Ferdinand Heinrich Friedrich (26 April 1783 – 24 March 1866) was a German nobleman and the last landgrave of
Hesse-Homburg
Hesse-Homburg was formed into a separate landgraviate in 1622 by the landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt; it was to be ruled by his son, although it did not become independent of Hesse-Darmstadt until 1668. It was briefly divided into Hesse-Homburg and ...
.
Life
He was born in
Bad Homburg vor der Höhe
Bad Homburg vor der Höhe () is the district town of the Hochtaunuskreis, Hesse, on the southern slope of the Taunus mountains. Bad Homburg is part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. The town's official name is ''Bad Homburg v.d.Höhe'', w ...
in 1783, the fifth of six sons born to
Frederick V, Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg
Frederick V Louis William Christian, Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg (30 January 1748, Bad Homburg vor der Höhe – 20 January 1820, Bad Homburg vor der Höhe) was from 1751 to his death landgrave of Hesse-Homburg.
He was born under Europe's Ancie ...
and his wife
Caroline, eldest daughter of
Louis IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt
Louis IX of Hesse-Darmstadt (german: Ludwig) (15 December 1719 – 6 April 1790) was the reigning Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt from 1768 to 1790.
Louis IX and his wife became the most recent common ancestors of all current European monarchs ...
and his wife
Caroline. From 1800 to 1817 he served in the Karl von Lothringen Regiment, a hussar unit in the
Austrian Imperial Army. Contemporary reports stated he had "the ideal form of a heavy cavalryman". He fought in all the major engagements of the
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
and was badly wounded several times. After the
battle of Leipzig Francis II granted him the
Order of Maria Theresa
The Military Order of Maria Theresa (german: Militär-Maria-Theresien-Orden; hu, Katonai Mária Terézia-rend; cs, Vojenský řád Marie Terezie; pl, Wojskowy Order Marii Teresy; sl, Vojaški red Marije Terezije; hr, Vojni Red Marije Te ...
, the highest Austrian military order.
[ Jaromir Hirtenfeld: ''Der Militär-Maria-Theresien-Orden und seine Mitglieder'', Wien 1857, S. 1222–1223] In 1822 he left active service with the rank of General of Cavalry (Feldzeugmeister). He never married and according to
Herbert Rosendorfer Herbert Rosendorfer, 2009
Herbert Rosendorfer (19 February 1934, in Bolzano – 20 September 2012, in Eppan, South Tyrol) was a German jurist, writer, historian, and composer.
Biography
Herbert Rosendorfer was born in the village of Gries (curren ...
became "very old and very reactionary". He lived with his personal bodyguard or leibjäger in the Orangery, a modest lodge adjoining
Bad Homburg Castle, where he devoted himself to his two main hobbies, hunting and the Romano-German era of the
Taunus
The Taunus is a mountain range in Hesse, Germany, located north of Frankfurt. The tallest peak in the range is '' Großer Feldberg'' at 878 m; other notable peaks are ''Kleiner Feldberg'' (825 m) and '' Altkönig'' (798 m).
The Taunus range span ...
.
After the deaths of his four elder brothers without surviving male issue, he inherited the landgraviate from his brother
Gustav
Gustav, Gustaf or Gustave may refer to:
*Gustav (name), a male given name of Old Swedish origin
Art, entertainment, and media
* ''Primeval'' (film), a 2007 American horror film
* ''Gustav'' (film series), a Hungarian series of animated short cart ...
in 1848 (Gustav's only son Frederick had predeceased him earlier that year). However, his lack of any male relations or issue made it clear that he would be the last landgraf of Hesse-Homburg even before his accession – his only younger brother,
Leopold
Leopold may refer to:
People
* Leopold (given name)
* Leopold (surname)
Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters
* Leopold (''The Simpsons''), Superintendent Chalmers' assistant on ''The Simpsons''
* Leopold Bloom, the protagonist o ...
, had been killed in 1813. He extended his personal extreme frugality to the parlous state finances in a vain attempt to regain control – they had largely been ruined by his brother
Philipp
Philipp is both a surname and a given name. Notable people with the name include:
"Philipp" has also been a shortened version of Philippson, a German surname especially prevalent amongst German Jews and Dutch Jews.
Surname
* Adolf Philipp (1864 ...
's granting a concession for a casino to the Blanc brothers.
The
Revolutions of 1848
The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europea ...
had a major impact even on so small a state as Hesse-Homburg and thus Ferdinand set up a state convention or 'landtag' in April 1849. He also re-confirmed the constitution accepted by Gustav, though he revoked it on 20 April 1852 at the end of the
German National Parliament and reinstated authoritarian personal rule until his death. In September 1850 he was one of the first princes to send representatives to the restored
Federal Convention
The Constitutional Convention took place in Philadelphia from May 25 to September 17, 1787. Although the convention was intended to revise the league of states and first system of government under the Articles of Confederation, the intention fr ...
. He died without issue in Bad Homburg in 1866 – his remains filled the last space in the vault at Bad Homburg Castle and Hesse-Homburg was briefly inherited by
Louis III, Grand Duke of Hesse
Louis III, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine (german: link=no, Großherzog Ludwig III von Hessen und bei Rhein; 9 June 1806, Darmstadt – 13 June 1877, Seeheim) was Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine from 1848 until his death in 1877.
Biogr ...
, before being annexed by
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 ...
later in 1866 after the
Austro-Prussian War.
References
Bibliography
*
BLKO*
* Karl Schwartz: Landgraf Friedrich V. von Hessen-Homburg und seine Familie. Aus Archivalien und Familienpapieren, Rudolstadt 1878
*
{{Authority control
1783 births
1866 deaths
House of Hesse-Homburg
People from Bad Homburg vor der Höhe
Austrian Empire commanders of the Napoleonic Wars
German commanders of the Napoleonic Wars
German military personnel in Austrian armies
Grand Crosses of the Order of Saint Stephen of Hungary
Knights Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa