Wolfgang Ernst II of Isenburg and Büdingen
Wolfgang Ernst II of Isenburg and Büdingen (born November 17, 1735 at Birstein Castle ; † February 3, 1803 in Offenbach am Main ) was Prince of Isenburg and Büdingen (Birstein line) from 1754 to 1803 .
Life
Wolfgang Ernst II came as the son of the Hereditary Prince to Isenburg and Büdingen Wilhelm Emich Christoph to Isenburg and Büdingen (* October 5, 1708 - January 31, 1741) and his wife Amalie Belgika, daughter of Count Carl August to Ysenburg and Büdingen in Marienborn (February 29, 1716 - January 2, 1799) to the world.
He married on September 20, 1760 on the Schaumburg an der Lahn ( Grafschaft Holzappel ) Sophie Charlotte , (April 3, 1743 - December 5, 1781), daughter of Prince Viktor I. Amadeus Adolf (Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym ) .
The following children resulted from this marriage:
- Ernestine Sophie Amalie (born September 25, 1761 - † April 22, 1763)
- Wolfgang Ernst (born September 21, 1762 - † December 5, 1762)
- Sophie Friederike Luise Auguste (January 27, 1765 - April 26, 1767)
- Carl I. Friedrich Ludwig Moritz , Prince of Isenburg and Büdingen, sovereign Prince of Isenburg from 1806 (born June 29, 1766; † March 21, 1820)
- Viktor Wilhelm Karl Friedrich (March 11, 1769 - March 21, 1770)
- Eleonore Friederike (born January 30, 1771 - † June 24, 1772)
- Wolfgang Ernst (* August 7, 1774 - † March 7, 1837)
- Viktor Amadeus (born September 10, 1776, † September 25, 1840)
Wolfgang Ernst II married a second time as a widower on August 20, 1783: Ernestine Esperance Victoria, daughter of Count Reuss-Greiz (* January 20, 1756; † December 2, 1819); no children were born from this marriage.
Act
Mercantilist economic development
Wolfgang Ernst's second residence ( Offenbach am Main ) was a day's journey from his first ( Birstein im Vogelsberg ). The prince was often drawn to Offenbach, his second residence, to which the upper government authorities and administrative bodies had long since moved. Its territory was divided into three parts, the Oberland around Wenings and Birstein , the Unterland around Langenselbold and the Oberamt Offenbach (the Offenbach residence and the city of Dreieich and part of the adjacent forests ). The place with the greatest industrial diligence was Offenbach.
In 1699 his predecessor took in French Réfugiés (refugees) who founded a colony: Neu-Isenburg , in Offenbach Huguenots (French Reformed community) came under. In the Oberland, on the other hand, after the Seven Years' War in 1763 there was emigration to North America, to the south-eastern European Banat ( Danube Swabia ) and a wave of emigration to Russia (1766). In Offenbach, privileges and freedoms in front of those who build on Offenbach from May 5, 1766 promoted the city expansion to the west in front of the Frankfurter Tor, where the new market square was built (the controlled development was continued in 1779 with an Explanatory Building Regulations ). Wolfgang Ernst used every opportunity to increase state revenue, which he tried to achieve by strengthening Offenbach's economic power, in particular by setting up luxury goods manufacturers. Around 1770 a new period of prosperity began, which lasted for around 20 years ("the great time of Offenbach manufactories" (according to KP Decker): silk manufacture, plush weaving, hat making, oilcloth manufacture , snuff and smoking tobacco manufacture, tobacco boxes, jewelry , gold and silver goods, Portfolio manufacturers , the first newspaper appeared in 1773, glasses makers, sealing wax manufacturers). The proportion of the Jewish population grew continuously (wool production, printing, a soap and light factory). Wolfgang Ernst promoted culture (literature and music - music publishing, sheet music printing, Senefelders lithography ); In 1791 a "Princely Isenburg Theater" was set up.
Debt Management and Avoidance
As the ruling prince , he took care of the regulation of the finances of his territory from the very beginning and set up his own debit commission , which was administered from Offenbach , to avoid national bankruptcy .
lifestyle
The Prince's successor, his son Carl , was born in Offenbach . The Isenburg Palace was no longer inhabited by the princely family, but rather lived in a house on the new Frankfurter Strasse - later in a corner house on the market square (Aliceplatz) - like citizens among citizens. He used to deal with poets: Johann Caspar Lavater , who advised him to take a three-week vacation, which he then took and visited Lavater in Switzerland (1782), Johann Heinrich Jung-Stilling and a number of others.
"Religious Freedom"
His liberality in economic matters also corresponded to his liberality in matters of faith, Jews and Catholics were allowed to practice their religion, he also tolerated "religious enthusiasts" and in 1787 left the Isenburg Palace to one of the most influential figures in the history of Judaism , who completely renounced the Land of Israel : Jakob Joseph Frank . As one of the first Jews, he was determined to open his people in Eastern Europe to the modern world, after they had waited for more than 250 years in medieval conditions and closed themselves off to the outside world. After two public disputations and the final exile Franks and his followers from the Jewish community followed Frank in Franco's the goal of building a separate, Franco's royal household in Europe, giving him according to his conversion to Catholicism and his elevation to the small Polish nobility towards the end of life also succeeded here as Baron von Offenbach on small, Protestant territory. The Isenburg Palace, sold to Frank for three million guilders, became a Frankist court and pilgrimage site for the Frankists from 1787 to 1817 . But there was no great power and privileges for Frank and his followers in Offenbach either. His messianic kingdom and Esau's prophesied victory over Edom had become a long way off.
politics
The best-known example of his liberalism and humanity is the abolition of serfdom on March 26, 1794 (in Prussia not until 1807, in Bavaria in 1818), which makes "some offensive impression by name". The Besthaupt (a kind of inheritance tax, namely the right to get the best head of cattle from a serf's death) was abolished without compensation.
literature
- Bernd Müller: The Principality of Isenburg in the Rhenish Confederation - From Territory to State , Büdingen (Fürstlich Isenburg and Büdingische Rentkammer) 1978, 271 pages
- Hans-Martin Kirn: German Late Enlightenment and Pietism their relationship within the framework of church-civil reform in Johann Ludwig Ewald (1748-1822) , Göttingen 1998, ISBN 3-525-55818-X , p. 40 ff., P. 93 f.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Klaus Peter Decker: Wolfgang Ernst II. Prince of Isenburg - a regent in the age of the Enlightenment. Builder of Birstein Castle and sponsor of Offenbach in: Mitteilungsblatt der Heimatstelle Main-Kinzig, year 1993 (issue 3), p. 194 ff.
- ↑ Wolfgang Ernst II. Prince of Isenburg - a regent in the Age of Enlightenment. Builder of Birstein Castle and sponsor of Offenbach in: Mitteilungsblatt der Heimatstelle Main-Kinzig, year 1993 (issue 3), p. 194 ff.
- ↑ Klaus S. Davidowicz: Between prophecy and heresy . Jakob Frank's life and teachings. Pp. 7, 155
- ↑ Gerhard Müller (Ed.): Theologische Realenzyklopädie - TRE, (Walter de Gruyter) Berlin 1983/93, p. 327 f. , ISBN 3-11-013898-0 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Isenburg and Büdingen, Wolfgang Ernst II. To |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German prince |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 17, 1735 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Birstein |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 3, 1803 |
| Place of death | Offenbach am Main |