Johann Ludwig, Reichsgraf Von Wallmoden-Gimborn
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Johann Ludwig Reichsgraf von Wallmoden-Gimborn (22 April 1736 – 10 October 1811) was a
Hanoverian Army The Hanoverian Army (German: ''Hannoversche Armee'') was the standing army of the Electorate of Hanover from the seventeenth century onwards. From 1692 to 1803 it acted in defence of the electorate. Following the Hanoverian Succession of 1714, thi ...
officer.


Early life

Wallmoden was an illegitimate son of
George II of Great Britain George II (George Augustus; ; 30 October / 9 November 1683 – 25 October 1760) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Electorate of Hanover, Hanover) and a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Em ...
by his mistress Amalie von Wallmoden. She was married to Adam Gottlieb, Count Wallmoden (1704–1752), but for a payment of 1000
Ducat The ducat ( ) coin was used as a trade coin in Europe from the later Middle Ages to the 19th century. Its most familiar version, the gold ducat or sequin containing around of 98.6% fine gold, originated in Venice in 1284 and gained wide inter ...
s the Count was prepared to defer his claims on his wife to George, and was finally separated from her in 1740. On the death of Queen Caroline in 1737, the Prime Minister,
Robert Walpole Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford (; 26 August 1676 – 18 March 1745), known between 1725 and 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole, was a British Whigs (British political party), Whig statesman who is generally regarded as the ''de facto'' first Prim ...
, suggested that Amalie be brought over from Hanover to
Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...
to take her place as '' maîtresse en titre'' to George II. In the meantime Lady Deloraine, a loquacious but not very intelligent
courtesan A courtesan is a prostitute with a courtly, wealthy, or upper-class clientele. Historically, the term referred to a courtier, a person who attended the court of a monarch or other powerful person. History In European feudal society, the co ...
, with whom George had a distant relationship, functioned as a stopgap. Thus the young Johann Ludwig came to be conceived in England and grew up at St. James's Palace and
Kensington Palace Kensington Palace is a royal residence situated within Kensington Gardens in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. It has served as a residence for the British royal family since the 17th century and is currently the ...
. As an illegitimate son of the king, he received a comprehensive education, after which he went on a Grand Tour to Italy, where he acquired an extensive collection of classical statues, busts, and reliefs. On his return he entered the
Hanoverian Army The Hanoverian Army (German: ''Hannoversche Armee'') was the standing army of the Electorate of Hanover from the seventeenth century onwards. From 1692 to 1803 it acted in defence of the electorate. Following the Hanoverian Succession of 1714, thi ...
and rose to the rank of major general.


Career

Around the year 1700, several noblemen's country estates had been established in the former flood plain of the
Leine The Leine (; Old Saxon ''Lagina'') is a river in Thuringia and Lower Saxony, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Aller and the Weser and is long. The river's source is located close to the town of Leinefelde in Thuringia. About downriver ...
. In 1768 Wallmoden acquired some of these gardens and merged them into the ''Wallmodengarten'' (later to become the Georgengarten). In 1782 he built the Wallmoden-Schloss to house his collections of antiquities. In 1782 he bought the ''Reichsherrschaft'' Gimborn in
Westphalia Westphalia (; ; ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the region is almost identical with the h ...
from Prince Johann I. of Schwarzenberg, and on 17 January 1783 was raised to the nobility of the
Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...
by the emperor
Joseph II Joseph II (13 March 1741 – 20 February 1790) was Holy Roman Emperor from 18 August 1765 and sole ruler of the Habsburg monarchy from 29 November 1780 until his death. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Emperor F ...
, with the title ''Wallmoden-Gimborn'' and with a corresponding augmentation of his coat-of-arms to
Imperial count Imperial Count (, ) was a title in the Holy Roman Empire. During the medieval era, it was used exclusively to designate the holder of an imperial county, that is, a fief held directly ( immediately) from the emperor, rather than from a prince wh ...
. Simultaneously, Wallmoden attained a seat and a voice on the Westphalian College of Imperial Counts, and therewith on the '' Reichsstandschaft''. After the death of count Philipp II of Schaumburg-Lippe (1723–1787), Wallmoden-Gimborn acted for his widow (princess Juliane of Hesse Philippsthal) as guardian of her younger son and heir George William (1784–1860). From 1790 to 1811, he was an honorary member of the
Prussian Academy of Arts The Prussian Academy of Arts () was a state arts academy first established in 1694 by prince-elector Frederick III of Electorate of Brandenburg, Brandenburg in Berlin, in personal union Duke Frederick I of Prussia, and later king in Kingdom of ...
in Berlin. On 5 July 1803, as ''Oberbefehlshaber'' (commander-in-chief) of the Hanoverian army, he signed the convention of Artlenburg and thus capitulated before the Napoleonic troops arrived.Ralf Bormann: ''Wallmoden’s Collections at Hanover-Herrenhausen Depicted: Towards the Reconstruction of a Baroque ''aemulatio'' of the Uffizi'', in: Andrea M. Gáldy, Sylvia Heudecker, ''Collecting Prints and Drawings'', Newcastle 2018, S. 172-189. Ralf Bormann: ''Das verschleierte Bild. Zur Logik der Kopie in der Sammlung des Grafen Wallmoden (1736–1811)'', in: Antonia Putzger, Marion Heisterberg, Susanne Müller-Bechtel (Hg.), ''Nichts Neues Schaffen. Perspektiven auf die treue Kopie 1300–1900'', Berlin 2018, S. 231-250. Ralf Bormann: ''Die Kunstsammlung des Reichsgrafen Johann Ludwig von Wallmoden-Gimborn'', in: Katja Lembke (Hg.), ''Als die Royals aus Hannover kamen. Hannovers Herrscher auf Englands Thron 1714–1837''. Katalog zur Niedersächsischen Landesausstellung im Landesmuseum Hannover und im Herrenhäuser Schloss vom 17. Mai bis zum 5. Oktober 2014, Dresden 2014, S. 238–261.


Personal life

Wallmoden-Gimborn was first married in
Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...
on 18 April 1766 to Charlotte Christiane Auguste Wilhelmine von Wangenheim (1740–1783), and they had five children: * Ernst Georg August (1767–1792) * Ludwig Georg Thedel (1769–1862), who became an Austrian General of Cavalry. * Georgine Charlotte Auguste (1770–1859), who married Baron . They divorced and she married Count Friedrich Abraham Wilhelm von Arnim in 1795. They divorced and she married Charles Henri, the Marquis le Marchant de Charmont, in 1824. * Wilhelmine Magdalene Friederike (1772–1819), who married Baron Heinrich Friedrich Karl vom Stein in 1793. * Friedrike Eleonore Juliane (1776–1826), who married Ludwig Friedrich Count von Kielmansegg and was the mother of Wallmoden's second marriage, on 3 August 1788 in Bückeburg, was to Baroness Luise Christiane von Lichtenstein (1763–1809), a daughter of Baron Friedrich Karl von Lichtenstein by his marriage to Charlotte Ernestine von Berckefeld, and with her he had three further children: * Karl August Ludwig (1792–1883), an Austrian Privy Councillor and Lieutenant-General who married Zoe, Countess von Grünne, daughter of Philipp Ferdinand von Grünne, in 1833. * Adolf Franz James Wilhelm (1794–1825) * Luise Henriette (1796–1851) After Wallmoden-Gimborn's death, his nephew
King George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...
acquired his collections of antique sculpture and books, over 8000 volumes. The collections are still in the ownership of the Welfs and since 1979 have formed a collection of the Archeological Institute in
Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...
.


Descendants

From his son Karl August Ludwig is descended the ''Oberhaus Wallmoden'' line.


See also

* House of Wallmoden


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wallmoden-Gimborn, Johann Ludwig Von 1736 births 1811 deaths Military personnel from Hanover Counts in Germany German art collectors 19th-century art collectors Illegitimate children of George II of Great Britain German commanders of the Napoleonic Wars Military personnel of Hanover Sons of kings