1.
Rotenburg an der Fulda
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Rotenburg an der Fulda is a town in Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in northeastern Hesse, Germany lying, as the name says, on the river Fulda. The town lies south of the Stölzinger Gebirge in the narrowest part of the Fulda valley, the town’s highest point is the 548.7 m-high Alheimer, lying on the town limit between Rotenburg and the neighbouring community of Alheim. The nearest major towns are Bebra and Bad Hersfeld, The nearest cities are Kassel, clockwise from the north, these are Alheim, Spangenberg, Cornberg, Bebra and Ludwigsau. On the so-called Stölzinger Höhe in the northeast, above the centre of Dankerode. Besides the main town, Rotenburg a. d, Fulda is made up of the outlying Stadtteile of Lispenhausen, Braach, Schwarzenhasel, Erkshausen, Seifertshausen, Dankerode, Atzelrode and Mündershausen. In 769, the centres of Braach and Lispenhausen, along with the now vanished village of Breitingen had their first documentary mentions in the Hersfeld Abbey’s directory of holdings. These consisted of six estates and 90 Morgen of land, the Gisonen were the Abbey’s Vögte. They built the first security castle in the Fulda valley once they had come to hold the Vogtei, around this castle arose a settlement. The Landgraves of Thuringia, who inherited the Vogtei from the Gisonen, built on the Alter Turm Rodenberg Castle, which lies in ruins. The old castle in the valley had supposedly been removed sometime after 1423, in 1470 arose the first Schloss Rotenburg. A great town fire destroyed the Old Town in 1478 along with the newly built Schloss, between 1627 and 1834, Rotenburg was a residence town of the landgrave family of Hesse-Rotenburg, the so-called Rotenburger Quart. In 1615,57 houses burnt down in Braach, and in the Thirty Years War, in 1637, the town, the fire was set by soldiers from the Isolani Regiment. In March 1882, the fire brigade was started as a club. In 1900 it acquired an equipment shed with a tower near the Fulda. During the Second World War, the town was the location of a prisoner of war camp for officers, Rotenburg has belonged since 1972 to Hersfeld-Rotenburg district, before which it was the old Rotenburg district’s seat. In 2003, the town earned unwanted fame through Armin Meiwes, in 2004, the town earned a silver medal in the national contest Unsere Stadt blüht auf, and in 2005 it earned a gold medal with a special prize for the landscaping design of the Fulda floodplain. In August 2007, the fire brigade staged the 20th Hessian Fire Brigade Day with an extensive programme of events on the occasion of its 125 anniversary of founding. There are ten Evangelical churches in town, two Catholic churches and one New Apostolic, through municipal reform in 1972, the above-named formerly self-administering communities were integrated into the town of Rotenburg a. died Fulda
2.
Paris
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Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. It has an area of 105 square kilometres and a population of 2,229,621 in 2013 within its administrative limits, the agglomeration has grown well beyond the citys administrative limits. By the 17th century, Paris was one of Europes major centres of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts, and it retains that position still today. The aire urbaine de Paris, a measure of area, spans most of the Île-de-France region and has a population of 12,405,426. It is therefore the second largest metropolitan area in the European Union after London, the Metropole of Grand Paris was created in 2016, combining the commune and its nearest suburbs into a single area for economic and environmental co-operation. Grand Paris covers 814 square kilometres and has a population of 7 million persons, the Paris Region had a GDP of €624 billion in 2012, accounting for 30.0 percent of the GDP of France and ranking it as one of the wealthiest regions in Europe. The city is also a rail, highway, and air-transport hub served by two international airports, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly. Opened in 1900, the subway system, the Paris Métro. It is the second busiest metro system in Europe after Moscow Metro, notably, Paris Gare du Nord is the busiest railway station in the world outside of Japan, with 262 millions passengers in 2015. In 2015, Paris received 22.2 million visitors, making it one of the top tourist destinations. The association football club Paris Saint-Germain and the rugby union club Stade Français are based in Paris, the 80, 000-seat Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is located just north of Paris in the neighbouring commune of Saint-Denis. Paris hosts the annual French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament on the red clay of Roland Garros, Paris hosted the 1900 and 1924 Summer Olympics and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The name Paris is derived from its inhabitants, the Celtic Parisii tribe. Thus, though written the same, the name is not related to the Paris of Greek mythology. In the 1860s, the boulevards and streets of Paris were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, since the late 19th century, Paris has also been known as Panam in French slang. Inhabitants are known in English as Parisians and in French as Parisiens and they are also pejoratively called Parigots. The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. One of the areas major north-south trade routes crossed the Seine on the île de la Cité, this place of land and water trade routes gradually became a town
3.
Louis Henri, Duke of Bourbon
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Despite succeeding as head of the House of Condé in 1709, he never used that name, preferring the title Duke of Bourbon, and was known at court as Monsieur le Duc. As a member of the reigning House of Bourbon, he was a prince du sang and he was the great-grandson of Louis de Bourbon, le Grand Condé, and ranked as a prince du sang. He was Louis XVs prime minister from 1723 to 1726, the following is a contemporary description of him, He was moderately good looking as a young man, but being over-tall he afterwards began to stoop, and became as thin and dry as a chip of wood. Satirical pamphlets directed against royalty were a form of literature. Based on collaborating evidence from sources, however, it is probably safe to assume that he was tall. In 1718, he replaced Louis-Auguste de Bourbon, duc du Maine as superintendent of the kings education. This happened at the Regency Council meeting of 26 August, at which Maine and the Louis-Alexandre de Bourbon, comte de Toulouse, legitimised sons of Louis XIV, were demoted in rank. The actual instruction of the king was not much disturbed however, since it was mostly done by his old and trusted tutor, André-Hercule de Fleury, Bishop of Fréjus. Many of the descriptions of the dukes personality are highly uncomplimentary. They fall under the general categories greed, bad manners, stupidity, for example, Barbier said he had a very limited mind, knows nothing, and only likes pleasure and hunting. He was described as pretending to like hunting to ingratiate himself with the king, the Regency ended when Louis XV reached the age of majority, thirteen, in February 1723. Cardinal Dubois, who had been the Regents premier ministre, remained in that capacity for the king, however, Dubois died in August 1723. Thereupon the former regent became the kings premier ministre, until his own death the following 2 December, Bourbon rushed to see the king that very evening and requested the prime ministership. Cardinal de Fleury, who was present at the meeting, recommended acceptance, guizot says that Louis sought in his perceptors eyes the guidance he needed. Gooch and Perkins also said that Fréjus acquiesced in the appointment and this was an unusual, and for Bourbon, eventually an intolerable situation. Orléans had been able to see the king whenever he wanted, within a few years Fréjus was able to assume control of the government himself. He deemed it his duty to confer the post, which was the most important in the kingdom, as they were all young men, he appointed the eldest, who, however, was but thirty one years old. Finance, indeed, was the most important branch of public affairs at that time, no one, however, failed to appreciate how immensely inferior in talent the Duke was to the Regent
4.
Ernest Leopold, Landgrave of Hesse-Rotenburg
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Ernst Leopold of Hesse-Rotenburg was landgrave of Hessen-Rheinfels-Rotenburg between 1725 and 1749. Born in Langenschwalbach, he was a son of landgrave William of Hesse-Rotenburg and he died in Rotenburg in 1749. He married his first cousin Eleonore of Löwenstein-Wertheim, in Frankfurt and they had 10 children, Joseph of Hesse-Rotenburg, Hereditary Prince of Hesse-Rotenburg, married Christina van Salm had issue. Polyxena of Hesse-Rotenburg, Queen of Sardinia, married Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia had issue, wilhelmine Magdalene Leopoldina of Hesse-Rotenburg died in infancy. Wilhelm of Hesse-Rotenburg died in infancy, sophie of Hesse-Rotenburg died in infancy. Franciscus Alexander of Hesse-Rotenburg died unmarried, eleonora of Hesse-Rotenburg married John Christian, Count Palatine of Sulzbach no issue. Caroline of Hesse-Rotenburg married Louis Henri de Bourbon had issue, constantine of Hesse-Rotenburg, Landgrave of Hesse-Rotenburg, his successor Christine of Hesse-Rotenburg married Louis Victor of Savoy and has issue. Through his eldest daughter, his present descendants include the Claimant Duke of Parma, the Pretending King of the Two Sicilies and his youngest daughter is also an ancestress of the above
5.
House of Hesse
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Originally the western part of the Landgraviate of Thuringia, in the mid 13th century it was inherited by the younger son of Henry II, Duke of Brabant, and became a distinct political entity. From the late 16th century it was divided into several branches. The Electorate of Hesse was annexed by Prussia in 1866, while Grand Ducal Hesse remained a sovereign realm until the end of the German monarchies in 1918, donatus, Landgrave of Hesse is the current head of the house. Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, died in 1567, Hesse was divided between his four sons, four new lines which arose, Hesse-Darmstadt, Hesse-Kassel, Hesse-Marburg and Hesse-Rheinfels. The Battenbergs who later settled in England changed that name to Mountbatten after World War I at the behest of George V, who substituted British peerages for their former German princely title. Those descended from the marriage of Alexander of Battenberg, Prince of Bulgaria, hesse-Philippsthal died out in the male line in 1925, Hesse-Darmstadt in 1968. The male-line heirs of Hesse-Kassel and Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld flourish, list of rulers of Hesse This article incorporates information from the equivalent article on the Dutch Wikipedia
6.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
7.
Prince du sang
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A prince du sang is a person legitimately descended in dynastic line from any of a realms hereditary monarchs. In some European kingdoms, especially France, this appellation was a rank in its own right. Under the House of Capet, the monarchy was feudal, in the feudal era, the agnates of the king held no special status. This was because agnatic primogeniture had not yet received its sanction as the law governing the succession to the French throne, following the Valois succession, the agnates of the king, being capable of the crown, rose in prominence. New peerages were created for the kings agnates, and for a time this continued to be so. Over time, the dignity of a peer, which is feudal in nature, and the dignity of a prince of the blood, non-royal peers and princes of the blood who were peers constantly disputed for higher precedence than the other. As the royal line contracted, each prince of the blood gained greater prominence, in France, the rank of prince du sang was the highest held at court after the immediate family of the king during the ancien régime and the Bourbon Restoration. The rank of prince du sang or princesse du sang was restricted to legitimate agnates of the Capetian dynasty who were not members of the family of the king. In theory, the princes of the blood included all members of the Capetian dynasty, in practice, only the agnatic descendants of Saint Louis IX, such as the Valois and the Bourbons, were acknowledged as princes du sang. Frances kings, for instance, refused to recognize the Courtenay Capetians as princes of the blood, the Courtenays descended in legitimate male-line from King Louis VI, but had become impoverished, minor nobles over the centuries. Their repeated petitions for recognition to the Bourbon rulers were in vain, in 1715 Louis-Charles de Courtenay, his son Charles-Roger and his brother Roger were once again rebuffed in their attempt to seek recognition of their status. They descended from Jean, seigneur de Carency, the youngest son of Jean I de Bourbon, since 1733, all legitimate Capetians were of the House of Bourbon, of the Vendôme branch, descended from Charles, Duke of Vendôme. A cadet branch of the Condés was the House of Conti, though the Parlement de Paris refused to register the decree, the king exercised his right to compel registration by conducting a lit de justice. The edict was revoked and annulled on 18 August 1715 by the Parlement on the authority of the regent after the kings death, as a chancellor of Louis XIV had warned, a king could only make princes of the blood through his queen. Those who held this rank were usually styled by their main ducal peerage, the style Serene Highness was used in writing only. This was the style of the First Prince of the Blood, in practice, it was not always clear who was entitled to the rank, and it often took a specific act of the king to make the determination. The rank carried with it various privileges, including the right to a household out of state revenues. The rank was held for life, the birth of a new, the Princes of Condé used the style of Monsieur le Prince for over a century
8.
House of Bourbon
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The House of Bourbon is a European royal house of French origin, a branch of the Capetian dynasty. Bourbon kings first ruled France and Navarre in the 16th century, by the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma. Spain and Luxembourg currently have Bourbon monarchs, the royal Bourbons originated in 1268, when the heiress of the lordship of Bourbon married a younger son of King Louis IX. The house continued for three centuries as a branch, while more senior Capetians ruled France, until Henry IV became the first Bourbon king of France in 1589. Restored briefly in 1814 and definitively in 1815 after the fall of the First French Empire, a cadet Bourbon branch, the House of Orléans, then ruled for 18 years, until it too was overthrown. The Princes de Condé were a branch of the Bourbons descended from an uncle of Henry IV. Both houses were prominent in French affairs, even during exile in the French Revolution, until their respective extinctions in 1830 and 1814. When the Bourbons inherited the strongest claim to the Spanish throne, the claim was passed to a cadet Bourbon prince, a grandson of Louis XIV of France, who became Philip V of Spain. The Spanish House of Bourbon has been overthrown and restored several times, reigning 1700–1808, 1813–1868, 1875–1931, Bourbons ruled in Naples from 1734–1806 and in Sicily from 1734–1816, and in a unified Kingdom of the Two Sicilies from 1816–1860. They also ruled in Parma from 1731–1735, 1748–1802 and 1847–1859, all legitimate, living members of the House of Bourbon, including its cadet branches, are direct agnatic descendants of Henry IV. The term House of Bourbon is sometimes used to refer to this first house and the House of Bourbon-Dampierre, the second family to rule the seigneury. In 1268, Robert, Count of Clermont, sixth son of King Louis IX of France, married Beatrix of Bourbon, heiress to the lordship of Bourbon and their son Louis was made Duke of Bourbon in 1327. His descendant, the Constable of France Charles de Bourbon, was the last of the senior Bourbon line when he died in 1527. Because he chose to fight under the banner of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and lived in exile from France, the remaining line of Bourbons henceforth descended from James I, Count of La Marche, the younger son of Louis I, Duke of Bourbon. With the death of his grandson James II, Count of La Marche in 1438, all future Bourbons would descend from James IIs younger brother, Louis, who became the Count of Vendôme through his mothers inheritance. In 1514, Charles, Count of Vendôme had his title raised to Duke of Vendôme and his son Antoine became King of Navarre, on the northern side of the Pyrenees, by marriage in 1555. Two of Antoines younger brothers were Cardinal Archbishop Charles de Bourbon, Louis male-line, the Princes de Condé, survived until 1830. Finally, in 1589, the House of Valois died out and he was born on 13 December 1553 in the Kingdom of Navarre
9.
Louis XIV of France
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Louis XIV, known as Louis the Great or the Sun King, was a monarch of the House of Bourbon who ruled as King of France and Navarre from 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the longest of any monarch of a country in European history. In the age of absolutism in Europe, Louis XIVs France was a leader in the centralization of power. Louis began his rule of France in 1661, after the death of his chief minister. By these means he became one of the most powerful French monarchs, under his rule, the Edict of Nantes, which granted rights to Huguenots, was abolished. The revocation effectively forced Huguenots to emigrate or convert in a wave of dragonnades, which managed to virtually destroy the French Protestant minority. During Louis reign, France was the leading European power, and it fought three wars, the Franco-Dutch War, the War of the League of Augsburg. There were also two lesser conflicts, the War of Devolution and the War of the Reunions, warfare defined Louis XIVs foreign policies, and his personality shaped his approach. Impelled by a mix of commerce, revenge, and pique, in peacetime he concentrated on preparing for the next war. He taught his diplomats their job was to create tactical and strategic advantages for the French military, Louis XIV was born on 5 September 1638 in the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, to Louis XIII and Anne of Austria. He was named Louis Dieudonné and bore the title of French heirs apparent. At the time of his birth, his parents had married for 23 years. His mother had experienced four stillbirths between 1619 and 1631, leading contemporaries thus regarded him as a divine gift and his birth a miracle of God. Sensing imminent death, Louis XIII decided to put his affairs in order in the spring of 1643, in defiance of custom, which would have made Queen Anne the sole Regent of France, the king decreed that a regency council would rule on his sons behalf. His lack of faith in Queen Annes political abilities was his primary rationale and he did, however, make the concession of appointing her head of the council. Louis relationship with his mother was uncommonly affectionate for the time, contemporaries and eyewitnesses claimed that the Queen would spend all her time with Louis. Both were greatly interested in food and theatre, and it is likely that Louis developed these interests through his close relationship with his mother. This long-lasting and loving relationship can be evidenced by excerpts in Louis journal entries, such as, but attachments formed later by shared qualities of the spirit are far more difficult to break than those formed merely by blood
10.
Pierre Gobert
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Pierre Gobert was a French painter. He was born in Fontainebleau, the son of the sculptor Jean II Gobert, Gobert entered the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture on 31 December 1701 as a portraitist. During the reign of Louis XIV he became the painter of the great ladies of the court as evidenced by the large collection of portraits that he executed during that time. Goberts style included incorporating the traits of mythology into his portraits, Anne Louise Bénédicte de Bourbon was also a subject of his along with Louis XV. Louis XVs wife Marie Leszczyńska. Their eldest twin daughters, Princess Marie Louise Élisabeth and Princess Henriette Anne were also painted by Pierre in their infancy, Princess Marie Louise was also painted. Fernand Engerand, «Pierre Gobert, peintre de portrait», in L’Artiste, Mars 1897, pp. 161–175
11.
Louis XV of France
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Louis XV, known as Louis the Beloved, was a monarch of the House of Bourbon who ruled as King of France and Navarre from 1 September 1715 until his death. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five, Cardinal Fleury was his chief minister from 1726 until the Cardinals death in 1743, at which time the young king took sole control of the kingdom. During his reign, Louis returned the Austrian Netherlands, territory won at the Battle of Fontenoy of 1745, Louis also ceded New France in North America to Spain and Great Britain at the conclusion of the Seven Years War in 1763. He incorporated the territories of Lorraine and Corsica into the kingdom of France and he was succeeded by his grandson Louis XVI in 1774. French culture and influence were at their height in the first half of the eighteenth century, however, many scholars believe that Louis XVs decisions damaged the power of France, weakened the treasury, discredited the absolute monarchy, and made it more vulnerable to distrust and destruction. Evidence for this view is provided by the French Revolution, which broke out 15 years after his death, norman Davies characterized Louis XVs reign as one of debilitating stagnation, characterized by lost wars, endless clashes between the Court and Parliament, and religious feuds. A few scholars defend Louis, arguing that his negative reputation was based on propaganda meant to justify the French Revolution. Jerome Blum described him as a perpetual adolescent called to do a mans job, Louis XV was born in the Palace of Versailles on 15 February 1710 during the reign of Louis XIV. His grandfather, Louis Le Grand Dauphin, had three sons with his wife Marie Anne Victoire of Bavaria, Louis, Duke of Burgundy, Philippe, Duke of Anjou, and Charles, Duke of Berry. Louis XV was the son of the Duke of Burgundy and his wife Marie Adélaïde of Savoy, the eldest daughter of Victor Amadeus II, Duke of Savoy. At birth, Louis XV received a title for younger sons of the French royal family. In April 1711, Louis Le Grand Dauphin suddenly died, making Louis XVs father, the Duke of Burgundy, at that time, Burgundy had two living sons, Louis, Duke of Brittany and his youngest son, the future Louis XV. A year later, Marie Adélaïde, Duchess of Burgundy, contracted smallpox and her husband, said to be heartbroken by her death, died the same week, also having contracted smallpox. Within a week of his death, it was clear that the two children had also been infected. The elder son was treated by bloodletting in an unsuccessful effort to save him. Fearing that the Dauphin would die, the Court had both the Dauphin and the Duke of Anjou baptised, the Dauphin died the same day,8 March 1712. His younger brother, the Duke of Anjou, was treated by his governess, Madame de Ventadour. The two year old Dauphin survived the smallpox, on 1 September 1715, Louis XIV died of gangrene, having reigned for 72 years
12.
Court (royal)
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The court of a monarch, or at some periods an important nobleman, is a term for the extended household and all those who regularly attended on the ruler or central figure. It can also refer to the residence of the monarch where the court resides or a series of complexes. In the largest courts, the households, many thousands of individuals comprised the court. Foreign princes and foreign nobility in exile may also seek refuge at a court and this is shown above Near Eastern and Eastern courts often included the harem and concubines as well as eunuchs who fulfilled a variety of functions. At times the harem was walled off and separate from the rest of the residence of the monarch, in Asia concubines were often a more visible part of the court. Lower ranking servants and bodyguards were not properly called courtiers though may be included as part of the court or royal household in the broadest definition, entertainers and others may have been counted as part of the court. A royal household is the highest ranking example of this, a group of individuals dependent on the patronage of a great man, classically in ancient Rome, forms part of the system of clientage that is discussed under vassal. Individual rulers differed greatly in tastes and interests, as well as in political skills, accordingly, some founded elaborate courts based on new palaces, only to have their successors retreat to remote castles or to practical administrative centers. Personal retreats might arise far away from official court centres, etiquette and hierarchy flourish in highly structured court settings, and may leave conservative traces over generations. Most courts featured a strict order of precedence often involving royal and noble ranks, orders of chivalry, some courts even featured court uniforms. One of the markers of a court is ceremony. Most monarchal courts included ceremonies concerning the investiture or coronation of the monarch, some courts had ceremonies around the waking and the sleeping of the monarch called a levée. Orders of chivalry as honorific orders became an important part of court culture starting in the 15th century and they were the right of the monarch to create and grant as the fount of honour. Two of the earliest titles referring to the concept of a courtier were likely the ša rēsi, the imperial court of the Byzantine Empire at Constantinople would eventually contain at least a thousand courtiers. The courts systems became prevalent in other such as those in the Balkan states, the Ottoman Empire. Byzantinism is a term that was coined for this spread of the Byzantine system in the 19th century, however, by the Sui Dynasty the functions of the royal household and the imperial government were clearly divided. During the Heian period, Japanese Emperors and their families developed an exquisitely refined court that played an important role in their culture. After the collapse of the Roman Empire in the West, a court culture can be recognized in the entourage of the Ostrogoth Theodoric the Great
13.
Marquis de Sade
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Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade, was a French aristocrat, revolutionary politician, philosopher, and writer, famous for his libertine sexuality. He was a proponent of freedom, unrestrained by morality, religion. The words sadism and sadist are derived from his name, during the French Revolution, he was an elected delegate to the National Convention. Many of his works were written in prison and he was his parents only surviving child. He was educated by an uncle, the Abbé de Sade, in Sades youth, his father abandoned the family, his mother joined a convent. He was raised with servants who indulged his every whim, which led to him becoming known as a rebellious, later in his childhood, Sade was sent to the Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris, a Jesuit college, for four years. While at the school, he was tutored by Abbé Jacques-François Amblet, later in life, the Abbé testified at one of Sades trials, saying that Sade had a passionate temperament which made him eager in the pursuit of pleasure but had a good heart. At the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, he was subjected to corporal punishment, including flagellation. At age 14, Sade began attending a military academy. At age 15, he was commissioned as a sub-lieutenant on 14 December 1755 after 20 months of training, becoming a soldier. After 13 months as a sub-lieutenant, he was commissioned to the rank of cornet in the Brigade de S. André of the Comte de Provences Carbine Regiment and he eventually became Colonel of a Dragoon regiment and fought in the Seven Years War. In 1766, he had a theatre built in his castle. In January 1767, his father died, the men of the Sade family alternated between using the marquis and comte titles. His grandfather, Gaspard François de Sade, was the first to use marquis, occasionally, he was the Marquis de Sade, but is identified in documents as the Marquis de Mazan. The Sade family were noblesse dépée, claiming at the time the oldest, Frank-descended nobility, so, at Court, precedence was by seniority and royal favor, not title. There is father-and-son correspondence, wherein father addresses son as marquis, for many years, Sades descendants regarded his life and work as a scandal to be suppressed. At that time, the marquis of legend was so unmentionable in his own family that Xavier de Sade only learned of him in the late 1940s when approached by a journalist. He subsequently discovered a store of Sades papers in the family château at Condé-en-Brie and his youngest son, the Marquis Thibault de Sade, has continued the collaboration
14.
Louis Alexandre, Prince of Lamballe
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Louis Alexandre de Bourbon was the son and heir of Louis Jean Marie de Bourbon, grandson of Louis XIV by the kings legitimised son, Louis Alexandre de Bourbon. He was known as the Prince of Lamballe from birth and he pre-deceased his father, and died childless. Louis Alexandre was born on 6 September 1747, at the Hôtel de Toulouse, the Paris residence of his family. His father, the Louis Jean Marie de Bourbon, duc de Penthièvre, was the legitimate child of Louis Alexandre de Bourbon. His mother, Princess Maria Teresa Felicity of Modena, the daughter of the Duke of Modena, also a descendant of Madame de Montespan, the prince de Lamballe, as he was known all his life, was the couples only surviving son. He was one of seven children and his title, prince de Lamballe, came from one of the seigneuries owned by his father, it was neither a sovereign princedom nor a legal title. Rather, it was a titre de courtoisie and his mother died in childbirth in 1754 at the age of twenty-seven. His father chose his bride, the Italian born Princess Maria Teresa Louisa of Savoy, the wedding celebration lasted from 17 January 1767, until 27 January with feasts in Turin and Nangis. Prior to the wedding, Louis Alexandre eager to see his future bride and he met her disguised as a simple country servant and offered her a bouquet of flowers in his masters name. During the wedding ceremony the next day, the princess was shocked to discover that the man from the previous day was in fact the prince himself. After the ceremony, for their honeymoon, Louis Alexandre and his bride stayed at the Château de Nangis and his father had specifically chosen Maria Teresa as his sons wife due to her renowned piety and beauty. He thought that such a spouse would help make his son change his libertine lifestyle, Princess Maria Luisa was the sixth child of the Prince of Carignan and his German wife Landgravine Christine Henriette of Hesse-Rotenburg, the sister of the late Princess of Condé. After three months of happiness, Louis Alexandre, a jaded hedonist, soon tired of his young wife and he eloped with Mademoiselle de La Chassaigne, an opera dancer, five months into his marriage. At one point, Louis Alexandre even sold his wifes diamonds to raise money to pay his debts. After a dissipated life, Louis Alexandre died on 6 May 1768, sixteen months after his marriage. He was born the 6th of September,1747 and he was married the 17th of January,1767, to Marie Thérèse Louise de Carignan. We cannot too highly commend the sentiments of piety and resignation, on account of his death the court will wear mourning for ten days. He was buried in the crypt in 13th-century Saint-Lubin church of the village of Rambouillet near the Château de Rambouillet
15.
Marie Antoinette
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Marie Antoinette (/ˈmæriˌæntwəˈnɛt/, /ˌɑ̃ːntwə-/, /ˌɑ̃ːtwə-/, US /məˈriː-/, French, born Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna, was the last Queen of France and Navarre before the French Revolution. She was born an Archduchess of Austria, and was the fifteenth and second youngest child of Empress Maria Theresa and Francis I, in April 1770, upon her marriage to Louis-Auguste, heir apparent to the French throne, she became Dauphine of France. After eight years of marriage, Marie Antoinette gave birth to a daughter, Marie-Thérèse Charlotte, the Diamond Necklace affair damaged her reputation further. On 10 August 1792, the attack on the Tuileries forced the family to take refuge at the Assembly. On 21 September 1792, the monarchy was abolished, after a two-day trial begun on 14 October 1793, Marie Antoinette was convicted by the Revolutionary Tribunal of high treason, and executed by guillotine on Place de la Révolution on 16 October 1793. Maria Antonia was born on 2 November 1755, at the Hofburg Palace and she was the youngest daughter of Empress Maria Theresa, ruler of the Habsburg Empire, and her husband Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor. Her godparents were Joseph I and Mariana Victoria, King and Queen of Portugal, Archduke Joseph, shortly after her birth, she was placed under the care of the Governess of the Imperial children, Countess von Brandeis. Maria Antonia was raised with her older sister Maria Carolina. As to her relationship with her mother, it was difficult, despite the private tutoring she received, results of her schooling were less than satisfactory. At the age of ten she could not write correctly in German or in any language used at court, such as French. Under the teaching of Christoph Willibald Gluck, Maria Antonia developed into a good musician and she learned to play the harp, the harpsichord and the flute. During the familys gatherings in the evenings, she would sing and she also excelled at dancing, had an exquisite poise, and loved dolls. Following the Seven Years War and the Diplomatic Revolution of 1756, Empress Maria Theresa decided to end hostilities with her longtime enemy, on 14 May she met her husband at the edge of the forest of Compiègne. Upon her arrival in France, she adopted the French version of her name, a further ceremonial wedding took place on 16 May 1770 in the Palace of Versailles and, after the festivities, the day ended with the ritual bedding. The lack of consummation of the marriage plagued the reputation of both Louis-Auguste and Marie Antoinette for the seven years. The initial reaction to the marriage between Marie Antoinette and Louis-Auguste was mixed, on the one hand, the Dauphine was beautiful, personable and well-liked by the common people. Her first official appearance in Paris on 8 June 1773 was a resounding success, on the other hand, those opposed to the alliance with Austria, and others, for personal reasons, had a difficult relationship with Marie Antoinette. Madame du Barry, for example, was Louis XVs mistress and had political influence over him
16.
September Massacres
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The September Massacres were a wave of killings in Paris and other cities in late summer 1792, during the French Revolution. There was a fear that foreign and royalist armies would attack Paris, radicals called for preemptive action, especially journalist Jean-Paul Marat, who called on draftees to kill the prisoners before they could be freed. The action was undertaken by mobs of National Guardsmen and some fédérés, it was tolerated by the city government, the Paris Commune, by 6 September, half the prison population of Paris had been summarily executed, some 1200 to 1400 prisoners. Of these,233 were nonjuring Catholic priests who refused to submit to the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, however, the great majority of those killed were common criminals. The massacres were repeated in many other French cities, no one was prosecuted for the killings, but the political repercussions first injured the Girondists and later the Jacobins. The political situation in Paris on the eve of the September Massacres was highly excited and aroused by rumors of traitors. The next day the insurrectionists stormed the Tuileries Palace, the 48 sections of Paris were fully equipped with munitions from the plundered arsenals in the days before the assault, substituting for the 60 National Guard battalions. Now, supported by a new armed force, the Commune and its sans-culottes took control of the city and dominated the Legislative Assembly, for some weeks the Commune functioned as the actual government of France. These events meant a change of direction from the political and constitutional perspective of the Girondists to a more social approach given by the Commune, besides these measures, the Commune engaged in a policy of political repression of all suspected counter-revolutionary activities. Beginning on 11 August, every Paris section named its committee of vigilance, mostly these decentralized committees, rather than the Commune, brought about the repression of August and September 1792. From 15 to 25 August, around 500 detentions were registered, half the detentions were made against non-juring priests, but even priests who had sworn the required oath were caught in the wave. In Paris, all monasteries were closed and the rest of the orders were dissolved by the law of 15 August. On 2 September, news reached Paris that the Duke of Brunswicks Prussian army had invaded France and he was advancing quickly toward the capital. On 1 August, Brunswick had issued the Brunswick Manifesto, additionally, the Manifesto threatened the French population with instant punishment should it resist the Imperial and Prussian armies, or the reinstatement of the monarchy. Such information fueled this first wave of mob hysteria of the Revolution, by the end of August, rumors circulated that many in Paris – such as non-juring priests – who opposed the Revolution, would support the First Coalition of foreign powers allied against it. Furthermore, Paris lacked extensive food stocks, when news that Brunswick had captured Verdun reached the Convention, they ordered the alarm guns fired, which escalated the sense of panic. Of 284 prisoners,135 were killed,27 were transferred,86 were set free, in the afternoon of 2 September 150 priests in the convent of Carmelites were massacred, mostly by sans-culottes. On 3 and 4 September, groups broke into other Paris prisons, where they murdered the prisoners, from 2 to 7 September, summary trials took place in all Paris prisons
17.
Landgravine Victoria of Hesse-Rotenburg
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Viktoria of Hesse-Rotenburg was a princess of Hesse by birth, and the Princess of Soubise by marriage. Her husband was a renowned French commander, known as the Maréchal de Soubise, born in Rotenburg an der Fulda to Joseph, Hereditary Prince of Hesse-Rotenburg and his wife, she was the eldest of four children. She married Charles de Rohan, prince de Soubise on 23 December 1745 at the château des Rohan in Saverne and he was head of the cadet branch of the wealthy and powerful House of Rohan, which, enjoyed the rank of princes étrangers at the court of Versailles. Her husband was a widower, having been married first to Anne Marie Louise de La Tour dAuvergne. Victoire had two step-daughters from these marriages, Charlotte, future Princess of Condé and Madame de Guéméné, among her first cousins were King Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia and the tragic princesse de Lamballe. Like her husband, she took lovers outside her marriage, the couple separated and her parents were given a pension of 24,000 livres to take Victoire, exiled from court, to dwell with them at Echternach. The couple had no children and Victoire died in Paris, having outlived her husband by five years to the day. 25 February 1728 –23 December 1745 Princess Viktoria of Hesse-Rheinfels-Rotenburg 23 December 1745 –1 July 1787 Princess de Soubise 1 July 1787 –1 July 1792 Dowager Princess de Soubise
18.
Charles, Prince of Soubise
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Charles de Rohan, duke of Rohan-Rohan, seigneur of Roberval, and marshal of France from 1758, was a military man, and a minister to the kings Louis XV and Louis XVI. The last male of his branch of the House of Rohan, he was also the great-grandfather to the duc dEnghien, styled prince dEpinoy at birth, he became the Prince of Soubise after 1749. The prince was born at Versailles on 16 January 1715, the son of Jules, Prince of Soubise, lieutenant captain of the gendarmes of the Royal Guard, the eldest of five children, he was styled the Prince of Epinoy till his fathers death in 1724. His parents died in Paris of smallpox in 1724, remaining his siblings, including Marie Louise and his sister lost her husband to smallpox in 1743. He was entrusted to his grandfather Hercule Mériadec, Duke of Rohan-Rohan, who raised Soubise to the court, where he became the companion of Louis XV, who was the same age as he. One of his grandmothers was Madame de Ventadour, via his paternal grandmother Anne Geneviève de Lévis, Madame de Ventadour. He accompanied Louis XV in the campaign of 1744-1748 and attained high military rank, along with the failure to hold Hanover following the Invasion of Hanover this marked a dramatic turnaround for French fortunes as just months before they have seemed on the brink of victory. Soubise also refers to a dish with a sauce made with a rice and onion purée, named to compliment Charles de Rohan, prince of Soubise. Their daughter was, Charlotte Élisabeth Godefride de Rohan 1737–1760 known as Charlotte and she married Louis Joseph de Bourbon, a Prince du sang and descendant of Louis XIV of France and Madame de Montespan. Charlotte was the grandmother of the murdered Louis Antoine, Duke of Enghien. Anna Teresa gave birth to another daughter Victoire Armande Josèphe de Rohan 1743–1807 and she married Henri Louis Marie de Rohan, Prince of Guéménée who was a cousin. Victoire was later the governess to the daughter of Marie Antoinette, the same year Charles married again to a German Princess and Landgravine, Anne Victoire of Hesse-Rotenburg 1728–1792. Anna Viktoria was a niece of an old Princess of Condé,16 July 1715 –6 May 1724 His Highness the Prince of Epinoy 6 May 1724 –4 July 1787 His Highness the Prince of Soubise
19.
House of Rohan
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The House of Rohan is a French noble family of viscounts, later dukes and princes, coming from the locality of Rohan in Brittany. Their line descends from the viscounts of Porhoët and is said to back to the legendary Conan Meriadoc. Through the Porhoët, the Rohan are related to the Dukes of Brittany and they developed ties with the French and English royal houses as well, and played an important role in France and European history. Alain I de Rohan, son of the viscount of Porhoët, was the first to take on the name of Rohan, the main branch of the family became extinct when Jean II died childless in 1638, his title and possessions passed on to the cadet branch of Rohan-Gié. When the first duke of Rohan, Henri II de Rohan-Gié, died, his title and this created the Rohan-Chabot lineage, which was not really a branch of the Rohan family. Rohan-Gié, extinct 1638 Rohan-Soubise, extinct 1787 The family of Rohan has a documented history. Spanish Royal Genealogy, Henri Vanoene The Rohan-Chabot family in Josselin Marek, Miroslav
20.
Charlotte de Rohan
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Charlotte de Rohan was a French aristocrat who married into the House of Condé, a cadet branch of the ruling House of Bourbon, during the Ancien Régime. She was Princess of Condé by her marriage and she has no known descendants today as her grandson, heir to the Condé family, died without children and her daughter remained childless. Charlotte was praised for being a cultured and attractive princess of her age, Charlotte Godefride Élisabeth de Rohan was born on 7 October 1737 in Paris. Her father was Charles de Rohan, prince de Soubise, a friend of King Louis XV of France. Her mother was Anne Marie Louise de La Tour dAuvergne, Anne Marie Louise was a granddaughter of Marie Anne Mancini, one of the famous Mazarinettes. Through Marie Anne Mancini, Charlotte was a cousin of both Prince Eugene of Savoy and Louis Joseph de Bourbon, two famous generals during the reign of Louis XIV. Anne Marie Louise was also the great-granddaughter of Madame de Ventadour, Charlotte was born at the Hôtel de Soubise in Paris, the townhouse of the Rohan family in the fashionable Marais. She had a half sister, Victoire Armande Josèphe de Rohan. Victoire would later become the governess of the future King Louis XVI, Victoire was also a cousin of Queen Marie Antoinettes ill fated friend, the princesse de Lamballe. As the House of Rohan claimed descent from the Dukes of Brittany, Charlotte, in 1739, she was created Marchioness of Gordes and Countess of Moncha, both of which she received from her mother when she died. In 1745, she was made the Viscountess of Guignen in her own right, in her dowry, she was given the Lordship of Annonay, which she passed onto the Bourbons. Charlotte and Louis Joseph de Bourbon, prince de Condé were married in a ceremony at the Palace of Versailles on 3 May 1753, charlottes father reportedly gave a dowry of 20 million Livres. Louis Joseph was an older than Charlotte. Louis Joseph had been the prince de Condé since 1740 when at the age of four he had lost his father, Louis Henri. His father, as the duc de Bourbon, had been at one time the minister of King Louis XV and had been instrumental in arranging the young kings marriage to the Polish princess Marie Leszczyńska. He was only forty-eight at the time of his death, Louis Josephs mother, the German princess, Caroline of Hesse-Rotenburg, died the next year in 1741 at the age of twenty-two. As a result, Louis Joseph was an orphan and had raised by his uncle the Count of Clermont. Louis Joseph possessed the rank of prince du sang at court with the style of Serene Highness
21.
Maurice, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel
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Maurice of Hesse-Kassel, also called Maurice the Learned, was the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel in the Holy Roman Empire from 1592 to 1627. Maurice was born in Kassel as the son of William IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, although Maurice had been raised in the Lutheran faith, he converted to Calvinism in 1605. On the principle Cuius regio eius religio, Maurices subjects were required to convert to Calvinism. Maurices conversion was controversial since the Peace of Augsburg had only settled religious matters betweens Roman Catholics, Maurice tried to introduce Calvinism to the lands which he had inherited from the extinct Hesse-Marburg branch of his family. Such a change of faith was contrary to the inheritance rules and it also brought him into conflict with the Holy Roman Emperor, Matthias. English strolling players were frequent visitors to, and performers in, towns and cities in Germany and other European countries, including Kassel, landgraf Moritz was a great supporter of the performing arts and even built the first permanent theatre in Germany, named the Ottoneum, in 1605. This building still exists today but as a Natural History Museum, in 1627 he abdicated in favour of his son William V. Five years later he died in Eschwege and he was not only a serious musician but an expert composer. The leading musical figures whom he supported included Heinrich Schütz and John Dowland, on 23 September 1593, Maurice married Agnes of Solms-Laubach. They had six children, Otto, Hereditary Prince of Hesse-Kassel, elisabeth, married John Albert II, Duke of Mecklenburg. On 22 May 1603, Maurice married Countess Juliane of Nassau-Dillenburg, Agnes, married John Casimir, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau. Magdalene, married Erich Adolf, Count of Salm-Reifferscheid, sophie, married Philip I, Count of Schaumburg-Lippe. Christian, Swedish colonel, died after an altercation with General Johan Banér and some other officers and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Anonymous. Free scores by Maurice, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel in the Choral Public Domain Library Free scores by Moritz von Hessen-Kassel at the International Music Score Library Project
22.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
23.
Landgraviate of Hesse-Rotenburg
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Hesse-Rotenburg is a former German landgraviate created from the landgraviate of Hesse-Cassel in 1627. Its independence ended in 1834 when the estates not bequeathed to princes Victor, the line of Hesse-Kassel was founded by William IV, surnamed the Wise, eldest son of Philip the Magnanimous. On his fathers death in 1567, he received one half of Hesse, with Cassel as his capital, additions were made to it by inheritance from his brothers possessions. His son, Maurice the Learned was Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel from 1592 until 1627 and his younger sons received apanages, which created several cadet lines of the house, of which, with amalgamation, that of Hesse-Rheinfels-Rotenburg survived till 1834. In 1627, Ernest, a son of Maurice, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, received Rheinfels. Ernest, who was a convert to the Roman Catholic Church, was a great traveller, about 1700 his two sons, William and Charles, divided their territories, and founded the families of Hesse-Rotenburg and Hesse-Wanfried. When the landgrave died on 12 November 1834 the remaining parts of Hesse-Rotenburg were united with Hesse-Kassel according to the arrangement of 1627 and it may be noted that Hesse-Rotenburg was never completely independent of Hesse-Kassel. Perhaps the most famous member of family was Charles Constantine, a younger son of Landgrave Constantine. Herman IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Rotenburg Ernest, Landgrave of Hesse-Rheinfels 1627–1658 and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Anonymous. European Kingdoms, Central Europe, Landgraves of Hessen-Rheinfels AD1567 -1869, historisches Lexikon der Deutschen Länder, die deutschen Territorien vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart. Portrait of Friedrich, Landgrave of Hessen-Eschwege, lib-art. com, accessed 17 April 2014
24.
Ernest, Landgrave of Hesse-Rheinfels
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Landgrave Ernest of Hesse-Rheinfels-Rotenburg, was from 1649 to 1658 his death Landgrave of Hesse-Rheinfels and from 1658 until his death Landgrave of Hesse-Rheinfels-Rotenburg. Because his brothers died young, all later Landgraves in the Rotenburg Quarter are descendants of Ernest, hence, Ernest is known as the ancestor of the Catholic Rotenburg Quarter, a group of junior lines of the House of Hesse. Ernst was the child of the second marriage of the Landgrave Maurice of Hesse-Kassel with Juliane of Nassau-Dillenburg. He was a great-grandson of Philip I the Magnanimous, Landgrave Ernst married in 1647 in Frankfurt with Countess Maria Eleonore of Solms-Lich. Two sons from this marriage outlived Ernest, William and Charles, Ernest was brought up as a Calvinist during the Thirty Years War. He made his Grand Tour to France and Italy, and fought with Hesse-Kassel during the years of the war. In 1647, the army of Landgravine Amalie Elisabeth reconquered Lower Katzenelnbogen, in 1649, Ernest came of age and received Lower Katzenelnbogen. This made him the founder of the Hesse-Rheinfels line, Hesse-Rheinfels was not considered sovereign, it remained under the sovereignty of Hesse-Kassel, as did the other parts of the Rotenburg Quarter. Details of the relationship between Hesse-Rheinfels and Hesse-Kassel were laid down in a series of treaties, nevertheless, political and judicial disputes often arose between the two houses. Ernest chose Burg Rheinfels castle, above St. Goar on the bank of the Rhine, as his residence. The new Landgrave held his official into St. Goar on 30 March 1649, Ernest and his family converted to Catholicism on 6 January 1652 in Cologne. In 1654, a compromise was reached, the Treaty of Ravensburg allow Ernest to create three Catholic parishes in his landgraviate, in St. Goar, Nastätten and Langen-Schwalbach. After the death of his brothers Frederick in 1655 and Herman IV in 1658 and he then called himself Ernest of Hesse-Rotenburg-Rheinfels. Ernest was very interested in matters, he was also religiously tolerant. In 1666, he had the Rheinfelsen Book of Hymns printed, gustav Könnecke, Ernst, Landgraf von Hessen-Rheinfels, Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie,6, Leipzig, Duncker & Humblot, pp. 284–286
25.
Polyxena of Hesse-Rotenburg
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Princess Polyxena of Hesse-Rheinfels-Rotenburg was the second wife of Charles Emmanuel, Prince of Piedmont whom she married in 1724. The mother of the future Victor Amadeus III, she was queen consort of Sardinia from 1730 until her death in 1735, king Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia approached her family and proposed a union between Polyxena and Victor Amadeus IIs son and heir Charles Emmanuel, Prince of Piedmont. A previous match orchestrated by Agostino Steffani with a daughter of Rinaldo, although only two years younger, Polyxena was a niece of Charles Emanuels first wife, and belonged to the only Roman Catholic branch of the reigning House of Hesse. In fact, she had been nominally a canoness of Thorn since 1720, the engagement was announced on 2 July 1724, and she wed Charles Emmanuel by proxy on 23 July in Rotenburg. The marriage was celebrated in person at Thonon in Chablais on 20 August 1724. Her stepson Victor Amadeus, heir after his father and grandfather to the Sardinian crown, nonetheless, she is said to have had a close relationship with her mother-in-law Anne Marie dOrléans and the two frequented the Villa della Regina outside the capital, where the latter died in 1728. In 1732 she founded a home for mothers in Turin, redecorated the Villa della Regina, Stupinigis hunting lodge. She carried out various improvements with Filippo Juvarra and popularised chinoiserie and she was also a patron of Giovanni Battista Crosato, a baroque painter. Having been ill since June 1734, she died at the Royal Palace of Turin, two years after her death, her widower married Princess Elisabeth Therese of Lorraine, sister of the future Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor. The senior branch of the House of Savoy ended with her grandson Charles Felix of Sardinia, the Villa Polissena in Rome is named in her honour. Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia, had issue, Prince Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy, Duke of Aosta. Prince Carlo of Savoy, Duke of Chablais
26.
Landgravine Christine of Hesse-Rotenburg
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Christine of Hesse-Rheinfels-Rotenburg was a princess of the German dynasty of Hesse-Rheinfels-Rotenburg. She was the Princess of Carignan by marriage and mother of the princesse de Lamballe and of Victor Amadeus II and her older sister Polyxena was married in 1730 to the future Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia and had issue. Another sister, Caroline was the wife of the French Prime Minister, Louis Henri, the Carignans were a cadet branch of the House of Savoy, would inherit from them the kingship of Sardinia, and would be declared kings of Italy from 1861. Christine married Louis Victor on 4 May 1740 at the age of 22, the next year her husband succeeded to the title Prince de Carignan, the seigneury of Carignan having belonged to the Savoys since 1418. Christines second child, born at the Palazzo Carignano, was named Victor Amadeus and was the great-grandfather of the future Victor Emmanuel II of Italy and her fifth daughter was her most famous, Louise, princesse de Lamballe, the tragic best friend of Marie Antoinette. Christine died at the Palazzo Carignano in Turin on the night of 31 August –1 September 1778, buried firstly at Turin Cathedral, she was moved in 1835 to Turins Basilica of Superga. She was born the 24th November,1717
27.
Charlotte Marguerite de Montmorency
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Charlotte Marguerite de Montmorency was an heiress of one of Frances leading ducal families, and Princess de Condé by her marriage to Henri de Bourbon. She almost became a mistress of Henry IV of France, but her husband escaped with her after the wedding, the daughter of Henri de Montmorency and his second wife, Louise de Budos, Charlotte lost her mother before she was five years of age. She was brought up under the care of her aunt Charlotte, widow of Charles, in 1609, fifteen-year-old Charlotte-Marguerite wed the Prince of Condé in a glittering ceremony. Along with many other French nobles, her husband opposed the rule of Marshal dAncre. In September 1616, Condé and Charlotte-Marguerite were arrested and imprisoned at Vincennes, in 1632, Charlotte-Marguerites only brother, Henri, Duke de Montmorency was executed for intriguing against Cardinal Richelieu. She was buried at the Carmel du faubourg Saint-Jacques, a Carmelite convent in Paris and her children with the Prince de Condé were, Anne Genevieve married Henri dOrléans, Duke de Longueville. Louis, Prince of Condé, le Grand Condé married Claire-Clémence de Maillé-Brézé, armand de Bourbon, Prince de Conti married Anne Marie Martinozzi. List of Princesses of Condé Media related to Charlotte Marguerite de Montmorency at Wikimedia Commons
28.
Anne Henriette of Bavaria
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Following her father-in-laws death, her husband succeeded as Prince of Condé, a purely honorary title, but one of the highest ranking in France. She was also the Princess of Arches in her own right from 1708, Anne was born in Paris the second of the three daughters of Prince Palatine Edward. Her mother was Anna Gonzaga, a well known Parisian political hostess, at the age of fifteen, she was engaged to Henri Jules, Duke of Enghien, the only surviving child of the famous military commander the Grand Condé. The Grand Condé was the most senior Prince du Sang at the French court, Henri Jules was his heir and prior to his succession to the purely honorary title of Prince of Condé, was styled the Duke of Enghien and was addressed Monsieur le Duc. The marriage ceremony took place at the Palais du Louvre on 11 December 1663 with Louis XIV of France, at this time, Anne became Madame la Duchesse, as Duchess of Enghien. At the death of her father-in-law in 1684, Anne took on the style of Madame la Princesse and she was also known as Anne, princesse Palatine. Anne and Henri Jules had ten children, Henri Jules, who suffered from clinical lycanthropy, was greatly supported by his wife. Anne is described as pious, generous, and charitable. Despite that her husband, who was prone to great rages, would beat his quiet wife. Of her many children, five survived infancy, four of those went on to marry. Her mother was instrumental in helping bring about a marriage between her niece by marriage, Elisabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate and the brother of Louis XIV, Philippe, Elisabeth Charlotte was Annes first cousin, their fathers being brothers. In 1708, when her cousin Charles IV, Duke of Mantua died, being his heiress, Charles IV was the last Duke of Mantua. The next year, Annes husband died in Paris on 1 April 1709, aged 65, making her son, Louis, Louis died the next year and his son Louis Henri, Duke of Bourbon became the next holder of the title. Anne was the princess for whom the Rue Palatine was named - the road in the 6th arrondissement of Paris where she had lived in the Petit Luxembourg, Anne also owned the Château du Raincy which was sold to the House of Orléans in 1769. The Princess Palatine died in Paris at the age of 74, having outlived her husband and all but two of her children, namely the Princess of Conti and the Duchess of Maine. On her death, the principality of Arches became extinct, the title was claimed by her son, the Prince of Condé and her nephew and she was buried at the Carmel du Faubourg Saint-Jacques in Paris
29.
Maria Caterina Brignole
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Maria Caterina Brignole was the daughter of a Genovese nobleman. On 5 June 1757 she married Honoré III, Prince of Monaco and her husband died in 1795, and in 1798 she married Louis Joseph de Bourbon, Prince de Condé, a French prince du sang. As her father was the Genovese ambassador to France, Maria Caterina and her mother frequented the salons of Paris and her biographer, Philippe Paul, comte de Ségur, called Maria Caterina the most beautiful woman in France. Maria Caterina fell in love with the Prince de Condé, Louis Joseph de Bourbon, In 1755, the family wanted to raise its status and forestall a marriage for Honoré arranged by the French court and designed to further French influence in Monaco. Honoré had declined many marriage proposals but was willing to marry Maria Caterina because of her beauty and dowry and her father, however, disagreed because of the bad reputation of Prince Honoré as well as the prospect of the prince inheriting his fortune. He relented only after intervention by Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour, Maria Caterina came to Monaco by boat accompanied by a suite of the Genovese nobility. When they arrived, however, Prince Honoré did not come aboard the ship to welcome his bride, when they asked him to do so, he replied that his status as a monarch demanded that she come to him instead. The Genovese entourage answered that Maria Caterina was a member of a family of the Republic of Genoa. The ship was therefore stranded offshore for several days, until the predicament was resolved by the couple meeting halfway on a bridge between the boat and the shore. The relationship was at first amicable, and the couple had two sons, Honoré IV, Prince of Monaco and Prince Joseph, Maria Caterina lived in Matignon, where she spent her days with the Prince de Condé, and seldom took part in court life. Honoré became more and more jealous, and demanded that she write down her thoughts for him, once, she was alone for several hours with a handsome nobleman, who helped her to open a cupboard which had been stuck. After this incident, the jealousy of her husband worsened to the point where it was no longer endurable. In the meantime the Prince de Condés wife, Charlotte de Rohan, whom he had married in 1753, died in 1760, and as time passed his relationship with Maria Caterina became more serious. By 1769 she had begun to set up a home in the Hôtel de Lassay, an annex of the Prince de Condés primary residence in Paris, in 1770 her jealous spouse ordered the borders of Monaco closed in an attempt to prevent her from escaping. That same night, she went out on the balcony and did not return and it was discovered that she had managed to cross into France and had travelled all the way to Le Mans to the southwest of Paris where she had taken refuge in a nearby convent. Eventually she was able to return to Paris, due to Maria Caterinas illicit position as Condés mistress, the new French queen, 18-year-old Marie Antoinette, offended Condé by treating Maria Caterina poorly at court. But around that time Condé and Maria Caterina began the construction of the Hôtel de Monaco and it was in the rue Saint-Dominique, near the Palais Bourbon, and was completed in 1777. Honoré finally realized his relationship with Maria Caterina was completely finished and turned his attention to his own lovers, Maria Caterina wrote to her spouse that the marriage could be summarised by three words, greed, bravery, and jealousy
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Marie de Bourbon, Duchess of Montpensier
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Marie de Bourbon, Duchess of Montpensier, and Duchess of Orléans by marriage, was a French noblewoman and one of the last members of the House of Bourbon-Montpensier. Her parents were Henri de Bourbon, Duke of Montpensier and Henriette Catherine de Joyeuse, Princess of Joinville, Marie de Bourbon was born in the château de Gaillon, in Gaillon, in the former province of Normandy. Known as Mademoiselle de Montpensier before her marriage, she was the Duke and Duchess of Montpensiers only child. At the age of two, she had engaged to the second son of Henry IV of France, Nicolas Henri de France, Duke of Orléans. She was then betrothed to his brother, Gaston de France, Duke of Orléans, the brother of king Louis XIII. At the death of her father, in 1608, Marie became the Duchess of Montpensier in her own right, Marie was a descendant of John II of France, of the House of Valois and of Saint Louis. The wedding ceremony was celebrated in Nantes, on 6 August 1626, in the presence of Louis XIII, his wife, Queen Anne of Austria, and Marie de Medici, the Queen Mother. According to her daughters biographer, Vita Sackville-West, quoting a member of her husbands household, from this union, the new ducal couple had one child, Anne Marie Louise dOrléans, Duchess of Montpensier, the future Grande Mademoiselle. Marie died on 4 June 1627 at the Palais du Louvre in Paris, at the age of twenty-one, shortly after the birth of her daughter who, as her child, inherited her fortune. She was buried at the Royal Basilica of Saint Denis, north of Paris, after the death of her daughter, La Grande Mademoiselle, in 1693, Maries fortune was handed over to Philippe de France, Louis XIVs younger and only brother. Media related to Marie de Bourbon, Duchess of Montpensier at Wikimedia Commons