Christian Louis I, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1 December 1623 in

Schwerin Schwerin (; Mecklenburgian Low German: ''Swerin''; Latin: ''Suerina'', ''Suerinum'') is the capital and second-largest city of the northeastern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern as well as of the region of Mecklenburg, after Rostock. It ...

– 21 June 1692 in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

) was a reigning Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

Life

Christian Louis I was born as Christian I, the son of the Duke Adolf Frederick I and his wife, Anna Maria (1601–1634), the daughter of Count Enno III of East Frisia. On 26 August 1625, when he was only one year old, his father proposed that he be the next administrator of the Bishopric of Schwerin. However, he was never appointed, because when Administrator Ulrik III died on 12 August 1633, the Bishopric fell to

Wallenstein Albrecht Wenzel Eusebius von Wallenstein () (24 September 1583 – 25 February 1634), also von Waldstein ( cs, Albrecht Václav Eusebius z Valdštejna), was a Bohemian military leader and statesman who fought on the Catholic side during the Th ...

as a completed

fief A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form ...

. He inherited Mecklenburg-Schwerin when his father died on 27 February 1658. In 1660, he built a

Lustschloss In Renaissance and Early Modern German architecture, a ''Lustschloss'' (french: maison de plaisance, both equating in English to "pleasure castle/house") is a small country house or palace which served the private pleasure of its owner, usuall ...

near the

Ratzeburg Ratzeburg (; Low German: ''Ratzborg'') is a town in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is surrounded by four lakes—the resulting isthmuses between the lakes form the access lanes to the town. Ratzeburg is the capital of the district Herzogtum La ...

Minster. He travelled to Paris in 1662, to the court of

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Ver ...

. On 29 September 1663, he converted to the

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

faith. The next day, his godfather Louis XIV gave him the second name ''Louis''. Later, however, he often signed only with Christian. He died on in

. His body was transported by ship to

Dömitz Dömitz () is a municipality in the Ludwigslust-Parchim district, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Elbe, 25 km southwest of Ludwigslust, and 37 km northwest of Wittenberge Wittenberg ...

. It was then transported to

and finally arrived on 24 August 1692 in Doberan, where he was buried in the

Doberan Minster The Doberan Minster is the main Lutheran Church of Bad Doberan in Mecklenburg, Germany. Close to the Baltic Sea and the Hanseatic city of Rostock, it is the most important religious heritage of the European Route of Brick Gothic. It is the rema ...

Marriages

He married twice. His first wife was Christine Margarethe of

Mecklenburg-Güstrow Mecklenburg-Güstrow was a state of the Holy Roman Empire in Northern Germany, that existed on three occasions ruled by the House of Mecklenburg at Güstrow. History A first short-lived predecessor existed after the death of Henry IV, Duke of M ...

(31 March 1615 – 16 August 1666), the second daughter of Duke John Albert II. She was the widow of Duke Francis Albert of

Saxe-Lauenburg The Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg (german: Herzogtum Sachsen-Lauenburg, called ''Niedersachsen'' (Lower Saxony) between the 14th and 17th centuries), was a ''reichsfrei'' duchy that existed from 1296–1803 and again from 1814–1876 in the extreme sou ...

, whom she had married on . Francis Albert had died on 10 June 1642 from wounds he had received in the battle of

Świdnica Świdnica (; german: Schweidnitz; cs, Svídnice; szl, Świdńica) is a city in south-western Poland in the region of Silesia. As of 2019, it has a population of 57,014 inhabitants. It lies in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, being the seventh large ...

. She married Christian on 6 July 1650 in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

. However, on 16 October 1660, a divorce was pronounced by an ecclesiastical court composed specifically for this case by Christian. She never recognized the divorce. It was, however, declared valid by a committee of ten professors of canon law of the University of Paris the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

. The divorce was confirmed by the Pope on 3 October 1663. His second wife was Elisabeth Angelique de Montmorency, Duchesse de Coligny, (b. 1626). She was the widow Gaspard IV de Coligny, the son of

Gaspard III de Coligny Gaspard III de Coligny, duc de Châtillon, (1584 to 1646) was a French Huguenot, who served under Louis XIII, and was appointed Marshal of France in 1622. He was described as "a mediocre general, but absolutely loyal". Life Châtillon was born 2 ...

. Her first husband had died at

Charenton-le-Pont Charenton-le-Pont () is a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris, to the north of the confluence of the Seine and Marne rivers; the () part of the name refers to the stone bridge across ...

on 9 February 1649 during the

Fronde The Fronde () was a series of civil wars in France between 1648 and 1653, occurring in the midst of the Franco-Spanish War, which had begun in 1635. King Louis XIV confronted the combined opposition of the princes, the nobility, the law cour ...

. The exact date of Elisabeth Angelique's wedding to Christian Louis is not known with certainty, but it was probably on 3 March 1664. She died on in Paris. Both marriages were childless. When Christian Louis I died, he was succeeded by his nephew Frederick William, the eldest son of Duke

Frederick Frederick may refer to: People * Frederick (given name), the name Nobility Anhalt-Harzgerode *Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode (1613–1670) Austria * Frederick I, Duke of Austria (Babenberg), Duke of Austria from 1195 to 1198 * Frederick ...

of Mecklenburg-Grabow.

Ancestry

References

* * Richard Wagner: ''Herzog Christian (Louis) I., 1658-1692'' = ''Mecklenburgische Geschichte in Einzeldarstellungen'', issue 9, Süsserott, Berlin, 1906,

External links

*
Christian Louis I. at www.emecklenburg.de

{{Authority control Dukes of Mecklenburg-Schwerin 1623 births 1692 deaths House of Mecklenburg