John Louis, Count of Nassau-Ottweiler (23 May 1625, Saarbrücken – 9 February 1690, Reichelsheim, was first Count of Nassau-Ottweiler. At times, he was Major General, Regent of the other Nassau territories and chief of the

House of Nassau The House of Nassau is a diversified aristocratic dynasty in Europe. It is named after the lordship associated with Nassau Castle, located in present-day Nassau, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The lords of Nassau were originally titled "Count ...

Life

He was the second son of William Louis of Nassau-Saarbrücken and his wife Anna Amalia of Baden-Durlach. At the age of ten years he had to flee to

Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand ...

with his parents. His father died in 1640. John Louis and his mother were able to return to Saarbrücken three years later. Before his return, he had studied at the

Academy of Saumur The Academy of Saumur (french: Académie de Saumur) was a Huguenot university at Saumur in western France. It existed from 1593, when it was founded by Philippe de Mornay, until shortly after 1685, when Louis XIV decided on the revocation of the Ed ...

. Between 1644 and 1645 he completed his

Grand Tour The Grand Tour was the principally 17th- to early 19th-century custom of a traditional trip through Europe, with Italy as a key destination, undertaken by upper-class young European men of sufficient means and rank (typically accompanied by a tut ...

to Paris. The Peace of Westphalia restored all the Nassau territories in 1648. John Louis took up the government of Nassau-Saarbrücken and

Nassau-Usingen Nassau-Usingen was a county of the Holy Roman Empire in the Upper Rhenish Circle that became a principality in 1688. The origin of the county lies in the medieval county of Weilnau that was acquired by the counts of Nassau-Weilburg in 1602. Tha ...

. After the death of his mother in 1651 he also became guardian of his younger brothers. In 1653, he founded the Ironworks in Neunkirchen. In 1659 John Louis and his brothers split their father's inheritance. John Louis received the area around

Ottweiler Ottweiler () is a municipality, former seat of the district of Neunkirchen, in Saarland, Germany. It is situated on the river Blies The Blies () is a right tributary of the Saar in southwestern Germany (Saarland) and northeastern France (Mosel ...

. This made him the founder of the Nassau-Ottweiler branch, which existed until 1728. He entered French military service in 1656 and was Colonel of the Royal-Alsace Regiment. He was taken prisoner during the Franco-Spanish War. Even when he was still a minor, John Louis sought the return of Homburg, which had been taken by

Lorraine Lorraine , also , , ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; german: Lothringen ; lb, Loutrengen; nl, Lotharingen is a cultural and historical region in Northeastern France, now located in the administrative region of Gra ...

. He was assisted by

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Ver ...

and it came to negotiations before the Reichstag. John Louis was granted sovereign rights over the Homburg district, but the fortress remained in the hands of Lorraine until the Empire had paid its war debts to Lorraine. When another war broke out between France and Lorraine, John Louis surrendered Homburg to the Electorate of Trier. During the Franco-Dutch war, John Louis's territories were devastated. Later, the Nassau territories were threatened by Louis XIV's Reunion Policy. John Louis refused to pay homage to the French king as count of Homburg and Ottweiler. Instead, he resigned from the government and in 1680 handed over the reign to his son Frederick Louis. John Louis then went to the Nassau territories East of the Rhine. When in 1675, Frederick of Nassau-Weilburg died, John Louis took up guardianship of his children and the regency of

Nassau-Weilburg The House of Nassau-Weilburg, a branch of the House of Nassau, ruled a division of the County of Nassau, which was a state in what is now Germany, then part of the Holy Roman Empire, from 1344 to 1806. On 17 July 1806, upon the dissolution of t ...

. When in 1677 Gustav Adolph died, John Louis became the senior member of the

. John Louis was in the service of the

Upper Rhenish Circle The Upper Rhenish Circle (german: Oberrheinischer Reichskreis) was an Imperial Circle of the Holy Roman Empire established in 1500 on the territory of the former Duchy of Upper Lorraine and large parts of Rhenish Franconia including the Swabi ...

and founded a new imperial army. He was appointed General Sergeant and in 1682, he was promoted to General Major. He led his own infantry regiment against the French into the

War of the Palatine Succession The Nine Years' War (1688–1697), often called the War of the Grand Alliance or the War of the League of Augsburg, was a conflict between France and a European coalition which mainly included the Holy Roman Empire (led by the Habsburg monarc ...

. He died in 1690 and was buried in the Protestant Church of Ottweiler. His remains were destroyed in the looting of the church during the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

Family

In 1649, he married Dorothea Catherine (1634-1715) a daughter of the Count Palatine

Christian I Christian I (February 1426 – 21 May 1481) was a Scandinavian monarch under the Kalmar Union. He was king of Denmark (1448–1481), Norway (1450–1481) and Sweden (1457–1464). From 1460 to 1481, he was also duke of Schleswig (within ...

of Birkenfeld-Bischweiler. This had the following children: * Christian Louis (1650-1650) * Frederick Louis (1651-1728) : married firstly on 28 July 1680 Countess Christiane of Ahlefeld (1659-1695) : married secondly on 27 September 1697 Countess

Louise Sophie of Hanau-Lichtenberg Countess Louise Sophie of Hanau-Lichtenberg (11 April 1662 in Bischofsheim am Hohen Steg – 9 April 1751 in Ottweiler) was a daughter of Johann Reinhard II, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg (1628–1666) and Countess Palatine Anna Magdalena of Bir ...

(1662-1751) * Anna Catherine (1653-1731) : married in 1671 to

John Philip II, Wild- and Rhinegrave of Salm-Dhaun John Philip II of Salm-Dhaun (28 October 1645 – 26 June 1693) was Rhinegrave of Salm-Dhaun from 1673 until his death. He was the son of Count John Louis of Salm-Dhaun and his wife, Elisabeth of Salm-Neufville. He married Anna Catherine, the d ...

(1645-1693) * Wolrad (1656-1705) * Charles Siegfried (1659-1679) * Louis (1661-1699) : married on 9 April 1694 Countess Louise Amalie of Horne (1665-1728) * Louise (1662-1741) * Maurice (1664-1666)

References

* ''General Encyclopedia of Science and Arts'', vol. 21, Leipzig, 1642, p. 144 * Friedrich Köllner: ''Geschichte des vormaligen Nassau-Saarbrück'schen Landes und seiner Regenten'', Saarbrücken, 1841, pp. 337–340
Digitized

External links

Short biography at saarland-biographien.de
{{DEFAULTSORT:John Louis of Nassau-Ottweiler Counts of Nassau House of Nassau 17th-century German people 1625 births 1690 deaths Soldiers of the Imperial Circles