March 1, 1792: Death of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany

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Declaration of Pillnitz., Duke Francis III of Modena, Emperor Franz I, Emperor Joseph II, Emperor Leopold II, Empress Catherine II of Russia, Empress Maria Theresa, French Revolution, Grand Duke of Tuscany, Holy Roman Empire, King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia, King Louis XVI of France and Navarre, Marie Antoinette of Austria

Leopold II (Peter Leopold Josef Anton Joachim Pius Gotthard; May 5, 1747 – March 1, 1792) was Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia and Archduke of Austria from 1790 to 1792, and Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1765 to 1790.

Family

Leopold was the third son of Empress Maria Theresa, Queen of Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia and Archduchess of Austria and her husband, Emperor Franz I, Grand Duke of Tuscany.

Archduke Leopold had many siblings, amongst them and the brother of Archduchess Marie Antoinette, Queen of France and Navarre the wife of King Louis XVI of France and Navarre.

Archduchess Maria Carolina, Queen of Naples and Sicily, wife of King Ferdinand IV-III of Naples and Sicily who later became King of the Two Sicilies.

Archduchess Maria Christina, Duchesses of Teschen. Married in 1766 to Prince Albert of Saxony, the union was a true love match and the couple received the Duchy of Teschen.

Archduchess Maria Amalia, Duchess of Parma, Against her will, Amalia was married to Ferdinand of Parma (1751–1802). The marriage was supported by the future Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II, whose first beloved wife had been Ferdinand’s sister, Princess Isabella of Parma. The Archduchess’s marriage to the Duke of Parma was part of a complicated series of contracts that married off Maria Theresa’s daughters to the King of Naples and Sicily and the Dauphin of France. All three sons-in-law were members of the House of Bourbon.

Archduchess Maria Amalia had fallen in love with Prince Charles of Zweibrücken, and she openly expressed her wish to marry him, in the same manner as her sister Archduchess Maria Christina had been permitted to marry Prince Albert of Saxony for love. Maria Theresa, however, forbade this and forced her to enter an arranged marriage. This caused a permanent conflict between the Empress and Maria Amalia, who never forgave her mother.

Archduke Leopold’s older brother was Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor.

Archduke Leopold of Austria, Grand Duke of Tuscany

Marriage

The Duchy of Modena was fearing extinction due to the lack of male heirs.

In 1753, a treaty was concluded between the House of Este and the House of Austria, by which the Archduke Leopold and Maria Beatrice d’Este of Modena were engaged, and the former was designated by Duke Francis III of Modena as heir for the imperial investiture as Duke of Modena and Reggio in the event of extinction of the Este male line.

Maria Beatrice d’Este of Modena was the eldest child of Ercole Rinaldo d’Este, heir to the Duchy of Modena and Reggio, and Maria Teresa Cybo-Malaspina, Duchess of Massa and Princess of Carrara.

In the meantime, Francis III would cover the office of governor of Milan ad interim, which was destined for the archduke. In 1761, however, following the death of an older brother, Archduke Charles, Archduke Leopold became heir to the throne of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany as provided for the second male heir of the imperial couple, and the treaty had to be revised.

In 1763, in spite of the harsh opposition of Maria Beatrice’s father, the two families agreed to simply replace the name of Archduke Leopold with that of Maria Teresa’s fourteenth son, Archduke Ferdinand Charles of Austria, who was four years younger than his betrothed.

In January 1771 the Perpetual Diet of Regensburg ratified Ferdinand Charles’s future investiture and, in October, Maria Beatrice and he finally got married in Milan, thus giving rise to the new House of Austria-Este.

Upon the early death of his older brother Archduke Charles in 1761, the family decided that Archduke Leopold was going to succeed his father as Grand Duke of Tuscany. Tuscany had been envisioned and designated as a Secundogeniture, a territory and title bestowed upon the second born son, which was greater than an Appanage.

On August 5, 1765 Leopold married the Infanta Maria Luisa of Spain, daughter of King Carlos III of Spain and Maria Amalia of Saxony. Upon the death of his father, Empathy Franz I on 18 August 18, 1765, he became Grand Duke of Tuscany. Leopold’s older brother became Emperor Joseph II but his mother continued to rule the Austrian Hereditary lands as an absolute monarch.

Infanta Maria Luisa of Spain

For five years, Leopold, Grand Duke of Tuscany exercised little more than nominal authority, under the supervision of counselors appointed by his mother. In 1770, he made a journey to Vienna to secure the removal of this vexatious guardianship and returned to Florence with a free hand. During the twenty years that elapsed between his return to Florence and the death of his eldest brother Emperor Joseph II in 1790, he was employed in reforming the administration of his small state.

The death of Maria Theresa on November 29, 1780 left Emperor Joseph II free to pursue his own policy, and he immediately directed his government on a new course, attempting to realize his ideal of enlightened despotism acting on a definite system for the good of all.

Emperor Joseph II died on February 20, 1790 and was succeeded by his brother who became Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia and Archduke of Austria. Emperor Leopold II was a moderate proponent of enlightened absolutism.

When Emperor Leopold II succeeded to the Austrian Hereditary lands, he began by making large concessions to the interests offended by his brother’s innovations. He recognized the Estates of his different dominions as “the pillars of the monarchy”, pacified the Hungarians and Bohemians, and divided the insurgents in the Austrian Netherlands (now Belgium) by means of concessions. When these failed to restore order, he marched troops into the country and re-established his own authority,

Leopold lived for barely two years after his accession as Holy Roman Emperor, and during that period he was hard pressed by peril from west and east alike. The growing revolutionary disorders in France endangered the life of his sister Marie Antoinette, the Queen of Louis XVI, and also threatened his own dominions with the spread of subversive agitation. His sister sent him passionate appeals for help, and he was pestered by the royalist émigrés, who were intriguing to bring about armed intervention in France.

From the east he was threatened by the aggressive ambition of Empress Catherine II of Russia and by the unscrupulous policy of King Friedrich Wilhelm II Prussia. Catherine would have been delighted to see Austria and Prussia embark on a crusade in the cause of kings against the French Revolution.

While they were busy beyond the Rhine, she would have annexed what remained of Poland and made conquests against the Ottoman Empire. Leopold II had no difficulty in seeing through the rather transparent cunning of the Russian empress, and he refused to be misled.

On August 25, 1791, he met the King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia at Pillnitz Castle, near Dresden, and they drew up the Declaration of Pillnitz, stating their readiness to intervene in France if and when their assistance was called for by the other powers. The declaration was a mere formality, for, as Leopold knew, neither Russia nor Britain was prepared to act, and he endeavored to guard against the use which he foresaw the émigrés would try to make of it.

In face of the reaction in France to the Declaration of Pillnitz, the intrigues of the émigrés, and attacks made by the French revolutionists on the rights of the German princes in Alsace, Leopold continued to hope that intervention might not be required. When Louis XVI swore to observe the constitution of September 1791, the emperor professed to think that a settlement had been reached in France.

The attacks on the rights of the German princes on the left bank of the Rhine, and the increasing violence of the parties in Paris which were agitating to bring about war, soon showed, however, that this hope was vain. Leopold meant to meet the challenge of the revolutionists in France with dignity and temper, however the effect of the Declaration of Pillnitz was to contribute to the radicalization of their political movement.

Emperor Leopold II died suddenly in Vienna, on March 1, 1792.

Like his parents before him, Leopold had sixteen children, the eldest of his eight sons being his successor, Emperor Franz II, the last Holy Roman Emperor and first Emperor of Austria. Some of his other sons were prominent personages in their day. Among them were: Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany; Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen, a celebrated soldier; Archduke Johann of Austria, also a soldier; Archduke Joseph, Palatine of Hungary; and Archduke Rainer, Viceroy of Lombardy-Venetia.

March 23, 1801: Assassination of Emperor Paul of Russia

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Assassination, Catherine the Great, Emperor Paul of Russia, Empress Catherine II of Russia, Empress Elizabeth of Russia, Friedrich II of Prussia. Frederick the Great of Prussia

Paul I (October 1, 1754 – March 23, 1801) was Emperor of Russia from 1796 until his assassination. Officially, he was the only son of Peter III and Catherine the Great, although Catherine hinted that he was fathered by her lover Sergei Saltykov. Paul remained overshadowed by his mother for most of his life. He adopted the laws of succession to the Russian throne—rules that lasted until the end of the Romanov dynasty and of the Russian Empire.

Paul was de facto Grand Master of the Order of Hospitallers from 1799 to 1801 and ordered the construction of a number of Maltese thrones. Paul’s pro-German sentiments and unpredictable behavior made him unpopular among Russian nobility, and he was secretly assassinated by his own officers.

Grand Duke Paul Petrovich of Russia

Early years

Paul was born in the Palace of Elizabeth of Russia, Saint Petersburg. His father, the future Emperor Peter III, was the nephew and heir apparent of the Empress. The last edition of Catherine’s memoirs explained that Peter III was certainly Paul’s father after all and why.

Catherine II lied when hints about another father were written in the first edition, published by Hertzen. His mother, was born Princess Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg. Her mother was Johanna Elizabeth of Holstein-Gottorp. Her father, Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst, belonged to the ruling German family of Anhalt.

Catherine II would later depose her own husband (Paul’s father) and reign in her own right as Catherine II, known to history as Catherine the Great.

Paul was taken almost immediately after birth from his mother by the Empress Elizabeth, whose overwhelming attention may have done him more harm than good. Once Catherine had done her duty in providing an heir to the throne, Elizabeth had no more use for her and Paul was taken from his mother at birth and allowed to see her only during very limited moments. In all events, the Russian Imperial court, first of Elizabeth and then of Catherine, was not an ideal home for a lonely, needy and often sickly boy.

In 1772, Paul, turned eighteen. Paul and his adviser, Panin, believed he was the rightful Emperor of Russia, as the only son of Peter III. His adviser had also taught him that the rule of women endangered good leadership, which was why he was so interested in gaining the throne.

Distracting him, Catherine took trouble to find Paul a wife among the minor princesses of the Holy Roman Empire. She chose Princess Wilhelmina of Hesse-Darmstadt, who acquired the Russian name “Natalia Alexeievna”, a daughter of Ludwig IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt and and his spouse Countess Palatine Caroline of Zweibrücken.

Princess Wilhelmina of Hesse-Darmstadt

The bride’s older sister, Frederika Louisa, was already married to the Crown Prince of Prussia (future King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia).

Around this time, Catherine allowed Paul to attend the council in order that he might be trained for his work as Emperor. Wilhelmina died in childbirth on April 15, 1776, three years after the wedding.

It soon became even clearer to Catherine that Paul wanted power, including his separate court. There was talk of having both Paul and his mother co-rule Russia, but Catherine narrowly avoided it. A fierce rivalry began between them, as Catherine knew she could never truly trust her son, as his claim to her throne was superior to her. Paul coveted his mothers position, and by the laws of succession prevalent then, it was rightfully his.

After her daughter-in-law’s death, Catherine began work forthwith on the project of finding another wife for Paul, and on October 17, 1776, less than six months after the death of his first wife, Paul married again. The bride was the beautiful Sophia Dorothea of Württemberg, Daughter of Duke Friedrich Eugene of Württemberg and Princess Friederike of Brandenburg-Schwedt, Sophie Dorothea belonged to a junior branch of the House of Württemberg and grew up in Montbéliard, receiving an excellent education for her time.

Sophie Dorothea’s maternal great-uncle was King Friedrich II the Great of Prussia who also approved of the match and had been searching for a suitable husband for her.

Duchess Sophia Dorothea of Württemberg

In spite of her fiancé’s difficult character, Sophia Dorothea developed a long, peaceful relationship with Paul and converted to the Russian Orthodox Church in 1776, adopting the name Maria Feodorovna. During the long reign (1762-1796) of her mother-in-law, she sided with her husband and lost the initial affection the reigning Empress had for her. The couple were completely excluded from any political influence, as mother and son mistrusted each other. They were forced to live in isolation at Gatchina Palace, where they had many children together.

Their first child, Alexander, was born in 1777, within a year of the wedding, and on this occasion the Empress gave Paul an estate, Pavlovsk. Paul and his wife gained leave to travel through western Europe in 1781–1782. In 1783, the Empress granted him another estate, Gatchina Palace, where he was allowed to maintain a brigade of soldiers whom he drilled on the Prussian model, an unpopular stance at the time.

Empress Catherine II suffered a stroke on November 17, 1796, and died without regaining consciousness. Paul’s first act as Emperor was to inquire about and, if possible, destroy her testament, as he feared it would exclude him from succession and leave the throne to Alexander. These fears may have contributed to Paul’s promulgation of the Pauline Laws, which established the strict principle of primogeniture in the House of Romanov, leaving the throne to the next male heir. Paul, as an emperor, also sought to seek revenge for the deposed and disgraced Peter III and for the coup of his mother Catherine II.

Paul intervened in the French Revolutionary Wars and, toward the end of his reign, added Kartli and Kakheti in Eastern Georgia into the empire, which was confirmed by his son and successor Alexander I.

Assassination

Paul’s premonitions of assassination were well founded. His attempts to force the nobility to adopt a code of chivalry alienated many of his trusted advisors. The Emperor also discovered outrageous machinations and corruption in the Russian treasury.

As he had revoked Catherine’s decree allowing corporal punishment of the free classes, and directed reforms that resulted in greater rights for the peasantry and provided for better treatment for serfs on agricultural estates, many of his policies greatly annoyed the nobility and induced his enemies to work out a plan of action.

A conspiracy was organized, some months before it was executed, by Counts Peter Ludwig von der Pahlen, Nikita Petrovich Panin, and Admiral de Ribas, with the alleged support of the British ambassador in Saint Petersburg, Charles Whitworth.

Emperor Paul of Russia

The death of de Ribas in December 1800 delayed the assassination; but, on the night of March 23, 1801, a band of dismissed officers murdered Paul at the newly completed palace of Saint Michael’s Castle.

The assassins included General Bennigsen, a Hanoverian in the Russian service, and General Yashvil, a Georgian. They charged into Paul’s bedroom, flushed with drink after dining together, and found the emperor hiding behind some drapes in the corner.

The conspirators pulled him out, forced him to the table, and tried to compel him to sign his abdication. Paul offered some resistance, and Nikolay Zubov struck him with a sword, after which the assassins strangled and trampled him to death.

Paul’s successor on the Russian throne, his 23-year-old son Alexander, was actually in the palace at the time of the killing; he had “given his consent to the overthrow of Paul, but had not supposed that this would be carried out by means of assassination”.

General Nikolay Zubov announced his accession to the heir, accompanied by the admonition, “Time to grow up! Go and rule!” Alexander I did not punish the assassins, and the court physician, James Wylie, declared apoplexy the official cause of death.

Emperor Paul I of Russia. Conclusion

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Assassination, Emperor Alexander I of Russia, Emperor Napoleon of France, Emperor Paul I of Russia, Empress Catherine II of Russia, France, Great Britain, Nikolay Zubov, St. Michael's Castle

Emperor Paul’s early foreign policy can largely be seen as reactions against his mother’s foreign policy. In foreign policy, this meant that he opposed the many expansionary wars she fought and instead preferred to pursue a more peaceful, diplomatic path. Immediately upon taking the throne, he recalled all troops outside Russian borders, including the struggling expedition Catherine II had sent to conquer Iran through the Caucasus and the 60,000 men she had promised to Britain and Austria to help them defeat the French.

Paul hated the French before their revolution, and afterwards, with their republican and anti-religious views, he detested them even more. In addition to this, he knew French expansion hurt Russian interests, but he recalled his mother’s troops primarily because he firmly opposed wars of expansion. He also believed that Russia needed substantial governmental and military reforms to avoid an economic collapse and a revolution, before Russia could wage war on foreign soil.

The most original aspect of Paul I’s foreign policy was his rapprochement with France. Several scholars have argued that this change in position, radical though it seemed, made sense, as Bonaparte became First Consul and made France a more conservative state, consistent with Paul’s view of the world.

Paul also decided to send a Cossack army to take British India, as Britain itself was almost impervious to direct attack, being an island nation with a formidable navy, but the British had left India largely unguarded and would have great difficulty staving off a force that came over land to attack it.

The British themselves considered this enough of a problem that they signed three treaties with Persia, in 1801, 1809 and 1812, to guard against an army attacking India through Central Asia. Paul sought to attack the British where they were weakest: through their commerce and their colonies. Throughout his reign, his policies focused reestablishing peace and the balance of power in Europe, while supporting autocracy and old monarchies, without seeking to expand Russia’s borders.

Paul’s premonitions of assassination were well founded. His attempts to force the nobility to adopt a code of chivalry alienated many of his trusted advisors. The Emperor also discovered outrageous machinations and corruption in the Russian treasury.

As he had revoked Catherine’s decree allowing corporal punishment of the free classes, and directed reforms that resulted in greater rights for the peasantry and provided for better treatment for serfs on agricultural estates, many of his policies greatly annoyed the noble class and induced his enemies to work out a plan of action.

A conspiracy was organized, some months before it was executed, by Counts Peter Ludwig von der Pahlen, Nikita Petrovich Panin, and Admiral de Ribas, with the alleged support of the British ambassador in Saint Petersburg, Charles Whitworth.

The death of de Ribas in December 1800 delayed the assassination; but, on the night of March 23, 1801, a band of dismissed officers murdered Paul at the newly completed palace of Saint Michael’s Castle. The assassins included General Bennigsen, a Hanoverian in the Russian service, and General Yashvil, a Georgian.

They charged into Paul’s bedroom, flushed with drink after dining together, and found the emperor hiding behind some drapes in the corner. The conspirators pulled him out, forced him to the table, and tried to compel him to sign his abdication. Paul offered some resistance, and Nikolay Zubov struck him with a sword, after which the assassins strangled and trampled him to death.

Paul’s successor on the Russian throne, his 23-year-old son Alexander, was actually in the palace at the time of the killing; he had “given his consent to the overthrow of Paul, but had not supposed that this would be carried out by means of assassination”. General Nikolay Zubov announced his accession to the heir, accompanied by the admonition, “Time to grow up! Go and rule!” Alexander I did not punish the assassins, and the court physician, James Wylie, declared apoplexy the official cause of death.

Legacy

There is some evidence that Paul I was venerated as a saint among the Russian Orthodox populace, even though he was never officially canonized by any of the Orthodox Churches.

September 27, 1788: Death of Augusta of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. Duchess of Württemberg. Part II.

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amenorrhea, Augusta of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Duchess of Württemberg, Duke of Württemberg, Elector of Württemberg, Emperor Napoleon of France, Empress Catherine II of Russia, Frederick of Württemberg, Holy Roman Empire, King of Württemberg

A new life in Estonia and death

While the divorce conditions were being ironed out between Augusta, Friedrich, the Empress Catherine, Duke Charles Wilhelm Ferdinand of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, during which time the Empress was on a long journey to the south, Augusta was sent to one of the Imperial estates, Lohde castle, in Lohde (now Koluvere) in Kullamaa Parish to the south-west of Tallinn, Estonia., for her own safety.

Because Friedrich insisted on having custody of all three children, Augusta refused to sign the divorce papers. Fearing retribution should she return to Brunswick, Augusta accepted Catherine’s suggestion to settle in Estonia. Augusta’s companions were a gentleman, Major-general Wilhelm von Pohlmann 1727 – 1796), and three ladies – Madame Wilde (replaced by Madame Bistram in 1788) and Pohlmann’s two daughters.

The sixty-year-old Pohlmann, who had retired to his estate near Lohde six years before, had enjoyed an illustrious career at the Russian Court; he was a close and trusted friend of the Empress, who had appointed him to the board of the prestigious Free Economic Society of Russia.

From Lodhe, Augusta kept up a regular correspondence with the Empress, who never ceased to care for her, and with her mother, to whom she expressed her satisfaction with the peaceful country life. The Empress sold Augusta’s house in St Petersburg on her behalf, advised her to invest the money wisely and allowed her to live off the income from the Lohde estate.

For a few years already, Augusta had been suffering from amenorrhea, for which her doctor had been treating her with potentially dangerous herbal potions, designed to stimulate menstruation. On the morning of September 27, 1788 (new style), at the age of 23, Augusta suddenly experienced violent vaginal bleeding, which continued for six-and-a-half hours, by which time she died.

Her doctor had been summoned but due to the long distance, he arrived too late. The Princess’s parents received a letter of condolences from the Empress, as well as Pohlmann’s report of her death and her doctor’s report. Many years later, her eldest son had the matter investigated and her body was exhumed. Although rumours were spread about her death from miscarriage they were disproven through the exhumation. It was found that she had neither been buried alive nor with the bones of a baby. Augusta’s story was fictionalized by Thackeray in The Luck of Barry Lyndon.

Augusta was buried under the floor of Kullamaa church. On her tombstone is the text: “Hic jacet in pace Augusta Carolina Friderica Luisa Ducis Brunsuicencis-Guelferbytani Filia Friderici Guilielmi Caroli Ducis Vurtembergensis et Supremi Praefecti Viburgiensis Uxor Nat. d. III. Dec. MDCCLXIV Denat. d. XIV. Sept. MDCCLXXXVIII” The date is false – it should have been XVI September. Over the years, her coffin decayed, causing her bones to get lost in the bottom of the deep crypt. Her tombstone is still in the church, albeit in a different position, surrounded by an iron rail.

The castle and lands of Koluvere were afterwards granted to Count Frederik Vilhelm Buxhoevden.

Friedrich of Württemberg’s father, Friedrich II Eugen, Duke of Württemberg, helped his son make contact with the British royal family – Friedrich’s first wife Augusta, had been a niece of George III of the United Kingdom. On May 18, 1797, Friedrich married George III’s eldest daughter Charlotte, Princess Royal, at the Chapel Royal in St James’s Palace.

Friedrich succeeded his father as the reigning Duke of Württemberg on December 22, 1797. The new Duke Friedrich III had two sons and two daughters by his first marriage to the late Princess Augusta – The marriage between Duke Friedrich III and the Princess Royal produced one child: a stillborn daughter on April 27, 1798.

In 1803, Napoleon raised the Duchy of Württemberg to the Electorate of Württemberg, the highest form of a princedom in the Holy Roman Empire. Duke Friedrich III assumed the title Elector of Württemberg on February 25, 1803. In exchange for providing France with a large auxiliary force, Napoleon recognized Elector Friedrich as King of Württemberg on December 26, 1805. Then on January 1, 1806, Friedrich officially assumed the title of King of Württemberg. Later that year, the last Holy Roman Emperor, Franz II, abolished de facto the empire on August 6, 1806.

September 23, 1781: Birth of Princess Juliane of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. Part I.

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Duke Franz Friedrich of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Empress Catherine II of Russia, Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich of Russia, Juliane of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Leopold II of Belgium, Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom

Princess Juliane Henriette Ulrike of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (September 23, 1781 – August 12, 1860), also known as Grand Duchess Anna Feodorovna of Russia was a German princess of the ducal house of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (after 1826, the house of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha) who became the wife of Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich of Russia.

Family

Princess Juliane was the third daughter of Franz Friedrich, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and Countess Augusta Caroline Reuss of Ebersdorf. She was named in honour of her grand-aunt, Queen Juliane Marie of Denmark and Norway. Juliane Marie was born a Princess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, and was one of the 17 children of Ferdinand Albert II, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and his wife Antoinette Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1696–1762), youngest daughter of his first cousin Louis Rudolph, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and his wife Princess Christine Louise of Oettingen-Oettingen, she was queen of Denmark and Norway between 1752 and 1766, second consort of King Frederik V of Denmark and Norway.

Juliane Marie of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel sister, Sophie Antoinette of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel was Juliane of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld’s paternal grandmother. Sophie Antoinette of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel married Ernst Friedrich, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld on April 23, 1749 at Wolfenbüttel. Among her notable great-grandchildren were Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, his wife and cousin, Queen Victoria oftheUnitedKingdom, Ferdinand II of Portugal, Empress Carlota of Mexico and Leopold II of Belgium. Her eldest son was Franz Friedrich, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld father of Princess Juliane of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, the subject of this blog entry, bring her family information full circle.

Marriage Plans

Empress Catherine II of Russia began to search a suitable wife for her second grandson, Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich after the marriage of her eldest grandson, Grand Duke Alexander, with Louise of Baden in 1793. The empress spoke of pride about the young grand duke as an enviable match for many brides in Europe, as he was the second in line to succession to the Russian Empire.

Soon a marriage offer arrived from the court of Naples: King Ferdinand I of the Two-Siciles and Queen Maria Carolina, the thirteenth child of Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Franz I, (and a sister of France’s queen consort, Marie Antoinette) suggested a marriage between the Grand Duke and one of their many daughters, which the Empress immediately rejected.

In 1795, her General, Baron Andrei von Budberg-Bönninghausen was sent in a secret mission to the ruling European courts, to find a bride for Constantine. He had a huge list of candidates, but during his trip became ill and was forced to stay in Coburg. He was attended by the Ducal court doctor, Baron Stockmar, who, once he knew the real intention of his trip, drew the general’s attention to the daughters of Duke Franz. Budberg wrote to Saint Petersburg that he found the perfect candidates, without visiting any other courts.

After a little consideration, Empress Catherine II consented. Juliane’s mother, Duchess Augusta Caroline, once she knew that one of her daughters would be a Grand Duchess of Russia, was delighted with the idea: a marriage with the Imperial Russian dynasty could bring huge benefits for the relatively small German Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld.

However, in Europe there were other views; for example, Charles-François-Philibert Masson, in his Secrets Memoirs of the court of Saint-Petersburg wrote about the unenviable role of German brides in the Russian court: Young touching victim, which Germany sends as a tribute to Russia, as did Greece who sent their maids to the Minotaur…

Life in Russia

Juliane, along with her mother and two elder sisters, Sophie and Antoinette, travelled to Saint Petersburg at the request of Empress Catherine II of Russia. After the first meeting, the Empress wrote: “The Duchess of Saxe-Coburg was beautiful and worthy of respect among women, and her daughters are pretty. It’s a pity that our groom must choose only one, would be good to keep all three. But it seems that our Paris give the apple to the younger one, you’ll see that he would prefer Julia among the sisters…she’s really the best choice.”

However, Prince Adam Czartoryski, in his Memoirs, wrote: Constantine was given an order by the Empress to marry one of the princesses, and he was given a choice of his future wife. This point of view was confirmed by Countess Varvara Golovina, who also wrote: After three weeks, the Grand Duke Constantine was forced to make a choice. I think that he did not want to marry anyone at all.

After the young Grand Duke chose Juliane, she began her training as a consort. On February 2, 1796, the 14-year-old German princess took the name of Anna Fyodorovna in a Russian Orthodox baptismal ceremony and 24 days later, on February 26, she and Constantine were married.

The Empress Catherine II died nine months later, on November 6, 1796. By virtue of her wedding, she was awarded with the Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of Saint Catherine and the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem.

This union, in connection with the wedding of her brother Leopold who had married Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales, daughter of King George IV of the United Kingdom, made the little Duchy of Saxe-Coburg the dynastic heart of Europe. In addition, thanks to relations with the Russian Empire, Saxe-Coburg was relatively safe during the Napoleonic Wars. However, on a personal level, the marriage was deeply unhappy. Constantine, known to be a violent man and fully dedicated to his military career, made his young wife intensely miserable.

September 23, 1781: Birth of Princess Princess Juliane of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. Part I.

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Emperor Alexander I of Russia, Empress Catherine II of Russia, Empress Catherine the Great, Grand Duchess Ana Feodorovna of Russia, Grand Duke Constantine of Russia, House of Romanov, House of Wettin, Juliane of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, King Fernando II of Portugal, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom

Princess Juliane of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (September 23, 1781 – August 12, 1860), also known as Grand Duchess Anna Feodorovna of Russia, was a German princess of the ducal house of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (after 1826, the house of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha) who became the wife of Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich of Russia.

Family

She was the third daughter of Franz Friedrich Anton, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and Countess Augusta Caroline of Reuss-Ebersdorf. King Leopold I of the Belgians was her younger brother, while Queen Victoria of United Kingdom was her niece and her husband Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was her nephew and King Fernando II of Portugal was her great nephew.

Marriage Plans

Empress Catherine II of Russia began to search for a suitable wife for her second grandson, Grand Duke Constantine after the marriage of her eldest grandson, Grand Duke Alexander, with Louise of Baden in 1793. The empress spoke of pride about the young grand duke as an enviable match for many brides in Europe, as he was the second in line to succession to the Russian Empire.

Soon a marriage offer arrived from the court of Naples: King Ferdinand I and Queen Maria Carolina of Naples ans Sicily, suggested a marriage between the Grand Duke and one of their many daughters, which the Empress immediately rejected.

In 1795, General Andrei Budberg was sent in a secret mission to the ruling European courts, to find a bride for Grand Duke Constantine. Constantine Pavlovich (May 8, 1779  – June 27, 1831) was a Grand Duke of Russia and the second son of Emperor Paul I and Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg.

Constantine had a huge list of candidates, but during his trip he became ill and was forced to stay in Coburg. He was attended by the Ducal court doctor, Baron Stockmar, who, once he knew the real intention of his trip, drew the general’s attention to the daughters of Duke Franz. Budberg wrote to Saint Petersburg that he found the perfect candidates, without visiting any other courts.

After a little consideration, Empress Catherine II consented. Duchess Augusta, once she knew that one of her daughters would be a Grand Duchess of Russia, was delighted with the idea: a marriage with the Imperial Russian dynasty could bring huge benefits for the relatively small German Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld.

However, in Europe there were other views; for example, Charles-François-Philibert Masson, in his Secrets Memoirs of the court of Saint-Petersburg, wrote about the unenviable role of German brides in the Russian court:

“‘Young touching victim, which Germany sends as a tribute to Russia, as did Greece who sent their maids to the Minotaur…”

Juliane, along with her mother and two elder sisters, Sophie and Antoinette, travelled to Saint Petersburg at the request of Empress Catherine II of Russia. After the first meeting, the Empress wrote:

“The Duchess of Saxe-Coburg was beautiful and worthy of respect among women, and her daughters are pretty.

It’s a pity that our groom must choose only one, would be good to keep all three. But it seems that our Paris give the apple to the younger one, you’ll see that he would prefer Julia among the sisters…she’s really the best choice.”

However, Prince Adam Czartoryski, in his Memoirs, wrote:

“He was given an order by the Empress to marry one of the princesses, and he was given a choice of his future wife.”

This point of view was confirmed by Countess Varvara Golovina, who also wrote:

After three weeks, the Grand Duke Constantine was forced to make a choice. I think that he did not want to marry.

After the young Grand Duke chose Juliane, she began her training as a consort. On February 2, 1796, the 14-year-old German princess took the name of Anna Fyodorovna in a Russian Orthodox baptismal ceremony and 20 days later, on February 26, she and Constantine were married. Constantine was 19 years old at the time.

The Empress Catherine II died nine months later, on 6 November 6, 1796. By virtue of her wedding, she was awarded with the Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of Saint Catherine and the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem.

Grand Duke Constantine was the heir-presumptive for most of his elder brother, Emperor Alexander I’s, reign, but had secretly renounced his claim to the throne in 1823.

For 25 days after the death of Alexander I, from 19 November 19 to December 14, 1825 he was known as His Imperial Majesty Constantine I, Emperor and Sovereign of Russia, although he never reigned and never acceded to the throne. His younger brother Nicholas became Emperor in 1825. The succession controversy became the pretext of the Decembrist revolt.

July 9, 1762: in a Palace Coup, Catherine the Great becomes the Ruling Empress of Russia.

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Catherine the Great, Charles Peter of Holstein-Gottorp, Emperor Peter III of Russia, Empress Catherine II of Russia, Frederick the Great, King Frederick II of Prussia, Palace Coup, Princess Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg

Catherine II (May 2, 1729 – November 17, 1796), most commonly known as Catherine the Great, was Empress of Russia from 1762 until 1796—the country’s longest-ruling female leader. From 1793 on she also became Lady of Jever. She came to power following a coup d’état that she organised, resulting in her husband, Peter III, being overthrown. Under her reign, Russia was revitalised; it grew larger and stronger, and was recognised as one of the great powers of Europe and Asia.

Charles Peter Ulrich of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp and Princess Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg. Future Peter III and Catherine II, Emperor and Empress of Russia.

Catherine was born in Alt-Stettin, Pomerania, Kingdom of Prussia (now Szczecin, Poland) as Princess Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg. She was the daughter of Christian-August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst and Johanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp, sister of King Adolf-Frederik of Sweden, daughter of Prince Christian-August of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp, Prince of Eutin and Princess Albertina Frederica of Baden-Durlach.

Christian-August of Anhalt-Zerbst belonged to the ruling German family of Anhalt but held the rank of a Prussian general in his capacity as governor of the city of Stettin. Two of Catherine’s first cousins became Kings of Sweden: Gustaf III and Carl XIII. In accordance with the custom then prevailing in the ruling dynasties of Germany, she received her education chiefly from a French governess and from tutors. Catherine was regarded as a tomboy and was known by the nickname Fike.

The choice of Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst as wife of her second cousin, the prospective Emperor, Charles-Peter of Holstein-Gottorp, resulted from some amount of diplomatic management in which Count Lestocq, Peter’s aunt and ruling Russian Empress Elizabeth, and Friedrich II of Prussia took part.

Lestocq and Friedrich wanted to strengthen the friendship between Prussia and Russia to weaken Austria’s influence and ruin the Russian chancellor Bestuzhev, on whom Empress Elizabeth relied, and who acted as a known partisan of Russo-Austrian co-operation.

Catherine first met Charles-Peter at the age of 10. Based on her writings, she found Charles-Peter detestable upon meeting him. She disliked his pale complexion and his fondness for alcohol at such a young age. Charles-Peter also still played with toy soldiers. Catherine later wrote that she stayed at one end of the castle, and Charles-Peter at the other.

Princess Sophie’s father, a devout German Lutheran, opposed his daughter’s conversion to Eastern Orthodoxy. Despite his objection, however, on June 28, 1744, the Russian Orthodox Church received Princess Sophie as a member with the new name Catherine (Yekaterina or Ekaterina) and the (artificial) patronymic Алексеевна (Alekseyevna, daughter of Aleksey).

On the following day, the formal betrothal took place. The long-planned dynastic marriage finally occurred on August 21, 1745 in Saint Petersburg. Sophie had turned 16; her father did not travel to Russia for the wedding. The bridegroom, known then as Charles-Peter von Holstein-Gottorp, had become Duke of Holstein-Gottorp (located in the north-west of present-day Germany near the border with Denmark) in 1739. The newlyweds settled in the palace of Oranienbaum, which remained the residence of the “young court” for many years to come.

After the death of the Empress Elizabeth on January 5, 1762, Charles-Peter succeeded to the throne as Emperor Peter III, and Catherine became empress consort. The imperial couple moved into the new Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg.

The Emperor’s eccentricities and policies, including a great admiration for the Prussian king, Friedrich II, alienated the same groups that Catherine had cultivated. Russia and Prussia had fought each other during the Seven Years’ War (1756–1763), and Russian troops had occupied Berlin in 1761.

Peter, however, supported Friedrich II, eroding much of his support among the nobility. Peter ceased Russian operations against Prussia, and Frederick suggested the partition of Polish territories with Russia. Peter also intervened in a dispute between his Duchy of Holstein and Denmark over the province of Schleswig (see Count Johann Hartwig Ernst von Bernstorff). As Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, Peter planned war against Denmark, Russia’s traditional ally against Sweden.

In July 1762, barely six months after becoming emperor, Peter lingered in Oranienbaum with his Holstein-born courtiers and relatives, while his wife lived in another palace nearby. On the night of July 8, Catherine was given the news that one of her co-conspirators had been arrested by her estranged husband and that all they had been planning must take place at once.

The next day, she left the palace and departed for the Ismailovsky regiment, where she delivered a speech asking the soldiers to protect her from her husband. Catherine then left with the regiment to go to the Semenovsky Barracks, where the clergy was waiting to ordain her as the sole occupant of the Russian throne.

She had her husband arrested, and forced him to sign a document of abdication, leaving no one to dispute her accession to the throne. On July 17, 1762—eight days after the coup that amazed the outside world and just six months after his accession to the throne—Peter III died at Ropsha, possibly at the hands of Alexei Orlov (younger brother to Grigory Orlov, then a court favourite and a participant in the coup). Peter supposedly was assassinated, but it is unknown how he died. The official cause, after an autopsy, was a severe attack of hemorrhoidal colic and an apoplexy stroke.

At the time of Peter III’s overthrow, other potential rivals for the throne included Ivan VI (1740–1764), who had been confined at Schlüsselburg in Lake Ladoga from the age of six months, and was thought to be insane. Ivan VI was assassinated during an attempt to free him as part of a failed coup: Like Empress Elizabeth before her, Catherine had given strict instructions that Ivan was to be killed in the event of any such attempt. Yelizaveta Alekseyevna Tarakanova (1753–1775) was another potential rival.

Although Catherine did not descend from the Romanov dynasty, her ancestors included members of the Rurik dynasty, which preceded the Romanovs. She succeeded her husband as Empress Regnant, following the precedent established when Catherine I succeeded her husband Peter the Great in 1725.

Historians debate Catherine’s technical status, whether as a regent or as a usurper, tolerable only during the minority of her son, Grand Duke Paul. In the 1770s, a group of nobles connected with Paul, including Nikita Panin, considered a new coup to depose Catherine and transfer the crown to Paul, whose power they envisaged restricting in a kind of constitutional monarchy. Nothing came of this, however, and Catherine reigned until her death.

July 6, 1796: Birth of Emperor Nicholas I of Russia.

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Catherine the Great, Decembrist Revolt, Emperor Alexander I of Russia, Emperor Nicholas I of Russia, Empress Catherine II of Russia, Princess Charlotte of Prussia, Russia, Russian Empire

Nicholas I (July 6, 1796 – March 3, 1855) reigned as Emperor of Russia from 1825 until 1855. He was also the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Finland. He has become best known for having been a reactionary whose controversial reign was marked by geographical expansion, economic growth and massive industrialisation on the one hand, and centralisation of administrative policies and repression of dissent on the other.

Nicholas was born at Gatchina Palace in Gatchina to Grand Duke Paul, and Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna of Russia (née Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg). Five months after his birth, his grandmother, Empress Catherine II the Great, died and his parents became Emperor and Empress of Russia. He was a younger brother of Emperor Alexander I of Russia, who succeeded to the throne in 1801, and of Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich of Russia.

Nicholas had a happy marriage that produced a large family; all of their seven children survived childhood. On July 13, 1817, Nicholas married Princess Charlotte of Prussia (1798–1860), who thereafter went by the name Alexandra Feodorovna when she converted to Orthodoxy. Charlotte’s parents were Friedrich-Wilhelm III of Prussia and Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Nicholas and Charlotte were third cousins, as they were both great-great-grandchildren of Friedrich-Wilhelm I of Prussia.

His biographer Nicholas V. Riasanovsky said that Nicholas displayed determination, singleness of purpose, and an iron will, along with a powerful sense of duty and a dedication to very hard work. He saw himself as a soldier—a junior officer totally consumed by spit and polish.

A handsome man, he was highly nervous and aggressive. Trained as an engineer, he was a stickler for minute detail. In his public persona, stated Riasanovsky, “Nicholas I came to represent autocracy personified: infinitely majestic, determined and powerful, hard as stone, and relentless as fate.” He was the younger brother of his predecessor, Alexander I.

With two older brothers, it initially seemed unlikely Nicholas would ever become tsar. However, as Emperor Alexander I and Grand Duke Constantine both failed to produce sons, Nicholas remained likely to rule one day. In 1825, when Alexander I died suddenly of typhus, Nicholas was caught between swearing allegiance to Constantine and accepting the throne for himself.

The interregnum lasted until Constantine, who was in Warsaw at that time, confirmed his refusal of the Russian Imperial Throne.

Additionally, on December 25, Nicholas issued the manifesto proclaiming his accession to the throne. That manifesto retroactively named December 1, the date of Alexander I’s death, as the beginning of his reign. During this confusion, a plot was hatched by some members of the military to overthrow Nicholas and to seize power. This led to the Decembrist Revolt on December 26, 1825, an uprising Nicholas was successful in quickly suppressing.

Nicholas I was instrumental in helping to create an independent Greek state, and resumed the Russian conquest of the Caucasus by seizing Iğdır Province and the remainder of modern-day Armenia and Azerbaijan from Qajar Persia during the Russo-Persian War of 1826–1828. He ended the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–1829 successfully as well. Later on, however, he led Russia into the Crimean War (1853–1856), with disastrous results. Historians emphasize that his micromanagement of the armies hindered his generals, as did his misguided strategy. William C. Fuller notes that historians have frequently concluded that “the reign of Nicholas I was a catastrophic failure in both domestic and foreign policy.” On the eve of his death, the Russian Empire reached its geographical zenith, spanning over 20 million square kilometers (7.7 million square miles), but had a desperate need for reform.