Prince Frederick Charles of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (7 June 1736 – 13 April 1793) was a German Natural History collector, and from 1790 until his death the reigning Prince of

Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt was a small historic state in present-day Thuringia, Germany, with its capital at Rudolstadt. History Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt was established in 1599 in the course of a resettlement of Schwarzburg dynasty lands. Since t ...

Life

Frederick Charles of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt was born in

Rudolstadt Rudolstadt is a town in the German federal state Thuringia, with the Thuringian Forest to the southwest, and to Jena and Weimar to the north. The former capital of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, the town is built along the River Saale inside a wide v ...

, the son of Prince Louis Günther II of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and his wife Sophie Henriette, born Countess Reuss of Untergreiz (1711–1771). As a child, he began his natural history collection, which later went to the Natural History Museum of Rudolstadt. In 1757, he created the ''Princely Natural History Collection'' at the Ludwigsburg Castle in Rudolstadt. The collection was later enlarged, and in the 19th century, it occupied seven rooms in the castle. One of the first supervisors of the collection was Christoph Ludwig Kämmerer. In 1919, the collection was moved to

Heidecksburg Heidecksburg is a Baroque palace in Rudolstadt, Thuringia, and served as the residence of the princes to Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. It is located prominently approximately 60 m above the old town. After a fire in 1735 and its reconstruction, it ha ...

Castle. Frederick Charles of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt corresponded with

Johann Heinrich Merck Johann Heinrich Merck (11 April 1741 – 27 June 1791), German author and critic, was born at Darmstadt, a few days after the death of his father, a chemist. He studied law at Gießen, and in 1767 was given an appointment in the paymaster's depar ...

, among others, and let him have some

rhinoceros A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species ...

bones and other pieces from his collection for research. Frederick Charles also corresponded with

Johann August Ephraim Goeze Johann August Ephraim Goeze (; 28 May 1731 – 27 June 1793) was a German zoologist, born in Aschersleben. He is known for the discovery of tardigrades, also called water bears. He was the son of Johann Heinrich and Catherine Margarete (née Kirc ...

(1731–1793), with the physician Friedrich Martini, with the vicar

Johann Samuel Schröter Johann Samuel Schröter (25 February 1735, Rastenberg – 24 March 1808, Buttstädt) was a German Protestant pastor since 1763, who was also a conchologist, mineralogist and palaeontologist. He was a member of the Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. ...

(1735–1808) and with

Johann Ernst Immanuel Walch Johann Ernst Immanuel Walch (29 August 1725 – 1 December 1778) was a German theologian, linguist, and naturalist from Jena. Life The son of the theologian Johann Georg Walch, he studied Semitic languages at the University of Jena, and also natu ...

(1725–1778). He had personal and scientific relationships with his correspondents and kept their writings in the library of his Cabinet. Some of these writings were dedicated to him, for example the third volume of Martini's

conchology Conchology () is the study of mollusc shells. Conchology is one aspect of malacology, the study of molluscs; however, malacology is the study of molluscs as whole organisms, whereas conchology is confined to the study of their shells. It includ ...

text, published in 1777, was dedicated to ''His Princely Highness, the Crown Prince Frederick Charles of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, dedicated by his humble subject, the author''. The second edition of

Jacob Theodor Klein Jacob Theodor Klein (nickname ''Plinius Gedanensium''; 15 August 1685 – 27 February 1759) was a German jurist, historian, botanist, zoologist, mathematician and diplomat in service of Polish King August II the Strong. Life Klein was born on 15 ...

's ''Naturalis Dispositio; Echinodermatum'' was edited and revised by Nathaniel Gottfried Leske and was also dedicated to Frederick Charles. In 1792, Frederick Charles built a theatre on the

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combi ...

in Rudolstadt. It was inaugurated a few weeks after his death.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as trea ...

was its director from 1793 to 1803. It later evolved to form the Thuringia State Theatre in Rudolstadt.

Marriage and issue

Friederike princess von schwarzburg-rudolstadt

Frederick Charles married his first wife, Princess Friederike Sophie Auguste of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1745–1778), in 1763. They had six children: * Frederika (1765–1767) * Louis Frederick II (1767–1807), Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt * Henrietta (1770–1783) * Charles Günther (1771–1825), married Louise Ulrike of Hesse-Homburg, daughter of Landgrave

Frederick V Frederick V or Friedrich V may refer to: * Frederick V, Duke of Swabia (1164–1170) *Frederick V, Count of Zollern (d.1289) *Frederick V, Burgrave of Nuremberg (c. 1333–1398), German noble *Frederick V of Austria (1415–1493), or Frederick III ...

; their daughter Karoline married

Prince George Bernhard of Anhalt-Dessau George Bernhard of Anhalt-Dessau (21 February 1796 – 16 October 1865), was a German prince of the House of Ascania from the Anhalt-Dessau branch. Early life He was born in Dessau on 21 February 1796. He was the second son of Frederick, Heredit ...

* Caroline (1774–1854), married Prince Günther Frederick Charles I of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen * Louise (1775–1808), married Landgrave Ernest Constantine of Hesse-Philippsthal In 1780, Frederick Charles married his second wife, Princess Louise Friederike Auguste (1752–1805), the daughter of Prince

John August of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg Johann August of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (17 February 1704 – 8 May 1767), was a German prince, member of the House of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. He was born in Gotha, the fifth but second surviving son of Frederick II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg and ...

. This marriage was childless.

Ancestry

References

* Rudolf Möller, ''Friedrich Carl von Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1736-1790-1793). Beiträge zur Biographie des Gründers des Naturhistorischen Museums zu Rudolstadt'', in: ''Rudolstädter naturhistorische Schriften'' 4, 1992, p. 5-11

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frederick Charles Schwarzburg Rudolstadt House of Schwarzburg Princes of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt Collectors 1736 births 1793 deaths 18th-century German people