Leopold III of Lippe (Paul Friedrich Emil Leopold; 1 September 1821 – 8 December 1875) was the sovereign of the Principality of Lippe reigning from 1851 until his death.

Early life and ascension

Leopold III was born in

Detmold Detmold () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, with a population of . It was the capital of the small Principality of Lippe from 1468 until 1918 and then of the Free State of Lippe until 1947. Today it is the administrative center of t ...

the eldest child of Leopold II, the reigning prince of Lippe and his consort Princess Emilie of

Schwarzburg-Sondershausen Schwarzburg-Sondershausen was a small principality in Germany, in the present day state of Thuringia, with its capital at Sondershausen. History Schwarzburg-Sondershausen was a county until 1697. In that year, it became a principality, which la ...

(1800–1867). Being the

heir apparent An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...

to the throne from birth he had the title Hereditary Prince. He succeeded as Prince of Lippe on 1 January 1851 following the death of his father. A year after succeeding to the throne, Leopold was married on 17 April 1852 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 ...

to Princess Elisabeth 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 ...

(1833–1896) the daughter of Prince Albert of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt.

Reign

In 1854, Leopold issued two sovereign

edict An edict is a decree or announcement of a law, often associated with monarchism, but it can be under any official authority. Synonyms include "dictum" and "pronouncement". ''Edict'' derives from the Latin edictum. Notable edicts * Telepinu Pro ...

s. The first on 9 March, placed the Catholic Church on an equal footing with the

Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...

State

Church of Lippe The Church of Lippe (german: link=no, Lippische Landeskirche) is a Reformed (Calvinist) member church of the Evangelical Church in Germany that covers what used to be the Principality of Lippe. Seat of the church administration is Detmold. The ...

. The second six days later on 15 March, was to grant the same status to the

Lutherans Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...

. Lippe went through various changes during his reign. At his ascension, the principality was a member of the

German Confederation The German Confederation (german: Deutscher Bund, ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe. It was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as a replacement of the former Holy Roman Empire, w ...

, and Leopold supported

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

during the Austro-Prussian War of 1866. Following the war and the dissolution of the German Confederation, Lippe joined the

North German Confederation The North German Confederation (german: Norddeutscher Bund) was initially a German military alliance established in August 1866 under the leadership of the Kingdom of Prussia, which was transformed in the subsequent year into a confederated st ...

on its creation in 1867. Lippe would then remain a member of the North German Confederation until the creation of the German Empire in 1871 following the Franco-Prussian War. Prince Leopold was one of the main promoters of the creation of the

Hermann monument The Hermann Heights Monument is a statue erected in New Ulm, Minnesota. The statue depicts Arminius (german: Hermann), an ancient Cheruscan, but locals refer to the statue as Hermann the German. The only National Register of Historic Places prop ...

in the

Teutoburg Forest The Teutoburg Forest ( ; german: Teutoburger Wald ) is a range of low, forested hills in the German states of Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia. Until the 17th century, the official name of the hill ridge was Osning. It was first renamed th ...

which was opened by the German Emperor

William I William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 10 ...

in the summer of 1875. A few months after the unveiling of the monument, Leopold died in

. As Leopold was childless, his brother

Woldemar Woldemar is a given name, a variant of Waldemar. Notable people with the name include: * Woldemar Bargiel (1828–1897), German composer of classical music * Woldemar Brinkmann (1890–1959), German architect and interior designer associated wi ...

succeeded him as Prince of Lippe. The composer Johannes Brahms was a member of the prince's household between 1857 and 1859 as a conductor and music teacher to his sister Princess Friederike.

Ancestry

References

1821 births 1875 deaths House of Lippe Princes of Lippe Lieutenant generals of Prussia {{Germany-royal-stub