Paul Wilhelm of Württemberg

Paul Wilhelm von Württemberg (born June 25, 1797 in Carlsruhe , Silesia , † November 25, 1860 in Mergentheim ) was the titular Duke of Württemberg and an important German natural scientist and explorer who undertook numerous research trips to North America , North Africa and Australia in the early 19th century . In 1829 he discovered the sources of the Missouri River .

biography

Duke Paul Wilhelm was the youngest son of Duke Eugen Friedrich Heinrich von Württemberg and Duchess Luise, born Princess zu Stolberg-Gedern. He was a nephew of the first King of Württemberg, Friedrich .

In the years 1822 to 1824, the Duke undertook his first major research trip to Cuba and North America. He kept a detailed diary in which he described the areas visited scientifically and ethnologically in detail. A draftsman made countless pictures of the landscapes, the plants and animals.

On April 17, 1827, in Regensburg , he married Princess Maria Sophia Dorothea von Thurn und Taxis, daughter of Prince Karl Alexander von Thurn and Taxis , who separated from him before the birth of his only son Maximilian (1828–1888). The marriage was then divorced on May 2, 1835.

On the occasion of his marriage, he was given the Mergentheim Palace as his residence, where he also kept the extensive ethnological collection he had acquired on his travels. In Carlsruhe in Upper Silesia he built the "Paulusburg" palace, which was not completed until the year he died.

Duke Paul devoted himself above all to the exploration of North and South America, and is one of the first to discover the Mississippi springs . In the 1850s he was still visiting Ottmar von Behr in Sisterdale , a Latin Settlement settlement in Texas . He was a member of the Academies of Sciences in Vienna, Saint Petersburg and London, had extensive correspondence with numerous European natural scientists and is counted among the most important natural scientists of the 19th century.

As a member of the royal house , Paul had a mandate in the Württemberg Chamber of Notaries since 1822 . Until 1847 he took part in the meetings personally, after which he was represented.

Lore

In Mergentheim Castle, Duke Paul Wilhelm had presented a huge collection of natural sciences, which he only wanted to have sold as a whole in his will. This did not materialize, and so the collection was scattered to the wind. Larger holdings of these can still be found in the Rosenstein Castle Natural History Museum in Stuttgart, in the Linden Museum in Stuttgart, and a smaller holdings are owned by the Ethnological Museum Berlin. The extensive legacy of records and illustrations (originally estimated at around 3,000 drawings) went to the Württemberg State Library in Stuttgart, where it was largely destroyed in 1944 by the effects of an air raid. Since the Duke did not publish very much during his lifetime and most of the estate was destroyed without being evaluated, Duke Paul Wilhelm von Württemberg was not properly recognized as a scientist and explorer.

Honors

1831: Honorary citizen of the city of Bad Mergentheim. 1845: Honorary member of the Association for Patriotic Natural History in Württemberg

A genus of the Bromeliad family (Bromeliaceae) was named after Friedrich Paul Wilhelm Duke of Württemberg by Julius Hermann Schultes . The genus is called Hohenbergia after him because he traveled under the name of Baron von Hohenberg on his voyages of discovery in North and South America. The genus Hohenbergiopsis L.B.Sm. & Read from the same family and Paulo-wilhelmia Hochst. from the acanthus family (Acanthaceae) is named after him.

Others

Friedrich Paul Wilhelm Duke of Württemberg was also a Freemason of the Trier Lodge "Zum Verein der Menschenfreunde" and Honorary Master of the Stuttgart Lodge "Zu den Drei Cedern".

He also gave a palm from northeast Africa in letters the name Medemia argun , which was then published by the palm researcher Hermann Wendland in the Botanische Zeitung, year 38, 1881, and is still valid today.

Works

Friedrich Paul Wilhelm Duke of Württemberg: Journey in North America during the years 1822, 1823 and 1824. First part. Mergentheim [Johann Georg Thomm printing works] 1828.
Paul Wilhelm Duke of Württemberg: First trip to Northern America in the years 1822 to 1824. Stuttgart and Tübingen 1835.

literature

P. Stälin : Friedrich Paul Wilhelm of Württemberg . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 25, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1887, p. 243 f.
Siegfried Augustin (ed.): Duke Paul Wilhelm von Württemberg, journey to northern America in the years 1822 to 1824 . Munich 1978.
Siegfried Augustin (Ed.): Paul Wilhelm von Württemberg, Travels and Forays in Mexico and North America 1849-1856 . Stuttgart and Vienna 1986.
Kazimierz Bobowski: Paul Duke of Württemberg . In: The House of Württemberg - A Biographical Lexicon . Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-17-013605-4
Monika Firla / Hermann Forkl: Duke Paul Wilhelm von Württemberg (1797-1860) and Africa (Sudan, Ethiopia, Kanuri and Afroamerica) . In: Tribus, NF 47/1998. Pp. 57-95.
Hans von Sachsen-Altenburg / Robert L. Dyer: Duke Paul of Wuerttemberg on the Missouri frontier, 1823, 1830 and 1851. Boonville / Missouri 1998.
Kilian Klann: The collection of Indian ethnographics from North America of Duke Friedrich Paul Wilhelm of Württemberg . Wyk auf Föhr 1999.
Monika Firla: Duke Paul Wilhelm of Württemberg. Naturalist, ethnographer, traveler, collector and museum founder . In: Gerhard Thaddey / Joachim Fischer (ed.): Pictures of life from Baden-Württemberg. Volume 20. Stuttgart 2001. pp. 226-257.
Heinz Bohn / Jan Ruben Haller: Hunting lodge of Duke Paul Wilhelm von Württemberg on the Hirschrain. In: Eight castles and palaces as well as a dream castle in the former Woellwarth villages of Essingen and Lauterburg. Print shop offeringkuch, Aalen, July 2015. DNB Sign. 2015 B 20485.
Heinz Bohn and Jan Ruben Haller: Duke Friedrich Paul Wilhelm von Württemberg and his hunting lodge on the Hirschrain near Bartholomä. Verlag BoD, Norderstedt, 2017. ISBN 978-3-7448-5505-1 . (E-book ISBN 978-3-7448-6339-1 )
Peter Tobias Lange / Monika Firla: The last journey in America of Paul Wilhelm Duke of Württemberg. Metzingen 2004.
Heike Paulsen: Medical considerations within the travel diaries about North America by Paul Wilhelm von Württemberg, Prince Maximilian zu Wied and Duke Bernhard zu Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach. Diss. March 16, 2011. Printed with the permission of the Medical Faculty of the University of Cologne 2011.

Individual evidence

↑ Kazimierz Bobowski: Paul , in: Das Haus Württemberg , p. 368 f.
^ Honorary members of the Association for Patriotic Natural History in Württemberg
↑ ^a ^b Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymic 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 .
^ Günther Schweizer: Lived utopia. On the trail of the Freemasons in Württemberg . Schwäbische Heimat, Volume 69, Issue 3, Page 378, July-September 2018.
^ The International Plant Names Index. [1]

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Württemberg, Paul Wilhelm von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Duke Paul Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German naturalist and explorer
DATE OF BIRTH	June 25, 1797
PLACE OF BIRTH	Carlsruhe , Silesia
DATE OF DEATH	November 25, 1860
Place of death	Mergentheim

[1] Kazimierz Bobowski: Paul , in: Das Haus Württemberg , p. 368 f.

[2] Honorary members of the Association for Patriotic Natural History in Württemberg

[Burkhardt_2018-3] Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymic 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 .

[Schweizer-4] Günther Schweizer: Lived utopia. On the trail of the Freemasons in Württemberg . Schwäbische Heimat, Volume 69, Issue 3, Page 378, July-September 2018.

[IPNI-5] The International Plant Names Index. [1]