Augustus the Elder,
Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (18 November 1568 – 1 October 1636) was the Lutheran
Bishop of Ratzeburg
The Diocese of Ratzeburg (german: Bistum Ratzeburg, la, Dioecesis Ratzeburgensis) is a former diocese of the Catholic Church. It was erected from the Diocese of Oldenburg c. 1050 and was suppressed in 1554. The diocese was originally a suffragan ...
from 1610 to 1636 and the
Prince of Lüneburg
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...
from 1633 to 1636.
Life
Augustus was born in 1564 as the fifth of fifteen children and the son of
William the Younger and his wife
Dorothea of Denmark. As a young man he was a colonel in the service of
Rudolf II
Rudolf II (18 July 1552 – 20 January 1612) was Holy Roman Emperor (1576–1612), King of Hungary and Croatia (as Rudolf I, 1572–1608), King of Bohemia (1575–1608/1611) and Archduke of Austria (1576–1608). He was a member of the Hous ...
and fought in the campaigns against France and Turkey. In 1610 Augustus became the Lutheran
administrator of the Prince-Bishopric of Ratzeburg.
In order to prevent hereditary aspirations the Ratzeburg
cathedral chapter, the elective body, insisted that on ascending to power in the prince-bishopric (an
elective monarchy), Augustus committed himself in his
election capitulation not to marry. Nevertheless he lived with Ilse Schmidtchen, a commoner, in a 'marriage-like relationship'
[Christa Geckler, ''Die Celler Herzöge - Leben und Wirken 1371-1705'', p. 73] and had 12 children by her; he built her a house near his residence,
Celle Castle
Celle Castle (german: Schloss Celle) or, less commonly, Celle Palace, in the German town of Celle in Lower Saxony, was one of the residences of the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg. This quadrangular building is the largest castle in the souther ...
. The children were later elevated to the hereditary peerage under the name ''von Lüneburg''; this surname still exists.
In 1633 Augustus succeeded his brother,
Christian, who had died, as Prince of Lüneburg. During the
Thirty Years War
The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battl ...
he continued the policy of neutrality started by his brother. He died in
Celle in 1636.
Since 1831, the family descended from Augustus has resided at
Essenrode Manor
The Essenrode Manor in Essenrode, a town within the municipality of Lehre, Lower Saxony, was built by Gotthart Heinrich August von Bülow in 1738.
Description
The mansion is built in a late Baroque style surrounded by a small English-style park ...
. The last male heir (who died in 1961) of this ''von Lüneburg''
morganatic line adopted his great-nephew, Baron Ernst Bussche, heir of Essenrode Manor, who took on the name ''von Lüneburg''.
Ancestors
See also
*
House of Welf
References
Sources
* Geckler, Christa (1986). ''Die Celler Herzöge: Leben und Wirken 1371–1705''. Celle: Georg Ströher. . .
External links
Die House of Welf
{{DEFAULTSORT:Augustus 01, Duke of Brunswick-Luneburg
Princes of Lüneburg
17th-century Lutheran bishops
1568 births
1636 deaths
Lutheran Prince-Bishops of Ratzeburg
Middle House of Lüneburg
New House of Lüneburg