Prosper Louis, 7th Duke of Arenberg (28 April 1785,

Enghien Enghien (; nl, Edingen ; pcd, Inguî; vls, Enge) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. On 1January 2006, Enghien had a total population of 11,980. The total area is , which gives a population dens ...

– 27 February 1861) was the Duke of

Arenberg Arenberg, also spelled as Aremberg or Ahremberg, is a former county, principality and finally duchy that was located in what is now Germany. The Dukes of Arenberg remain a prominent Belgian noble family. History First mentioned in the 12th ...

, a principality of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...

. He was also the 13th

Duke of Aarschot The Duke of Aarschot (or ''Aerschot'') was one of the most important aristocratic titles in the Low Countries, named after the Brabantian city of Aarschot. The title was held by the House of Croÿ and the House of Arenberg. The present Duke is Le ...

, 2nd Duke of

Meppen Meppen (; Northern Low Saxon: ''Möppen'') is a town in and the seat of the Emsland district of Lower Saxony, Germany, at the confluence of the Ems (river), Ems, Hase, and Nordradde rivers and the Dortmund–Ems Canal (DEK). The name stems from t ...

and 2nd prince of

Recklinghausen Recklinghausen (; Westphalian: ''Riäkelhusen'') is the northernmost city in the Ruhr-Area and the capital of the Recklinghausen district. It borders the rural Münsterland and is characterized by large fields and farms in the north and indus ...

.Staff
The dukes of Arenberg

. Accessed 7 July 2008Staff
Ducal and princely families of Belgium: House of ArenbergEuropedia
Accessed 7 July 2008 In 1801,

Louis Engelbert, Duke of Arenberg Louis Engelbert of Arenberg (3 August 1750 in Brussels – 7 March 1820 in Brussels), nicknamed ''the blind duke'', was between 1778 and 1801 the sixth Duke of Arenberg and 12th Duke of Aarschot. Between 1803 and 1810 he ruled a Duchy in Nor ...

, Prosper's father, lost the former Duchy of Arenberg on the left bank of the Rhine but received a larger duchy on the right bank in 1803. In 1808 Arenberg married Stéphanie Tascher de La Pagerie a niece of

Joséphine de Beauharnais Josephine may refer to: People * Josephine (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) * Josephine (singer), a Greek pop singer Places *Josephine, Texas, United States *Mount Josephine (disambiguation) * Josephine Count ...

(Empress of the French Empire). His wife was given the present

Hôtel de Chimay The Hôtel de Chimay, originally the Hôtel de La Bazinière, is a hôtel particulier, a type of large townhouse of France, built in 1635 on a site that is now at 17 quai Malaquais in the 6th arrondissement of Paris. Since 1883, it has been an exte ...

, known as the ''Hôtel de La Pagerie'' in Paris in 1808. He was granted new lands by Joséphine's husband

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

(expanding his holdings from 413 km² to 3,388 km²) and gained the additional titles of Duke of Meppen and Prince of Recklinghausen. He lost his sovereignty over his lands in 1810 when

was mediatised into France but retain the style of HSH (''His Serene Highness''), which is still used by his descendant. Arenberg was colonel of the Belgian Chevau-Légers d'Arenberg which fought in the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...

and was wounded captured by the British at the

Battle of Arroyo dos Molinos The Battle of Arroyo dos Molinos took place on 28 October 1811 during the Peninsular War. An allied force under General Rowland Hill trapped and defeated a French force under General Jean-Baptiste Girard, forcing the latter's dismissal by ...

on 28 October 1811. In England he was on parole, first at

Oswestry Oswestry ( ; ) is a market town, civil parish and historic railway town in Shropshire, England, close to the Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5, A483 and A495 roads. The town was the administrative headquarters of the Borough of ...

and then

Bridgnorth Bridgnorth is a town in Shropshire, England. The River Severn splits it into High Town and Low Town, the upper town on the right bank and the lower on the left bank of the River Severn. The population at the 2011 Census was 12,079. History B ...

. After an incident with the

Commissary A commissary is a government official charged with oversight or an ecclesiastical official who exercises in special circumstances the jurisdiction of a bishop. In many countries, the term is used as an administrative or police title. It often c ...

he was ordered by the Transport Board to be taken to the

Norman Cross Prison Norman Cross Prison in Huntingdonshire, England, was the world's first purpose-built prisoner-of-war camp or "depot", built in 1796–97 to hold prisoners of war from France and its allies during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wa ...

. A number of prisoners had broken parole and daily reporting was being implemented, this was taken to impugn on his honour. After time spent at Norman Cross he agreed to comply with this requirent and parole was agreed. An offer to exchange him was said to have been declined by Napoleon, as the two officers were not of equal rank. He was later provided passports. Arenberg took no part in the 1815

Waterloo Campaign The Waterloo campaign (15 June – 8 July 1815) was fought between the French Army of the North (France), Army of the North and two Seventh Coalition armies, an Anglo-allied army and a Prussian army. Initially the French army was commanded by ...

other than to attend the

Duchess of Richmond's ball The Duchess of Richmond's ball was a ball hosted by Charlotte, Duchess of Richmond in Brussels on 15 June 1815, the night before the Battle of Quatre Bras. Charlotte's husband Charles Lennox, 4th Duke of Richmond, was in command of a reserve fo ...

, but his contacts among the British did not save his lands which were lost when they were overrun by the Prussians and the

Hanoverians The House of Hanover (german: Haus Hannover), whose members are known as Hanoverians, is a European royal house of German origin that ruled Hanover, Great Britain, and Ireland at various times during the 17th to 20th centuries. The house orig ...

. In 1816 he divorced his first wife and married again in 1819 to Princess Maria-Ludmille de

Lobkowicz The House of Lobkowicz (''Lobkovicové'' in modern Czech, sg. ''z Lobkovic''; ''Lobkowitz'' in German) is a Czech noble family that dates back to the 14th century and is one of the oldest Bohemian noble families. The family also belong to the Ge ...

.Called ''Maria Ludmilla Pss von Lobkowicz'' in some sources Maria-Ludmille and Arenberg had seven children, the third eldest and the first boy Engelbert Auguste, inherited his father's titles becoming the 8th Duke of Arenberg. A younger son, Charles, was the second husband of the former Princess of Serbia

Júlia Hunyady de Kéthely Countess Júlia Hunyady de Kéthely ( sr, Јулија Хуњади де Кетељ; 26 August 1831 – 19 February 1919), was a Hungarian noblewoman and the :List of consorts of Serbia#Obrenović dynasty (1858–82), Princess consort of Serbia ...

Art collection

In 1833 he inherited the art collection of

Auguste Marie Raymond d'Arenberg Prince Auguste Marie Raymond d'Arenberg, Count of La Marck Grandee of Spain (30 August 1753 – 26 September 1833),Eliakim Littell, Robert S. Littell (editors 1851).''Littell's living age'', T. H. Carter & Co., 185p. 221/ref> was the second son a ...

, who began intensively collecting art from his retirement in 1830 until his death in 1833. Many of these works were catalogued in the ducal palace in Brussels in 1829 & 1855 and later again in 1904 in Düsseldorf. File:Vermeer-Portrait of a Young Woman.jpg, ''

Study of a Young Woman ''Study of a Young Woman'' (also known as ''Portrait of a Young Woman'', or ''Girl with a Veil'') is a painting by the Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer, completed between 1665 and 1667, and now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The paint ...

'', by

Johannes Vermeer Johannes Vermeer ( , , #Pronunciation of name, see below; also known as Jan Vermeer; October 1632 – 15 December 1675) was a Dutch Baroque Period Painting, painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle class, middle-class life. ...

File:A Girl Receiving a Letter by Gabriel Metsu, Timken Museum of Art.JPG, ''A Girl Receiving a Letter'', by

Gabriel Metsu In Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), Gabriel (); Greek: grc, Γαβριήλ, translit=Gabriḗl, label=none; Latin: ''Gabriel''; Coptic: cop, Ⲅⲁⲃⲣⲓⲏⲗ, translit=Gabriêl, label=none; Amharic: am, ገብር� ...

File:Tobias Healing his Father by Rembrandt - Staatsgalerie - Stuttgart - Germany 2017.jpg, ''Tobias Healing his Father'' by

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally consid ...

References and notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arenberg, 7th Duke of Arenberg, Prosper Louis 1785 births 1861 deaths People from Enghien Prosper Louis Prosper Louis Prosper Louis Members of the Prussian House of Lords Members of the First Chamber of the Diet of the Kingdom of Hanover French military personnel of the Napoleonic Wars Napoleonic Wars prisoners of war held by the United Kingdom German military personnel of the Napoleonic Wars

Art collection

See also

References and notes