Louis Günther II of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (also known as ''Louis Günther IV''), (22 October 1708 in

Rudolstadt Rudolstadt is a town in the German federal state Thuringia, within 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 ...

– 29 August 1790, Rudolstadt) was the ruling prince 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 House of Schwarzburg, Schwarzburg dy ...

from 1767 until his death.

Life

Louis Günther II of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt was the youngest son of Prince Louis Frederick I of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and his wife

Anna Sophie of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg Duchess Anna Sophie of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (22 December 1670 – 28 December 1728) was a princess of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg and Duchess in Saxony by birth, and by marriage a Princess of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt.L. Renovanz: ''Chronik der fürstl. Sch ...

. Prince Louis Günther grew up as the thirteenth and youngest child, among seven sisters and three brothers in Rudolstadt (two sisters had already died before he was born). In his youth, Louis Günther traveled to Italy. In this way, the Prince could marvel at the artistic heritage of Italy. He also took a job as a

colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

from 1726 to 1731 as a Colonel Agent in Milan. Between 1722 and 1731, he visited Rudolstadt only twice. His military career was ended by problems with his ear. In 1767, Louis Günther inherited the principality of

at the age of 59. Most government business was transacted by his Chancellor, Christian Ulrich von Ketelholdt, with whom he had a good working relationship. One might say that the Chancellor was

regent In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...

. The prince had various occupations; among other things, he was very enthusiastic about horses. In 1784, Louis Günther granted a trade concession to three

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

ish families from

Dessau Dessau is a district of the independent city of Dessau-Roßlau in Saxony-Anhalt at the confluence of the rivers Mulde and Elbe, in the ''States of Germany, Bundesland'' (Federal State) of Saxony-Anhalt. Until 1 July 2007, it was an independent ...

, thus creating the bases for the Jewish community in Rudolstadt. When he was born, Louis Günther II was fourth in the line of succession. By 1726, two of his elder brothers had died and he had moved up to the second place. Between 1734 and 1741, a

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

palace named Ludwigsburg Castle was built for him below

Heidecksburg Heidecksburg is a Baroque architecture, Baroque palace in Rudolstadt, Thuringia, Germany. The palace served as the residence of the princes to Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. It is located prominently approximately 60 m above the old town. After a fire ...

Castle. After his nephew, Prince John Frederick died in 1767, he moved from Ludwigsburg Castle to Heidecksburg Castle. After he left, Ludwigburg palace served as a princely art school and it housed the natural history collection owned by Hereditary Prince Frederick Charles and Louis Günther's collection of coins, which he had started in 1738. His mother, who owned a collection of rarities herself, had aroused his passion for collecting. He had been shown the coin collection of his uncle, Duke Frederick II of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg during a visit to Gotha. This collection, which had been extended in 1712 by purchasing the collection of Prince Anton Günther II was among the most important coin collections in the 18th century and included a separate collection of over 600 medieval

bracteate A bracteate (from the Latin ''bractea'', a thin piece of metal) is a flat, thin, single-sided gold medal worn as jewelry that was produced in Northern Europe predominantly during the Migration Period of the Germanic Iron Age (including the Ven ...

s. Louis Günther moved his coin collection to the Heidecksburg Castle and further extended it by purchases. In 1776, he archived his collection. However, his successors had little interest in the collection and sold off some of it. By 1919, 1,710 pieces were left; they are now part of a collection of 5,000 coins still housed in Heidecksburg Castle. In 1778, Louis Günther II established a court library in the west wing of Heidecksburg Castle, thereby laying the foundation for the Palace Library which today contains approximately 7,000 volumes. In addition to folios Louis Günther II had brought with him from Italy, he also purchased works of art by renowned artists. The scholar Friedrich Karl Gottlob Hirsching points out in his ''Descriptions of German Libraries worth seeing" of 1786 that ''The Prince has enriched his library with a tasteful collection of several thousands of engravings, among them some by

William Hogarth William Hogarth (; 10 November 1697 – 26 October 1764) was an English painter, engraving, engraver, pictorial social satire, satirist, editorial cartoonist and occasional writer on art. His work ranges from Realism (visual arts), realistic p ...

.Thüringer Landesmuseum in Heidecksburg - Graphiscal Collection
viewed on 9 October 2011 Louis Günther II died on 29 August 1790 and was succeeded as ruling Prince by his son Frederick Charles.

Marriage and issue

Louis Günther II married on 22 October 1733 in

Greiz Greiz ( ; ) is a town in the state of Thuringia, Germany, and is the capital of the Greiz (district), district of Greiz. Greiz is situated in eastern Thuringia, east of the state capital Erfurt, on the White Elster river. Greiz has a large park ...

to Countess Sophie Henrietta of Reuss-Untergreiz (1711-1771), daughter of Count Heinrich XIII Reuss zu Untergreiz (1672-1733) and his wife, Countess Sophie Elisabeth of Stolberg-Ilsenburg (1676-1729). They had four children: * Friederike Sophie (1734-1734) * Christiane Friederike (1735-1738) * Frederick Charles (1736-1793), his successor * Christian Ernst (1739-1739)

References

* ''Die Fürsten von Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt'', Thüringer Landesmuseum Heidecksburg, Rudolstadt, 1997 (3rd ed., 2001), * Johann Christian August Junghans: ''Geschichte der schwarzburgischen Regenten'', Leipzig, 1821
Online
* Heinrich Friedrich Theodor Apfelstedt: ''Das Haus Kevernburg-Schwarzburg von seinem Ursprunge bis auf unsere Zeit: dargestellt in den Stammtafeln seiner Haupt- und Nebenlinien und mit biographischen Notizen über die wichtigsten Glieder derselben'', Bertram, Sondershausen, 1890,

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Louis Gunther 02 Schwarzburg Rudolstadt House of Schwarzburg Princes of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt 1708 births 1790 deaths 18th-century German people