Karl August, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
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Charles Augustus | |
---|---|
Duke of Saxe-Eisenach | |
Reign | 28 May 1758– 20 September 1809 |
Predecessor | Ernest Augustus II |
Successor | Union with Saxe-Weimar |
Regent | Dowager Duchess Anna Amalia |
Born | Weimar, Duchy of Saxe-Weimar, Holy Roman Empire (now in Thuringia, Germany) | 3 September 1757
Died | 14 June 1828 Graditz, near Torgau, Province of Saxony, Kingdom of Prussia (now in Saxony, Germany) | (aged 70)
Spouse |
Landgravine Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt (m. 1775) |
Issue | |
Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach | |
Father | Ernest Augustus II, Duke of Saxe-Weimar and Saxe-Eisenach |
Mother | Duchess Anna Amalia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel |
Religion | Lutheranism |
Karl August, sometimes anglicised as Charles Augustus (3 September 1757 – 14 June 1828), was the sovereign
Biography
Born in Weimar, he was the eldest son of Ernst August II, Duke of Saxe-Weimar and Saxe-Eisenach (Ernest Augustus II), and Duchess Anna Amalia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.
His father died when he was only nine months old (
In
One of the first acts of the young duke was to summon Goethe to Weimar, and in 1776 he was made a member of the privy council. "People of discernment," the duke said, "congratulate me on possessing this man. His intellect, his genius is known. It makes no difference if the world is offended because I have made Dr Goethe a member of my most important collegium without his having passed through the stages of minor official professor and councillor of state."[2]
The Weimaraner, a breed of gun dog is said to have been developed by August and his court for hunting. Karl August was also interested in literature, in art, in science, funding Goethe and the foundation of the Weimar Princely Free Drawing School and encouraging Weimar Classicism.[citation needed] Critics praised his judgment in painting; biologists found in him an expert in anatomy.[2]
His aim was to educate his people to work out their own political and social salvation, the object of education being in his view, as he explained later to the dismay of Metternich and his school, to help men to independence of judgment. To this end Herder was summoned to Weimar to reform the educational system and the University of Jena attained the zenith of its fame under his rule. Weimar became the intellectual centre of Germany.[3]
Meanwhile, in the affairs of Germany and of Europe the character of Karl August gave him an influence out of all proportion to his position as a sovereign prince.[
At the
Karl August died at Graditz, near Torgau, in 1828. Karl von Dalberg, the prince-primate, who owed the co-adjutorship of Mainz to the duke's friendship, said that he had never met a prince with so much understanding, character, frankness and true-heartedness; the Milanese, when he visited their city, called him the uomo principe, and Goethe himself said of him that "he had the gift of discriminating intellects and characters and setting each one in his place. He was inspired by the noblest good-will, the purest humanity, and with his whole soul desired only what was best. There was in him something of the divine. He would gladly have wrought the happiness of all mankind. And finally, he was greater than his surroundings. ... Everywhere he himself saw and judged, and in all circumstances his surest foundation was in himself." Karl August's correspondence with Goethe was published in 2 volumes at Weimar in 1863.[3]
He left two surviving sons:
Karl August's only surviving daughter, Caroline Louise, married Frederick Ludwig, Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and was the mother of Helene (1814–1858), wife of Ferdinand Philippe, Duke of Orléans, eldest son of Louis Philippe I, King of France.[3]
Ancestry
Ancestors of Karl August, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach Duchess Antoinette of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel | |||||||||||||
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3. Duchess Anna Amalia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel | |||||||||||||
14. Frederick William I of Prussia | |||||||||||||
7. Princess Philippine Charlotte of Prussia | |||||||||||||
15. Princess Sophia Dorothea of Hanover | |||||||||||||
Children
Karl August and Luise Auguste had seven children:
- Luise Auguste Amalie (b. Weimar, 3 February 1779 – d. Weimar, 24 March 1784).
- a daughter (b. and d. Weimar, 10 September 1781).
- Charles Frederick, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (b. Weimar, 2 February 1783 – d. Schloss Belvedere, near Weimar, 8 July 1853).
- a son (b. and d. Weimar, 26 February 1785).
- Caroline Louise (b. Weimar, 18 July 1786 – d. Ludwigslust, 20 January 1816), married on 1 July 1810 to Frederick Louis, Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.
- a son (b. and d. Weimar, 13 April 1789).
- Karl Bernhard (b. Weimar, 30 May 1792 – d. Liebenstein, 31 July 1862).
In addition, Karl August acknowledged five children by him born out of wedlock:
- With Eva Dorothea Wiegand (b. 1755 – d. 1828)
- Johann Karl Sebastian Klein (b. Stützerbach, 9 June 1779 – d. Weimar, 28 June 1830), married on 22 April 1817 to Anna Fredericka Henriette Müller. They had three sons who possibly died young.
- With Luise Rudorf (b. 1777 – d. 1852)
- Karl Wilhelm of Knebel (b. Templin, 18 January 1796 – d. Jena, 16 November 1861), married firstly on 6 February 1825 to Fredericka of Geusau, with whom he had one son, who died in infancy, before they divorced in 1837; secondly he married on 14 May 1839 Josephine Karoline Emilie Trautmann, with whom he had one son and two daughters.
- With Karoline Jagemann (b. 1777 – d. 1848), created Frau von Heygendorf
- Karl Wolfgang of Heygendorff (b. Weimar, 25 December 1806 – d. Dresden, 17 February 1895)
- August of Heygendorff (b. Weimar, 10 August 1810 – d. Dresden, 23 January 1874).
- Mariana of Heygendorff (b. Weimar, 8 April 1812 – d. The Hague, 10 August 1836), married on 15 October 1835 to Daniel, Baron Tindal.
Notes
- ^ Ulich, Robert, The Education of Nations, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass. 1961, p.193
- ^ a b c d Chisholm 1911, p. 939.
- ^ a b c d e Chisholm 1911, p. 940.
- ^ Genealogie ascendante jusqu'au quatrieme degre inclusivement de tous les Rois et Princes de maisons souveraines de l'Europe actuellement vivans [Genealogy up to the fourth degree inclusive of all the Kings and Princes of sovereign houses of Europe currently living] (in French). Bourdeaux: Frederic Guillaume Birnstiel. 1768. p. 101.
References
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Charles Augustus". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 5 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 939–940. This work in turn cites:
- Franz Xaver von Wegele (1882), "Karl August (Großherzog von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach)", Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 15, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 338–355
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
External links
- Media related to Charles Augustus, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach at Wikimedia Commons
- The American Cyclopædia. 1879. .