1.
Ehrenburg Palace
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Ehrenburg Palace is a palace in Coburg, Franconia, Germany. It served as the main Coburg residence for the princes from the 1540s until 1918. The palaces exterior today mostly reflects Gothic Revival style, the palace was built by Johann Ernst, Duke of Saxe-Coburg, in 1543-7. It replaced the Veste Coburg as the dukes town Residenz, the new town palace was built around a Franciscan monastery dissolved during Reformation. According to tradition, the palace was named Ehrenburg by Emperor Charles V for having been constructed without the use of forced labour, under Duke Johann Casimir the first major rebuilding took place. Around 1590 the south wing was constructed by the Renaissance architect Michael Frey, in 1690, a fire destroyed the northern part of the palace. This was an opportunity for Albert V, Duke of Saxe-Coburg, the construction of a new chapel in the west wing, the east wing and the central part of the building gave the Ehrenburg the basic structure it retains today. In the 19th century, Ernst I had the palace redesigned by Karl Friedrich Schinkel in English Gothic Revival style, most of the work took place between 1816 and 1840, with the palace façade clothed in sandstone. Also between 1816 and 1840 the state apartments were redesigned in the French Empire style, because the palace was the home of the ducal House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, many royal occasions happened here. In 1863, Queen Victoria met Austrian Emperor Franz Josef for the first time in the Hall of Giants, the palace is used as a museum today. Among other exhibits, it features art galleries with works by Lucas Cranach the Elder, Dutch, media related to Ehrenburg Palace at Wikimedia Commons Official website
2.
Coburg
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Coburg is a town located on the Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Wettin line, until the revolution of 1918, it was one of the capitals of the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. Through successful dynastic policies, the princely family married into several of the royal families of Europe, most notably in the person of Prince Albert. As a result of close links with the royal houses of Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Coburg was frequently visited by the crowned heads of Europe. Coburg is also known as the location of Veste Coburg, one of Germanys largest castles, in 1530, Martin Luther lived there for six months during which he worked on translating the Bible into German. Today, Coburgs population is close to 41,500, since it was little damaged in World War II, Coburg retains many historic buildings, making it a popular tourist destination. Coburg lies about 90 kilometres south of Erfurt and about 100 kilometres north of Nuremberg on the river Itz and it is an urban district and is surrounded by the Landkreis Coburg. Coburg lies at the foot of the Thuringian Highland, on three sides it is surrounded by Thuringia. Until reunification in 1990 the border between Bavaria and Thuringia was also the inner German border, the origin of the name Coburg is unclear, the first element may be kuh, which would give a literal meaning of cow borough. Coburg initially referred to a property centred on the hill where Veste Coburg was later built and its oldest remains date to the 12th or 13th century. During the Diet of Augsburg in 1530 reformer Martin Luther spent six months at the castle while his lord, John, Elector of Saxony. Luther was forbidden to attend by the Elector, who feared that he would be imprisoned and burned as a heretic, while quartered at the castle Luther continued with his translation of the Bible into German. In 1547, the residence was moved from the Veste to a former monastery, rebuilt as a Renaissance palace. In 1596, Coburg was raised to the status of capital of one of the dynastys splintered Saxon-Thuringian territories, from 1699 to 1826, it was one of the two capitals of the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and from 1826-1918 it was a capital of the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Ernest Frederick, the fourth Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, moved his capital from Saalfeld to Coburg in 1764, Coburg then became capital of the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and later of the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. In the early 19th century, the medieval fortifications were demolished and replaced by parks. The duke also started the collection of engravings that is today part of the Veste Coburg museum. Under his son, Ernest, the Schlossplatz with what is today the Landestheater Coburg was created and he also rebuilt the Ehrenburg in Gothic revival style
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Nobility
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The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be largely honorary, and vary from country to country and era to era. There is often a variety of ranks within the noble class. g, san Marino and the Vatican City in Europe. Hereditary titles often distinguish nobles from non-nobles, although in many nations most of the nobility have been un-titled, some countries have had non-hereditary nobility, such as the Empire of Brazil. The term derives from Latin nobilitas, the noun of the adjective nobilis. In modern usage, nobility is applied to the highest social class in pre-modern societies and it rapidly came to be seen as a hereditary caste, sometimes associated with a right to bear a hereditary title and, for example in pre-revolutionary France, enjoying fiscal and other privileges. Nobility is a historical, social and often legal notion, differing from high socio-economic status in that the latter is based on income. Being wealthy or influential cannot, ipso facto, make one noble, various republics, including former Iron Curtain countries, Greece, Mexico, and Austria have expressly abolished the conferral and use of titles of nobility for their citizens. Not all of the benefits of nobility derived from noble status per se, usually privileges were granted or recognised by the monarch in association with possession of a specific title, office or estate. Most nobles wealth derived from one or more estates, large or small and it also included infrastructure such as castle, well and mill to which local peasants were allowed some access, although often at a price. Nobles were expected to live nobly, that is, from the proceeds of these possessions, work involving manual labour or subordination to those of lower rank was either forbidden or frowned upon socially. In some countries, the lord could impose restrictions on such a commoners movements. Nobles exclusively enjoyed the privilege of hunting, in France, nobles were exempt from paying the taille, the major direct tax. In some parts of Europe the right of war long remained the privilege of every noble. During the early Renaissance, duelling established the status of a respectable gentleman, Nobility came to be associated with social rather than legal privilege, expressed in a general expectation of deference from those of lower rank. By the 21st century even that deference had become increasingly minimised, in France, a seigneurie might include one or more manors surrounded by land and villages subject to a nobles prerogatives and disposition. Seigneuries could be bought, sold or mortgaged, if erected by the crown into, e. g. a barony or countship, it became legally entailed for a specific family, which could use it as their title. Yet most French nobles were untitled, in other parts of Europe, sovereign rulers arrogated to themselves the exclusive prerogative to act as fons honorum within their realms. Nobility might be inherited or conferred by a fons honorum
4.
House of Wettin
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The House of Wettin is a dynasty of German counts, dukes, prince-electors and kings that once ruled territories in the present-day German states of Saxony and Thuringia. The dynasty is one of the oldest in Europe, and its origins can be traced back to the town of Wettin, the Wettins gradually rose to power within the Holy Roman Empire. Members of the family became the rulers of medieval states. Other states they gained were Meissen in 1089, Thuringia in 1263, the family divided into two ruling branches in 1485 by the Treaty of Leipzig, the Ernestine and Albertine branches. The older Ernestine branch played a key role during the Protestant Reformation, many ruling monarchs outside Germany were later tied to its cadet branch, the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. The Albertine branch, while less prominent, ruled most of Saxony, agnates of the House of Wettin have, at various times, ascended the thrones of Great Britain, Portugal, Bulgaria, Poland, Saxony, and Belgium. Only the British and Belgian lines retain their thrones today, the oldest member of the House of Wettin who is known for certain is Theodoric I of Wettin, also known as Dietrich, Thiedericus, and Thierry I of Liesgau. He was most probably based in the Liesgau, around 1000, the family acquired Wettin Castle, which was originally built by the local Slavic tribes, after which they named themselves. Wettin Castle is located in Wettin in the Hassegau on the Saale River, around 1030, the Wettin family received the Eastern March as a fief. The prominence of the Wettins in the Slavic Saxon Eastern March caused Emperor Henry IV to invest them with the March of Meissen as a fief in 1089. The family split into two ruling branches in 1485 when the sons of Frederick II, Elector of Saxony divided the territories hitherto ruled jointly, as Albert ruled under the title of Duke of Saxony, his possessions were also known as Ducal Saxony. The older Ernestine branch remained predominant until 1547 and played an important role in the beginnings of the Protestant Reformation, Frederick III appointed Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon to the University of Wittenberg, which he had established in 1502. The Ernestine predominance ended in the Schmalkaldic War, which pitted the Protestant Schmalkaldic League against the Emperor Charles V, although itself Lutheran, the Albertine branch rallied to the Emperors cause. Charles V had promised Moritz the rights to the electorship, after the Battle of Mühlberg, Johann Friedrich der Großmütige, had to cede territory and the electorship to his cousin Moritz. Although imprisoned, Johann Friedrich was able to plan a new university and it was established by his three sons on 19 March 1548 as the Höhere Landesschule at Jena. On 15 August 1557, Emperor Ferdinand I awarded it the status of university, the Ernestine line was thereafter restricted to Thuringia and its dynastic unity swiftly crumbled, dividing into a number of smaller states, the Ernestine duchies. In the 18th century, Karl August, Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, established what was to become known as Weimar Classicism at his court in Weimar, notably by bringing Johann Wolfgang von Goethe there. The Ernestine Wettins, on the hand, repeatedly subdivided their territory
5.
Francis Josias, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
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Francis Josias, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld was a duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. He was the living son of Johann Ernest IV, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. He is an ancestor of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. During his youth, Francis Josias served in the Imperial Army, when Christian Ernest married unequally in 1724, Francis Josias claimed the sole inheritance of the duchy. His fathers will, however, compelled him rule jointly with his brother, in 1735, the support of the line of Saxe-Meiningen allowed him to effectively rule over Coburg on his own right, and Christian Ernests death in 1745 made him the sole Duke. Already in 1733 he proclaimed primogeniture in the duchy, which however was confirmed by the Emperor only in 1747, from 1750 to 1755, he was regent of the duchy of Saxe-Weimar on behalf of Ernest Augustus II Konstantin. In Rudolstadt on 2 January 1723 Franz Josias married Princess Anna Sophie of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, band 7, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877, S.296. Seine Geschichte und gegenwärtige Stellung in Europa, pedigree at the Wayback Machine WW-Person, A database of the higher nobility in Europe
6.
Princess Anna Sophie of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
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Princess Anna Sophie of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt was a Princess of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. She was the daughter of Louis Frederick I, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, on 2 January 1723 in Rudolstadt, she married Franz Josias, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. They had the children, Ernest Frederick, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, great-grandfather of King Leopold II of Belgium, Carlota of Mexico, Queen Victoria. Prince Johann Wilhelm of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, killed in battle, Princess Friederike Magdalene of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld Princess Friederike Caroline of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, married on 22 November 1754 Karl Alexander, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach
7.
Lutheranism
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Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestant Christianity which identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German friar, ecclesiastical reformer and theologian. Luthers efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched the Protestant Reformation in the German-speaking territories of the Holy Roman Empire. Lutheranism advocates a doctrine of justification by grace alone through faith alone on the basis of Scripture alone and this is in contrast to the belief of the Catholic Church, defined at the Council of Trent, concerning authority coming from both the Scriptures and Tradition. In addition, Lutheranism accepts the teachings of the first seven ecumenical councils of the undivided Christian Church, unlike Calvinism, Lutherans retain many of the liturgical practices and sacramental teachings of the pre-Reformation Church, with a particular emphasis on the Eucharist, or Lords Supper. Lutheran theology differs from Reformed theology in Christology, the purpose of Gods Law, the grace, the concept of perseverance of the saints. Today, Lutheranism is one of the largest denominations of Protestantism, with approximately 80 million adherents, it constitutes the third most common Protestant denomination after historically Pentecostal denominations and Anglicanism. The Lutheran World Federation, the largest communion of Lutheran churches, Other Lutheran organizations include the International Lutheran Council and the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference, as well as independent churches. The name Lutheran originated as a term used against Luther by German Scholastic theologian Dr. Johann Maier von Eck during the Leipzig Debate in July 1519. Eck and other Catholics followed the practice of naming a heresy after its leader. Martin Luther always disliked the term Lutheran, preferring the term Evangelical, which was derived from euangelion, the followers of John Calvin, Huldrych Zwingli, and other theologians linked to the Reformed tradition also began to use that term. To distinguish the two groups, others began to refer to the two groups as Evangelical Lutheran and Evangelical Reformed. As time passed by, the word Evangelical was dropped, Lutherans themselves began to use the term Lutheran in the middle of the 16th century, in order to distinguish themselves from other groups such as the Philippists and Calvinists. In 1597, theologians in Wittenberg defined the title Lutheran as referring to the true church, Lutheranism has its roots in the work of Martin Luther, who sought to reform the Western Church to what he considered a more biblical foundation. Lutheranism spread through all of Scandinavia during the 16th century, as the monarch of Denmark–Norway, through Baltic-German and Swedish rule, Lutheranism also spread into Estonia and Latvia. Since 1520, regular Lutheran services have been held in Copenhagen, under the reign of Frederick I, Denmark-Norway remained officially Catholic. Although Frederick initially pledged to persecute Lutherans, he adopted a policy of protecting Lutheran preachers and reformers. During Fredericks reign, Lutheranism made significant inroads in Denmark, at an open meeting in Copenhagen attended by the king in 1536, the people shouted, We will stand by the holy Gospel, and do not want such bishops anymore. Fredericks son Christian was openly Lutheran, which prevented his election to the throne upon his fathers death, however, following his victory in the civil war that followed, in 1537 he became Christian III and advanced the Reformation in Denmark-Norway
8.
Ernestine duchies
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The Saxon duchy began fragmenting in the 15th century as a result of the old German succession law that divided inheritances among all sons. All sons of a Saxon duke also inherited the title of Duke, brothers sometimes ruled the territory inherited from their father jointly, and they sometimes split it up. Some of the Ernestine duchies retained their separate existence until 1918, similar events in the houses of Reuss and Schwarzburg led to all of Thuringia becoming a tangle of small states from the late 15th century until the early 20th century. Count Bernhard of Anhalt, youngest son of Albert the Bear, inherited parts of the old Saxon duchy, primarily around Lauenburg and Wittenberg and he had two sons, Albert and Henry. Albert inherited the Duchy of Saxony, in 1260 Albert bequeathed the duchy to his sons John I and Albert II, who gradually divided Saxony into the duchies of Saxe-Lauenburg and Saxe-Wittenberg with definite effect of 1296. Saxe-Wittenberg was recognized as the electorate of Saxony in the Golden Bull of 1356, Frederick I was succeeded by his son, Frederick II. After the death of Frederick II in 1464, his oldest son, Ernest, became elector, and Ernest and Duke Albert, a study of the List of members of the House of Wettin will reveal much of the different strands of the ducal house and their possessions. Elector Ernest died in 1486, and was succeeded by his son, leipzig, the economic center of Saxony, as well as the seat of the only university in Saxony, was located in Albertine Saxony. Wanting a university in his lands, for example, to civil servants and pastors. It was there that Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses, Frederick protected Luther, refusing to extradite him to Rome for trial. Frederick, like other German princes, allowed Lutheran reforms to be implemented in his domain, Frederick III died in 1525, he was succeeded by his brother, John the Steadfast. John was a leader in the Schmalkaldic League of Protestant princes in the Holy Roman Empire, John died in 1532 and was succeeded by his son John Frederick I. For the first ten years of his reign, John Frederick shared the rule of Ernestine Saxony with his stepbrother, John Ernest, titularly Duke of Saxe-Coburg, charles eventually came to terms with France, and turned his attention to the Protestant lands of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1546 the Schmalkaldic League raised an army, Elector John Frederick led the leagues troops south, but shortly thereafter John Fredericks cousin, Duke Maurice of Albertine Saxony, invaded Ernestine Saxony. John Frederick hurried back to Saxony, expelled Maurice from the Ernestine lands, conquered Albertine Saxony, charles forces drove the Schmalkaldic League troops back and decisively defeated them in the Battle of Mühlberg. John Frederick was wounded and taken prisoner, the Emperor condemned him to death as a rebel, but stayed the execution because he did not want to take the time to capture Wittenberg, defended by John Fredericks wife Sybille of Cleves. When the newly minted Elector Maurice, having changed sides, attacked the Emperor, Duke John Frederick was released from prison. He established his capital in Weimar, and started a university at Jena before his death in 1554, the contenders reached agreement in 1572 in the Division of Erfurt by which John William added the districts of Altenburg, Gotha and Meiningen to Saxe-Weimar
9.
Anna Sophie, Princess of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
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Princess Anna Sophie of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt was a Princess of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. She was the daughter of Louis Frederick I, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, on 2 January 1723 in Rudolstadt, she married Franz Josias, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. They had the children, Ernest Frederick, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, great-grandfather of King Leopold II of Belgium, Carlota of Mexico, Queen Victoria. Prince Johann Wilhelm of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, killed in battle, Princess Friederike Magdalene of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld Princess Friederike Caroline of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, married on 22 November 1754 Karl Alexander, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach
10.
Leopold I of Belgium
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Leopold I was a German prince who became the first King of the Belgians following Belgian independence in 1830. He reigned between July 1831 and December 1865, Charlotte died in 1817, but Leopold continued to enjoy considerable status in Britain. After the Greek War of Independence, LeopoId was offered the position of King of Greece but turned it down, instead, Leopold accepted the kingship of the newly established Kingdom of Belgium in 1831. The Belgian government offered the position to Leopold because of his connections with royal houses across Europe. Leopold took his oath as King of the Belgians on 21 July 1831 and his reign was marked by attempts by the Dutch to recapture Belgium and, later, by internal political division between liberals and Catholics. As a result of the ambiguities in the Belgian Constitution, Leopold was able to expand the monarchs powers during his reign. He also played an important role in stopping the spread of the Revolutions of 1848 into Belgium and he died in 1865 and was succeeded by his son, Leopold II. Leopold was born in Coburg in the tiny German duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld in modern-day Bavaria on 16 December 1790 and he was the youngest son of Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and Countess Augusta Reuss-Ebersdorf. In 1826, Saxe-Coburg acquired the city of Gotha from the neighboring Duchy of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg and gave up Saalfeld to Saxe-Meiningen, becoming Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Ln 1795, at just five years old, Leopold was given a commission of the rank of colonel in the Izmaylovsky Regiment, part of the Imperial Guard. Seven years later, he received a promotion to the rank of Major General, when French troops occupied the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars, Leopold went to Paris where he became part of the Imperial Court of Napoleon. Napoleon offered him the position of adjutant, but Leopold refused, instead, he went to Russia to take up a military career in the Imperial Russian cavalry, which was at war with France at the time. He campaigned against Napoleon and distinguished himself at the Battle of Kulm at the head of his cuirassier division, in 1815, by the time of the final defeat of Napoleon and, aged 25, reached the rank of lieutenant general. Leopold received British citizenship in 1815, on 2 May 1816, Leopold married Princess Charlotte of Wales at Carlton House in London. Charlotte was the legitimate child of the Prince Regent George. The same year he received a commission to the rank of Field Marshal. On 5 November 1817, Princess Charlotte gave birth to a stillborn son and she herself died the next day following complications. Despite Charlottes death, the Prince Regent granted Prince Leopold the British style of Royal Highness by Order in Council on 6 April 1818, from 1828 to 1829, Leopold had several-months long affair with the actress Caroline Bauer, who bore a striking resemblance to Charlotte
11.
Victoria of the United Kingdom
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Victoria was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she adopted the title of Empress of India. Victoria was the daughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, both the Duke of Kent and King George III died in 1820, and Victoria was raised under close supervision by her German-born mother Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. She inherited the throne aged 18, after her fathers three brothers had all died, leaving no surviving legitimate children. The United Kingdom was already a constitutional monarchy, in which the sovereign held relatively little direct political power. Privately, Victoria attempted to influence government policy and ministerial appointments, publicly, Victoria married her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, in 1840. Their nine children married into royal and noble families across the continent, tying them together, after Alberts death in 1861, Victoria plunged into deep mourning and avoided public appearances. As a result of her seclusion, republicanism temporarily gained strength and her Golden and Diamond Jubilees were times of public celebration. Her reign of 63 years and seven months is known as the Victorian era and it was a period of industrial, cultural, political, scientific, and military change within the United Kingdom, and was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire. She was the last British monarch of the House of Hanover and her son and successor, Edward VII, belonged to the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the line of his father. Victorias father was Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, until 1817, Edwards niece, Princess Charlotte of Wales, was the only legitimate grandchild of George III. Her death in 1817 precipitated a crisis that brought pressure on the Duke of Kent. In 1818 he married Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, a widowed German princess with two children—Carl and Feodora —by her first marriage to the Prince of Leiningen and her brother Leopold was Princess Charlottes widower. The Duke and Duchess of Kents only child, Victoria, was born at 4.15 a. m. on 24 May 1819 at Kensington Palace in London. Victoria was christened privately by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Charles Manners-Sutton, on 24 June 1819 in the Cupola Room at Kensington Palace and she was baptised Alexandrina, after one of her godparents, Emperor Alexander I of Russia, and Victoria, after her mother. Additional names proposed by her parents—Georgina, Charlotte, and Augusta—were dropped on the instructions of the Dukes eldest brother, George, the Duke of Clarence and the Duke of Kent married on the same day in 1818, but both of Clarences daughters died as infants. Victorias father died in January 1820, when Victoria was less than a year old, a week later her grandfather died and was succeeded by his eldest son, George IV. The Duke of York died in 1827, when George IV died in 1830, he was succeeded by his next surviving brother, William IV, and Victoria became heir presumptive
12.
Habsburg Monarchy
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The Monarchy was a composite state composed of territories within and outside the Holy Roman Empire, united only in the person of the monarch. The dynastic capital was Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, from 1804 to 1867 the Habsburg Monarchy was formally unified as the Austrian Empire, and from 1867 to 1918 as the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The two entities were never coterminous, as the Habsburg Monarchy covered many lands beyond the Holy Roman Empire, the monarchy had no official name. The entity had no official name, Austrian Empire, This was the official name. Note that the German version is Kaisertum Österreich, i. e. the English translation empire refers to a territory ruled by an emperor, Austria-Hungary, This was the official name. An unofficial popular name was the Danubian Monarchy also often used was the term Doppel-Monarchie meaning two states under one crowned ruler, Crownlands or crown lands, This is the name of all the individual parts of the Austrian Empire, and then of Austria-Hungary from 1867 on. The Hungarian parts of the Empire were called Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen or Lands of Holy Stephens Crown, the Bohemian Lands were called Lands of the St. Wenceslaus Crown. Burgenland came to Austria in 1921 from Hungary, Salzburg finally became Austrian in 1816 after the Napoleonic wars. Vienna, Austrias capital became a state January 1,1922, after being residence, Upper and Lower Austria, historically, were split into Austria above the Enns and Austria below the Enns. Upper Austria was enlarged after the Treaty of Teschen following the War of the Bavarian Succession by the so-called Innviertel, formerly part of Bavaria. Hereditary Lands or German Hereditary Lands or Austrian Hereditary Lands, In a narrower sense these were the original Habsburg Austrian territories, i. e. basically the Austrian lands, in a wider sense the Lands of the Bohemian Crown were also included in the Hereditary lands. The term was replaced by the term Crownlands in the 1849 March Constitution, within the Habsburg Monarchy, each province was governed according to its own particular customs. Until the mid 17th century, not all of the provinces were even necessarily ruled by the same members of the family often ruled portions of the Hereditary Lands as private apanages. An even greater attempt at centralization began in 1849 following the suppression of the revolutions of 1848. For the first time, ministers tried to transform the monarchy into a bureaucratic state ruled from Vienna. The Kingdom of Hungary, in particular, ceased to exist as a separate entity, in this system, the Kingdom of Hungary was given sovereignty and a parliament, with only a personal union and a joint foreign and military policy connecting it to the other Habsburg lands. When Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed, it was not incorporated into either half of the monarchy, instead, it was governed by the joint Ministry of Finance. Austria-Hungary collapsed under the weight of the various unsolved ethnic problems that came to a head with its defeat in World War I, to these were added in 1779 the Inn Quarter of Bavaria, and in 1803 the Bishoprics of Trent and Brixen
13.
Seven Years' War
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The Seven Years War was a war fought between 1754 and 1763, the main conflict occurring in the seven-year period from 1756 to 1763. It involved every European great power of the time except the Ottoman Empire and spanned five continents, affecting Europe, the Americas, West Africa, India, and the Philippines. The conflict split Europe into two coalitions, led by the Kingdom of Great Britain on one side and the Kingdom of France on the other. Meanwhile, in India, the Mughal Empire, with the support of the French, faced with this sudden turn of events, Britain aligned herself with Prussia, in a series of political manoeuvres known as the Diplomatic Revolution. Conflict between Great Britain and France broke out in 1754–1756 when the British attacked disputed French positions in North America, meanwhile, rising power Prussia was struggling with Austria for dominance within and outside the Holy Roman Empire in central Europe. In 1756, the major powers switched partners, realizing that war was imminent, Prussia preemptively struck Saxony and quickly overran it. The result caused uproar across Europe, because of Austrias alliance with France to recapture Silesia, which had been lost in a previous war, Prussia formed an alliance with Britain. Reluctantly, by following the diet, most of the states of the empire joined Austrias cause. The Anglo-Prussian alliance was joined by smaller German states, Sweden, seeking to re-gain Pomerania joined the coalition, seeing its chance when virtually all of Europe opposed Prussia. Spain, bound by the Pacte de Famille, intervened on behalf of France, the Russian Empire was originally aligned with Austria, fearing Prussias ambition on the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, but switched sides upon the succession of Tsar Peter III in 1762. Naples, Sicily, and Savoy, although sided with the Franco-Spanish alliance, like Sweden, Russia concluded a separate peace with Prussia. The war ended with the Treaty of Paris between France, Spain and Great Britain and the Treaty of Hubertusburg between Saxony, Austria and Prussia, in 1763. The Native American tribes were excluded from the settlement, a subsequent conflict, Prussia emerged as a new European great power. Although Austria failed to retrieve the territory of Silesia from Prussia its military prowess was noted by the other powers. The involvement of Portugal, Spain and Sweden did not return them to their status as great powers. France was deprived of many of its colonies and had saddled itself with heavy war debts that its inefficient financial system could barely handle. Spain lost Florida but gained French Louisiana and regained control of its colonies, e. g. Cuba and the Philippines, France and Spain avenged their defeat in 1778 when the American Revolutionary War broke out, with hopes of destroying Britains dominance once and for all. The Seven Years War was perhaps the first true world war, having taken place almost 160 years before World War I and it was characterized in Europe by sieges and the arson of towns as well as open battles with heavy losses
14.
Lieutenant Field Marshal
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This article incorporates information from the equivalent article on the German Wikipedia. Lieutenant field marshal, also frequently historically field marshal lieutenant, was an army rank in certain European armies of the 17th to 20th centuries. It emerged as the rank of field marshal came to be used for the highest army commander in the 17th century, in German-speaking countries the commander-in-chief usually appointed an under marshal or lieutenant field marshal to support and represent the field marshal. Amongst his functions as the deputy to the field marshal, were the supervision of supply depots and routes. The rank was used by the Imperial Army of the Holy Roman Empire from the 17th century until 1806, on the re-introduction of the rank of field marshal, it fell back to third place in terms of seniority. u. k. Army was equivalent to the Generalleutnant of the Prussian Army, the normal assignment of a lieutenant field marshal was command of a division-sized formation. He was addressed by the title of excellency. In Austria the rank continued to be used after 1918 by the commander-in-chief of the so-called Volkswehr until 1919, however, the Bundesheer of the First Republic adopted the designation, structure and sequence of the German ranks in 1920. In 1933, following tradition, Austrian ranks, insignia and uniforms were reintroduced. These ranks remained in use until the Anschluss in 1938, the equivalent of lieutenant field marshal in the Hungarian Army was the rank of altábornagy. Today it is still in use as NATO OF-8, three-star rank corresponding to lieutenant general in English-speaking armed forces, georg von Alten, Handbuch für Heer und Flotte. Vol. III, Berlin,1911 Constantin von Wurzbach, Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Österreich,60 vols, Vienna, 1856-1891 Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie,56 vols. Munich-Leipzig, 1875-1912 Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon 1815-1950, hitherto 12 volumes, neue Österreichische Biographie, hitherto 21 volumes, Vienna, 1935-1982 Felix Czeike, Historisches Lexikon Wien,5 vols. Vienna, 1992-1997 Antonio Schmidt-Brentano, Kaiserliche und k. k, generale 1618-1815, Austrian State Archives Antonio Schmidt-Brentano, Die k. k. bzw. k. u. k. Generalität 1816-1918, Austrian State Archives Adjustierungsvorschrift für die k. u. k, landwehr, die verbundenen Einrichtungen und das Corps der Militär-Beamten. Complete works Vienna/Bozen,1912 Ranks in the Austro-Hungarian Navy Rank insignias of the Austro-Hungarian armed forces
15.
Ernst Gideon Freiherr von Laudon
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He served the position of military governorship of Habsburg Serbia from his capture of Belgrade in 1789 until his death, cooperating with the resistance fighters of Koča Anđelković. The Laudohn family, of mixed German and Latgalian origin, had settled in the estate of Tootzen. Laudon himself claimed a kinship with the Scottish Earls of Loudoun and his father Otto Gerhard von Laudohn was a lieutenant-colonel, retired on a meagre pension from the Swedish service. As upon the Great Northern War Livonia had been ceded to Russia according to the 1721 Treaty of Nystad, after the 1739 Treaty of Belgrade he returned to the Russian court at Saint Petersburg. Dissatisfied with his prospects and the conditions in the Russian Army, he resigned in 1741. He applied first to King Frederick the Great, who declined his services. At Vienna he had better fortune, being made a captain in the Freikorps of Franz von der Trenck, during the War of the Austrian Succession, he took part in its forays and marches, though not in its atrocities, until wounded and taken prisoner in Alsace. He was shortly released by the advance of the main Austrian army and his next active service, still under Trenck, was in the Silesian mountains in 1745, in which campaign he greatly distinguished himself as a leader of light troops. He was present also at the Battle of Soor, at Bunić, where he was stationed, he built a church and planted an oak forest now called by his name. He had reached the rank of lieutenant-colonel when the outbreak of the Seven Years War called him again into the field, from this point began his fame as a soldier. At first rejected by General Wilhelm Reinhard von Neipperg, he soon was promoted colonel at the behest of Chancellor Wenzel Anton Kaunitz, Maria Theresa gave him, further, the grand cross of the order she had founded and an estate near Kutná Hora in Bohemia. As a result, Laudon was promoted Feldzeugmeister and made commander-in-chief in Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia, in 1760 he destroyed a whole corps of Fredericks army under Fouqué at Landshut and stormed the important fortress of Glatz. In 1761 he operated, as usual, in Silesia, but he found his Russian allies as timid as they had been after Kunersdorf and he brilliantly seized his one fleeting opportunity, however, and stormed Schweidnitz on the night of September 30/October 1,1761. His tireless activity continued to the end of the war, in conspicuous contrast with the strategy of Daun. The student of the campaigns of the Seven Years War will probably admit that there was need of more aggressiveness than Daun displayed. But neither recognized this, and the last three years of the war are marked by a friction between the Fabius and the Marcellus, as they were called, of the Austrian army. After the peace, therefore, when Daun became the virtual commander-in-chief of the army, offers were made, by Frederick the Great amongst others, to induce Laudon to transfer his services elsewhere. Laudon did not entertain these proposals, although negotiations went on for some years, dissensions, however, continued between Laudon and Lacy, and on the accession of Joseph II, who was intimate with his rival, Laudon retired to his estate near Kutná Hora
16.
Moldavia
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Moldavia is a historical region, and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river. The western half of Moldavia is now part of Romania, the eastern side belongs to the Republic of Moldova, the original and short-lived reference to the region was Bogdania, after Bogdan I, the founding figure of the principality. Dragoș was accompanied by his female hound called Molda, when reached the shores of an unfamiliar river. The dogs name would have given to the river and extended to the country. The old German Molde, meaning open-pit mine the Gothic Mulda meaning dust, dirt, a Slavic etymology, marking the end of one Slavic genitive form, denoting ownership, chiefly of feminine nouns. In several early references, Moldavia is rendered under the composite form Moldo-Wallachia, Ottoman Turkish references to Moldavia included Boğdan Iflak and Boğdan. See also names in other languages, the name of the region in other languages include French, Moldavie, German, Moldau, Hungarian, Moldva, Russian, Молдавия, Moldaviya, Turkish, Boğdan Prensliği, Greek, Μολδαβία. The inhabitants of Moldova were Christians, archaeological works revealed the remains of a Christian necropolis at Mihălășeni, Botoșani county, from the 5th century. The place of worship, and the tombs had Christian characteristics, the place of worship had a rectangular form with sides of 8 and 7 meters. Similar necropolis and place of worship were found at Nicolina, in Iași The Bolohoveni, the chronicle shows that this land is bordered on the principalities of Halych, Volhynia and Kiev. Archaeological research also identified the location of 13th-century fortified settlements in this region, Alexandru V. Boldur identified Voscodavie, Voscodavti, Voloscovti, Volcovti, Volosovca and their other towns and villages between the middle course of the rivers Nistru/Dniester and Nipru/Dnieper. The Bolohoveni disappeared from chronicles after their defeat in 1257 by Daniil Romanovichs troops, in the early 13th century, the Brodniks, a possible Slavic–Vlach vassal state of Halych, were present, alongside the Vlachs, in much of the regions territory. On the border between Halych and the Brodniks, in the 11th century, a Viking by the name of Rodfos was killed in the area by Vlachs who supposedly betrayed him. In 1164, the future Byzantine Emperor Andronikos I Komnenos, was prisoner by Vlach shepherds around the same region. In 1342 and 1345, the Hungarians were victorious in a battle against Tatar-Mongols, the Polish chronicler Jan Długosz mentioned Moldavians as having joined a military expedition in 1342, under King Władysław I, against the Margraviate of Brandenburg. In 1353, Dragoș, mentioned as a Vlach Knyaz in Maramureș, was sent by Louis I to establish a line of defense against the Golden Horde forces of Mongols on the Siret River and this expedition resulted in a polity vassal to Hungary, centered around Baia. His realm extended north to the Cheremosh River, while the part of Moldavia was still occupied by the Tatar Mongols. After first residing in Baia, Bogdan moved Moldavias seat to Siret, disfavored by the brief union of Angevin Poland and Hungary, Bogdans successor Lațcu accepted conversion to Roman Catholicism around 1370, but his gesture was to remain without consequences
17.
Khotyn
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Khotyn is a city in Chernivtsi Oblast of western Ukraine, and is the administrative center of Khotyn Raion within the oblast, and is located south-west of Kamianets-Podilskyi. According to the 2001 Ukrainian census, it has a population of 11,124, Khotyn, first chronicled in 1001, is located on the right bank of the Dniester River, and is part of the historical region Bessarabia. Historically, the town was part of the Principality of Moldavia, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, subsequently, it was part of the Bessarabia Governorate of the Russian Empire, Moldavian Democratic Republic, Romania, the USSR and Ukraine. Khotyn was conquered and controlled by different states, resulting in many name changes. Other name variations include Chotyn, or Choczim, Khotyn, located on cliffs above the Dniester, is sometimes conflated with a sound-alike locality mentioned in 1001, a minor settlement of Kievan Rus. Archaeological excavations found that the Kievan town covered the area of twenty hectares. It later became part of the Principality of Halych and its successor, the town was an important trading center due to its location by a river crossing. A Genoese trading colony was established there by the 13th century, the first fortifications date back from this period. In 1351, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania conquered the area, the present-day fortress was constructed after 1400 by the Moldavian ruler Alexander the Good, with the help of Vytautas the Great of Lithuania. After 1433, it was occupied by Poland, due to wars between Alexanders successors, and was reconquered from the Poles by Stephen the Great of Moldovia in 1459 after a two-year siege. The fortress, strengthened by Stephen, during the 15th century, as the Moldavian states international significance was dwarfed by that of the Kingdom of Poland and the Ottoman Empire, the latter sought to gain control of the strategic river crossing. As a result, Khotyns later history was dominated by wars between the expanding Christian powers and the expanding Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire finally seized the fortress from Moldavia in 1713 during the Great Northern War, another power, Russian Empire, came to claim the region in the 18th century. With the start of the Russo-Turkish War in 1806, the Khotyn Fortress was taken by the Imperial Russian Army, with the signing of the Bucharest Peace Treaty in 1812, the entire region that became known as Bessarabia was annexed by the Russian Empire from Moldavia. During 1812–1918, Khotin was the center of the Hotin County, one of the twelve. During World War I, the corner of the Hotin county was the only area of Bessarabia. With the collapse of the Russian Empire, Bessarabia proclaimed independence from Russia in 1917, Romania and Austria signed a Peace treaty in May 1918, and the Austrians withdrew. The treaty was not formally ratified by Romania, a former Entente ally which found itself in isolation, the Austrians were in control of Khotin and several villages around for several months starting February 28,1918
18.
Bessarabia
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Bessarabia is a historical region in Eastern Europe, bounded by the Dniester river on the east and the Prut river on the west. The acquisition was among the Empires last territorial acquisitions in Europe, the newly acquired territories were organised as the Governorate of Bessarabia, adopting a name previously used for the southern plains, between the Dniester and the Danube rivers. In 1917, in the wake of the Russian Revolution, the area constituted itself as the Moldavian Democratic Republic, bolshevik agitation in late 1917 and early 1918 resulted in the intervention of the Romanian Army, ostensibly to pacify the region. Soon after, the assembly declared independence, and then union with the Kingdom of Romania. The legality of acts was however disputed, most prominently by the Soviet Union. Axis-aligned Romania briefly recaptured the region in 1941 during the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, in 1947, the Soviet-Romanian border along the Prut was internationally recognised by the Paris Treaty that ended World War II. Part of the Gagauz-inhabited areas in the southern Bessarabia was organised in 1994 as a region within Moldova. According to the interpretation, the name Bessarabia derives from the Wallachian Basarab dynasty. Recent research has however cast doubt on this view, as the name was first applied to the territory by Western cartographers, showing up in local sources only in the second half of the 17th century. Furthermore, the use of the term to refer to the Moldavian lands near the Black Sea was explicitly rejected as a confusion by the early Moldavian chronicler Miron Costin. The confusion may have been caused by Polish references to Wallachia as Bessarabia, according to Dimitrie Cantemir, the name originally applied only to the part of the territory south of the Upper Trajanic Wall, somewhat bigger than current Budjak. The name Bessarabia may literally mean Bessi slaves after the Thracian tribe which was expelled by Trajan north of the Danube. The region is bounded by the Dniester to the north and east, the Prut to the west and the lower River Danube and it has an area of 45,630 km2. The area is mostly hilly plains with flat steppes and it is very fertile, and has lignite deposits and stone quarries. People living in the area grow sugar beet, sunflowers, wheat, maize, tobacco, wine grapes and they also raise sheep and cattle. Currently, the industry in the region is agricultural processing. The regions main cities are Chișinău, Izmail and Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi, historically called Cetatea Albă / Akkerman, other towns of administrative or historical importance include, Khotyn, Reni and Kilia, and Lipcani, Briceni, Soroca, Bălți, Orhei, Ungheni, Bender/Tighina and Cahul. In the late 14th century, the newly established Principality of Moldavia encompassed what became known as Bessarabia
19.
Aleksandr Suvorov
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Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov was a Russian military leader and considered a national hero. He was the Count of Rymnik, Count of the Holy Roman Empire, Prince of Italy, Suvorov was born in Moscow in 1729. He studied military history as a boy and joined the Imperial Russian Army at the age of 17. During the Seven Years War he was promoted to colonel in 1762 for his success on the battlefield, when war broke out with the Bar Confederation in 1768, Suvorov captured Krakow and defeated the Poles at Lanckorona and Stołowicze, bringing about the start of the Partitions of Poland. He was promoted to general and next fought in the Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774, becoming the General of the Infantry in 1786, he commanded in the Russo–Turkish War of 1787–1792 and won crushing victories at the Battle of Rymnik and Siege of Izmail. For his accomplishments, he was made a Count of both the Russian Empire and Holy Roman Empire, Suvorov put down a Polish uprising in 1794, defeating them at the Battle of Maciejowice and storming Warsaw. While a close associate of Empress Catherine the Great, Suvorov often quarreled with her son, after Catherine died of a stroke in 1796, Paul I was crowned Emperor and dismissed Suvorov for disregarding his orders. However, he was forced to reinstate Suvorov and make him a marshal at the insistence of the coalition allies for the French Revolutionary Wars. Suvorov was given command of the Austro-Russian army, captured Milan, and drove the French out of Italy at the Battles of Cassano dAdda, Trebbia, Suvorov was made a Prince of Italy for his deeds. Afterwards he became surrounded in the Swiss Alps by the French after a Russian army he was supposed to unite with was routed before he could arrive and he died in 1800 of illness in Saint Petersburg. Suvorov is considered one of the greatest Russian commanders and he was awarded numerous medals, titles, and honors by Russia, as well as by other countries. Suvorov secured Russia expanded borders, renewed military prestige, and a legacy of theories on warfare and he was famed for his military manual The Science of Victory and noted for several of his sayings. Several military academies, monuments, villages, museums, and orders are dedicated to him, Suvorov was born into a noble family originating from Novgorod at the Moscow mansion of his maternal grandfather Fedosey Manukov. His father, Vasiliy Suvorov, was a general-in-chief and a senator in the Governing Senate and his paternal ancestors had emigrated from Sweden in 1622. His mother, Avdotya Fyodorovna née Manukova, was the daughter of Fedosey Manukov, the name Manukov might be a russified version of the Armenian name Manukian. Still Armenian heritage of Suvorov is considered an unproven legend, there is no academic research or source in Russia that can confirm or deny the origin of Suvorovs paternal or maternal ancestors. There are some claims that he told the Swedish ambassador to Russia in 1791 that his family came from Sweden. Those statements are not reliable due the unknown context of discussion, as a boy, Suvorov was a sickly child and his father assumed he would work in civil service as an adult
20.
Ottoman Empire
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After 1354, the Ottomans crossed into Europe, and with the conquest of the Balkans the Ottoman Beylik was transformed into a transcontinental empire. The Ottomans ended the Byzantine Empire with the 1453 conquest of Constantinople by Mehmed the Conqueror, at the beginning of the 17th century the empire contained 32 provinces and numerous vassal states. Some of these were later absorbed into the Ottoman Empire, while others were granted various types of autonomy during the course of centuries. With Constantinople as its capital and control of lands around the Mediterranean basin, while the empire was once thought to have entered a period of decline following the death of Suleiman the Magnificent, this view is no longer supported by the majority of academic historians. The empire continued to maintain a flexible and strong economy, society, however, during a long period of peace from 1740 to 1768, the Ottoman military system fell behind that of their European rivals, the Habsburg and Russian Empires. While the Empire was able to hold its own during the conflict, it was struggling with internal dissent. Starting before World War I, but growing increasingly common and violent during it, major atrocities were committed by the Ottoman government against the Armenians, Assyrians and Pontic Greeks. The word Ottoman is an anglicisation of the name of Osman I. Osmans name in turn was the Turkish form of the Arabic name ʿUthmān, in Ottoman Turkish, the empire was referred to as Devlet-i ʿAlīye-yi ʿOsmānīye, or alternatively ʿOsmānlı Devleti. In Modern Turkish, it is known as Osmanlı İmparatorluğu or Osmanlı Devleti, the Turkish word for Ottoman originally referred to the tribal followers of Osman in the fourteenth century, and subsequently came to be used to refer to the empires military-administrative elite. In contrast, the term Turk was used to refer to the Anatolian peasant and tribal population, the term Rūmī was also used to refer to Turkish-speakers by the other Muslim peoples of the empire and beyond. In Western Europe, the two names Ottoman Empire and Turkey were often used interchangeably, with Turkey being increasingly favored both in formal and informal situations and this dichotomy was officially ended in 1920–23, when the newly established Ankara-based Turkish government chose Turkey as the sole official name. Most scholarly historians avoid the terms Turkey, Turks, and Turkish when referring to the Ottomans, as the power of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum declined in the 13th century, Anatolia was divided into a patchwork of independent Turkish principalities known as the Anatolian Beyliks. One of these beyliks, in the region of Bithynia on the frontier of the Byzantine Empire, was led by the Turkish tribal leader Osman, osmans early followers consisted both of Turkish tribal groups and Byzantine renegades, many but not all converts to Islam. Osman extended the control of his principality by conquering Byzantine towns along the Sakarya River and it is not well understood how the early Ottomans came to dominate their neighbours, due to the scarcity of the sources which survive from this period. One school of thought which was popular during the twentieth century argued that the Ottomans achieved success by rallying religious warriors to fight for them in the name of Islam, in the century after the death of Osman I, Ottoman rule began to extend over Anatolia and the Balkans. Osmans son, Orhan, captured the northwestern Anatolian city of Bursa in 1326 and this conquest meant the loss of Byzantine control over northwestern Anatolia. The important city of Thessaloniki was captured from the Venetians in 1387, the Ottoman victory at Kosovo in 1389 effectively marked the end of Serbian power in the region, paving the way for Ottoman expansion into Europe
21.
Grand Vizier
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In the Ottoman Empire, the Grand Vizier was the prime minister of the Ottoman sultan, with absolute power of attorney and, in principle, dismissible only by the sultan himself. His offices were located at the Sublime Porte, the term “vizier” was originally a denomination used by the Abbasid Dynasty in the 8th century AD. This position then came to the Ottomans in the early 14th century by way of the Seljuks of Anatolia, during the nascent phases of the Ottoman state, vizier was the only title used. The first of these Ottoman viziers who was titled Grand Vizier was Çandarlı Halil Pasha the Elder, the purpose in instituting the title Grand Vizier was to distinguish the holder of the Sultans seal from other viziers. The initially more frequently used title of vezir-i âzam was gradually replaced by sadrazam, throughout Ottoman history, the grand viziers have also been termed sadr-ı âlî, vekil-i mutlak, sâhib-i devlet, serdar-ı ekrem, serdar-ı azam and zât-ı âsafî. Çandarlı Halil Pasha the Elder reformed the role of the vizier in several ways, several before him held an equivalent but differently named office, he was the first who held the position of “Grand Vizier”, during the reign of Sultan Murad I. He was the first advisor with a military background – his forerunners had come from a more class of men. It is also significant that he was the first of a family that, at the time. Several of Çandarlı Halil Pasha the Elder’s kin went on to hold the office of Grand Vizier in the following his death. Çandarlı Halil Pasha the Younger, the grandson of Pasha the Elder, was highly influential in shaping the role of the Grand Vizier. During the reign of Mehmed II, the Younger opposed the siege of Constantinople, two days after the siege was won by Mehmed II, the Younger was executed for his opposition. After his death, the position of Grand Vizier was chosen nearly exclusively from the kul system, often and this was usually a political move, designed to appease powerful European factions to Ottoman supremacy. Grand Viziers gained immense political supremacy in the days of the Ottoman Empire. Power was centralized in the position of the Grand Vizier during the Köprülü era, Köprülü Mehmed Pasha was a powerful political figure during the reign of Mehmed IV, and was appointed to the office of Grand Vizier in 1656. He consolidated power within the position and sent the Sultan away from the city on hunting trips, next, he forcibly removed any officers suspected of corruption, those who did not leave were executed. He also conducted campaigns against Venice and the Hapsburgs, as well as quelling rebellions in Anatolia, on his deathbed five years later, he convinced Mehmed to appoint his son as the next Grand Vizier, thus securing his dynasty a position of supreme power in the Empire. It was during the Köprülü era that the Ottoman Empire reached its largest geographic expansion across Europe, Asia Minor, in Ottoman legal theory, the Sultan was supposed to conduct affairs of state exclusively via the Grand Vizier, but in reality this arrangement was often circumvented. He might, too, be inclined to take the advice of his mother
22.
Koca Yusuf Pasha
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Koca Yusuf Pasha was an Ottoman statesman. He was grand vizier from January 25,1786, to May 28,1789 and he became grand vizier again, this time serving from 12 February 1791 until mid-1792. He was a Georgian convert to Islam and also served as the governor of the Peloponnese
23.
Battle of Rymnik
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The Battle of Râmnic on September 22,1789 took place in Wallachia, near Râmnicu Sărat, during the Russo-Turkish War of 1787-1792. The Russian general Alexander Suvorov, acting together with the Habsburg general Prince Josias of Coburg, the result was a crushing Russo-Austrian victory. Sending his troops into a night march, Pasha then attacked the 18. Taking into account Josiass numbers and their performance in the war, specifically after the Battle of Karánsebes. However, once he heard of this, Suvorov and his 7, 000-strong force marched to their aid, as the commander-in-chief of all Russo-Austrian forces in the front, he quickly took command of the combined Austro-Russian army. Suvorov divided his army into two columns to advance towards the Ottoman formations at 2300 hours, and next morning, after crossing the river Râmnicul Sărat. As they advanced they crippled the enemy artillery and adopted infantry square formations to repel enemy cavalry counterattacks which tried to split his army in two. This done, the army stormed the camp and routed them completely. At the cost of 700 casualties, Suvorov inflicted about 20,000 casualties against the Turks, the Turks lost all their artillery and baggage train. For this victory, Suvorov was awarded the title of Count of Rymnik by the Russian Empress Catherine the Great, on the other hand, the Ottoman vizier Cenaze Hasan Pasha was dismissed on December 2,1789, after his defeat. Meanwhile, the Habsburgs occupied all of Wallachia until the war ended
24.
Wallachia
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Wallachia or Walachia is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians, Wallachia is traditionally divided into two sections, Muntenia and Oltenia. Wallachia as a whole is referred to as Muntenia through identification with the larger of the two traditional sections. In 1417, Wallachia accepted the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire, in 1859, Wallachia united with Moldavia to form the United Principalities, which adopted the name Romania in 1866 and officially became the Kingdom of Romania in 1881. In the Early Middle Ages, in Slavonic texts, the name of Zemli Ungro-Vlahiskoi was also used as a designation for its location, official designations of the state were Muntenia and Țara Românească. The traditional Hungarian name for Wallachia is Havasalföld, or literally Snowy Lowlands, in Ottoman Turkish, the term Eflâk Prensliği, or simply Eflâk افلاق, appears. Mavrovlachi is another name of the Balkan Vlachs or Aromanians, both names could come from a confusion, Kara Iflak, the Turkish name of Wallachia, means land of Wallachians, but later kara was misconstrued as kara. Later, the Turks renamed Moldavia and Wallachia as Kara Iflak and Ak Iflak according to the Turkish cardinal points symbolism, north is symbolized by black, and west is symbolized by white. Ardeal/Erdel was the name of Transylvania, and Kara Iflak, Northern Wallachia was either Wallachia, north of the Balkan territories inhabited by Vlachs, the second explanation is typologically better. In the Second Dacian War western Oltenia became part of the Roman province of Dacia, the Roman limes was initially built along the Olt River, before being moved slightly to the east in the 2nd century—during which time it stretched from the Danube up to Rucăr in the Carpathians. The Roman line fell back to the Olt in 245 and, in 271, in 328, the Romans built a bridge between Sucidava and Oescus which indicates that there was a significant trade with the peoples north of the Danube. A short period of Roman rule in the area is attested under Emperor Constantine I, the period of Goth rule ended when the Huns arrived in the Pannonian Plain and, under Attila, attacked and destroyed some 170 settlements on both sides of the Danube. Wallachia was under the control of the First Bulgarian Empire from its establishment in 681, in 1241, during the Mongol invasion of Europe, Cuman domination was ended—a direct Mongol rule over Wallachia was not attested, but it remains probable. His successor was his brother Bărbat.1334, Basarab was succeeded by Nicolae Alexandru, followed by Vladislav I. Under Radu I and his successor Dan I, the realms in Transylvania, as the entire Balkan Peninsula became an integral part of the growing Ottoman Empire, Wallachia became engaged in frequent confrontations in the final years of Mircea the Elders reign. Mircea initially defeated the Ottomans in several battles, driving away from Dobruja and briefly extending his rule to the Danube Delta, Dobruja. He swung between alliances with Sigismund of Hungary and Jagiellon Poland, and accepted a treaty with the Ottomans in 1417, after Mehmed I took control of Turnu Măgurele. The two ports remained part of the Ottoman state, with interruptions, until 1829
25.
Bucharest
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Bucharest is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, at 44°25′57″N 26°06′14″E, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than 60 km north of the Danube River, Bucharest was first mentioned in documents in 1459. It became the capital of Romania in 1862 and is the centre of Romanian media, culture and its architecture is a mix of historical, interbellum, communist-era and modern. In the period between the two World Wars, the citys elegant architecture and the sophistication of its elite earned Bucharest the nickname of Little Paris. Although buildings and districts in the city centre were heavily damaged or destroyed by war, earthquakes. In recent years, the city has been experiencing an economic, in 2016, the historical city centre was listed as endangered by the World Monuments Watch. According to the 2011 census,1,883,425 inhabitants live within the city limits, the urban area extends beyond the limits of Bucharest proper and has a population of about 1.9 million people. Adding the satellite towns around the area, the proposed metropolitan area of Bucharest would have a population of 2.27 million people. According to Eurostat, Bucharest has an urban zone of 2,183,091 residents. According to unofficial data, the population is more than 3 million, Bucharest is the sixth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits, after London, Berlin, Madrid, Rome, and Paris. Economically, Bucharest is the most prosperous city in Romania and is one of the industrial centres. The city has big convention facilities, educational institutes, cultural venues, traditional shopping arcades, the Romanian name București has an uncertain origin. Tradition connects the founding of Bucharest with the name of Bucur, who was a prince, an outlaw, a fisherman, in Romanian, the word stem bucurie means joy, and it is believed to be of Dacian origin. Other etymologies are given by scholars, including the one of an Ottoman traveler, Evliya Çelebi. A native or resident of Bucharest is called a Bucharester, Bucharests history alternated periods of development and decline from the early settlements in antiquity until its consolidation as the national capital of Romania late in the 19th century. First mentioned as the Citadel of București in 1459, it became the residence of the famous Wallachian prince Vlad III the Impaler, the Ottomans appointed Greek administrators to run the town from the 18th century. A short-lived revolt initiated by Tudor Vladimirescu in 1821 led to the end of the rule of Constantinople Greeks in Bucharest, the Old Princely Court was erected by Mircea Ciobanul in the mid-16th century. Under subsequent rulers, Bucharest was established as the residence of the royal court
26.
Nicholas Mavrogenes
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Nicholas Mavrogenes was a Phanariote Prince of Wallachia. He was the great-uncle of Manto Mavrogenous, a heroine of the Greek War of Independence, Mavrogenes was born on Paros island to a family claiming noble origins, and spoke natively one of the many Greek dialects of the Cyclades. He lived among the sailors, and was chosen dragoman of Hasan Pasha and he left the Ottoman capital accompanied by a huge and ostentatious retinue. On 15 May 1786, Mavrogenes reached Văcăreşti, near Bucharest, one of his first decrees was issued four days later, when he announced that all the people of Wallachia could address their grievances directly to him. He even set up a gazebo in Târgul de afară, so peasants could speak to him. He also attempted to erect stakes on all major crossroads, to show the people what would happen to them if they engaged in theft or murder, or if they failed to attend church services. During the same year, he ordered the building of an aqueduct, which, although completed, was destroyed during the conflicts that followed his rule, and never fully rebuilt. Mavrogenes also demanded that Wallachians should lead a life and, as such. On 10 January 1787 he signed a degree which allowed Jews to be tax exempt, in order to mock the boyars, he even gave his horse the rank of clucer and assigned him a bedroom right next to his own, on the second floor of the Court Palace. Mavrogenes awarded those people who paid him enough money boyar ranks and privileges and he sometimes staged incognito inspections, to observe the activities of boyar officials. On 24 August 1787 the Ottomans declared war on the Russian Empire and imprisoned the Russian ambassador, Yakov Bulgakov, Mavrogenes replicated the gesture of the Grand Vizier, and arrested Ivan Ivanovich Severin, Russias consul in Wallachia. Unlike any other Phanariote ruler, he raised his own army, which reached 5–10,000 men and was equipped with several cannons, in addition, Mavrogenes asked for the Ottoman army to help him seal the border with Habsburg Transylvania and reinforce the borders with Moldavia. However, just as the boyar contingents reached Buzău, they were ordered to return — it became apparent that Mavrogenes was just testing to see if boyars would betray him. In order to avoid other betrayals, Mavrogenes arrested all the Wallachian boyars, at that time, Mavrogenes army had about 11,000 soldiers, and there was also an army of about 15,000 Turks assisting him. With these forces, he obtained a few victories in the battles of Târgu Jiu and Câmpulung and these victories, together with the predictions astrologer made him confident in a victory and attacked Kronstadt from July to October 1788, but failed to take the city. As the winter of 1788-1789 was harsh, no military actions were carried out. After Abdul Hamid died in April, the new sultan, Selim III, in the meantime, the Russian army reported victories in Moldavia and rendezvoused with the Habsburg Army in Adjud, advancing toward Wallachia. On 21 July 1789 they fought the Wallacho-Ottoman army led by Grand Vizier Koca Yusuf Pasha in the Battle of Focşani, a second confrontation occurred as the Battle of Rymnik, more than 10,000 died on the Ottomans side
27.
History of Bucharest
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The history of Bucharest covers the time from the early settlements on the localitys territory until its modern existence as a city, capital of Wallachia, and present-day capital of Romania. In Antiquity, much of the territory of Bucharest and Ilfov was covered by the forests of Codrii Vlăsiei. During the Bronze Age, a phase of the Glina culture and, later, on the Tei culture. During the Iron Age, the area was inhabited by a population identified with the Getae and the Dacians and it is assumed that the local population was Romanized after the initial retreat of Roman troops from the region, during the Age of Migrations. Slavs founded several settlements in the Bucharest region, as pointed out by the Slavic names of Ilfov, Colentina, Snagov, according to some researches, the Slavic population was already assimilated before the end of the Dark Ages. According to some studies, the area was part of the First Bulgarian Empire between 681 and c.1000. While maintaining commercial links with the Byzantine Empire, the area was subject to the invasions of Pechenegs and Cumans. It was probably later disputed between the Magyars and Second Bulgarian Empire, according to a legend first attested in the 19th century, the city was founded by a shepherd named Bucur. Like most of the cities in Muntenia, its foundation has also been ascribed to the legendary Wallachian prince Radu Negru. Bucharest was first mentioned on September 20,1459, as one of the residences of Prince Vlad III Dracula and this was, however, accompanied by a drastic decrease in princely authority, and a decline of state resources. In retaliation, Bucharest was attacked and almost completely destroyed by Sinan Pashas forces and it was slowly rebuilt over the following two decades, and again surfaced as a successful competitor to Târgovişte under Radu Mihnea. Matei Basarab, who divided his rule between Târgovişte and Bucharest, restored the decaying court buildings, Bucharest was touched by famine and the bubonic plague in the early 1660s. Between Gheorghe Ghicas rule and the end of Ştefan Cantacuzinos, Bucharest saw a period of relative peace, grigore II Ghica and Constantine Mavrocordatos maintained the commercial infrastructure, and the city became the site of a large market and customs. Bucharest was twice occupied by Imperial Russian troops during the War of 1768–74, the Russo-Turkish–Austrian War erupted in 1787, and Mavrogenes retreated in front of a new Habsburg invasion, led by Prince Josias of Coburg. Despite other epidemics, coupled with the taxes imposed by Constantine Hangerli, and the major earthquake of October 14,1802. Sources of the time indicate that the city alternated dense agglomerations with large privately owned gardens and orchards and this was also the time the first opposition to Russian rule made itself felt, as the standoff in the Bucharest Assembly between Prince Ghica and the radical Ion Câmpineanu. The city was affected by a earthquake in January 1838. On March 23,1847, the Great Fire of Bucharest consumed around 2,000 buildings, the three successive foreign administrations brought several improvements to the city
28.
Roman, Romania
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Roman is a city with the title of municipality located in the central part of Moldavia, a traditional region of Romania. It is located 46 km east of Piatra Neamț, in Neamț County at the confluence of the Siret and its name was taken from Moldavian Voivode Roman I of Moldavia, believed to be its founder. Romans first son was Alexandru cel Bun, from here prince Roman has realized the centralization of Moldavia, Roman city being capital of Lower Country of Moldavia. The earliest mention of the city is in the Novgorod Chronicle, five years later, the name appeared on a donation deed. The city is mentioned in a Moldavian document, signed by Moldavias Voivode Roman I, Roman became a diocesan see in September 14,1408, when Alexandru cel Bun established an orthodox bishopric in the city. The representatives of the Catholic population of Roman, shepherded by the Bishop of Baia, later on in the late 15th century, Ştefan cel Mare build a new stone fortress on the left bank of the Siret river, to replace the old earthen one. Several documents from 1458,1465 and 1488 during Ştefans reign mention the Cathedral of Saint Paraskeva in Roman, in 1467, the fortress resisted the siege of the Hungarian army under King Matthias Corvinus, before the battle of Baia. In 1476, an Ottoman army, led by Mohamed II, besieged the new fortress again, petru Rareş ordered the construction of a new episcopal see on the same spot in 1542. The old fortress was destroyed by Dumitraşcu Cantacuzino, following Ottoman command. One of the last mentions of it back to 1561–1563 during the reign of Ioan Iacob Heraclid. In 1623, the community was described by the Franciscan missionary Andreas Bogoslavici in a letter sent to Rome, as Hungarian that understood. The Catholics appear to have a dedicated to Saint Peter. In 1569, Ruxandra Lăpuşneanu built a church dedicated to the Holy Virgin on the same spot the eponym church is placed today. In 1595, the church Sfinţii Voievozi is built, the current Armenian Orthodox Church was built in 1610. Some demographic data from 1641, recorded by the Vicar of Sofia, a major personality of the city was orthodox bishop Dosoftei who translated the Psalter into Romanian in 1665–1671. In December 1691, Miron Costin, one of the first historians, the statue marking the spot is now obscured by a blue glass pyramid near the Roman Hotel. The first hospital in Roman was built in 1798 on the place where the Municipal Hospital Precista Mare is located today. Talmud Torah, one of the first Jewish schools in Principality of Moldova, was inaugurated in 1817, Roman became a railway hub in the 19th century, when the second railway in Romania was opened in December 1869, from Roman to Suceava
29.
Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
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Ernest II was the sovereign duke of the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, reigning from 1844 to his death. Ernest was born in Coburg as the eldest child of Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, fourteen months later, his younger brother Prince Albert was born, who became consort of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. Ernests father became Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1826 through an exchange of territories, in 1842, Ernest married Princess Alexandrine of Baden in what was to be a childless marriage. Soon after, he succeeded as duke upon the death of his father on 29 January 1844, after King Otto of Greece was deposed in 1862, the British government put Ernests name forward as a possible successor. Negotiations fell through however for reasons, not in the least of which was that he would not give up his beloved duchies in favor of the Greek throne. A supporter of a unified Germany, Ernest watched the political movements with great interest. His support of the conservatives came at a price however, according to historian Charlotte Zeepvat, Ernest became increasingly lost in a whirl of private amusements which earned only contempt from outside. Ernests position was often linked to his brother Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, the two boys were raised as though twins, and became closer upon the separation and divorce of their parents, as well as the eventual death of their mother. Ernest, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, was born at Ehrenburg Palace in Coburg on 21 June 1818 and he was the elder son of Ernest III, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and his first wife Princess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. He was soon joined by a brother, Prince Albert, who would become the husband of Queen Victoria. Though Duke Ernest fathered numerous children in various affairs, the two boys would have no other legitimate siblings. In 1826, their father succeeded as Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha through an exchange of territories after the death of the uncle, Frederick IV. There are various accounts of Ernests childhood, when he was fourteen months old, a servant commented that Ernest runs around like a weasel. He is teething and as cross as a badger from impatience. He is not pretty now, except his beautiful black eyes, in May 1820, his mother described Ernest as very big for his age, as well as intelligent. His big black eyes are full of spirit and vivacity, Ernest and his brother often lived with their grandmother the Dowager Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld until her death in 1831. He and Albert were brought up and educated together as if they were twins, though Albert was fourteen months younger, he surpassed Ernest intellectually. According to their tutor, they went hand-in-hand in all things, engaging in the same pursuits, sharing the same joys and the same sorrows, they were bound to each other by no common feelings of mutual love
30.
Morganatic
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Now rare, it is also known as a left-handed marriage because in the wedding ceremony the groom held his brides hand with his left hand instead of his right. Generally, this is a marriage between a man of birth and a woman of lesser status. Usually, neither the bride nor any children of the marriage have a claim on the succession rights, titles, precedence. The children are considered legitimate for all purposes and the prohibition against bigamy applies. In some countries, a woman could marry a man of lower rank morganatically. e, the Latin term, applied to a Germanic custom, was adopted from a Germanic term, *morgangeba. Morgen is the German word for morning, while the Latin word is matutinus, the bride received property from the bridegrooms clan. It was intended to ensure her livelihood in widowhood, and it was to be separate as the wifes discrete possession. e. King Erik XIV of Sweden married the servant Karin Månsdotter morganatically in 1567, and later secondly, ludwig Wilhelm, Duke in Bavaria and Henriette Mendel. She was created Baroness von Wallersee, and their daughter, Marie Louise, victor Emmanuel II of Italy in 1869 married morganatically his principal mistress Rosa Teresa Vercellana Guerrieri. Popularly known in Piedmontese as Bela Rosin, she was born a commoner, late in his life, the widowed ex-king Fernando II of Portugal married the opera singer Elise Hensler, who was created Countess von Edla. Royal women who married morganatically, Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma contracted a second marriage with a mediatized count after the death of her first husband. Queen Maria Christina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, regent of Spain after her husbands death while their daughter and she married one of her guards in a secret marriage. Princess Stéphanie of Belgium, the widow of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, in 1917, Emperor Charles I of Austria, conferred upon Lónyay a non-dynastic title of prince. Succession to the Danish throne followed the specifications of the Lex Regia until the Danish Act of Succession was passed in 1953, prominent morganatic marriages include the 1615 marriage of King Christian IV of Denmark to noblewoman Kirsten Munk. Kirsten was titled Countess of Schleswig-Holstein and bore the King 12 children, King Frederick VII married the ballerina Louise Rasmussen, who was raised to the rank of Countess Danner in 1850. There were no children of this marriage, when Christian IX of Denmarks brother, Prince Julius of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburg married Elisabeth von Ziegesar in 1883, the king granted her the title Countess af Røst. They were granted the prefix of Prince and their descendants bear the title Count af Rosenborg in the Danish nobility. Neither of the children of Queen Margrethe II has married a person of royal birth or of the titled aristocracy
31.
Austrian Netherlands
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The Austrian Netherlands was the Southern Netherlands between 1714 and 1797. Austria, however, did not relinquish its claim over the province until 1797 in the Treaty of Campo Formio, the Austrian Netherlands was a noncontiguous territory that consisted of what is now western Belgium as well as greater Luxembourg, bisected by the Prince-Bishopric of Liège. The dominant languages were German, Dutch, and French, along with Picard, the result of the Barrier Treaty was that the Holy Roman emperor Charles VI did not have a lot to say about his Austrian Netherlands. This caused quite a lot of frustration with the Austrians, especially because the Dutch troops they had to allow were paid with money raised by the Austrian Netherlands themselves and this would last until empress Maria Theresa refused to pay for those troops any longer. The war of 1740-1748 showed that the fortifications manned with Dutch troops were not highly maintained, when Austria and France entered into an alliance in 1756, there was virtually no use for the barrier treaty anymore. In 1781 Emperor Joseph II of Austria unilaterally abolished the treaty, under the Treaty of Rastatt, following the War of the Spanish Succession, the surviving portions of the Spanish Netherlands were ceded to Austria. The Austrians were unconcerned with the upkeep of their province and the fortresses along the border were, by treaty, the area had, in fact, been given to Austria largely at British and Dutch insistence, as these powers feared potential French domination of the region. Charles VI attempted to use the Austrian Netherlands to compete with British, however, the agreement was later revoked by the Treaty of Versailles of 1758 and Austrian rule continued. However, the Emperors stance was far from militant, and he called off hostilities after the so-called Kettle War, known by that name because its only casualty was a kettle. In the 1780s, opposition emerged to the reforms of Emperor Joseph II, which were perceived as an attack on the Catholic Church. Resistance, focused in the autonomous and wealthy Estates of Brabant and Flanders, in the aftermath of rioting and disruption, known as the Small Revolution, in 1787, many of opponents took refuge in the neighboring Dutch Republic where they formed a rebel army. Soon after the outbreak of the French and Liège revolutions, the army crossed into the Austrian Netherlands. The rebels, supported by uprisings across the territory, soon took control over much of the territory, despite the tacit support of Prussia, the independent United Belgian States, established in January 1790, received no foreign recognition and soon became divided along ideological lines. The Vonckists, led by Jan Frans Vonck, advocated progressive and liberal government, whereas the Statists, led by Hendrik Van der Noot, were staunchly conservative, the Statists, who had a wider base of support, soon drove the Vonckists into exile through a terror. By mid-1790, Habsburg Austria ended its war with the Ottoman Empire, the new Holy Roman Emperor, Leopold II, was also a liberal and proposed an amnesty for the rebels. After defeating a Statist army at the Battle of Falmagne, the territory was soon overrun, the Austrian reestablishment was short-lived, however, and the territory was soon overrun by the French during the French Revolutionary Wars. In 1794, the armies of the French Revolution annexed the Austrian Netherlands and integrated them into the French Republic
32.
Flanders Campaign
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The Flanders Campaign was conducted from 6 November 1792 to 7 June 1795 during the first years of the French Revolutionary Wars. A coalition of states mobilised military forces all the French frontiers, with the intention to invade Revolutionary France. The largest of these forces assembled on the Franco-Flemish border, the Allies enjoyed several early victories, but were unable to advance beyond the French border fortresses and were eventually forced to withdraw by a series of French counter-offensives. The Allies established a new front in the south of the Netherlands and Germany, the Austrians pulled back to the lower Rhine and the British to Hanover from where they were eventually evacuated. Austria and Prussia had been at war with France since 1792, although Britain, only after the execution of the French king Louis XVI on 21 January 1793 and the declaration of war by the Revolutionary Government did they finally mobilize. Allied armies mobilised along all of the French frontiers, the largest and most important in the Flanders Franco-Belgian border region. In the north, the immediate aim was to eject the French from the Dutch Republic. Austria and Prussia broadly supported this aim, but both were short of money, initially, just fifteen hundred troops landed with York in February 1793. The Duke of York was obliged to follow objectives set by Pitts Foreign Minister Henry Dundas, thus Allied military decisions in the campaign were tempered by political objectives from Vienna and London. The defences of the Dutch Republic were in condition, its States Army not having fought in a war for 45 years. Williams main concern therefore was the preservation of the House of Orange, many of the old officer class had emigrated, leaving the cavalry in particular in chaotic condition. Only the artillery arm, less affected by emigration, had survived intact, the problems would become even more acute following the introduction of mass conscription, the Levée en Masse, in 1793. The price of failure or disloyalty was the guillotine, as the Austrians retreated, Dumouriez saw an opportunity with the Patriot exiles to overthrow the weak Dutch Republic by making a bold move north. A second French Division under Francisco de Miranda manoeuvred against the Austrians and Hanoverians in eastern Belgium, on 16 February Dumouriezs republican Armée du Nord advanced from Antwerp and invaded Dutch Brabant. Dutch forces fell back to the line of the Meuse abandoning the fortress of Breda after a siege. Within nine days an initial British guards brigade had assembled and dispatched across the English Channel, landing at Hellevoetsluis under the command of general Lake. Meanwhile, while Dumouriez moved north into Brabant, a army under Francisco de Miranda laid siege to Maastricht on 23 February. However the Austrians had been reinforced to 39,000 and, now commanded by Saxe-Coburg, crossed the Ruhr River on 1 March, the next day the Austrians took Aachen before reaching Maastricht on the Meuse and forcing Miranda to lift the siege
33.
French Revolutionary Wars
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The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of sweeping military conflicts, lasting from 1792 until 1802, resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted the French First Republic against Britain, Austria and several other monarchies and they are divided in two periods, the War of the First Coalition and the War of the Second Coalition. Initially confined to Europe, the fighting gradually assumed a global dimension as the political ambitions of the Revolution expanded, French success in these conflicts ensured the spread of revolutionary principles over much of Europe. The Revolutionary Wars began from increasing political pressure on King Louis XVI of France to prove his loyalty to the new direction France was taking. In the spring of 1792, France declared war on Prussia and Austria, the victory rejuvenated the French nation and emboldened the National Convention to abolish the monarchy. A series of victories by the new French armies abruptly ended with defeat at Neerwinden in the spring of 1793, by 1795, the French had captured the Austrian Netherlands and knocked Spain and Prussia out of the war with the Peace of Basel. A hitherto unknown general called Napoleon Bonaparte began his first campaign in Italy in April 1796, in less than a year, French armies under Napoleon decimated the Habsburg forces and evicted them from the Italian peninsula, winning almost every battle and capturing 150,000 prisoners. With French forces marching towards Vienna, the Austrians sued for peace and agreed to the Treaty of Campo Formio, the War of the Second Coalition began with the French invasion of Egypt, headed by Napoleon, in 1798. The Allies took the opportunity presented by the French strategic effort in the Middle East to regain territories lost from the First Coalition. The war began well for the Allies in Europe, where they pushed the French out of Italy and invaded Switzerland—racking up victories at Magnano, Cassano. However, their efforts largely unraveled with the French victory at Zurich in September 1799, meanwhile, Napoleons forces annihilated a series of Egyptian and Ottoman armies at the battles of the Pyramids, Mount Tabor, and Abukir. These victories and the conquest of Egypt further enhanced Napoleons popularity back in France, however, the Royal Navy had managed to inflict a humiliating defeat on the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile in 1798, further strengthening British control of the Mediterranean. Napoleons arrival from Egypt led to the fall of the Directory in the Coup of 18 Brumaire, Napoleon then reorganized the French army and launched a new assault against the Austrians in Italy during the spring of 1800. This latest effort culminated in a decisive French victory at the Battle of Marengo in June 1800, another crushing French triumph at Hohenlinden in Bavaria forced the Austrians to seek peace for a second time, leading to the Treaty of Lunéville in 1801. With Austria and Russia out of the war, the United Kingdom found itself increasingly isolated and agreed to the Treaty of Amiens with Napoleons government in 1802, concluding the Revolutionary Wars. The lingering tensions proved too difficult to contain, however, in 1789–1792, the entire governmental structure of France was transformed to fall into line with the Revolutionary principles of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. As a result, one of the first major elements of the French state to be restructured was the army, the transformation of the army was best seen in the officer corps. Before the revolution 90% had been nobility, compared to only 3% in 1794, Revolutionary fervour was high, and was closely monitored by the Committee of Public Safety, which assigned Representatives on Mission to keep watch on generals
34.
Battle of Neerwinden (1793)
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The Second Battle of Neerwinden saw a Republican French army led by Charles François Dumouriez attack a Coalition army commanded by Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. The French position in the Austrian Netherlands swiftly collapsed, ending the threat to the Dutch Republic, the War of the First Coalition engagement was fought at Neerwinden, located 57 kilometres east of Brussels in present-day Belgium. After Dumouriezs victory at Jemappes in November 1792, the French armies rapidly overran most of the Austrian Netherlands, rather than driving the Austrians to the west bank of the Rhine River, Dumouriez and the French government became preoccupied with a war with the Dutch Republic. During the breathing space offered by her enemy, Austria assembled an army under the Prince of Coburg, after a French covering force was routed by Coburg at Aldenhoven, Dumouriez began gathering his army for a counterstroke. Coburg took up a position at Neerwinden and awaited the confident Dumouriezs attack. The Coalition army was outnumbered in infantry but possessed a superiority in cavalry. After intense fighting, Coburgs troops repulsed the attacks of the French center, when Dumouriez found that his left wing was driven off the battlefield, he began retreating. The defeat led to desertions from the discouraged French volunteers. In the face of the collapse, Dumouriez negotiated a free withdrawal of French troops in return for the surrender of Belgium. Soon, Dumouriez was plotting against his own government and when his plans failed, he defected to the Austrians, on 6 November 1792, a French army under Charles François Dumouriez defeated the Austrian army of Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen at the Battle of Jemappes. The French enjoyed a numerical superiority with 40,000 infantry,3,000 cavalry and 100 guns against an Austrian army counting 11,628 foot soldiers,2,168 horsemen and 56 guns. Within one month the French armies overran most of the Austrian Netherlands, on the right flank, the Army of the Ardennes led by Jean-Baptiste Cyrus de Valence advanced down the Meuse River toward Huy. On the way, Valence dropped off a force under Louis-Auguste Juvénal des Ursins dHarville to besiege Namur, Dumouriez himself with the Army of Belgium captured Liège. The Army of the North commanded by Francisco de Miranda laid siege to Antwerp and it was joined by a column under Benôit Guérin de Berneron that marched first from Ath northeast to Leuven. On the 27th Stengel with 8,000 soldiers from the Army of Belgium won an action at Voroux-lez-Liers near Liège over Anton Sztáray. Antwerp fell on 29 November to Mirandas 17,600 infantry and 1,245 cavalry, the Austrian garrison of the 1st Battalion of the Hohenlohe Nr. 17, two companies of the Vierset Nr.59 and four companies of the Würzburg Infantry Regiments, the French captured 57 cannons,50 additional 3-pound regimental cannons,3,150 muskets and 1,523 hundredweight of gunpowder. The 2, 599-man garrison of Namur under Johann Dominik von Moitelle surrendered on 2 December to Valence, the Austrian defenders included two battalions of the Kinsky Infantry Regiment Nr
35.
Valenciennes
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Valenciennes is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It lies on the Scheldt river, although the city and region experienced a steady population decline between 1975 and 1990, it has since rebounded. The 1999 census recorded that the population of the commune of Valenciennes was 41,278, Valenciennes is first mentioned in 693 in a legal document written by Clovis II. In the 843 Treaty of Verdun, it was made a city between Neustria and the Austrasia. Later in the 9th century the region was overrun by the Normans, in 923 it passed to the Duchy of Lower Lotharingia dependent on the Holy Roman Empire. Once the Empire of the Franks was established, the city began to develop, under the Ottonian emperors, Valenciennes became the centre of marches on the border of the Empire. In 1008, a famine brought the Plague. According to the tradition, the Virgin Mary held a cordon around the city which. Since then, every year at that time, the Valenciennois used to walk around the 14 kilometres road round the town, many Counts succeeded, first as Margraves of Valenciennes and from 1070 as counts of Hainaut. In 1285, the currency of Hainaut was replaced by the currency of France, Valenciennes was full of activity, with numerous corporations, and outside its walls a large number of convents developed, like that of the Dominicans. In the 14th century, the Tower of Dodenne was built by Albert of Bavaria, where even today, in the 15th century, the County of Hainault, of which Valenciennes is part, was re-attached to Burgundy, losing its autonomy. On the Journée des Mals Brûlés in 1562, a mob freed some Protestants condemned to die at the stake, in the wave of iconoclastic attacks called the Beeldenstorm that swept the Low Countries in the summer of 1566, the city was the furthest south to see an attack. In 1576, when for a time the Southern Netherlands joined the revolt, however, in 1580, Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma took Valenciennes and Protestantism was eradicated there. Hereafter, Valenciennes remained under Spanish protection, no longer involved in later fighting of the Eighty Years War. With its manufacturers of wool and fine linens, the city was able to economically independent. In 1591, the Jesuits built a school and then the foundations of a church of Sainte-Croix, in 1611, the façade of the town hall was completely rebuilt in magnificent Renaissance style. In the seventeenth century the Scheldt was channelled between Cambrai and Valenciennes, benefitting Valenciennes wool, fabric and fine arts, to use up flax yarn, women began to make the famous Valenciennes lace. The French army laid siege to the city in 1656, defending the city, Albert de Merode, marquis de Trélon was injured during a sortie on horseback, died as a result of his injuries and was buried in the Church of St. Paul
36.
Le Quesnoy
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Le Quesnoy is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. Le Quesnoys inhabitants are known as Quercitains, the town of Le Quesnoy has somehow missed much of the Industrial Revolution. Unlike the neighboring towns of Valenciennes or Maubeuge, iron/steel works did not take hold, the lack of wealth underground and of a major transportation route partly explains this. The authorities however took note of this weakness and proposed the Ecaillon canal from Sambre to Scheldt, there is a craft, however, firmly maintained until 1945 when a hundred shoemakers were still identifiable. Shoemakers worked at home for a company located in rue du Petit Valenciennes in a kind of cottage industry. A glassmaking factory installed near the track to the site of the former Intermarché collapsed after World War I. In the Bellevue district, the remains of a factory attest to the presence of a pottery factory. The post war boom or ‘trentes glorieuses’ saw develop an industrial outskirts of town, chemical company, today, economic activity is mainly based on tourism and local shops. The town with its ramparts, its ponds and its history are major attractions. The Quesnoy is home to small traders and a trading area of more than respectable size for a town of less than 5,000 people. The closure of industrial enterprises and services remains problematic even though there have some new sources of work such as with the Emig company. The town comes alive on Friday morning still for its weekly market, Le Quesnoy is first attested in forms accompanied by the Latinized name of its alleged founder, called Haymon or Aymond, Haymon Quercitum. Despite this assertion, the historian Valenciennes d’Oultreman said he could be a character named Aymon, in the 9th century, the region was occupied by the Vikings who settled there along rivers. Around the year 842 at the time of King Charles the Bald, they were blocked at Valenciennes, later, the land at Le Queroy became a freehold belonging to the Episcopal mass at Cambrai and by the name ofNoflus, latinized from Novem fluctibus. Finally,1148, the freehold was sold by the Bishop of Cambrai and this castle had a tower which together with the rest make up a fortress. Alice of Namur, wife of Baldwin IV endowed the castle with a dedicated to St. John the Baptist. The castle had a park called Bois du Gard in which encountered deer, fallow deer, the park extended to the southeast Margaret, in 1345, succeeded following the death in Friesland of her brother William II. In 1345, she granted to foreigners, of countries they might be
37.
Landrecies
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Landrecies is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is the site of a skirmish between the British I Corps under Douglas Haig and the German First Army on 25 August 1914, landrecies is the hometown of former Tour de France director Jean-Marie Leblanc. It is the birthplace of Joseph Francois Dupleix, well known as the conqueror of India for the King Louix XIV, communes of the Nord department INSEE commune file
38.
First Coalition
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France declared war on the Habsburg Monarchy of Austria on 20 April 1792. In July 1792, an army under the Duke of Brunswick and composed mostly of Prussians joined the Austrian side and invaded France, France suffered reverses and internal strife and responded with draconian measures. The Committee of Public Safety formed and the en masse drafted all potential soldiers aged 18 to 25. The new French armies counterattacked, repelled the invaders, and advanced beyond France, the French established the Batavian Republic as a sister republic and gained Prussian recognition of French control of the Left Bank of the Rhine by the first Peace of Basel. With the Treaty of Campo Formio, the Holy Roman Empire ceded the Austrian Netherlands to France, Spain made a separate peace accord with France and the French Directory carried out plans to conquer more of the Holy Roman Empire. The First Coalition collapsed, leaving only Britain in the fighting against France. The key figure, the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II, brother to the French Queen Marie Antoinette, had looked on the Revolution calmly. He became more concerned as the Revolution grew further radical, although he hoped to avoid war. Dumouriez prepared an invasion of the Austrian Netherlands, where he expected the population to rise against Austrian rule. However, the revolution had thoroughly disorganized the French army, which had insufficient forces for the invasion and its soldiers fled at the first sign of battle, deserting en masse, in one case murdering General Théobald Dillon. While the revolutionary government frantically raised fresh troops and reorganized its armies, in July 1792 the invasion commenced. Brunswicks army, composed mostly of Prussian veterans, took the fortresses of Longwy, although the battle was a tactical draw, it bought time for the revolutionaries and gave a great boost to French morale. Dumouriez went on the offensive in Belgium once again, winning a victory over the Austrians at Jemappes on 6 November 1792. On 21 January the revolutionary government executed Louis XVI after a trial and this united all European governments, including Spain, Naples, and the Netherlands against the Revolution. France declared war against Britain and the Netherlands on 1 February 1793, in the course of the year 1793 the Holy Roman Empire, the kings of Portugal and Naples, and the Grand-Duke of Tuscany declared war against France. Thus the First Coalition was formed, the French government sent Citizen Genet to the United States to encourage them into entering the war on Frances side. The newly formed nation refused and remained throughout the conflict. After a victory in the Battle of Neerwinden in March, the Austrians suffered twin defeats at the battles of Wattignies, British land forces were defeated at the Battle of Hondschoote in September
39.
French Revolutionary Army
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The French Revolutionary Army was the French force that fought the French Revolutionary Wars from 1792 to 1802. These armies were characterised by their revolutionary fervour, their poor equipment, leading generals included Jourdan, Bonaparte, Masséna and Moreau. As a general description of French military forces during this period, reactionary Europe stood opposed, especially after the French king was executed. As a result, one of the first major elements of the French state to be restructured was the army, almost all of the ancien regime officer class had been drawn from the aristocracy. During the period preceding the overthrow of the Monarchy, large numbers of officers left their regiments. Between 15 September and 1 December 1791 alone 2,160 officers of the army fled France eventually to join the émigré army of Louis Joseph. Of those who stayed numbers were either imprisoned or killed during the Reign of Terror, the small remaining cadre of officers were promoted swiftly, this meant that the majority of the Revolutionary officers were far younger than their Monarchist counterparts. Revolutionary fervour, along with calls to save the new regime, the desperate situation meant that these men were quickly inducted into the army. The transformation of the Army was best seen in the officer corps, before the revolution 90% had been aristocrats, compared to only 3% in 1794. Revolutionary fervor was high, and was monitored by the Committee of Public Safety. Indeed, some generals deserted, others were removed or executed, the government demanded that soldiers be loyal to the government in Paris, not to their generals. Officially, the Revolutionary Armies were operating along the set down in the 1791 Reglement. The 1791 Reglement laid down several complex maneuvers, maneuvers which demanded well trained soldiers, officers. The Revolutionary Army was lacking in all three of these areas, and as a result the early efforts to conform to the 1791 Reglement were met with disaster, the untrained troops could not perform the complex maneuvers required, unit cohesion was lost and defeat was ensured. Realizing that the army was not capable of conforming with the 1791 Reglement, many eminent French military thinkers had been clamoring for change decades before. In the period following the performance of the French Army during the Seven Years War. In the 1770s, some commanders, among them the brilliant duc de Broglie performed exercises testing these tactics, de Broglie decided that lordre profond worked best when it was supported by artillery and large numbers of skirmishers. Despite these exercises, lordre mince had strong and powerful supporters in the Royal Armée Française, the French struck first, with an invasion of the Austrian Netherlands proposed by foreign minister Charles François Dumouriez
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Sambre
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The Sambre is a river in northern France and in Wallonia, Belgium. It is a tributary of the Meuse. The source of the Sambre is near Le Nouvion-en-Thiérache, in the Aisne department and it passes through the Franco-Belgian coal basin, formerly an important industrial district. Its Belgian portion was at the end of the sillon industriel. It is canalized along much of its length and flows into the Meuse at Namur, the Sambre is connected with the Oise by the Sambre-Oise Canal. The 19th-century theory that the Sambre was the location of Julius Caesars battle against a Belgic confederation, was discarded a long time ago, but is still repeated. Heavy fighting occurred along the river during World War I, especially at the siege of Namur in 1914, the Sambre at the Sandre database
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Battle of Fleurus (1794)
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Both sides had forces in the area of around 80,000 men but the French were able to concentrate their troops and defeat the First Coalition. The Allied defeat led to the permanent loss of the Austrian Netherlands, the battle marked a turning point for the French army, which remained ascendant for the rest of the War of the First Coalition. The French use of the reconnaissance balloon lEntreprenant was the first military use of an aircraft that influenced the result of a battle. After the Battle of Tourcoing on 17–18 May 1794, Jourdan was given the command of the Army of the Ardennes and four divisions of the Army of the North and this new group was then named the Army of the Sambre-et-Meuse. The new army was given the task of capturing Charleroi. On 12 June, the French army, accompanied and supervised by a member of the Committee of Public Safety, on 16 June at Lambusart, an Austrian-Dutch force of about 43,000 men counterattacked in heavy mist. The Allies managed to inflict some 3,000 casualties on the French, on 18 June, however, Jourdan attacked again and managed to retake Charleroi. The city surrendered on 26 June, just as a force under the Prince of Coburg arrived to raise the siege. See Fleurus 1794 Order of Battle, on 26 June, Feldmarschall Coburg manœuvred around Charleroi with a force of 52,000 Austrian and Dutch soldiers. Too late to save the city, which had surrendered, the Austrian commander split his army into five columns, a French reconnaissance balloon, lEntreprenant, operated by the Aerostatic Corps, continuously informed General of Division Jean-Baptiste Jourdan about Austrian movements. The Austrians managed to break through both French wings, pushing back MG François Marceau on the wing and MG Montaigu on the left wing. The French center under MG François Lefebvre held and then counterattacked, colonel Nicolas Soult, then serving as Lefebvres Chief of staff, wrote that it was, fifteen hours of the most desperate fighting I ever saw in my life. Coburg neglected to press on and uncertain of the outcome, the Austrian commander lost his nerve and fell back to Braine-lAlleud and Waterloo and this was the final straw that caused the allies to retire over the Rhine, leaving the French free rein in Belgium and the Netherlands. It is generally agreed that the battle was a one for the French. The Allied losses have always been in dispute, the French claimed significantly higher losses than their own, traditional estimates attribute considerable casualties to Coburgs army, and hover near five thousand Allied killed and wounded. However, according to historian Digby Smith, Austrian-Dutch losses numbered 208 killed,1,017 wounded, in addition, the French captured one mortar, three caissons, and one standard, while the Austrians captured one cannon and one standard. Despite any tactical imbalance, the value of Fleurus was immense for the French. The victory precipitated a full Allied withdrawal from Belgium and allowed French forces to push north into the Netherlands, by the end of 1795, the Dutch Republic was extinguished
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Johann Amadeus Franz de Paula, Baron Thugut
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Johann Amadeus Franz de Paula Freiherr von Thugut was an Austrian diplomat. His origin and name have been the subject of more or less malicious. It has been said that the form of his name was Thunichtgut, or Thenitguet. Tunicotta has been given as a variation, but Thugut was the name of his great-grandfather, who belonged to Budweis in southern Bohemia. He was the son of Johann Thugut, an army paymaster. The paymaster, who died about 1760, left his widow and children in distress, Johann Amadeus was sent to the school of Oriental languages. He entered the Austrian foreign office as an interpreter and was appointed dragoman to the embassy at Constantinople, during these years Thugut was engaged in a mean intrigue. His salary as dragoman was small, and his needs great and he therefore agreed to receive a pension of 13,000 livres, a brevet of lieutenant-colonel, and a promise of a safe refuge in case of necessity from the king of France, Louis XV. The condition on which the pension was granted was that he took advantage of his position as an Austrian official to render services to France. It seems to be certain that at a later period he made a clean breast to the emperor Francis II. His services at Constantinople were approved by Prince Kaunitz, who may possibly have been informed of the arrangement with the French secret diplomatic fund and it is never safe to decide whether these treasons were single or double. When Thugut was appointed internuncio he was ennobled, being raised to the Ritterstand. After 1775 he travelled in France and Italy, partly on diplomatic service, in 1778 he was the agent through whom Maria Theresa entered into direct negotiations with Frederick the Great, in order to stop the Bavarian War. In 1780 he was Austrian envoy in Warsaw, but in 1783 he applied for leave and it was in this time that his savings, made during his years of service at Constantinople, by means which would probably not bear investigation, were invested in France. Thugut became acquainted with many of the leaders in the French Revolution, from 1787 to 1789 he was minister at Naples, and showed great tact in managing the queen, Maria Carolina, a daughter of Maria Theresa. In 1790 he was sent by the emperor Joseph II to Bucharest, nominally as commissioner with the hospodar of Wallachia, but in reality in order that he might open negotiations for peace with the Turks. Until 1792 he was much in France and Belgium, partly as an agent, but largely because he was anxious to rescue his investments. His personal grievances may have had some share in creating the hatred of the Revolution, in 1792 he was associated with Mercy-Argenteau, formerly Austrian ambassador in France, as diplomatic agent at the headquarters of the allied army
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John II, Duke of Saxe-Weimar
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Johann II, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, was a Duke of Saxe-Weimar and Jena. He was the son of Johann Wilhelm, Duke of Saxe-Weimar. His father died in 1573, when Johann was only three years old, since at the time his older brother Frederick William I was also under age, the duchy of Saxe-Weimar was governed by a regency. In 1586 his older brother reached adulthood and took control of the duchy. However, he died in 1602 and the duchy was inherited by Johann. Johann was more interested in sciences and art than politics. But when they demanded their own inheritance in 1603, he resisted their demands, finally, Johann and his nephews made a treaty dividing the duchy, Altenburg was taken by the sons of Frederick William I, and Weimar-Jena was retained by Johann. This line of Saxe-Altenburg became extinct in 1672, and all the passed to the line of Saxe-Weimar. In Altenburg on 7 January 1593, Johann married Dorothea Maria of Anhalt and they had twelve children, John Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Weimar
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Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha
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Ernest I, called Ernest The Pious, was a duke of Saxe-Gotha and Saxe-Altenburg. The duchies were merged into Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. He was the ninth but sixth surviving son of Johann II, Duke of Saxe-Weimar and his mother was a granddaughter of Christoph, Duke of Württemberg, and great-granddaughter of Ulrich, Duke of Württemberg. Left an orphan early in life, he was brought up in a strict manner and he soon showed traits of the piety of the time. As ruler, by his character and governmental ability as well as by personal attention to matters of state, he introduced a golden age for his subjects after the ravages of the Thirty Years War. By wise economy, which did not exclude fitting generosity or display on proper occasions, he freed his land from debt, left at his death a considerable sum in the treasury, and reduced taxation. Public security and an incorruptible and efficient judiciary received much of his attention and he prohibited dueling and imposed the death penalty for a mortal result. In 1640, according to the treaty with his brothers. His laws were not conceived in the spirit of ideas about individual liberty, they forbade secret betrothals, tried to regulate dress, and extended even to the stable, kitchen. Nevertheless, his regulations promoted agriculture, commerce, learning, and his palace of Friedenstein in Gotha was rebuilt, and its collections owe their origin to Ernest, the library became one of the largest in Germany. Churches were built and by his Schulmethodus of 1642 Ernest became the father of the present grammar-school. It was a saying that his peasants were better instructed than the townsmen and nobles elsewhere. He made the gymnasium in Gotha a model school which attracted pupils not only from all German lands, but from Sweden, Russia, Poland, and Hungary. In like manner he fostered the University of Jena, increasing its funds and regulating its studies, with too much emphasis on the religious side. The same fault is attached to his efforts in church affairs, which won him the nickname of Praying Ernest, the Bible was his own everyday book and he strove unceasingly to make his people religious after a strict Lutheran pattern. Religious instruction, consisting in catechetical exercises without Bible history, was kept up even to advanced years, ernests system has maintained itself surprisingly, it still exists legally though somewhat modified or disregarded. His efforts for Protestantism were not confined to his own land and he interceded with the emperor for his Austrian co-religionists, and wanted to establish them in Gotha. He became a benefactor to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Germans in Moscow and he even sent an embassy to introduce Lutheranism into Abyssinia, but this failed to accomplish its purpose
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Dorothea Maria of Anhalt
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Dorothea Maria of Anhalt, was by birth a member of the House of Ascania and princess of Anhalt. After her marriage, she became Duchess of Saxe-Weimar, Dorothea Maria was the sixth daughter of Joachim Ernest, Prince of Anhalt, but second-born daughter by his second wife Eleonore, daughter of Christoph, Duke of Württemberg. In 1586, the twelve-year-old Dorothea Maria was chosen by her father as Abbess of Gernrode, in 1593 she was relieved of her post as abbess in order to marry John II, Duke of Saxe-Weimar. The wedding took place in Altenburg on 7 January of that year and her successor as abbess was her niece, Sophie Elisabeth, eldest daughter of her half-brother John George I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau. During the twelve years of her marriage, Dorothea Maria gave birth to children, including Ernst I of Saxe-Gotha. Dorothea Maria died of injuries sustained while riding a horse and her funeral took place on 24 August 1617 at Schloss Hornstein. On this occasion, the Fruitbearing Society was created and her younger brother, Louis of Anhalt-Köthen, was appointed its first leader
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John Ernest IV, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
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Johann Ernest IV, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld was a reigning duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. He was the tenth but seventh surviving son of Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha, after the death of his father in 1675, Johann Ernest initially governed the duchy of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, jointly with his six older brothers, as set out in their fathers will. However, in 1680, the brothers concluded a treaty dividing the lands and Johann Ernest became duke of Saxe-Saalfeld, with the towns of Gräfenthal, Probstzella. As he was the youngest, he kept the smallest portion of the lands, Johann Ernest and his brother Ernest soon found themselves financially overstretched as a result of the partition, and they both made a protest. Over the following years, the continued and increased, as their older brothers Albert of Saxe-Coburg, Henry of Saxe-Römhild. During these years, Johann Ernest took possession of Coburg, Römhild, the Coburg-Eisenberg-Römhilder Erbstreit was finally resolved in 1735, six years after the death of Johann Ernest. The decision was accepted, most importantly by the descendants of his older brother Bernhard. In Merseburg on 18 February 1680, Johann Ernst married firstly Sophie Hedwig of Saxe-Merseburg and they had five children, Christiane Sophie. Charlotte Wilhelmine, married on 26 December 1705 to Philip Reinhard, in Maastricht on 2 December 1690 Johann Ernst married secondly Charlotte Johanna of Waldeck-Wildungen. They had eight children, Wilhelm Frederick, sophia Wilhelmina, married on 8 February 1720 to Frederick Anton, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. Carl-Christian Dressel, Die Entwicklung von Verfassung und Verwaltung in Sachsen-Coburg 1800 -1826 im Vergleich, duncker & Humblot Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-428-12003-1. Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1881, pp. 372–374, jahrbuch fur Europäische Geschichte 2007, vol. VIII, Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag,2007, p.104, Johann Samuel Ersch, Allgemeine Encyclopädie der Wissenschaften und Künste, section 21, Leipzig,1842, p.254. WW-Person, A data base of the nobility in Europe
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Johann Philipp, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg
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Johann Philipp, was a duke of Saxe-Altenburg. He was the eldest surviving son of Friedrich Wilhelm I, Duke of Saxe-Weimar and Anna Maria of the Palatinate-Neuburg, when his father died, Johann Philipp and his younger brothers Frederick, Johann Wilhelm and Friedrich Wilhelm were underage. Because of this, his uncle Johann took over his guardianship and the regency of his inheritance, the next year, the young prince of Saxe-Weimar demanded his own inheritance, but his uncle Johann opposed this. But finally, both made a divisionary treaty of the family lands, Johann Philipp and his brothers took Altenburg and some towns. Because they were underage, the regency of his duchy was taken by Christian II, Elector of Saxony and later by his brother and next Elector. In 1618, Johann Philipp, as son, was declared adult. Also, he took over the guardianship of his younger siblings, the four brothers co-ruled the duchy, but two of them died soon after and childless, Frederick, who was killed in action in 1625, and Johann Wilhelm, died in Brieg on 1632. In 1613, Johann Philipp was appointed Dean of the University of Leipzig, also, he was an active member of the Fruitbearing Society. Before his death, he made a will, when he declared his daughter the general heiress of the branch of Saxe-Altenburg and this will later originated a dispute between the branches of Saxe-Gotha and Saxe-Weimar. Johann Philipp was succeeded by his younger and only surviving brother, in Altenburg on 25 October 1618 Johann Philipp married Elisabeth of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. They had only one daughter, Elisabeth Sophie, married on 24 October 1636 to Ernest I, band 14, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1881, S. 366–368
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Princess Elisabeth Sophie of Saxe-Altenburg
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Elisabeth Sophie of Saxe-Altenburg, was a princess of Saxe-Altenburg and, by marriage, duchess of Saxe-Gotha. She was the daughter of Johann Philipp, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg. In Altenburg on 24 October 1636, Elizabeth Sophie married her kinsman Ernst I, as a dowry, she received 20,000 guilders, who were pledged by the town of Roßla. As Widows seat, the bride obtained the towns of Kapellendorf and Berka, because according to the succession laws of the House of Saxe-Altenburg, after her father died two years later, he was succeeded by his brother, Frederick Wilhelm II. When her cousin, the duke Frederick Wilhelm III died childless in 1672, Ernest I of Saxe-Gotha claimed the whole succession of Saxe-Altenburg, claimed both being the closest male relative and his wifes rights. However, the branch of the family, the Dukes of Saxe-Weimar didnt accept that will. Finally, Elisabeth Sophie and Ernsts sons received the share of Saxe-Altenburg inheritance. Hence, the Ernestine line of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg was founded, which would exist until 1825, when Duke Ernst I died in 1675, his numerous sons divided the inheritance into seven parts, Gotha-Altenburg, Coburg, Meiningen, Römhild, Eisenberg, Hildburghausen and Saalfeld. Of them, Coburg, Römhild and Eisenberg did not survive over one generation and were divided between the four remaining lines. Of the four remaining duchies, only two branches survive until today, Meiningen and Saalfeld, through the Saalfeld branch, Elisabeth Sophie is a direct ancestress of the British Royal Family. After her husbands death, Elisabeth Sophie changed the originally given to her as Widows seat in her marriage for the towns of Reinhardsbrunn. Under the name the Chaste, she was a member of the Virtuous Society, Ernst and Elisabeth Sophie had eighteen children, Johann Ernest. Elisabeth Dorothea, married on 5 December 1666 to Louis VI and their eldest son Frederick was the first to inherit this title. His granddaughter from this son, Anna Sophie of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, was a matrilineal ancestor of George V of the United Kingdom. His younger son John was father to Franz Josias, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, august Beck, Ernst der Fromme, Herzog zu Sachsen-Gotha und Altenburg, H. Böhlau,1865, p.754. Ludwig Storch, Das Fürstenhaus von Gotha, Erfurt 1826, p.155
