John Louis of Nassau-Hadamar, (

Dillenburg Dillenburg, officially Oranienstadt Dillenburg, is a town in Hesse's Gießen region in Germany. The town was formerly the seat of the old Dillkreis district, which is now part of the Lahn-Dill-Kreis. The town lies on the German- Dutch holiday road ...

, 6 August 1590 –

Hadamar Hadamar is a small town in Limburg-Weilburg district in Hesse, Germany. Hadamar is known for its Clinic for Forensic Psychiatry/Centre for Social Psychiatry, lying at the edge of town, in whose outlying buildings is also found the Hadamar Mem ...

, 10 March 1653) and also known in German as Johann Ludwig, was a German nobleman and member of the House of Nassau who is best known for his role as an aide to the head of the imperial (Holy Roman Empire) delegation for the Peace of Westphalia, Count Maximilian von Trautmansdorff. He was the son of

John VI, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg Count John VI of Nassau-Dillenburg (22 November 1536 – 8 October 1606) was the second son of William the Rich and the younger brother of William the Silent. He has a special place in the history of the Netherlands because he is the male-lin ...

and his third wife Johannetta of Sayn-Wittgenstein. When his father died in 1606,

Nassau Nassau may refer to: Places Bahamas *Nassau, Bahamas, capital city of the Bahamas, on the island of New Providence Canada *Nassau District, renamed Home District, regional division in Upper Canada from 1788 to 1792 *Nassau Street (Winnipeg), ...

was divided amongst his five sons. William Louis received

Nassau-Dillenburg The County of Nassau was a German state within the Holy Roman Empire and later part of the German Confederation. Its ruling dynasty, the male line of which is now extinct, was the House of Nassau. Origins Nassau, originally a county, developed ...

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

received

Nassau-Siegen Nassau-Siegen was a principality within the Holy Roman Empire that existed between 1303 and 1328, and again from 1606 to 1743. From 1626 to 1734, it was subdivided into Catholic and Protestant parts. Its capital was the city of Siegen, fo ...

, George received Nassau-Beilstein,

Ernst Casimir Ernest Casimir I (22 December 1573 – 2 June 1632) was a Count of Nassau-Dietz and Stadtholder of Friesland, Groningen and Drenthe. Biography He was the 11th child of John VI, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg, and Countess Elisabeth of Leuch ...

received Nassau-Dietz and John Louis received

Nassau-Hadamar Nassau-Hadamar is the name of two side lines of the Ottonian main line of the House of Nassau. The older line of the counts of Nassau-Hadamar existed from 1303 to 1394; the younger line existed from 1607 to 1711 and received the hereditary title o ...

Marriage and children

He married in 1617 with Countess Ursula of

Lippe Lippe () is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Herford, Minden-Lübbecke, Höxter, Paderborn, Gütersloh, and district-free Bielefeld, which forms the region Ostwestfalen-Lippe. ...

, daughter of

Simon VI, Count of Lippe Count Simon VI of Lippe (15 April 1554 in Detmold – 7 December 1613 in Brake (now part of Lemgo)) was an imperial count and ruler of the County of Lippe from 1563 until his death. Life Simon was the son of Count Bernhard VIII of Lippe (1 ...

. They had 14 children, of which six survived infancy : * Johanna Elisabeth (1619–1647) married Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode * Sofie Magdalene (1622–1658) married

Louis Henry, Prince of Nassau-Dillenburg Louis Henry of Nassau-Dillenburg (9 May 1594 in Saarbrücken – 12 July 1662 in Dillenburg), was Count, and from 1654 Prince of Nassau-Dillenburg. During the Thirty Years' War, he was a senior officer. He climbed to the rank of Major General. ...

Maurice Henry Maurice Henry (born March 12, 1967) is a former American football linebacker. He played for the Philadelphia Eagles in 1990 and for the Ottawa Rough Riders The Ottawa Rough Riders were a Canadian Football League team based in Ottawa, Ontario, ...

(1626–1679), his successor * Hermann Otto (1627–1660), a canon in Trier, Mainz and Cologne * Johann Ernst (1631–1651), a canon in Cologne and Münster * Franz Bernhard (1637–1695), a canon in Cologne

Career

When John Louis was 28 years old, the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of batt ...

broke out. He tried in vain to keep Nassau-Hadamar out of the war. His lands suffered from the passage of multitudes of Imperial and Protestant troops, which plundered and requisitioned them into poverty. Highly indebted, John Louis was forced to sell Esterau to

Peter Melander Graf von Holzappel Peter Melander, Count of Holzappel (8 February 1589 – 17 May 1648) was a German general who was a Protestant military leader in the Thirty Years' War until 1640 when he switched sides and even became Chief of the imperial army from 1647 unt ...

in 1643. John Louis was raised a Calvinist, as was sent in 1629 by his brothers as a diplomat to Vienna to negotiate a truce with Emperor Ferdinand II. Here John Louis converted to Catholicism under influence of

Wilhelm Lamormaini Wilhelm Germain Lamormaini (29 December 1570 – 22 February 1648) was a Jesuit theologian, and an influential figure as confessor of the Habsburg emperor Ferdinand II during the Thirty Years' War. Life Lamormaini was born near Dochamps in ...

. John Louis was much appreciated by the Emperor for his diplomatic skills. In 1638 he successfully led the peace negotiations in Cologne and Munster. In 1645 he was added to the Imperial delegation under

Maximilian von und zu Trauttmansdorff Maximilian Freiherr von und zu Trauttmansdorff (23 May 1584, in Graz – 8 June 1650, in Vienna), (from 1623 Reichsgraf von und zu Trauttmansdorff) was an Austrian politician and diplomat of the Thirty Years' War era. His other titles included Frei ...

who negotiated the

Peace of Westphalia The Peace of Westphalia (german: Westfälischer Friede, ) is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and brought pe ...

. By 1647 he had replaced Trauttmansdorff as head of the Imperial delegation, and it was he who finalized the treaty. For this, he was awarded the

Order of the Golden Fleece The Distinguished Order of the Golden Fleece ( es, Insigne Orden del Toisón de Oro, german: Orden vom Goldenen Vlies) is a Catholic order of chivalry founded in Bruges by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, in 1430, to celebrate his marriag ...

by King Philip IV of Spain.

Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III (Ferdinand Ernest; 13 July 1608, in Graz – 2 April 1657, in Vienna) was from 1621 Archduke of Austria, King of Hungary from 1625, King of Croatia and Bohemia from 1627 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1637 until his death in 1657. ...

made him a Prince (''Fürst'') and gave him a large sum of money.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nassau-Hadamar, John Louis of House of Nassau Diplomats of the Habsburg Monarchy 1590 births 1653 deaths Royal reburials