Frederick of Saxe-Weissenfels (''Frederick Erdmann''; b. Halle, 20 November 1673 - d. Dahme, 16 April 1715), was a German prince member of the

House of Wettin The House of Wettin () is a dynasty of German kings, prince-electors, dukes, and counts that once ruled territories in the present-day German states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. The dynasty is one of the oldest in Europe, and its ori ...

and Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels-Dahme. He was the sixth son of

Augustus, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels Augustus of Saxe-Weissenfels (Dresden, 13 August 1614 – 4 June 1680, Halle), was a Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels-Querfurt of the House of Wettin and administrator of the Archbishopric of Magdeburg. He was the fourth (but second surviving) son of J ...

but first-born from his second marriage with

Johanna Walpurgis of Leiningen-Westerburg Johanna Walpurgis of Leiningen-Westerburg (3 June 1647 – 4 November 1687), was a German noblewoman member of the House of Runkel (through female line surnamed Leiningen-Westerburg) and by marriage Duchess of Saxe-Weissenfels. Born in Schaumb ...

Life

Because as one of the youngest children of his father he didn't inherited a share of the Duchy of Saxe-Weissenfels, Frederick became devoted to a military career and therefore since he was fourteen (1687) stayed on the Saxon court in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

, where he became lieutenant general. After an agreement with his nephew

Johann Georg, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels Johann Georg, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels (13 July 1677, in Halle – 16 March 1712, in Weissenfels), was a duke of Saxe-Weissenfels-Querfurt and a member of the House of Wettin. He was the third child and first surviving son of Johann Adolf ...

, he received the district of Dahme as his

appanage An appanage, or apanage (; french: apanage ), is the grant of an estate, title, office or other thing of value to a younger child of a sovereign, who would otherwise have no inheritance under the system of primogeniture. It was common in much o ...

, although without full sovereignty, being dependent from the eldest ruling branch. In Dahme on 13 February 1711, Frederick married Emilie Agnes Reuss of Schleiz, Dowager Countess of Promnitz-Pless. They had no children. Frederick took residence in his land and commissioned the architects Johann Christoph Schütze and Elias Scholtz from 1711 the construction of the Dahme Castle (German: Schloss Dahme) on the remains of the old-fashioned medieval fortress, who could be finished after four years of construction. The garden was a summerhouse, sandstone sculptures and caves according with the Baroque style. However, Frederick never lived there because he died shortly before the completion of the building. Instead, his widow Emilie Agnes took the Castle as her ''Wittum'', but she later lived mainly in the other dominions who received from her first marriage,

Vetschau Vetschau/Spreewald ( dsb, Wětošow) is a town in the Oberspreewald-Lausitz district, in Lower Lusatia, Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated in the Spreewald, 18 km west of Cottbus. History Vetschau was first mentioned in 1302 as Veczicz. I ...

and Fürstlich Drehna, where she died in 1729. Later the last Duke of the Saxe-Weissenfels branch, Johann Adolf II continued the construction work from 1719 and made the Dahme Castle his temporary residence. Frederick died in Dahme aged 41. He was buried in the ''Schlosskirche'', Weissenfels.Saxe-Weissenfels line in: Royaltyguide.nl
etrieved 14 October 2014

Notes

References

Bibliography about Frederick of Saxe-Weissenfels-Dahme
in:

VD 17 The Verzeichnis der im deutschen Sprachraum erschienenen Drucke des 17. Jahrhunderts (in English: ''Bibliography of Books Printed in the German Speaking Countries from 1601 to 1700''), abbreviated VD17, is a project to make a retrospective German n ...

etrieved 14 October 2014 {{Authority control House of Wettin 1673 births 1715 deaths Lieutenant generals of Saxony Albertine branch