Karl-Christian-Joseph-Ignaz-Franz-Xavier ( German: Karl von Sachsen und Polen ; or , - , ) prince, Saxon kurprints , Duke of Courland and Semigalsky (1759-1763).
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| Predecessor | Biron, Ernst Johann | ||||||
| Successor | Biron, Ernst Johann | ||||||
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| Burial place | Marienster Monastery in ( Panschwitz-Kukau , Saxony ) | ||||||
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| Mother | |||||||
| Spouse | Franziska Korvin-Krasinskaya | ||||||
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Content
Biography
Representative of the Wettin dynasty . The fifth son of the Elector of Saxony, Friedrich August II , the future king of the Polish and Grand Duke of Lithuania August III and Maria Joseph ( Habsburg ), archduchess of Austria. Grandson of Augustus the Strong .
Initially, a military career was assumed for him. During the Seven Years' War, Charles-Joseph fought Prussia in the Austrian army.
In 1758 he arrived in St. Petersburg and lived for some time at the court of the Russian Empress Elizaveta Petrovna , fought in the ranks of the Russian army at Zorndorf .
Despite the opposition of the Czartoryski , in 1758 the Polish Senate recognized Ernst Johann Biron as deposed and the throne of Courland and Semigalia became vacant.
Thanks to the political maneuvers of his father and the support of the Empress in 1759, Augustus III recognized it possible to give him the ownership of Charles-Christian-Joseph.
His nomination, approved only by the decision of the Senate Council of the Commonwealth, initially provoked resistance to the Courland nobility, but this did not affect the Wettin’s decision, which resulted in an agreement between Karl Christian Joseph and the estates, mainly trying to protect Protestantism from the Catholic proclivities.
With the assistance of Russia in 1759, Karl-Christian-Joseph was able to solemnly enter Mitava in January 1760, although according to the basic laws of Courland, the duke was supposed to be Protestant (Augsburg) religion, while Prince Charles was a Catholic.
Married secretly on March 25, 1760, to Countess Francis Korvin-Krasinskaya, Karl-Christian-Joseph had frequent clashes with the estates, resolving questions about the Jews, coinage, etc., without the help of others, bringing nearer to himself from other classes.
Initially, he enjoyed the favorable support of the Russian court. However, in 1762, the death of Empress Elizabeth and the accession of Peter III , and then the accession of Catherine II to the Russian throne, predetermined his fate. The Empress restored Ernst Johann Biron on the Duke’s throne of Courland.
To reward Carl Christian Joseph, it was intended to secularize the bishops of Hildesheim and Paderborn, as well as the city of Erfurt , in favor of him, but he did not give his consent. Returning after a temporary absence from home, the prince found Russian troops in Kurland. In December 1762, Karl Christians-Joseph with 40 Polish nobles was besieged by Russian troops in his palace in Mitau , only secretly receiving the most necessary of the city. In February 1763, Biron entered Mitawa. The prince sat for two more months in his castle, not agreeing to renounce, until he received orders from his father to leave Courland. Not having received the necessary support from the Commonwealth and the Saxon army, he thus lost the throne and fled to Dresden.
Having lost the ducal throne, together with the brothers after the death of August III in 1763, he made an unsuccessful attempt to inherit the Polish throne.
In 1768, Prince Karl-Christian-Joseph Wettin took part in the Bar Confederation , hoping with the help of the Polish gentry to restore himself to the throne of Courland and Semigalia and to seize the Polish crown. In 1771, an unrealized plan was even developed to return the prince to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, so that he would lead the forces of the confederation, but all attempts to return to the duchy remained futile.
He lived for the most part in Dresden, until his death in 1796, retaining the ducal title.
He died in Dresden. He was buried in the Marienstern monastery in Puschwitz-Kukau .
He married his only daughter, Maria Cristina Albertina Carolina of Saxony (1770-1851), the future mother of Carl Albert , king of the Sardinian kingdom (1831-1849).
Awards
- Order of the White Eagle (1735) [3]
- Military Order of St. Heinrich (1736)
- Order of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First Called (1758)
- Order of St. Alexander Nevsky (1758) [4]
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 German National Library , Berlin State Library , Bavarian State Library , etc. Record # 101251823 // General Regulatory Control (GND) - 2012—2016.
- ↑ 1 2 The Peerage
- Aw Kawalerowie i statuty Orderu Orła Białego 1705–2008, 2008, s. 164.
- ↑ Bantysh-Kamensky N.N. Lists of the cavaliers of the Russian imperial orders of St. Andrew the First-Called, St. Catherine, St. Alexander Nevsky and St. Anna from the institution until the establishment of the order chapter in 2005, 2005, p. 141.
Literature
- Karl-Christian-Joseph // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron : in 86 tons (82 tons and 4 extra). - SPb. , 1890-1907.