1.
Schwerin
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Schwerin is the capital and second-largest city of the northern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The population is 91,583 and 98.000 as of July 2016, Schwerin was first mentioned in 1018 and was granted city rights in 1160, thus it is the oldest city of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. It is known for its romantic Schwerin Palace, crowning an island in the Lake Schwerin, the city also has a largely intact old town, thanks to only minor damage in World War II. Schwerin is located within the region of Hamburg and close to that of Berlin. The largest of these lakes, the Schweriner See, has an area of 60 km2, in the midst of these lakes there was a settlement of the Slavic Obotrite. The area was called Zuarin, and the name Schwerin is derived from that designation, in 1160, Henry the Lion defeated the Obotrites and captured Schwerin. The town was expanded into a powerful regional centre. A castle was built on site, and expanded to become a ducal palace. It is supposedly haunted by the small, impious ghost, called Petermännchen, in 1358, Schwerin became a part of the Duchy of Mecklenburg, making it the seat of the duchy from then on. About 1500, the construction of the Schwerin Palace began, as a residence for the dukes, after the division of Mecklenburg, Schwerin became the capital of the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Between 1765 and 1837, the town of Ludwigslust served as the capital, in the mid-1800s, many residents from Schwerin moved to the United States, many to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Today Milwaukee and Schwerin are sister cities, after 1918, and during the German Revolution, resulting in the fall of all the German monarchies, the Grand Duke abdicated. Schwerin became capital of the Free State of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern thereafter, at the end of World War II, on 2 May 1945, Schwerin was taken by U. S. troops. Schwerin was then in the Soviet Occupation Zone which was to become the German Democratic Republic, initially, it was the capital of the State of Mecklenburg which at that time included the western part of Pomerania. After the states were dissolved in the GDR, in 1952, after reunification in 1990, the former state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern was recreated as one of the Bundesländer. Rostock was a contender for state capital but the decision went in favour of Schwerin. City buses and trams are run by NVS, Schwerin Hauptbahnhof is connected by rail to Berlin, Hamburg and Rostock. The landmark of the city is the Schwerin Palace, located on an island in the lake of the same name and it was, for centuries, the residence of the Dukes of Mecklenburg and today is the seat of the Landtag
2.
Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
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The Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin was a territory in Northern Germany held by the House of Mecklenburg residing at Schwerin. It was a member state of the German Confederation and became a federated state of the North German Confederation. The smaller southeastern part was held by the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz branch of the ducal house. Likewise in the west, the Duchy of Holstein was incorporated into the Schleswig-Holstein Province, in the early years of the French Revolutionary Wars Duke Frederick Francis I of Mecklenburg-Schwerin had remained neutral, and in 1803 he regained Wismar, which was pawned to him from Sweden. After Napoleons victory at the Battle of Austerlitz and the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806. Napoleon, in preparation for the French invasion of Russia in 1812, disregarded this alliance, instead, Denmark was promised the adjacent lands of Swedish Pomerania by the 1814 Peace of Kiel and the rule of the Mecklenburg dukes remained inviolate. In 1819 serfdom was abolished in his dominions. During the revolutions of 1848, the duchy witnessed a considerable agitation in favour of a liberal constitution, on 10 October 1849 Grand Duke Frederick Francis II granted a new Basic law elaborated by his First Minister Ludwig von Lützow. In the dispute over neighbouring Holstein which culminated in the 1866 Austro-Prussian War, Frederick Francis II supported the Kingdom of Prussia and his grand duchy began to pass more and more under Prussian influence. In 1867 he joined the North German Confederation and the Zollverein, in the Franco-Prussian War, Prussia again received valuable assistance from Grand Duke Frederick Francis II, who was an ardent advocate of German unity and held a high command in her armies. In the course of the German unification in 1871, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, there was now renewed agitation for a more democratic constitution, and the German Reichstag parliament gave some countenance to this movement. In 1897 Frederick Francis IV succeeded his father Frederick Francis III as the last grand duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, in 1907 the Grand Duke promised a constitution to his subjects. The duchy had always been under a system of government. The duchy shared a diet, which met for a short session each year, at other times they were represented by a committee consisting of the proprietors of knights estates, known as the Ritterschaft, and the Landschaft, or burgomasters of certain towns. Mecklenburg-Schwerin returned six members to the Reichstag, upon the suicide of his cousin Grand Duke Adolphus Frederick VI on 23 February 1918, Frederick Francis served as regent of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Shortly afterwards, on 14 November, he was forced to renounce the Mecklenburg throne in the course of the German Revolution, the grand duchy turned into the Free State of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, a federated state of the Weimar Republic. Thereby ended nearly eight centuries of rule by the originally Obotrite Mecklenburg dynasty. Until 1918 the grand duke was styled as Prince of the Wends and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. article name needed
3.
Kneuterdijk Palace
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Kneuterdijk Palace, located in The Hague, was once a Royal Palace of the Kings of the Netherlands. Built in 1716 in the Louis XIV style by architect Daniel Marot, the palace served as a residence for King William II and his wife Queen Anna Paulowna in the first half of the 19th century, when he was still the crown prince. Their grandson Crown Prince William used the palace from 1858 till his death in 1879, in the 1930s the place was occasionally used by Princess Juliana. After World War II Dutch war criminals were tried in the great hall, then the Ministry of Finance used the building for many years. Since restoration work was completed in 2001 the palace has been in use by the Netherlands Council of State
4.
Nieuwe Kerk (Delft)
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The Nieuwe Kerk is a Protestant church in the city of Delft in the Netherlands. The building is located on Delft Market Square, opposite to the City Hall, in 1584, William the Silent was entombed here in a mausoleum designed by Hendrick and Pieter de Keyser. Since then members of the House of Orange-Nassau have been entombed in the royal crypt, the latest are Queen Juliana and her husband Prince Bernhard in 2004. The private royal family crypt is not open to the public, the church tower is the second highest in the Netherlands, after the Domtoren in Utrecht. The New Church, formerly the church of St. Ursula, is the place of the princes of Orange. The tower was built 1396-1496 by Jacob van der Borch, who built the Dom in Utrecht during the years 1444-1475. The monument for Hugo de Groot was made in 1781, the mechanical clock has 18 bells by Francois Hemony from 1659 and 30 modern bells. In the church there is a bell from 1662 by Francois Hemony with a diameter of 104 centimeters. In the tower there are also no longer in use, including 13 from 1659 by Francois Hemony,3 from 1678 by Pieter Hemony,3 from 1750 from Joris de Mery. The Kirk appears in the golden Age painting by Carel Fabritius, A View of Delft
5.
Delft
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Delft is a city and a municipality in the Netherlands. It is located in the province of South Holland, to the north of Rotterdam, the city of Delft came into being aside a canal, the Delf, which comes from the word delven, meaning delving or digging, and led to the name Delft. It presumably started around the 11th century as a landlord court, from a rural village in the early Middle Ages, Delft developed to a city, that in the 13th century received its charter. The towns association with the House of Orange started when William of Orange, nicknamed William the Silent, at the time he was the leader of growing national Dutch resistance against Spanish occupation, known as the Eighty Years War. By then Delft was one of the cities of Holland. An attack by Spanish forces in October of that year was repelled, after the Act of Abjuration was proclaimed in 1581, Delft became the de facto capital of the newly independent Netherlands, as the seat of the Prince of Orange. When William was shot dead in 1584, by Balthazar Gerards in the hall of the Prinsenhof, therefore, he was buried in the Delft Nieuwe Kerk, starting a tradition for the House of Orange that has continued to the present day. The Delft Explosion, also known in history as the Delft Thunderclap, occurred on 12 October 1654 when a gunpowder store exploded, over a hundred people were killed and thousands were wounded. About 30 tonnes of gunpowder were stored in barrels in a magazine in a former Clarissen convent in the Doelenkwartier district, cornelis Soetens, the keeper of the magazine, opened the store to check a sample of the powder and a huge explosion followed. Luckily, many citizens were away, visiting a market in Schiedam or a fair in The Hague, Delft artist Egbert van der Poel painted several pictures of Delft showing the devastation. Historical buildings and other sights of interest include, Oude Kerk, buried here, Piet Hein, Johannes Vermeer, Anthony van Leeuwenhoek. Nieuwe Kerk, constructed between 1381 and 1496 and it contains the Dutch royal familys burial vault, which between funerals is sealed with a 5,000 kg cover stone. A statue of Hugo Grotius made by Franciscus Leonardus Stracké in 1886 and this is the only remaining gate of the old city walls. The Gemeenlandshuis Delfland, or Huyterhuis, built in 1505, which has housed the Delfland regional water authority since 1645, the Vermeer Centre in the rebuilt Guild house of St. Luke. Windmill De Roos, a mill built c.1760. Restored to working order in 2013, another windmill that formerly stood in Delft, Het Fortuyn, was dismantled in 1917 and re-erected at the Netherlands Open Air Museum, Arnhem, Gelderland in 1920. Delft is well known for the Delft pottery ceramic products which were styled on the imported Chinese porcelain of the 17th century, the city had an early start in this area since it was a home port of the Dutch East India Company. It can still be seen at the pottery factories De Koninklijke Porceleyne Fles, the painter Johannes Vermeer was born in Delft
6.
Wilhelmina of the Netherlands
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Wilhelmina was Queen of the Kingdom of the Netherlands from 1890 until her abdication in 1948. Wilhelmina was the child of King William III and his second wife Emma of Waldeck. She became heir presumptive to the Dutch throne, after her brother and great uncle had died. She became queen when her died, when she was 10 years old. As she was still a minor, her mother served as regent until Wilhelmina became 18 years old, in 1901, she married Duke Henry of Mecklenburg-Schwerin with whom she had a daughter Juliana. She reigned for nearly 58 years, longer any other Dutch monarch. Her reign saw World War I and World War II, the crisis of 1933. Outside the Netherlands she is remembered for her role in World War II. Princess Wilhelmina Helena Pauline Maria of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau, was born on 31 August 1880 in The Hague and she was the only child of King William III and his second wife, Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont. Her childhood was characterised by a relationship with her parents, especially with her father. King William III had three sons with his first wife, Sophie of Württemberg, when Prince Frederick died a year later in 1881, she became second in line. When Wilhelmina was four, Alexander died and the girl became heir presumptive. King William III died on 23 November 1890, although 10-year-old Wilhelmina became queen of the Netherlands instantly, her mother, Emma, was named regent. In 1895, Queen Wilhelmina visited Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, still has her hair hanging loose. She is slender and graceful, and makes an impression as a very intelligent and she speaks good English and knows how to behave with charming manners. Wilhelmina was enthroned on 6 September 1898, on 7 February 1901 in The Hague, she married Duke Henry of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Nine months later, on 9 November, Wilhelmina suffered a miscarriage and her next pregnancy ended in another miscarriage on 23 July 1906. The birth of Juliana, on 30 April 1909, was met with great relief after eight years of childless marriage, Wilhelmina suffered two further miscarriages on 23 January and 20 October 1912
7.
Juliana of the Netherlands
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Juliana was Queen of the Kingdom of the Netherlands from 1948 until her abdication in 1980. Juliana was the child of Queen Wilhelmina and Prince Henry. From birth she was heir presumptive to the Dutch throne, in 1937, she married Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld with whom she had four children, Beatrix, Irene, Margriet, and Christina. She reigned for nearly 32 years and her reign saw the decolonization of Dutch East Indies and Suriname and their independence from the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Upon her death at the age of 94, she was the former reigning monarch in the world. Juliana was born in The Hague on 30 April 1909, the daughter of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands and Prince Henry. She was the first Dutch royal baby since Wilhelmina herself was born in 1880, Wilhelmina had suffered two miscarriages and one stillbirth, raising the prospect that the House of Orange-Nassau would die with her. In all likelihood, this would have meant that the Dutch throne would have passed to Prince Heinrich XXXII Reuss of Köstritz, Julianas birth thus assured the royal familys survival. Her mother suffered two miscarriages after her birth, leaving Juliana as the royal couples only child. Juliana spent her childhood at Het Loo Palace in Apeldoorn, and at Noordeinde Palace and these children were Baroness Elise Bentinck, Baroness Elisabeth van Hardenbroek and Jonkvrouwe Miek de Jonge. As the Dutch constitution specified that Princess Juliana should be ready to succeed to the throne by the age of eighteen, after five years of primary education, the Princess received her secondary education from private tutors. On 30 April 1927, Princess Juliana celebrated her eighteenth birthday, under the constitution, she had officially come of age and was entitled to assume the royal prerogative, if necessary. Two days later her mother installed her in the Raad van State, in the same year, the Princess enrolled as a student at the University of Leiden. In her first years at university, she attended lectures in sociology, jurisprudence, economics, history of religion, parliamentary history, and constitutional law. In the course of her studies she attended lectures on the cultures of Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles, international affairs, international law, history. She graduated from the university in 1930 with a degree in international law. In the 1930s, Queen Wilhelmina began a search for a husband for her daughter. At the time, the House of Orange was one of the most strictly religious royal families in the world, princes from the United Kingdom and Sweden were vetted but either declined or were rejected by the princess
8.
Dynasty
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A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a feudal or monarchical system but sometimes also appearing in elective republics. The dynastic family or lineage may be known as a house, historians periodize the histories of many sovereign states, such as Ancient Egypt, the Carolingian Empire and Imperial China, using a framework of successive dynasties. As such, the dynasty may be used to delimit the era during which the family reigned and to describe events, trends. The word dynasty itself is often dropped from such adjectival references, until the 19th century, it was taken for granted that a legitimate function of a monarch was to aggrandize his dynasty, that is, to increase the territory, wealth, and power of his family members. The longest-surviving dynasty in the world is the Imperial House of Japan, dynasties throughout the world have traditionally been reckoned patrilineally, such as under the Frankish Salic law. Succession through a daughter when permitted was considered to establish a new dynasty in her husbands ruling house, however, some states in Africa, determined descent matrilineally, while rulers have at other times adopted the name of their mothers dynasty when coming into her inheritance. It is also extended to unrelated people such as poets of the same school or various rosters of a single sports team. The word dynasty derives via Latin dynastia from Greek dynastéia, where it referred to power, dominion and it was the abstract noun of dynástēs, the agent noun of dynamis, power or ability, from dýnamai, to be able. A ruler in a dynasty is referred to as a dynast. For example, following his abdication, Edward VIII of the United Kingdom ceased to be a member of the House of Windsor. A dynastic marriage is one that complies with monarchical house law restrictions, the marriage of Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, to Máxima Zorreguieta in 2002 was dynastic, for example, and their eldest child is expected to inherit the Dutch crown eventually. But the marriage of his younger brother Prince Friso to Mabel Wisse Smit in 2003 lacked government support, thus Friso forfeited his place in the order of succession, lost his title as a Prince of the Netherlands, and left his children without dynastic rights. In historical and monarchist references to formerly reigning families, a dynast is a member who would have had succession rights, were the monarchys rules still in force. Even since abolition of the Austrian monarchy, Max and his descendants have not been considered the rightful pretenders by Austrian monarchists, nor have they claimed that position. The term dynast is sometimes used only to refer to descendants of a realms monarchs. The term can therefore describe overlapping but distinct sets of people, yet he is not a male-line member of the royal family, and is therefore not a dynast of the House of Windsor. Thus, in 1999 he requested and obtained permission from Elizabeth II to marry the Roman Catholic Princess Caroline of Monaco. Yet a clause of the English Act of Settlement 1701 remained in effect at that time and that exclusion, too, ceased to apply on 26 March 2015, with retroactive effect for those who had been dynasts prior to triggering it by marriage to a Catholic
9.
House of Mecklenburg
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The House of Mecklenburg, also known as Nikloting, is a North German dynasty that ruled until 1918 in the Mecklenburg region, being among the longest-ruling families of Europe. The main branch of the house was elevated in 1347 to ducal rank, the Dukes of Mecklenburg pursued from the 14th century a claim to inheritance in Sweden. The Duke of Mecklenburg was a descendant and the heir of two women whom legends tied to Scandinavian royal houses, christina was the mother of John I of Mecklenburg, whose son was Henry I, Lord of Mecklenburg. Lord Henry II of Mecklenburgs maternal grandmother, a lady named Marianna, was the first wife of Duke Barnim I of Pomerania, Lord of Wolgast, as well as sister of King Eric XI of Sweden. Marianna had given birth to a surviving child, a daughter named Anastasia of Pomerania. The Sverker dynasty had long been extinct, having lost the throne ultimately to Eric XI, the male dynasty of Eric X was already extinct, and issue of his other daughters had been sidestepped by Birger Jarl, the husband of his daughter, Ingeborg Eriksdotter of Sweden. Birger took great care to secure the kingship for his own sons, the couples second son duke Albert III deposed his uncle from the Swedish throne, and ascended as king. Margaret I of Denmark chose Eric of Pomerania as her heir, Eric descended from the elder brother of Albert III. Monarchs of the Kalmar union were all descendants of the House of Mecklenburg. The Hereditary Kingdom of Norway, has been the only medieval Scandinavian realm whose kingship was hereditary, already when Olav IV of Norway was young and his mother Margaret was regent, the Dukes of Mecklenburg advanced their claims. The Dukes of Mecklenburgs claim to the Norwegian throne is based on their descent from Euphemia of Sweden, when Olav IV died in 1387, Norway was without a monarch, under the government of the regentess Margaret. She soon chose an heir, Eric of Pomerania, whose mother Maria of Mecklenburg had been Eufemias eldest granddaughter, the Dukes of Mecklenburg continued to regard themselves as the rightful heirs to the throne of Norway but they were unable to gain the kingdom from the Oldenburgs. The legality of that treaty concession has been, and still is under discussion, because not all of the then agnates of the House participated in the deed, in the 17th and 18th centuries, the duchy was divided several times between agnates of the ducal house. Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Mecklenburg-Güstrow and Mecklenburg-Strelitz were typical partition principalities, with the extinction of Schwerin, Mecklenburg-Strelitz is now the only surviving branch of the Grand Ducal house in the male line. The current head of house is Borwin, Duke of Mecklenburg. His grandfather was Count Georg of Carlow, the son of Duke George Alexander of Mecklenburg. Count Georg of Carlow was adopted in 1928 by his uncle Duke Charles Michael of Mecklenburg the head of the House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and he succeeded his uncle as head of the house on 6 December 1934 and was granted the style of Highness on 18 December 1950. Rhema-Verlag, Münster 2007, ISBN 978-3-930454-78-5 Erstling, Frank, Frank Saß, Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Beiträge zur Geschichte einer Region
