Wilhelm Adolf von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel
Wilhelm Adolf von Braunschweig-Lüneburg (born May 18, 1745 in Wolfenbüttel , † August 24, 1770 near Oczaków ) was Duke of Braunschweig and Lüneburg and Prussian major general and collector of books.
Life
Wilhelm Adolf was the sixth son of Duke Charles I of Braunschweig († 1780) and his wife Philippine Charlotte of Prussia . He received his education from the two professors Johann Arnold Ebert and Karl Christian Gärtner of the Collegium Carolinum in Braunschweig . This resulted in his affection for literature and the beautiful sciences, but also his interest in mathematics.
He began his military career in 1761 as a company commander and lieutenant colonel in a body infantry regiment in Braunschweig, before he joined the Prussian army in October 1763 with his brother Friedrich August and was promoted to colonel. As company commander of the 39th Infantry Regiment, he moved into the Sanssouci Palace and was introduced to the world of the military by his uncle Friedrich II . At that time he wrote the Mexicade in French, a poem about the conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards . He competed with his former teacher Justus Friedrich Wilhelm Zachariae and also wrote a treatise on the art of warfare. During his stays in Königsberg he was instructed in higher mathematics by Johann Christian Ludwig Hellwig . In 1769 Wilhelm Adolf fell out of favor with Friedrich Wilhelm II because he sided with his sister in the marital dispute between him and his wife Elisabeth . So he left the Prussian court in 1770 and entered the Russian service as a lieutenant general. In this function he took part in the army of Prince Romanzow in the campaign against the Turks . He contracted an infection from which he died in 1770 in an army camp between Ishmael and Orzakow in southern Russia. His travel companion, the mathematician Hellwig, brought the prince's body to Braunschweig , where it was buried on December 12, 1770 in the ducal hereditary burial in Braunschweig Cathedral .
estate
Wilhelm Adolf had an extensive library of which around 2300 volumes were transferred to the Herzog August Library . These include works in English, French literature was preferred in the house of the Guelphs , contemporary works about Frederick the Great or the wars in Silesia . The written estate of Wilhelm Adolf is in the main state archive in Weimar .
literature
- Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Jerusalem: Draft of the character and the most noble living conditions of the most blessed Prince Wilhelm Adolph of Braunschweig and Lüneburg. Himburg, Berlin 1771, OCLC 257989069 .
- Christof Römer: Braunschweig-Bevern, A Princely House as a European Dynasty 1667–1884. In: Publications of the Braunschweigisches Landesmuseum. 84. Braunschweigisches Landesmuseum, Braunschweig 1997, ISBN 3-927-93938-2 , p. 71.
- Hans Schaper: Wilhelm Adolf Duke of Braunschweig and Lüneburg. In: Horst-Rüdiger Jarck , Dieter Lent et al. (Ed.): Braunschweigisches Biographisches Lexikon - 8th to 18th century . Appelhans Verlag, Braunschweig 2006, ISBN 3-937664-46-7 , p. 742 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Horst-Rüdiger Jarck , Dieter Lent et al. (Ed.): Braunschweigisches Biographisches Lexikon - 8th to 18th century . Appelhans Verlag, Braunschweig 2006, ISBN 3-937664-46-7 , p. 742 .
- ↑ Princely libraries of the 17th and 18th centuries. on hab.de, accessed on November 15, 2013.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Wilhelm Adolf von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Wilhelm Adolf von Braunschweig-Lüneburg-Wolfenbüttel |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Prussian colonel |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 18, 1745 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Wolfenbüttel |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 24, 1770 |
| Place of death | Oczaków |