Ernst Casimir I, Prince of Ysenburg and Büdingen (20 January 1781 – 1 December 1852) was a prince of

Isenburg-Büdingen Isenburg-Büdingen was a County of southern Hesse, Germany, located in Büdingen. It was originally a part of the County of Isenburg. There were two different Counties of the same name. The first (1341–1511) was a partition of Isenburg-Cleberg ...

, a former County of southern

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...

, Germany.

Early life and education

Ernst Casimir II von Isenburg-Büdingen was born on 20 January 1781, in

Büdingen Büdingen is a town in the Wetteraukreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is mainly known for its well-preserved, heavily fortified medieval town wall and half-timbered houses. Geography Location Büdingen is in the south of the Wetterau below the Vogelsb ...

to Ernst Casimir von Isenburg-Büdingen and Countess Eleonore von Bentheim-Steinfurt. He had a younger sister Auguste Caroline (1790–1857). Casimir was educated by tutors and later at the academy in

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

. Since he was not yet of legal age when his father died in 1801, he could not take over the affairs of the state; his mother was his

regent A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

Later life and military service

Ernst Casimir first entered the Baden military service. On May 10, 1804, he married Countess Ferdinande zu Erbach-Schönberg, shortly thereafter he took over the government from his mother, but this did not last long. During this time of general upheaval in the political situation in Europe, his rule was mediated in 1806 and came to the

Principality of Isenburg The County of Isenburg was a region of Germany located in southern present-day Hesse, located in territories north and south of Frankfurt. The states of Isenburg emerged from the Niederlahngau (located in the Rhineland-Palatinate), which partitio ...

, whose head was Carl, Prince of Isenburg, a founding member of the Confederation of the Rhine (and later, until 1813, French major general). As a brigadier general on the side of the Allied anti-Napoleonic troops, Ernst Casimir took part in the wars of liberation against Napoleonic France. He took part in battles near Lyon, Strasbourg, and Selz. Due to the decisions made at the Congress of Vienna, the entire Confederation of the Rhine Principality of Isenburg initially fell to the Austrian Empire in 1815. In 1816 Austria handed over the areas of the principality to the

Grand Duchy of Hesse The Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine (german: link=no, Großherzogtum Hessen und bei Rhein) was a grand duchy in western Germany that existed from 1806 to 1918. The Grand Duchy originally formed from the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt in 1806 ...

(Hessen-Darmstadt, which agreed with the Elector (Hesse-Kassel) on a division. The areas of Ysenburg-Büdingen-Büdingen, which formerly belonged to the old German Empire, remained with the Grand Duchy of Hesse. In 1826 Ernst Casimir was appointed the first President of the First Chamber of the Estates of the Grand Duchy of Hesse. In this function he primarily took care of the affairs of his inherited possessions. Ernst Casimir contributed to the Latin school founded by Count Wolfgang Ernst in Büdingen which became a state

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

(today the Wolfgang-Ernst-Gymnasium). He was a Freemason, e.g. he is listed as an honorary member in the register of members of the Frankfurt Lodge Carl zum aufliegend Licht, which was under the protection of Landgrave Karl von Hessen-Kassel.

Marriage and issue

Ernst Casimir died on 12 January 1852, in Büdingen.{{Cite book , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OYBDAAAAcAAJ&dq=Ernst+Casimir+I+1781&pg=PA147 , title=National-Zeitung der Deutschen: 1801 , date=1801 , publisher=Becker , pages=147–148 , language=de

References

1781 births 1852 deaths People from Büdingen House of Isenburg-Büdingen Princes of Ysenburg and Büdingen Members of the First Chamber of the Estates of the Grand Duchy of Hesse