Charlotte, Princess Royal and Queen Consort of Württemberg. Part II.

Marriage

On May 18, 1797, the Princess Royal was married at the Chapel Royal, St James’s Palace, London, to Friedrich, Hereditary Prince of Württemberg, the eldest son and heir apparent of Friedrich II Eugene, Duke of Württemberg and his wife, Margravine Sophia Dorothea of Brandenburg-Schwedt.

The younger Friedrich succeeded his father as the reigning Duke of Württemberg on December 22, 1797. Duke Friedrich III had two sons and two daughters by his first marriage to the late Princess Augusta (1764 – 1788), the daughter of Duke Charles II of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and Princess Augusta of Great Britain (the elder sister of George III); Princess Augusta was also the elder sister of Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel the estranged wife of the future George IV (then Prince of Wales). The marriage between Duke Friedrich and the Princess Royal produced one child: a stillborn daughter on April 27, 1798.

In 1800, the French army occupied Württemberg and the Duke and Duchess fled to Vienna. The following year, Duke Friedrich concluded a private treaty that ceded Montbéliard to France and brought him Ellwangen in exchange two years later.

He assumed the title Elector of Württemberg on February 25, 1803. In exchange for providing France with a large auxiliary force, Napoleon recognized the Elector as King of Württemberg on December 26, 1805. Electress Charlotte became Queen when her husband formally ascended the throne on January 1, 1806 and was crowned as such on the same day at Stuttgart in the final months of the Holy Roman Empire.

Württemberg seceded from the Holy Roman Empire and joined Napoleon’s short-lived Confederation of the Rhine. However, the newly elevated king’s alliance with France technically made him the enemy of his father-in-law, King George III. George III, incensed by his son-in-law’s assumption of the title and his role as one of Napoleon’s most devoted vassals, accordingly refused to address his daughter as “Queen of Württemberg” in correspondence.

Picture: King Friedrich I of Württemberg

In 1813, King Friedrich changed sides and went over to the Allies, where his status as the brother-in-law of the Prince Regent (later George IV) helped his standing. After the fall of Napoleon, he attended the Congress of Vienna and was confirmed as king. He died on October 30, 1816. King Friedrich was known for his size: at 2.12 m (6 ft 11 in) and about 200 kg (440 lb).

Dowager Queen

The Dowager Queen of Württemberg continued to live at the Ludwigsburg Palace, near Stuttgart, and received visits from her younger siblings, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex, Prince Adolphus Frederick, Duke of Cambridge, Princess Elizabeth, Landgravine of Hesse-Homburg, and Princess Augusta Sophia.

Picture: The Dowager Queen of Württemberg

The Dowager Queen of Württemberg was a godmother (by proxy) at the christening of her niece, Princess Victoria of Kent (the future Queen Victoria), in 1819. In 1827, she returned to Britain for the first time since her wedding in 1797 in order to have surgery for dropsy.

She died at Ludwigsburg Palace on October 6, 1828 aged 62 and is buried in its royal vault.

September 29, 1766: Birth of Charlotte, Princess Royal and Queen Consort of Württemberg. Part I.

Tags

3rd Duke of Portland, Anne Princess Royal, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz., Charlotte Princess Royal, Frederick I of Württemberg, George III of Great Britain, George III of the United Kingdom, Lord Chamberlain, Queen of Württemberg, St. James Palace, William Cavendish-Bentnick

Charlotte, Princess Royal (Charlotte Augusta Matilda; September 29, 1766 – October 5, 1828), was Queen of Württemberg as the wife of King Friedrich I. She was the first daughter and fourth child of King George III of the United Kingdom and his wife, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

Princess Charlotte was born on September 29, 1766 at Buckingham House, London, to British monarch, King George III and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. She was christened on October 27, 1766 at St James’s Palace by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Secker, and her godparents were her paternal aunts Caroline Matilda and Louisa, along with Caroline Matilda’s husband King Christian VII of Denmark and Norway, Lord Chamberlain William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, and the Dowager Countess of Effingham, stood proxy for the King and Queen of Denmark.

Charlotte was officially designated as Princess Royal on June 22, 1789. The previous Princess Royal, Anne, was the second child and eldest daughter of King George II of Great Britain and his consort Caroline of Ansbach. She was the spouse of Willem IV, Prince of Orange. Princess Anne died on January 12, 1759 leaving the title Princess Royal vacant for thirty years.

After the birth of three sons in a row, her parents were delighted to have a Princess in the nursery. Like all of her siblings, Charlotte was inoculated, in her case, in December 1768 along with her brother William. As the eldest daughter of the monarch, Charlotte was assumed to be destined for an important marriage on the continent, and her education was considered to be of the utmost importance, beginning when she was only eighteen months old.

Since French was the official language in every European court at the time, the little Princess was given a Frenchwoman to be her tutor, in order that she should have no accent. She was taught to recite little verses and stories, and as a result had an almost uncanny ability to recall detail for the rest of her life.

Her early childhood was not all scholarly pursuits. When she was almost three years old, she took place in her first tableau dressed like Columbine, where she danced with her seven-year-old brother George, Prince of Wales. She was not a naturally musical child and later abhorred such displays of children, declaring that they made children vain and self-important.

However, this did not stop her parents from continuing to show her off. In late 1769, she and the Prince of Wales were once again displayed, this time to the public in a “junior drawing room” in St James’s Palace. Charlotte was dressed in a Roman toga and lay on a sofa.

Though this type of thing was common in German courts, it was considered vulgar in England, where in reaction a London mob drove a hearse into the Palace courtyard. Afterward, the Prince of Wales told Lady Mary Coke that the whole event had made Charlotte “terribly tired”. Wisely, the King and Queen decided to never repeat the experience.

Though she was the eldest daughter, Charlotte was constantly compared to her sister Augusta Sophia, only two years younger than she. When Augusta was a month old, Lady Mary Coke called her “the most beautiful baby I have ever seen” while she considered that Charlotte was “very plain”.

Passing judgment once again three years later, Charlotte was now “the most sensible agreeable child I ever saw, but in my opinion far from pretty” while Augusta was still “rather pretty”. Although the Princess Royal was never as beautiful as her younger sister, she did not share in Augusta’s primary flaw: painful shyness. Charlotte also had a stammer that her attendant Mary Dacres tried to help her young charge manage.

September 29, 1276: Birth of Christopher II, King of Denmark.

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Eric VI of Denmark, Gerhard III of Holstein-Rendsburg, Jutland, King Christopher II of Denmark, King Magnus IV of Sweden, Valdemar Atterdag, Valdemar IV of Denmark

Christopher II (September 29, 1276 – August 2, 1332) was King of Denmark from 1320 to 1326 and again from 1329 until his death. He was a younger son of Eric V of Denmark and Agnes of Brandenburg, daughter of Johann I, Margrave of Brandenburg (d. 1266) and Brigitte of Saxony, the daughter of Albrecht I, Duke of Saxony.

King Christopher II is connected with national disaster, as his rule ended in an almost total dissolution of the Danish state.

Being the brother of King Eric VI who served as King of Denmark from 1286 til 1319, Christopher was a possible heir to the throne. As a young man with the title of Duke of Estonia, he supported the politics of his brother. Among other things he arrested Archbishop Jens Grand in 1294. But later on he joined the opposition and went into exile at the death of Eric VI in 1319.

The magnates wanted a weak royal power, and Christopher was elected as king in January 1320; in return he signed a contractual håndfæstning, the first time this kind of document was used as a coronation charter. He received a “bankrupt estate” in which entire regions of the kingdom were mortgaged to German and Danish magnates.

The conditions of the charter were very hard, because they limited his ability to assess taxes, as well as demanded payments on the mortgages. Christopher II could make no decision regarding the realm without the consent of the nobility and the bishops.

The privileges of the nobility and the church were included in the charter and new ones were included. No bishop could be imprisoned, exiled, or fined without the pope’s approval, no secular court could try any churchman, no church land or property could be taxed, the nobles could raise fees or rents on peasants, no noble could be forced to fight abroad or forced to pay to outfit soldiers to fight abroad, the king was required to ransom captured noblemen within a year, all taxes imposed since the reign of Valdemar Sejr on nobles or church were to be lifted, but the kingdom’s debts were to be paid. This shift of power away from the king would last until 1660.

Despite signing the charter, King Christopher II ruled as if it did not exist. Since he could not tax the church or Danish nobles he levied disastrous taxes on the German territories and peasants. During the following years Christopher tried to strengthen his position by reviving Erik’s policy of warfare against the duchies, counties, and cities of northern Germany. This resulted in new mortgages and taxes, and very soon he was in conflict with both the church and the magnates.

During a rebellion in 1326 he was overthrown by an alliance between Danish magnates and Gerhard III, Count of Holstein-Rendsburg and Johann I, Count of Holstein-Kiel, son of Adolf IV of Holstein).

Christopher was forced into abdication and exile, while the 12-year-old Duke Valdemar of Southern Jutland was made King of Denmark, with Count Gerhard as regent. They forced Valdemar in his coronation charter to separate southern Jutland from Denmark so that never again would the King of Denmark rule there.

Danish nobleman Knud Porse took Halland for himself for his services to Count Gerhard and Count Johann. The squabbling over who got which pieces of Denmark broke down the alliances which had forced Christopher out of the country.

Until 1329 Christopher lived in exile, but a growing chaos in the “magnates’ republic” of Denmark gave him another chance. Frictions developed between Gerhard and his cousin Johan the mild, Count of Schauenburg and Holstein-Plön and Holstein-Kiel who was also Christopher’s half-brother through his widowed mother’s marriage to Gerhard II, Count of Holstein-Plön.

Suddenly, with the help of Heinrich of Mecklenburg, Christopher stood poised at Vordingborg with 2000 mounted German knights. Unfortunately for Christopher they allowed themselves to be surrounded and were forced to surrender.

After a peasant uprising in Jutland which was crushed ruthlessly by Count Gerhard, the peasants in Skåne begged King Magnus IV of Sweden to rule them. He readily accepted and Denmark ceased to exist as a united kingdom.

Christopher was restored as King of Denmark in 1329–1330 with the cooperation of Count Johan, but this time he was reduced to the position of a puppet from the start. Most of his country was mortgaged, and he had no chance of holding real royal power.

Jutland for example was mortgaged for 100,000 silver marks which had to be “laid on the table all at once” or the mortgage was not redeemed. It was an enormous mortgage and impossible to pay. Count Gerhard took all of Jutland as his personal property. Count Johan did the same on Funen and Zealand.

In 1331 Christopher attempted to exploit a conflict between Counts Gerhard and Johan by joining the latter, but it ended in a clear military defeat at Dannevirke. Under the terms of the settlement between the counts, Christopher was allowed to retain the title of king, but in reality had no power whatsoever.

He was given a simple house at Sakskøbing on Lolland, but even that was burned by German mercenaries. Christopher was imprisoned at Ålholm Castle on Lolland where he died a ruined and broken man the next year. He was buried at Sorø Abbey.

Upon his death Denmark ceased being a formal kingdom, and for the next eight years it was subdued by various mortgagees to German military rule.

Legacy

History’s judgment of Christopher has been extremely hard, and he has often been regarded as a weak, unreliable and incapable tyrant— “the king who mortgaged Denmark to the Germans”. He in many ways simply carried on the policy of his predecessor.

The policy of mortgaging parts of Denmark was common practice by nobles and kings alike to raise money. It would be incorrect to call him a passive ruler; the power of the Danish and German high nobility and their co-operation with church establishment undermined his freedom of action.

Marriage

In 1300 King Christopher II married Euphemia of Pomerania (1285 – 1330) the daughter of Bogislaw IV, Duke of Pomerania, and his second spouse, Margarete of Rügen.

The marriage was likely a politically arranged marriage to provide Christopher with political support from the dynasty of her mother as well as that of her father. Not much is known about queen Euphemia.

Aftermath

During the interregnum of 1332–40, Gerhard III, Count of Holstein-Rendsburg was the real ruler of what had been Denmark being the lord of both Jutland and Funen, leaving the rest of the country to Johan III, Count of Holstein-Plön.

The result of Gerhard’s control was a growing opposition against the foreign rule within the Danish gentry that had earlier supported him. Peasant rebellions and lawlessness at sea led to increasing chaos and Gerhard was put under pressure from the neighbouring German states which now supported Christopher II son Valdemar Atterdag to be installed as king.

Gerhard seems to have prepared to compromise in return for his outstanding debts being dealt with but before a solution was the reached in the spring of 1340 he started a new campaign against rebels in North Jutland. During the campaign he was slain in the town of Randers by the Danish squire Niels Ebbesen who had entered his bedroom together with some of his men.

His death meant the end of Holstein rule in Denmark. Gerhard’s two sons gave up their right to Gerhard’s titles in Denmark and Valdemar IV was subsequently placed on the Danish throne.

September 28: Birth of Friedrich Christian II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg.

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Caroline Matilda of Great Britain, Christian VII of Denmark, Denmark, Frederik VI of Denmark, Friedrich Christian II of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, Johann Friedrich Struensee

Friedrich Christian II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg (September 28, 1765 – June 14, 1814) was a Danish prince and feudal magnate. He held the island of Als and some other castles (such as Sonderborg) in Schleswig.

Life

Friedrich Christian II was born the eldest son of Friedrich Christian I, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg (1721–1794), by his wife and cousin Princess Charlotte of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Plön (1744–1770). Until his father’s death, he was styled “Hereditary Prince of Augustenborg”.

He was a prince with an exceptionally high level of Danish blood in his ancestry: his maternal grandmother, paternal grandmother, and paternal great-grandmother having been born, respectively, Countess of Reventlow, Countess of Danneskiold-Samsøe, and Countess of Ahlefeldt-Langeland.

Friedrich Christian II was closely related to all important families of the Danish high nobility of the time. The negative side was that his ancestry was rather too much “comital” and too little royal. Instead of including royal princesses and duchesses of small and large German states, as was customary with the Oldenburg royal family, their marriage connections had been mostly with the nobility (chiefly of Denmark).

Thus, although they were undoubtedly the senior cadet line of the royal house of Denmark (Oldenburg), the family was regarded as a bit lower than the Ebenbürtige which the rulers of small Germany principalities thought to be the standard.

By marriage, however, Friedrich Christian II drew closer to his cousins, the Danish royal family. In 1786, the twenty-year-old hereditary prince married his distant cousin, the fourteen-year-old Louise Auguste of Denmark and Norway (1771–1843), purported daughter of Christian VII of Denmark by his wife, the late Queen Caroline Mathilde. Louise Auguste’s father, the king, was a man with mental disabilities and, throughout his reign, effective control was in the hands of other people (ranging from his step-mother to his wife to his half-brother to various courtiers).

The king’s mental condition, and his unharmonious relationship with his wife, gave rise to speculation that Louise had been sired by someone other than him, and rumour awarded fatherhood to Johann Friedrich Struensee, the king’s court physician and de facto regent of the country at the time of Louise’s birth. Indeed, she was at times referred to as la petite Struensee.

The truth of the matter cannot be definitely ascertained.
The story of antecedents of the prince’s marriage goes as follows: In February 1779, the nation’s foremost statesman, Chief Minister Count Andreas Peter Bernstorff, hatched an ingenious plan for the young princess, something that often has been customary with a royal child suspected of not being sired by its nominal father but in its mother’s illicit liaison: to marry such a child to another member of the royal house.

Since a male child of hers could inherit the throne some day, it would be advantageous to arrange a marriage early, and to marry the “half-royal” back into the extended royal house, to the Hereditary Prince of Augustenborg.

This plan had the positive effect of more closely connecting the Danish royal house’s two lines, the ruling House of Oldenborg and the cadet House of Augustenborg, thus not only discouraging any breakup of the kingdom but also forestalling the possibility of a foreigner gaining influence into Danish affairs through marriage with her. This would certainly happen, for instance, if Louise were to marry her closer relations, the Swedish royals.

The danger of Louise Auguste marrying into the Swedish royal house (the latter danger was rather low, however: at that time, there were Swedish princes only twenty years or more her senior, and her first cousin, the future King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden, had just been born when she already was seven).

Binding agreements were made as early as in 1780, when Friedrich Christian was 15 and Louise was only 9 years old. Five years later, in the spring of 1785, the young Friedrich Christian came to Copenhagen. The engagement was announced then, and a year later, on May 27, 1786, the wedding was celebrated at Christiansborg Palace.

The couple lived at the Castle for many years until the Christiansborg Palace fire of 1794 and the death of his father, the Duke of Augustenborg Friedrich Christian I, at which point the prince inherited the estate and the duchy. After 1794, the couple lived during the summer on the island of Als and at Gråsten.

The couple had three children:

• Caroline Amalie (born September 28, 1796, at Copenhagen; died March 9, 1881), married 1815 Prince Christian Friedrich of Denmark (died 1848), the future Christian VIII of Denmark and earlier, 1814, briefly proclaimed king of Norway before the Swedish conquest; became Queen of Denmark; she died childless in 1881, then the Queen Dowager of Denmark.
• Christian August II (born July 19, 1798, at Copenhagen; died March 11, 1869), the Duke of Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg who was to become a pivotal figure in the Question of Schleswig-Holstein in the 1850s and 1860s; so as not to offend Danish national feelings, he was married in 1820 to a Danish relative, Countess of Danneskjold-Samsoe (Lovisa-Sophie Danneskjold-Samsøe, 1797–1867), a kinswoman of the kings of Denmark, belonging to a bastard branch of House of Oldenburg; Duke Christian sold his rights to the Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein to Denmark in aftermath of Treaty of London but later renounced his rights to the Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein in favor of his son Friedrich August; he was the brother-in-law of King Christian VIII of Denmark, nephew of Frederik VI of Denmark, and father of, amongst others, Friedrich August (Friedrich Christian August), Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg (born 1829 at Augustenborg, he was nephew of the Danish king himself, after whose death in 1863 he claimed to succeed as Duke of Schleswig-Holstein; died in 1880, living one surviving son and a number of daughters).
• Frederick Emil August (born August 23, 1800, at Kiel; died July 2, 1865, at Beirut), the “Prince” of Nør (Noer); he was married in 1829 to Countess Henriette Danneskjold-Samsøe (1806–1858), a Danish noblewoman belonging to a bastard branch of the House of Oldenburg; in 1864, he was created Prinz von Noer (“Prince of Noer”); he was father of:
  • Friedrich Christian Charles August (born at Gottorp in 1830; died at Noer in 1881), who married Carmelita Eisenblat; and
  • Luise Karoline Henriette Auguste, Graefin von Noer (born at Schleswig in 1836; died in 1866), who married Michael Vlangali-Handjeri.

Over the years, conflict arose between Duke Friedrich Christian II and Louise Auguste’s brother, King Frederik VI of Denmark, especially over the relationship of the double-duchies of Schleswig-Holstein and the Duke’s own small appanage around Sonderborg on the one hand and the Danish monarchy on the other. His wife remained loyal to the Danish royal house throughout these differences. The marriage eventually fell into acrimony and reproach, and Frederick Christian tried to legally limit Louise Auguste’s influence over their children’s futures.

In 1810, Frederik Christian’s younger brother Charles August was chosen by the estates of the Swedish realm as that nation’s crown prince, to succeed the elderly and childless King Carl XIII. Following Charles August’s death in May 1810, Frederik Christian himself was the leading candidate to become the new heir to the Swedish throne. On August 8, 1810 he was elected crown prince by the estates. His election however, was reconsidered and withdrawn two weeks later and Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, Marshal of France and Prince of Ponte Corvo, was elected instead.

Frederik Christian II died on June 14, 1814. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Christian August II, then but sixteen years old. Louise Auguste took control of the Augustenborg estates and the children’s upbringing. The estates were turned over to the son and heir on his return from an extended foreign tour in 1820.

September 28, 1322: Battle of Mühldorf.

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Battle of Müldorf, Electoral Collage, Frederick I of Austria, Holy Roman Emperor Louis IV, House of Habsburg, House of Luxembourg, House of Wittelsbach, Imperial Elector, John the Blind of Bohemia

From The Emperor’s Desk: I generally am not too interested in wars and battles but this was an important battle in the History of the Holy Roman Empire.

The Battle of Mühldorf (also Battle of Ampfing) was fought near Mühldorf am Inn on September 28, 1322 between the Duchy of (Upper) Bavaria and Austria. The Bavarians were led by the Holy Roman Emperor Ludwig IV of the Bavarian House of Wittelsbach, while the Austrians were under the command of his cousin, Friedrich the Fair from the House of Habsburg, was Duke of Austria and Styria from 1308 as Friedrich I as well as King of Germany (King of the Romans) from 1314 (anti-king until 1325) as Friedrich III until his death.

picture: Friedrich I of Austria

Background

The early 14th century had the powerful dynasties of Habsburg, Luxembourg, and Wittelsbach rivaling for the rule over the Holy Roman Empire, while the Prince-Electors were anxious not to allow one noble family to install their dynasty permanently turning the Holy Roman Empire into a hereditary monarchy.

After the death of Emperor Heinrich VII of the House of Luxembourg in 1313, the Electoral Collage denied the succession of his son Johann, (1296 – 1346) who was the Count of Luxembourg from 1313 and King of Bohemia from 1310 and titular King of Poland.

Instead the Electoral Collage accorded its favor to Ludwig of Wittelsbach and Friedrich of Habsburg, but were split over the question of whom to choose. I’ve already mentioned the credentials of Friedrich the Fair, here is some background on Ludwig of Wittelsbach.

He was the son of Ludwig II, Duke of Upper Bavaria and Count Palatine of the Rhine, and Matilda of Austria, a daughter of King Rudolph I of Germany, of the House of Habsburg. Ludwig (III) was Duke of Upper Bavaria from 1294/1301 together with his elder brother Rudolf I, served as Margrave of Brandenburg until 1323, and as Count Palatine of the Rhine until 1329, and he became Duke of Lower Bavaria.

Therefore, because the Electoral Collage was split in 1314, a double election took place at Frankfurt. Cologne, the Electorate of the Palatinate, Bohemia, and the Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg voted for Friedrich of Habsburg as Rex Romanorum.

Mainz, Archbishopric of Trier, Brandenburg and Elector Johann II of Saxe-Lauenburg (whose electoral dignity was denied by their Saxe-Wittenberg cousins) adopted Ludwig of Bavaria.

The draw resulted in a protracted conflict with violent fights, in which both sides tried to gain the support of the Imperial estates. In addition, Ludwig had to settle the domestic dispute with his brother Count Palatine Rudolf I (who had voted against him), which finally ended with Rudolf’s death in 1319.

Meanwhile, Friedrich continued his campaigns into Bavaria, devastating Ludwig’s’ duchy several times without meeting much resistance.

The battle

In 1322, Friedrich, encouraged by his previous expeditions, allied with the Bishop of Passau and the Salzburg Archbishopric. Their armed forces met on September 24 near Mühldorf on the Inn River, where Friedrich expected the arrival of further troops from Further Austria, led by his brother Leopold.

The battle did not go well for the Austrians. Ludwig had forged an alliance with King Johann of Bohemia and Burggrave Friedrich IV of Nuremberg (of the House of Hohenzollern) and on September 28 reached Mühldorf with a sizable army, including 1,800 knights and 500-600 mounted Hungarian archers.

Meanwhile, Leopold’s relief troops were barred from reaching the battlefield in time. Despite this unfavorable situation Friedrich agreed to meet Ludwig’s knights at once.

Friedrich’s army was defeated by Ludwig’s army outnumbering forces under high losses on both sides. More than 1,000 noblemen from Austria and Salzburg were captured, as was Friedrich himself and his younger brother, Heinrich the Friendly.

Aftermath

Though Emperor Ludwig IV had prevailed, his Imperial title remained contested, especially by Pope John XXII and Friedrich’s brother Leopold, who remained a fierce opponent.

After three years Emperor Ludwig IV had to release Friedrich from captivity and reconcile with him, even offering him a joint rule and the Rex Romanorum title in return for his support to receive the Imperial crown.

Neither the House of Wittelsbach nor the Habsburgs were able to defend their claims to the royal title, which after Ludwig IV’svdeath in 1347 again passed to Charles IV from the House of Luxembourg.

September 28, 235: Pope Pontian resigns.

Tags

Abdication, Antipope Hippolytus, Bishop of Rome, Emperor Maximinius, Pope, Pope Demetrius, Pope Fabian, Pope Pontian, Resignation, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Emperor Serverus Alexander, Roman Empire

Pope Pontian (died October 235) was the Bishop of Rome from July 21, 230 to September 28, 235. In 235, during the persecution of Christians in the reign of the Roman Emperor Maximinus Thrax, Pontian was arrested and sent to the island of Sardinia.

Pope Pontian resigned to make the election of a new pope possible. When Pontian resigned on September 28, 235, he was the first pope to do so. It allowed an orderly transition in the Church of Rome and so ended a schism that had existed in the Church for eighteen years.

Life

A little more is known of Pontian than his predecessors, apparently from a lost papal chronicle that was available to the compiler of the Liberian Catalogue of the bishops of Rome, written in the 4th century. The Liber Pontificalis states that he was a Roman citizen and that his father’s name was Calpurnius. Early church historian Eusebius wrote that his pontificate lasted six years.

Pontian’s pontificate was initially relatively peaceful under the reign of the tolerant Roman Emperor Severus Alexander. He presided over the Roman synod which approved Origen’s expulsion and deposition by Pope Demetrius I of Alexandria in 230 or 231.

According to Eusebius, the next emperor, Maximinus, overturned his predecessor’s policy of tolerance towards Christianity. Both Pope Pontian and the Antipope Hippolytus of Rome were arrested and exiled to labor in the mines of Sardinia, generally regarded as a death sentence.

In light of his sentence, Pontian resigned, the first pope to do so, so as to allow an orderly transition in the Church of Rome, on September 28, 235. This date was recorded in the Liberian Catalogue and is notable for being the first full date of a papal reign given by contemporaries.

This action ended a schism that had existed in the Church for eighteen years. Pontian was beaten to death with sticks. Neither Hippolytus nor Pontian survived, possibly reconciling with one another there or in Rome before their deaths. Pontian died in October 235.

Veneration

Pope Fabian had the bodies of both Pontian and Hippolytus brought back to Rome in 236 or 237, and the former buried in the papal crypt in the Catacomb of Callixtus on the Appian Way. The slab covering his tomb was discovered in 1909. On it is inscribed in Greek: Ποντιανός Επίσκ (Pontianus Episk; in English Pontianus Bish). The inscription “Μάρτυρ”, “MARTUR” had been added in another hand.

In the Eastern Orthodox Church and the General Roman Calendar of 1969, Pontian and Hippolytus are commemorated jointly on August 13. In those Catholic communities which use a historical calendar such as the General Roman Calendar of 1960, Pontian’s feast day is celebrated on November, 19.

September 28: These Dates In History.

Tags

Elizabeth of Bohemia, Emperor Constantius of Rome, Friedrich Christian II, Friedrich Christian II of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, Hippolytus of Rome, Holy Roman Emperor Ludwig IV, King Henry I of England, Pope Pontian, William I of England, William the Conqueror

• From the Emperor’s Desk: I will expand on a couple these events later today.
  
• 235 – Pope Pontian resigns. He is exiled to the mines of Sardinia, along with Hippolytus of Rome.
• 351 – Constantius II defeats the usurper Magnentius.
• 365 – Roman usurper Procopius bribes two legions passing by Constantinople, and proclaims himself emperor.
• 935 – Duke Wenceslaus I of Bohemia is murdered by a group of nobles led by his brother Boleslaus I, who succeeds him.
• 995 – Boleslaus II, Duke of Bohemia, kills most members of the rival Slavník dynasty.
• 1066 – William the Conqueror lands in England, beginning the Norman conquest.
• 1106 – King Henry I of England defeats his brother Robert Curthose at the Battle of Tinchebray.
• 1238 – King James I of Aragon conquers Valencia from the Moors. Shortly thereafter, he proclaims himself king of Valencia.
• 1322 – Ludwig IV, Holy Roman Emperor, defeats Friedrich I of Austria in the Battle of Mühldorf.
• 1844 – Oscar I of Sweden–Norway is crowned king of Sweden

Births

1765 – Friedrich Christian II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg (d. 1814)

Deaths

• 1197 – Heinrich VI, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1165)
• 1213 – Gertrude of Merania, queen consort of Hungaria (b. 1185). She was Queen of Hungary as the first wife of Andrew II from 1205 until her assassination. She was regent during her husband’s absence.
• 1330 – Elizabeth of Bohemia, queen consort of Bohemia (b. 1292). She became queen consort of Bohemia as the first wife of King John the Blind. She was the mother of Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV, King of Bohemia.
• 1429 – Cymburgis of Masovia, duchess consort of Austria (b. 1394)

Julia, Princess of Battenberg. Russian and German noblewoman

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Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine, Countess Julia von Hauke, Emperor Alexander II of Russia, Emperor Nicholas I of Russia, Grand Duke Ludwig II of Hesse and by Rhine, House of Battenberg, House of Mountbatten, Lord Louis Mountbatten, Marie of Hesse and By Rhine, Prince Louis of Battenberg, Princess of Battenburg, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, Victoria of Hesse and By Rhine

Julia, Princess of Battenberg (previously Countess Julia Therese Salomea von Hauke; November 24, 1825 –September 19, 1895) was the wife of Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine, the third son of Ludwig II, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine.

The daughter of a Polish general of German descent, she was not of princely origin. She became a lady-in-waiting to Marie of Hesse and by Rhine, wife of the future Emperor Alexander II of Russia and a sister of Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine, whom she married, having met him in the course of her duties.

The marriage of social unequals was deemed morganatic, but the Duke of Hesse and by Rhine gave her own title of nobility as Princess of Battenberg. She was the mother of Alexander, Prince of Bulgaria, and is an ancestor of Charles, Prince of Wales, heir to the British throne, and to the current generations of the Spanish royal family.

Life

Julia Therese Salomea Hauke was born in Warsaw, Congress Poland, then ruled in personal union by the Emperor of Russia. She was the daughter of John Maurice Hauke, a Polish general of German descent, and his wife Sophie (née Lafontaine), who was of French, Italian, German, and Hungarian descent.

Julia’s father had fought in Napoleon’s Polish Legions in Austria, Italy, Germany, and the Peninsular War. After his service in the Polish army from 1790 and in the army of the Duchy of Warsaw from 1809 to 1814, he entered the ranks of the army of Congress Poland, was promoted to general in 1828, and was awarded a Russian title.

Recognizing his abilities, Emperor Nicholas I appointed him Deputy Minister of War of Congress Poland and made him a hereditary count in 1829. In the November Uprising of 1830, led by rebelling army cadets, Grand Duke Constantine, Poland’s Russian governor, managed to escape, but Julia’s father was shot dead by the cadets on a Warsaw street. Her mother died of shock shortly afterwards, and their children were made wards of the Emperor.

Julia served as lady-in-waiting to Empress Marie Alexandrovna, wife of Emperor Alexander II and a sister of Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine. She met Prince Alexander while performing her duties at court in St. Petersburg. The Emperor did not approve of a courtship between his son’s brother-in-law and a noblewoman, and so the two arranged to leave the St. Petersburg court.

By the time Julia and Alexander were able to marry, she was six months pregnant with their first child, Marie. They were married on October 25, 1851 in Breslau in Prussian Silesia (now called Wrocław and in Poland).

Since Julia did not belong to a reigning or mediatized family, which were the only ones considered equal for royal marriage purposes, she was considered to be of insufficient rank for any of her children to qualify for succession to the throne of Hesse and by Rhine; the marriage was considered morganatic.

Her husband’s brother, Grand Duke Ludwig III of Hesse and by Rhine created her Countess of Battenberg in 1851, with the style of Illustrious Highness (Erlaucht), and in 1858 further elevated her to Princess of Battenberg with the style of “Her Serene Highness”, (Durchlaucht).

The children of Julia and Alexander were also elevated to princely rank. Thus, Battenberg became the name of a morganatic branch of the Grand Ducal Family of Hesse and by Rhine.

Julia converted from Roman Catholicism to Lutheranism on May 12, 1875. Princess Julia died at Heiligenberg Castle, near Jugenheim, Hesse, aged sixty-nine, on September 19, 1895, the age of 70.

Prince Alexander of Hesse died of cancer in 1888. They lived to see four of their five children, who had no rights of succession to the Hessian throne, mount a throne or marry dynastically, and to become welcome in-laws to Queen Victoria, whose correspondence reflected a consistent respect and fondness for the Battenberg family.

There were five children of the marriage, all princes and princesses of Battenberg:

• Princess Marie of Battenberg (1852–1923), married in 1871 Gustav, Prince of Erbach-Schönberg (d. 1908), with issue.
• Prince Louis of Battenberg (1854–1921), created first Marquess of Milford Haven in 1917, married in 1884 Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine (1863–1950), with issue (including Alice, Princess Andrew of Greece and Denmark, Queen Louise of Sweden, and Lord Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma). In 1917, he and his children gave up their German titles and took the surname Mountbatten. He was the maternal grandfather of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
• Prince Alexander of Battenberg (1857–1893), created reigning Prince of Bulgaria in 1879, abdicated in Bulgaria and created Count of Hartenau, married morganatically in 1889 Johanna Loisinger (1865–1951), with issue.
• Prince Henry of Battenberg (1858–1896), married in 1885 Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom (1857–1944), youngest child and daughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and her husband Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha; with issue (including Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg later Queen of Spain). His children resided in the UK and became lords and ladies with the surname Mountbatten in 1917 (see “Name change” below). His eldest son was created the first Marquess of Carisbrooke in 1917.
• Prince Francis Joseph of Battenberg (1861–1924), married in 1897 Princess Anna Petrovich-Njegosh of Montenegro (1874–1971), with no issue.

Name change to “Mountbatten”

Julia’s eldest son, Ludwig (Louis) of Battenberg, became a British subject, and during World War I, due to anti-German sentiment prevalent at the time, anglicised his name to Mountbatten (a literal translation of the German Battenberg), as did his nephews, the sons of Prince Henry and Princess Beatrice.

The members of this branch of the family also renounced all German titles and were granted peerages by their cousin King George V of the United Kingdom: Prince Louis became the 1st Marquess of Milford Haven, while Prince Alexander, Prince Henry’s eldest son, became the 1st Marquess of Carisbrooke.

Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, later Victoria Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford Haven. Part III.

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In 1937, Victoria’s brother, Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig, died and soon afterwards her widowed sister-in-law, nephew, granddaughter and two of her great-grandchildren all died in an air crash at Ostend.

Victoria’s granddaughter, Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark, had married Victoria’s nephew (Ernst Ludwig’s son), Hereditary Grand Duke Georg Donatus of Hesse and by Rhine. They and their two young sons, Ludwig and Alexander, were all killed.

Further tragedy soon followed when Victoria’s son, George, died of bone cancer the following year. Her granddaughter, Lady Pamela Hicks, remembered her grandmother’s tears.

In World War II Victoria was bombed out of Kensington Palace, and spent some time at Windsor Castle with King George VI. Her surviving son (Louis Mountbatten) and her two grandsons (David Mountbatten and Prince Philip) served in the Royal Navy, while her German relations fought with the opposing forces.

Victoria spent most of her time reading and worrying about her children; her daughter, Alice, remained in occupied Greece and was unable to communicate with her mother for four years at the height of the war.

After the Allied victory, her son, Louis, was made Viscount Mountbatten of Burma. He was offered the post of Viceroy of India, but she was deeply opposed to his accepting, knowing that the position would be dangerous and difficult; he accepted anyway.

Victoria was present at the christening of her great grandson, the current Prince of Wales.

Victoria fell ill with bronchitis (she had smoked since the age of sixteen) at Lord Mountbatten’s home at Broadlands, Hampshire, in the summer of 1950. Saying “it is better to die at home”, Victoria moved back to Kensington Palace, where she died on September 24 aged 87. She was buried four days later in the grounds of St. Mildred’s Church, Whippingham on the Isle of Wight.

Legacy

With the help of her lady-in-waiting, Baroness Sophie Buxhoeveden, Victoria wrote an unpublished memoir, held in the Mountbatten archive at the University of Southampton, which remains an interesting source for royal historians. A selection of Queen Victoria’s letters to Victoria have been published with a commentary by Richard Hough and an introduction by Victoria’s granddaughter, Patricia Mountbatten.

Lord Mountbatten remembered her fondly: “My mother was very quick on the uptake, very talkative, very aggressive and argumentative. With her marvellous brain she sharpened people’s wits.” Her granddaughter thought her “formidable, but never intimidating … a supremely honest woman, full of commonsense and modesty.”

Victoria wrote her own typically forthright epitaph at the end of her life in letters to and conversation with her son: “What will live in history is the good work done by the individual & that has nothing to do with rank or title … I never thought I would be known only as your mother. You’re so well known now and no one knows about me, and I don’t want them to.”

Sweden: The 1810 Act of Succession.

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The 1810 Act of Succession is one of four Fundamental Laws of the Realm and thus forms part of the Swedish Constitution. The Act regulates the line of succession to the Swedish Throne and the conditions which eligible members of the Swedish Royal Family must abide by in order to remain in it.

It was jointly adopted by the Riksdag of the Estates, convened in Örebro on 26 September 1810, and Carl XIII, as a logical consequence following the election on 21 August of Jean Baptiste Bernadotte as Crown Prince.

The actual contents of the Act, save the solemn preamble, has been thoroughly rewritten over the years: the most notable change occurred in 1980 when the core principle of agnatic primogeniture (male succession only) was changed in favor of absolute primogeniture (eldest child regardless of sex).

Historical background

The Act of Succession was adopted by the Riksdag of the Estates assembled at Örebro in 1810, upon electing Carl XIV Johan (Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte) as the heir to King Carl XIII. This happened at a tumultuous time for Sweden, as only one year earlier the former king, Gustaf IV Adolf (and his sons) had been deposed and replaced by his childless uncle, Carl XIII.

At the same time the Finnish War was coming to an end and Finland, then a part of Sweden proper, was held by Russia. The authoritarian constitution of 1772 was abolished and power was returned to parliament by the new Instrument of Government adopted on June 6, 1809. From 1814 to 1905 the Act of Succession also regulated succession to the Norwegian throne, due to the union of Sweden-Norway.

Provisions

The Act in the current version specifies that:

• Only children born in wedlock may inherit the Throne.
• Only the descendants of Carl XVI Gustaf may inherit the Throne.
• A prince or princess in the line of succession shall belong to and profess the “pure evangelical faith”, as defined in the Unaltered Augsburg Confession and the Uppsala Synod of 1593, i.e. by implication the Church of Sweden.
• The offspring of an approved marriage must be brought up within Sweden.
• A prince or princess may not marry and remain in the line of succession without having received consent, upon application of the Monarch, from the Government of Sweden.
• A prince or princess is also prevented from becoming monarch of another country, either by election or marriage, without the consent of the Monarch and the Government.

If any of these provisions are violated: all rights of succession for the person concerned and all descendants are lost.

Changes

In its original version, the Act mandated that a Swedish prince could only marry into families deemed to be of equal rank, or forfeit for himself and his future descendants all dynastic rights.

The key wording was a prohibition of marrying a “private man’s daughter” (Swedish: enskild mans dotter), a term which in Swedish jurisprudence was understood to exclude all non-royal persons, including the aristocracy. In 1937, the statutory provision which in effect had required a spouse of royal birth, was changed and the prohibition only extended to a “private Swedish man’s daughter” (Swedish: enskild svensk mans dotter).

A total of five Swedish princes lost their style of HRH, title as Prince of Sweden, personal Ducal title, and all rights of succession to the throne because they violated the uncompromisable constitutional provision, regardless of whether the King-in-Council did consent or not: Oscar in 1888, Lennart in 1932, Sigvard in 1934, Carl in 1937 and Carl Johan in 1946. There is since 1980 no statutory limitation, based on either nationality or royal rank, on whom a prince or princess can marry, apart from the fact that permission must be granted.

In 1980, the rule of succession was changed from agnatic primogeniture to absolute primogeniture. This change in effect created Victoria (born 1977) heir apparent, passing over her younger brother Prince Carl Philip (born 1979).