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 Em ...
of the two
Franconia
Franconia (german: Franken, ; Franconian dialect: ''Franggn'' ; bar, Frankn) is a region of Germany, characterised by its culture and Franconian languages, Franconian dialect (German: ''Fränkisch'').
The three Regierungsbezirk, administrative ...
n principalities,
Bayreuth 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, ...
, 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 ...
, 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, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzollern, Brandenbu ...
.
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, sister of
Frederick II of Prussia, 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 fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...
. As the young "Count of Sayn" (the county of
Sayn-Altenkirchen in the Westerwald having been absorbed into the
Principality of Ansbach in 1741) he travelled to
Turin
Turin ( , 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 from 1861 to 1865. The ...
and
Savoy.
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 ...
, 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'' 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.
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 main ...
factory in Ansbach and made ventures into agriculture by importing sheep. In 1769, he acquired the principality of
Bayreuth 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, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzollern, Brandenbu ...
.
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 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 Emp ...
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 ...
. The contract was arranged by
Karl August von Hardenberg, 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, Alexander married
Elizabeth Craven, Baroness Craven (1750–1828), the daughter of the
Earl of Berkeley and the widow of the
William Craven, 6th Baron Craven, 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 River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...
, Brandenburg House at
Fulham, and in 1798, he acquired the
Benham Park estate at
Speen near
Newbury in
Berkshire. On 5 January 1806, aged 69, Alexander died after a short illness caused by
lung 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 ...
, 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 regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
in exchange for the
Electorate of Hanover; 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 ...
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 po ...
on 14 October 1806 resulted in the
Principality of Bayreuth 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 ...
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 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