Christian Friedrich Carl Alexander (german: Christian Friedrich Karl Alexander; 24 February 1736 – 5 January 1806) was the last
margrave
Margrave was originally the medieval title for the military commander assigned to maintain the defence of one of the border provinces of the Holy Roman Empire or of a kingdom. That position became hereditary in certain feudal families in the Emp ...
of the two
Franconia
Franconia (german: Franken, ; Franconian dialect: ''Franggn'' ; bar, Frankn) is a region of Germany, characterised by its culture and Franconian dialect (German: ''Fränkisch'').
The three administrative regions of Lower, Middle and Upper Fr ...
n principalities,
Bayreuth
Bayreuth (, ; bar, Bareid) is a town in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Franconian Jura and the Fichtelgebirge Mountains. The town's roots date back to 1194. In the 21st century, it is the capital of U ...
and
Ansbach
Ansbach (; ; East Franconian: ''Anschba'') is a city in the German state of Bavaria. It is the capital of the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Ansbach is southwest of Nuremberg and north of Munich, on the river Fränkische Rezat, a ...
, which he sold to the King of
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...
, a fellow member of the
House of Hohenzollern
The House of Hohenzollern (, also , german: Haus Hohenzollern, , ro, Casa de Hohenzollern) is a German royal (and from 1871 to 1918, imperial) dynasty whose members were variously princes, Prince-elector, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzol ...
.
Life
His parents were
Charles William Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach
Charles William Frederick (12 May 1712 – 3 August 1757), nicknamed ''der Wilde Markgraf'' (the ''Wild Margrave''), was the margrave of the Principality of Ansbach from 1723 to his death.
Early life
Charles William Frederick was the son of W ...
, and
Friederike Luise of Prussia, daughter of King
Frederick William I of Prussia
Frederick William I (german: Friedrich Wilhelm I.; 14 August 1688 – 31 May 1740), known as the "Soldier King" (german: Soldatenkönig), was King in Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg from 1713 until his death in 1740, as well as Prince of Neuch ...
, sister of
Frederick II of Prussia
Frederick II (german: Friedrich II.; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was King in Prussia from 1740 until 1772, and King of Prussia from 1772 until his death in 1786. His most significant accomplishments include his military successes in the Sil ...
, a granddaughter of the British King George I and niece of the reigning British King George II (who would die aged 77 and leave his grandson, Charles's second cousin, as King George III, when Charles was 24).
After the sudden death of his elder brother Carl Frederick August on 9 May 1737, "Alexander", as he later called himself, became Crown Prince of the principality. From 1748 to 1759, he studied at
Utrecht
Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...
. As the young "Count of Sayn" (the county of
Sayn-Altenkirchen
Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn-Altenkirchen (sometimes called Sayn-Altenkirchen) was a German county located in what is now Rhineland-Palatinate, near the river Sieg.
When Count William III of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn died in 1623 without clear heirs, the ...
in the Westerwald having been absorbed into the
Principality of Ansbach in 1741) he travelled to
Turin
Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...
and
Savoy
Savoy (; frp, Savouè ; french: Savoie ) is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps.
Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south.
Savo ...
.
On 22 November 1754, in
Coburg
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, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only in 1920. Until the revolution of 1918, it was ...
, Alexander married
Princess Frederica Caroline of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
Princess Frederica Caroline of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Duchess in Saxony () was a princess of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld by birth and, through marriage, the last Margravine of Brandenburg-Ansbach and Bayreuth.
Biography
Frederica Caroline was the f ...
(1735–1791), daughter of
Franz Josias, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
Francis Josias, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (25 September 1697, in Saalfeld – 16 September 1764, in Rodach) was a duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld.
Biography
He was the fourth living son of Johann Ernest IV, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, the thi ...
, and
Anne Sophia, Princess of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt.
On 3 August 1757, Alexander became the
Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach
The Principality or Margraviate of (Brandenburg-)Ansbach (german: Fürstentum Ansbach or ) was a principality in the Holy Roman Empire centered on the Franconian city of Ansbach. The ruling Hohenzollern princes of the land were known as margrave ...
. The ''
Residenz
Residenz () is a German word for "place of living", now obsolete except in the formal sense of an official residence. A related term, Residenzstadt, denotes a city where a sovereign ruler resided, therefore carrying a similar meaning as the modern ...
'' of the principality was at Ansbach, but Alexander preferred his hunting estate and country seat in
Triesdorf. Here, he renovated the "White Castle" for his mistress
Hippolyte Clairon
Clair Josèphe Hippolyte Leris (25 January 1723 – 29 January 1803), known as Mademoiselle Clairon or La Clairon was a French actress, born at Condé-sur-l'Escaut, Hainaut, the daughter of an army sergeant. She is primarily known for devel ...
, the "Red Castle" for himself, and built the ''Villa Sandrina'' for another mistress, "Fräulein Kurz", and the "Round Villa" (''Villa Rotunda'') for his mistress (and later wife)
Elizabeth Craven
Elizabeth, Princess Berkeley, sometimes unofficially styled Margravine of Brandenburg-Ansbach (''née'' Lady Elizabeth Berkeley; —), previously Elizabeth Craven, Baroness Craven, of Hamstead Marshall, was an author and playwright, perhaps be ...
.
In 1758, Alexander founded the
porcelain
Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises mainl ...
factory in Ansbach and made ventures into agriculture by importing sheep. In 1769, he acquired the principality of
Bayreuth
Bayreuth (, ; bar, Bareid) is a town in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Franconian Jura and the Fichtelgebirge Mountains. The town's roots date back to 1194. In the 21st century, it is the capital of U ...
pursuant to the ''Haus- und Reichsgesetze'' laws of the
House of Hohenzollern
The House of Hohenzollern (, also , german: Haus Hohenzollern, , ro, Casa de Hohenzollern) is a German royal (and from 1871 to 1918, imperial) dynasty whose members were variously princes, Prince-elector, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzol ...
.
In 1780, Alexander founded his own bank, the ''Hochfürstlich-Brandenburg-Anspach-Bayreuthische Hofbanco'', out of which later came the ''Bayerische Hypotheken- und Wechselbank'' ("Bavarian Mortgage and Change Bank", today absorbed into the ''
HypoVereinsbank
UniCredit Bank AG, better known under its brand name HypoVereinsbank (HVB), is the fifth-largest of the German financial institutions, ranked according to its total assets, and the fourth-largest bank in Germany according to the number of its e ...
''). He evidently wanted to avoid supporting the Jewish banking houses that were then overseeing his financial affairs, and to keep as much of his revenue as possible in his own hands by setting himself up as a private banker.
American Revolutionary War
One of Alexander's enterprises earned income from hiring
auxiliary troops
The (, lit. "auxiliaries") were introduced as non-citizen troops attached to the citizen legions by Augustus after his reorganisation of the Imperial Roman army from 30 BC. By the 2nd century, the Auxilia contained the same number of inf ...
to
King George III of Great Britain for the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
. He had nominal command over the "Frankish Army" of 1,644 mercenaries, of whom only some 1,183 returned to their homeland in 1783. The Margrave leased further troops to Holland. With these incomes, he paid down the principality's debts, which amounted to 5,000,000
guilder
Guilder is the English translation of the Dutch and German ''gulden'', originally shortened from Middle High German ''guldin pfenninc'' "gold penny". This was the term that became current in the southern and western parts of the Holy Roman Empir ...
s at the time he inherited the throne (1757). By the time of his abdication 34 years later, the principality's debt stood at only 1,500,000 guilders.
The end of the Margraviate
On 16 January 1791, Alexander sold his Margraviate to
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...
. The contract was arranged by
Karl August von Hardenberg
Karl August Fürst von Hardenberg (31 May 1750, in Essenrode-Lehre – 26 November 1822, in Genoa) was a Prussian statesman and Prime Minister of Prussia. While during his late career he acquiesced to reactionary policies, earlier in his career ...
, who had been Acting Minister in Ansbach since 1790. Under the terms of the contract, Prussia paid the Margrave as compensation an annual stipend of 300,000 guilders. On 2 December, in
Bordeaux, France
Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture ...
, he signed his formal
abdication
Abdication is the act of formally relinquishing monarchical authority. Abdications have played various roles in the succession procedures of monarchies. While some cultures have viewed abdication as an extreme abandonment of duty, in other societ ...
as Margrave.
After abdication
Alexander's first wife, Frederica Caroline, died on 18 February 1791 in
Unterschwaningen
Unterschwaningen is a municipality in the district of Ansbach in Bavaria in Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia ...
, where she had lived since separating from her husband. On 19 May of the same year, Alexander left Triesdorf for England. On 13 October or 30 October 1791, in
Lisbon
Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
, Alexander married
Elizabeth Craven, Baroness Craven (1750–1828), the daughter of the
Earl of Berkeley
The title Baron Berkeley originated as a feudal title and was subsequently created twice in the Peerage of England by writ. It was first granted by writ to Thomas de Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley (1245–1321), 6th feudal Baron Berkeley, in ...
and the widow of the
William Craven, 6th Baron Craven
William Craven, 6th Baron Craven (11 September 1738 – 26 September 1791) was an English nobleman and a landowner.
Early life
He was the son of Rev. John Craven, Vicar of Stanton Lacy, Shropshire (1708-1752), and his wife, Mary Rebecca Hic ...
, who had died shortly before.
Alexander sailed to England as a private citizen with his new wife, and there the couple dedicated themselves to breeding horses. By December 1791, he had found a property near the
River Thames
The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...
, Brandenburg House at
Fulham
Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...
, and in 1798, he acquired the
Benham Park
Benham Park is a mansion (on the site of Benham Valence Manor) in the English ceremonial county of Berkshire and district of West Berkshire. It is west of Newbury within 500m of a junction of the A34 trunk road Newbury by-pass outside the to ...
estate at
Speen near
Newbury in
Berkshire
Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...
. On 5 January 1806, aged 69, Alexander died after a short illness caused by
lung
The lungs are the primary organs of the respiratory system in humans and most other animals, including some snails and a small number of fish. In mammals and most other vertebrates, two lungs are located near the backbone on either side of t ...
disease. Today, a memorial in St Mary's Church in
Speen, simply records "In Memory of the Margrave of Anspach, who died at Benham 5th January 1806".
The Franconian region over which Alexander had ruled changed hands many times. On 15 December 1805, in the first
Treaty of Schönbrunn
The Treaty of Schönbrunn (french: Traité de Schönbrunn; german: Friede von Schönbrunn), sometimes known as the Peace of Schönbrunn or Treaty of Vienna, was signed between France and Austria at Schönbrunn Palace near Vienna on 14 October 1 ...
, Prussia ceded the
Principality of Ansbach to
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
in exchange for the
Electorate of Hanover
The Electorate of Hanover (german: Kurfürstentum Hannover or simply ''Kurhannover'') was an electorate of the Holy Roman Empire, located in northwestern Germany and taking its name from the capital city of Hanover. It was formally known as ...
; in 1806, Ansbach was acquired by the
Kingdom of Bavaria
The Kingdom of Bavaria (german: Königreich Bayern; ; spelled ''Baiern'' until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1805 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German E ...
in exchange for the
Duchy of Berg
Berg was a state—originally a county, later a duchy—in the Rhineland of Germany. Its capital was Düsseldorf. It existed as a distinct political entity from the early 12th to the 19th centuries.
The name of the county lives on in the modern ...
, and soon afterwards the Prussian defeat at
Jena
Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a popu ...
on 14 October 1806 resulted in the
Principality of Bayreuth
The Principality of Bayreuth (german: Fürstentum Bayreuth) or Margraviate of Brandenburg-Bayreuth (''Markgraftum Brandenburg-Bayreuth'') was an immediate territory of the Holy Roman Empire, ruled by a Franconian branch of the Hohenzollern dyna ...
also being ceded to the French in the
Treaty of Tilsit
The Treaties of Tilsit were two agreements signed by French Emperor Napoleon in the town of Tilsit in July 1807 in the aftermath of his victory at Friedland. The first was signed on 7 July, between Napoleon and Russian Emperor Alexander, when t ...
of July 1807.
[Thiers, M. A. ''History of the Consulate and the Empire of France under Napoleon.'' Translated by D. F. Campbell. Henry Colburn, London, 1847. Vol. 6, p. 190; Vol. 7, p. 357.]
Naval Intelligence Division. ''Germany: History and Administration.'' Admiralty, London, 1944. Volume II, pages 118-119. In 1810, Bayreuth was acquired by Bavaria. In 1871, Bavaria became part of the new
German Empire
The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...
under the King of Prussia, but retained its internal independence, and it continues as a Land of the present-day
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
.
Arms
Ancestors
See also
*
Ansbach-Bayreuth in the American Revolution
Notes
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
Further reading
*
External links
Christian Friedrich Karl Alexander Markgraf von Brandenburg-Ansbachat Thepeerage.com
at Exulanten.com
at Freundetriesdorf.de
at Berkshirehistory.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach
1736 births
1806 deaths
Britain's German allies during the American Revolution
Fellows of the Royal Society
Generals of the Holy Roman Empire
Margraves of Bayreuth
Margraves of Brandenburg-Ansbach
Monarchs who abdicated
People from Ansbach
People from Hammersmith
People from Speen, Berkshire
Soldiers of the Imperial Circles