig III. von Hessen and Rhein as Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter . In: Archive for Hessian History and Archeology NF Vol. 70 (2012), pp. 77-106.
  • Adolf von Deitenhofen: Foreign princes in the Habsburg army 1848–1898 . Self-published, 1898, pp. 277–281.
  • Carl Knetsch : The House of Brabant: Genealogy of the dukes of Brabant and the landgraves of Hesse. Part 2. The descendants of Philip the Magnanimous . Philipps University of Marburg 1918. ( digital ).
  • Rainer Maaß: The longing for absolutism. The history and art interests of Grand Duke Ludwig III. from Hesse and the Rhine . In: Bernd Heidenreich u. a. (Ed.): Crowns, Wars, Arts. The House of Hesse in the 19th and 20th centuries . Frankfurt 2009, pp. 84–118.
  • Jochen Lengemann : MdL Hessen. 1808-1996. Biographical index (= political and parliamentary history of the state of Hesse. Vol. 14 = publications of the Historical Commission for Hesse. Vol. 48, 7). Elwert, Marburg 1996, ISBN 3-7708-1071-6 , p. 182.
  • Klaus-Dieter Rack, Bernd Vielsmeier: Hessian MPs 1820–1933. Biographical evidence for the first and second chambers of the state estates of the Grand Duchy of Hesse 1820–1918 and the state parliament of the People's State of Hesse 1919–1933 (= Political and parliamentary history of the State of Hesse. Vol. 19 = Work of the Hessian Historical Commission. NF Vol. 29) . Hessian Historical Commission, Darmstadt 2008, ISBN 978-3-88443-052-1 , No. 357.

Web links

Commons : Louis III, Grand Duke of Hesse  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dr. Theodor Toeche-Mittler: The imperial proclamation in Versailles on January 18, 1871 with a list of the festival participants , Ernst Siegfried Mittler and Son, Berlin 1896.
predecessor Office successor
Ludwig II. Grand Duke of Hesse
1848–1877 		Ludwig IV.
personal data
SURNAME Ludwig III.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hesse and by Rhine, Ludwig III. from
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Grand Duke of Hessen-Darmstadt
DATE OF BIRTH June 9, 1806
PLACE OF BIRTH Darmstadt
DATE OF DEATH June 13, 1877
Place of death Seeheim