Simon Louis, Count of Lippe (14 March 1610 at Brake Castle – 8 August 1636 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 ...

), was Count of

Lippe-Detmold Lippe (later Lippe-Detmold and then again Lippe) was a historical state in Germany, ruled by the House of Lippe. It was located between the Weser river and the southeast part of the Teutoburg Forest. It was founded in the 1640s under a separ ...

from 1627 until his death.

Life

He was the second eldest son of Count Simon VII of Lippe and his first wife Anna Catherine of Nassau-Wiesbaden. When his father died in 1627, Simon Louis was still underage. His step-grandfather, Count Christian of Waldeck-Wildungen was selected as his regent and guardian. His paternal uncle, Count

Otto Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', '' Odo'', ''Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity". The name is recorded f ...

of Lippe-Brake was unavailable, due to the strained relationship between Lippe-Detmold and Lippe-Brake. His maternal uncle, John Louis of Nassau-Hadamar, was not asked because he was a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. As was usual among members of his class, Simon Louis made a

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 ...

. His tour started in 1627 and brought him to

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

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and the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. After he returned to Detmold in 1631, he applied to Emperor Ferdinand II to be declared of age early. Influenced by his chancellor Christoph Deichmann, Simon Louis gradually moved away from his father's cautious policy of neutrality and approached Sweden. This brought him into conflict with the imperial troops. The other side did no spare Lippe either. The Swedes demanded food supplies and the imperial troops demanded money. In 1634, Schwalenberg Castle was attacked and looted and in 1636, the same happened to Varenholz Castle. Simon Louis died of

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

at the age of 26, on 8 August 1636 in Detmold. He was succeeded as Count of Lippe-Detmold by his eldest son, Simon Philip. Since Simon Philip was still a minor, Count Christian of Waldeck was appointed as regent again.

Marriage and issue

On 19 June 1631, Simon Louis married Countess Catherine of Waldeck (1612-1649), the daughter of his guardian Count Christian of Waldeck-Wildungen, and also a younger sister of his stepmother, Maria Magdalena (1606-1671). Simon Louis and Catherine had three sons: * Simon Philip (1632-1650) * Herman Otto (1633-1646) * Christian Louis (1636-1646) Counts of Lippe House of Lippe 1610 births 1636 deaths 17th-century German people {{Germany-noble-stub