February 19, 1841: Death of Augusta of Prussia, Electress of Hesse

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Augusta of Prussia, Elector of Hesse, Emilie Ortlöpp, Frederick William II of Prussia, Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt, Morganatic Marriage, Wilhelm II of Hesse

Princess Augusta of Prussia (Christine Friederike Auguste; May 1, 1780 – February 19, 1841) was a German salonist, painter, and Electress Consort of Electoral Hesse by marriage to Wilhelm II, Elector of Hesse.

Augusta was the third daughter and fifth child of King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia and Frederika Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt, the daughter of Ludwig IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt, and Countess Palatine Caroline of Zweibrücken

On February 13, 1797 in Berlin, Augusta married Prince Wilhelm of Hesse-Cassel, eldest surviving son of Wilhelm IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel.

Following the reorganization of the German states during the German mediatisation of 1803, the Landgraviate of Hesse-Cassel was raised to the Electorate of Hesse and Landgrave Wilhelm IX was elevated to Imperial Elector, taking the title Wilhelm I, Elector of Hesse.

Prince Wilhelm of Hesse-Cassel succeeded on his father’s death in 1821 and became Wilhelm II, Elector of Hesse.

Elector Wilhelm II of Hesse was also the grandson of
Landgrave Friedrich II of Hesse-Cassel, and his wife Princess Mary of Great Britain, daughter of King George II of Great Britain.

The marriage of Augusta was politically arranged and unhappy. Augusta and Wilhelm often came into conflict with one another, which led to aggressive confrontations.

In 1806, Hesse was occupied by France. Augusta was in Berlin with her children at the time, having remained in the Prussian capital due to her pregnancy when Napoleon’s army took the Electorate for France.

Napoleon put guards around her house and gave orders that she should not be disturbed. With Hesse and Prussia occupied and her family in exile, Augusta lacked money, and after her child’s birth she asked for a meeting with Napoleon.

Augusta appeared before him with her newborn baby on her arm and one of her children by the hand and asked him for an allowance, which he granted her.

After the birth of her last child in 1806, the relationship between Augusta and Wilhelm was unofficially terminated.

In 1812, Emilie Ortlöpp met Elector Wilhelm II during a stay in Berlin and soon became his mistress. Wilhelm II brought Emilie to Cassel in 1813, leading to a de facto termination of his marriage with Princess Augusta of Prussia, but for political reasons, he was not allowed to divorce his wife.

In 1815, Wilhelm and Augusta agreed to keep separate households. Augusta lived in Schoenfeld Palace, where she became a celebrated salonist and the centre of the romantic Schoenfelder-circle, which included Ludwig Hassenpflug, Joseph von Radowitz and the Grimm brothers, while Elector Wilhelm lived in a different residence with his mistress, Emilie Ortlöpp.

Augusta closed her salon in 1823, and between 1826 and 1831 she lived in The Hague, Koblenz, Bonn and Fulda. She returned to Cassel in 1831. Augusta was regarded as a skillful painter, whose works included self-portraits.

Augusta died on February 19, 1841 and several months after her death, Wilhelm II morganatically married his longtime mistress Emilie Ortlöpp, ennobled as Countess von Reichenbach-Lessonitz, by whom he had an additional eight children.

The relationship between Wilhelm II and Emilie caused a scandal; they even received death threats. The Countess was probably unpopular and was alleged to have had a negative impact on Wilhelm’s politics, or at least some of his political failures were attributed to her.

The relationship was one of the reasons why the Wilhelm did not return to his capital Kassel after the 1830 revolution.

May 23, 1629: Birth of Wilhelm VI, Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel.

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Elector of Hesse, Hesse, Hesse and By Rhine, Hesse-Cassel, Hesse-Darmstadt, Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, Margravine Hedwig-Sophie of Brandenburg, Philip of Hesse, Sophia of the Rhine (Electress Sophia), William VI of Hesse- Cassel

Wilhelm VI, Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel (May 23, 1629 – July 16, 1663), known as Wilhelm the Just, was Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel from 1637 to 1663.

Wilhelm VI, Landgrave of Hesse Cassel

History of the Landgravite

Landgrave was a noble title used in the Holy Roman Empire, and later on in its former territories. The German titles of Landgraf, Markgraf (“margrave”), and Pfalzgraf (“count palatine”) are in the same class of ranks as Herzog (“duke”) and above the rank of a Graf (“count”).

The Landgraviate of Hesse-Cassel was founded by Wilhelm IV the Wise, the eldest son of Philipp I. On his father’s death in 1567, the Landgraviate of Hesse was divided into four parts. Wilhelm IV received about half of the territory, with Cassel as his capital. Hesse-Cassel expanded in 1604 when Moritz, Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel inherited the Landgraviate of Hesse-Marburg from his childless uncle, Ludwig IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Marburg (1537–1604). The other sons received the Landgraviate of Hesse-Marburg, the Landgraviate of Hesse-Rheinfels and the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt.

Wilhelm V of Hesse-Cassel, father of Wilhelm VI.

The reign of the Landgrave William IX (1743-1821) (the great-great grandson of Landgrave Wilhelm VI) was an important epoch in the history of Hesse-Cassel. Ascending the throne in 1785, he took part in the War of the First Coalition against French First Republic a few years later, but in 1795 the Peace of Basel was signed. In 1801 he lost his possessions on the left bank of the Rhine, but in 1803 he was compensated for these losses with some former French territory round Mainz, and at the same time he was raised to the dignity of Prince-elector Wilhelm I of Hesse, (the territorial designation of Cassel was dropped) a title he retained even after the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire.

Upon 1806 dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire and the dispossession of his Elector Wilhelm I of Hesse, Landgrave Ludwig X of Hesse-Darmstadt and joined the Napoleonic Confederation of the Rhine and took the title of Grand Duke Ludwig I of Hesse. At the Congress of Vienna in 1814/15, Ludwig had to give up his Westphalian territories, but was compensated with the district of Rheinhessen, with his capital Mainz on the left bank of the Rhine. Because of this addition, he amended his title to Grand Duke Ludwig I of Hesse and by Rhine.

Amalie-Elisabeth, Gräfin of Hanau-Münzenberg, mother of Landgrave Wilhelm VI

In 1866, the end came. Elector Friedrich-Wilhelm of Hesse, full of grievances against Prussia, threw in his lot with Austria when Prussia was at war with Austria. The electorate was at once overrun with Prussian troops; Cassel was occupied (20 June); and the Elector was taken as a prisoner to Stettin. By the Peace of Prague, Electoral Hesse was annexed to Prussia.

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Landgrave Wilhelm VI was born in Cassel, the son of Wilhelm V (whom he succeeded) and his wife Amalie-Elisabeth, Gräfin of Hanau-Münzenberg (daughter of Philipp-Ludwig II of Hanau-Münzenberg and his wife Countess Catharina Belgica of Nassau). His mother remained his guardian until he came of age. Despite Hesse-Cassel’s defeat in the Thirty Years’ War, Wilhelm’s mother did not wish to acknowledge the accord of 1627.

This required that the unmarried Marburger heir and the Landgraves of Hessen-Darmstadt should fall, but Amalie-Elisabeth had other ideas and led Hesse-Cassel in 1645 into the “Hessenkrieg”, ruling as Landgräfin on her son’s behalf. This war began when Hesse-Cassel troops began to besiege the city of Marburg. Three years later, in 1648, the war ended with a victory for Cassel, although the citizens of Darmstadt also gained from it.

Domination over the Marburger territories went over to the landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, after the accord was dissolved and a new agreement was reached. Wilhelm VI succeeded in what his ancestors had tried to do in vain since 1604, that is, to end the Hesse-Marburg landgraviate, and to annex the Marburger lands to Hesse-Cassel.

After these wars, Wilhelm VI attended above all to the extension of the universities within his domains and the foundation of more new Lehranstalts. To finally resolve the quarrel with Landgrave Georg II of Hesse-Darmstadt, Wilhelm VI delivered to Georg II the territory around Gießen, along with Ämtern by Biedenkopf.

Shortly before his death, Wilhelm VI joined the League of the Rhine on its foundation in 1658. He also sought to effect a union between his Lutheran and Reformed subjects, or at least to lessen their mutual hatred. In 1661 he had a colloquy held in Kassel between the Lutheran theologians of the University of Rinteln and the Reformed theologians of the University of Marburg.

Wilhelm VI died at Haina in 1663. Control of his Landgraviate went to his eldest son Wilhelm VII, though – not yet of age – he remained under the guardianship of his mother Hedwig Sophie of Brandenburg until his early death in 1670.

Marriage and issue

Landgrave Wilhelm VI married Margravine Hedwig-Sophie of Brandenburg (1623–1683), daughter of daughter of Georg-Wilhelm, Elector of Brandenburg and Elizabeth-Charlotte of the Palantine of the Rhine. Their children were:

Margravine Hedwig-Sophie of Brandenburg

* Charlotte Amalie (1650–1714), married Christian V of Denmark
* Wilhelm VII (1651–1670), his successor, Landgraf 1663-1670.
* Luise (1652-1652)
* Charles (1654-1730), Landgraf 1670-1730
* Philipp (1655-1721), Landgrave of Hesse-Philippsthal, married Katharina-Amalia Gräfin von Solms-Laubach
* Georg of Hesse-Kassel (1658–1675);
* Elisabeth-Henriëtte (8 November 1661-1683), married King Friedrich I of Prussia as his first wife.

Friedrich V, Elector Palantine of the Rhine

Princess Elizabeth (Stuart) of England, Scotland and Ireland

Wilhelm VI’s mother-in-law, Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palantine of the Rhine was the daughter of Friedrich IV, Elector Palatine of the Rhine, and Louise-Juliana of Orange-Nassau. Her brother Friedrich became famous as the Elector-Palatine Friedrich V and “Winter King” of Bohemia. Friedrich’s daughter Sophia (1630–1714), with his wife, Princess Elizabeth (Stuart) of England, Scotland and Ireland, was the heir presumptive to the thrones of England and Ireland by the Act of Settlement, 1701. Sophia, married Ernst-August, Elector of Hanover. Her son became King George I of Great Britain in 1714.

Sophia of the Palatine of the Rhine

King George I of Great Britain was the grandfather of my previous blog entry, Prince August-Ferdinand of Prussia, making Landgrave Wilhelm VI and his wife, Margravine Hedwig-Sophie of Brandenburg the great-great grand uncle and aunt to both Friedrich II the Great of Prussia and his youngest brother, Prince August-Ferdinand of Prussia.

Election of Count Friedrich of Hesse-Cassel to the Swedish Throne, March 24, 1720.

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Abdication, Charles XII of Sweden, Frederick of Sweden, Kingdom of Sweden, Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, Russia, Russian Empire, The Great Northern War

On this date in History: Election of Count Friedrich of Hesse-Cassel to the Swedish Throne by the Swedish Estates, March 24, 1720.

King Friedrich of Sweden

Ulrica Eleanor of Sweden (January 23, 1688 – November 24, 1741) was the youngest child of King Carl XI of Sweden and Ulrica Eleanora of Denmark.

In 1702, a marriage to the future King George II of Great Britain was suggested, but was postponed, and in the end nothing came of it. Duke Johann-Wilhelm of Saxe-Gotha was given permission by her brother, King Carl XII of Sweden to court her, but the marriage plans were interrupted after he engaged in a duel with Anders Lagercrona in the presence of the monarch. In 1710, she received a proposal from Prince Friedrich of Hesse-Cassel. The negotiations were handled by her favorite and confidante Emerentia von Düben. The marriage was supported by her grandmother Hedwig Eleonora, as the Queen Dowager thought this would force Ulrica Eleonor to leave Sweden for Hesse, increasing the chances for the son of Ulrica Eleonor’s elder sister, Carl of Holstein-Gottorp, to become heir to the throne. The engagement was announced on January 23, 1714, and the wedding took place March 24, 1715. During the wedding, her brother Carl XII remarked: “Tonight my sister is dancing away the crown.”

Ulrica Eleanor, Queen Regnant and Queen Consort of Sweden.

Friedrich (April 28, 1676 – April 5, 1751) was the son of Carl I, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, and Princess Maria Amalia of Courland. On May 30, 1700 he married his first wife, Louise Dorothea, Princess of Prussia (1680–1705), daughter of Friedrich I of Prussia (1657–1713) and Elizabeth Henrietta of Hesse-Kassel(1661–1683). Louise Dorothea died in childbirth in December 1705. After his marriage to Ulrica Eleanor he was then granted the title Prince of Sweden, with the style Royal Highness by the estates, and was prince consort there during Ulrica Eleonor’s rule as queen regnant from 1718 until her abdication in 1720. He is the only Swedish prince consort there has been to date

On December 11, 1718, while inspecting trenches close to the perimeter of the fortress, King Carl XII of Sweden was shot, struck in the head by a projectile and killed. After Ulrica Eleanor received the news of the death of her brother, she immediately declared herself monarch in Uddevalla by stating that she had inherited the throne. The council was taken by surprise and did not contest this. She took control over the affairs of state and had Georg Heinrich von Görtz and his followers removed from power. The “Hesse Party” secured Ulrica Eleonor’s succession to the throne.

King Carl XII of Sweden

Ulrica Eleanor and Friedrich gained the support of the Riksdag who wanted to end the absolute monarchy established in 1680 and reinstate parliamentary rule. On 15 December 1718, she declared that though she had inherited the throne, she did not intend to keep the Carolinian absolutism but agreed to reinstate the older system. The war council was determined to abolish absolutism and the right to inherit the throne, but was willing to acknowledge her as an elected monarch. Their opinion was supported by the majority of the Assembly of the Estates. Ulrica Eleanor was forced into agreeing to abolish absolute monarchy and the right to inherit the throne, both for her and for her contestant, her nephew Carl-Friedrich, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp.

After having agreed to sign the new constitution as monarch, she was elected queen on January 23, 1719. On February 19 she signed the Instrument of Governm, thereby securing the support of the Estates to not give the throne to her nephew and competitor. She was crowned in Uppsala Cathedral March 17, 1719 and made her formal entrance into Stockholm as monarch on April 11, that same year.

Ulrica Eleonor supported the political ambitions of her consort, and from the beginning, she wished for him to become her co-monarch, in the fashion of William III and Mary II of England, Scotland and Ireland. However, this was not permitted by the Riksdag. One reason being that co-reigning had been forbidden in Sweden since the 15th century. There was also opposition in the Riksdag to the influence of Emerentia von Düben and her siblings over the affairs of state.

Her difficulty in respecting the constitution and trouble in getting along with the Riksdag, as well as her way of continuously discussing state affairs with her husband, did however make the Riksdag willing to replace her with Frederick as sole monarch if she abdicated, an idea that had the support of Frederick. On February 29, 1720, after having again been denied a co-monarchy, Ulrica Eleonor abdicated in favour of her husband on the condition that she should succeed him if he should die before her. This condition of her abdication in fact granted her place as the heir to the Swedish throne until her death.

King Friedrich of Sweden, Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel.

Queen Ulrica Eleanor often spoke of the abdication as the great sacrifice of her life. Her husband Friedrich succeeded her on March 24, 1720, and this succession was confirmed by the Riksdag. It was the couple’s fifth wedding anniversary.

The defeats suffered by Carl XII in the Great Northern War ended Sweden’s position as a first-rank European power. Under Friedrich this had to be accepted. Sweden also had to cede Estonia, Ingria and Livonia to Russia in the Treaty of Nystad, in 1721.

Friedrich was a very active and dynamic king at the beginning of his 31-year reign. But after the aristocracy had regained power during the wars with Russia, he became not so much powerless as uninterested in affairs of state. In 1723, he tried to strengthen royal authority, but after he failed, he never had much to do with politics. He did not even sign official documents; instead a stamp of his signature was used. He devoted most of his time to hunting and love affairs. His marriage to Queen Ulrika Eleonora was childless, but he had several children by his mistress, Hedvig Taube.

Friedrich became Landgrave of Hesse only in 1730, ten years after becoming King of Sweden. He immediately appointed his younger brother Wilhelm governor of Hesse.

As Landgrave, Friedrich is generally not seen as a success. Indeed, he did concentrate more on Sweden, and due to his negotiated, compromise-like ascension to the throne there, he and his court had a very low income. The money for that very expensive court, then, since the 1730s came from wealthy Hesse, and this means that Friedrich essentially behaved like an absentee landlord and drained Hessian resources to finance life in Sweden.

His powerless reign in Sweden saw his family’s elimination from the line of Succession after the parliamentary government dominated by pro-revanchist Hat Party politicians ventured into a war with Russia, which ended in defeat and the Russian tsarina Elizabeth demanding Adolph-Friedrich of Holstein-Gottorp to be instated following the death of the This occurred when Friedrich of Sweden died on April 5 1751. Friedrich was succeeded as Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel by his younger brother as Wilhelm VIII.