Ernst I. Anton Carl Ludwig of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha ( German: Ernst I. Anton Carl Ludwig von Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha ; January 2, 1784 , Coburg - January 29, 1844 , Gotha ) - Duke of Saxe-Coburg -Zaalfeldsky in 1806-1807 (nominally) and from July 28, 1807 to November 12, 1826 under the name Ernst III the first duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha from November 12, 1826 under the name Ernst I. From the Ernestine line of the Vettin dynasty .
| Ernst I Saxe-Coburg-Gotha | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||||
| |||||||
| Predecessor | based | ||||||
| Successor | Ernst II | ||||||
| |||||||
| Predecessor | Franz, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld | ||||||
| Successor | abolished | ||||||
| Birth | |||||||
| Death | |||||||
| Burial place | |||||||
| Kind | |||||||
| Birth name | |||||||
| Father | |||||||
| Mother | |||||||
| Spouse | and | ||||||
| Children | and | ||||||
| Religion | |||||||
| Awards | the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called , Alexander Nevsky with diamonds, St. Anna of the 1st Art., St. George of the 4th class, the Order of the Ernestine House , the Order of the Route Crown , the Order of the Black Eagle ; Order of the Garter , Order of St. Henry of the 1st Art., Order of the Red Eagle of the 1st Art., Golden sword “for courage” with diamonds | ||||||
| Military service | |||||||
| Years of service | 1796-1844 (with a break) | ||||||
| Affiliation |  Russian empire | ||||||
| Type of army | cavalry | ||||||
| Rank | cavalry general | ||||||
| Battles | |||||||
Warlord of the Napoleonic Wars. He also served in the Russian army, where he received the rank of general from the cavalry (1832). In Russia, better known by the name Ferdinand Ernst August Saxe-Coburg .
Content
- 1 Biography
- 1.1 Childhood and military career
- 1.2 Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
- 2 family
- 3 Dynastic ties
- 4 notes
- 5 Literature
Biography
Childhood and military career
Ernst is the eldest son of Franz , Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and Augusta Reuss-Ebersdorf . His sister Juliana Henrietta (in Orthodoxy Anna Fedorovna ) from 1796 was the wife of Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich ; another sister, Victoria , married the Duke of Kent , having given birth to his daughter - the future Queen Victoria . In 1790, the 6-year-old Ernst was enlisted as captain in the Life Guards Izmailovsky Regiment by personal order of Catherine II ; on November 19, 1796, by order of Paul I, he was promoted to colonel of the Izmailovsky Regiment. He was promoted to major general by Alexander I on March 19, 1801 with the transfer of the Horse Regiment to the Life Guards . His brother Leopold [4] [5] served in the same regiment.
He was educated in Lausanne [4] . He participated in hostilities in Austria in 1805 , during the Battle of Austerlitz he was in the retinue of Alexander I [5] , but in 1806 was forced to return to Coburg due to his father's poor health [4] . He took part in the Franco-Prussian war of 1806 , being invited by the Prussian king Frederick William III [5] , participated in the battle at Auerstedt and after the defeat brought the remnants of the Prussian army to Koenigsberg [6] . After that, in June 1807, he took part in the battle of Heilsberg and the battle of Friedland , and was awarded gold weapons with diamonds [5] .
After the death of Franz Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeldsky in December 1806, Ernst, being the heir, could not immediately take control of the duchy of Saxe-Coburg, since its territory was under the control of the French troops; only after the conclusion of the Tilsit peace Napoleon I transferred Ernst his land. Returning to Coburg in July 1807, Ernst found him a devastated war and unsuccessful management [6] . Despite Napoleon’s promise to compensate the duke for damage, he subsequently received nothing from the French [4] .
In 1808, the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg became part of the Rhine Union created by Napoleon. Duke Ernst fought on the side of the French in the 1812 war as commander of the Guards brigade cuirassier , and at the beginning of 1813 distinguished himself in the battle of Lutzen [4] . However, the complicated relationship between the Duke Ernst and the French emperor continued in the future [6] (Napoleon even said that the name “Coburg” will always remain on the list of his enemies [4] ), and on July 18, 1813 , after the Pleswick truce, Saxe-Coburg left the Rhine Union, going to the camp of his opponents and joining the Austrian service. For the battle of Kulm he was awarded the Russian Order of St. George of the 4th class, and for the battle of Leipzig, which went down in history as the Battle of the Nations , - the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky with diamonds [5] .
As part of the anti-Bonaparte coalition, Ernst Saxe-Koburgsky commanded the 30,000th 5th German Corps, which was part of the Silesian Army, Field Marshal Blucher . At the head of these forces, he recaptured Marshal Marmont Mainz [4] . December 16, 1813 accepted into the Russian service with the rank of lieutenant general and again identified in the retinue of Alexander I [5] .
In 1814, he participated in the battles of Brienne , La Rotier , Arcy-sur-Ob , Saint-Dizier and Fer-Champenoise [5] , was also an active participant in the hostilities in 1815 in France [6] . He remained in Russian service until his death, in 1832 being promoted to general from the cavalry [5] .
Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
At the Vienna Congress, Ernst Saxe-Coburgsky defended the sovereignty of Saxony and received land from the Saxon king on the left bank of the Rhine (in the territory of the former French department of the ) with 25 thousand inhabitants, whom he called the Principality of Lichtenberg [4] . In 1821 he introduced a constitution in his lands. He took steps to develop the economy, legal proceedings and public education [6] .
In 1826, after the Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg dynasty was interrupted, Ernst annexed Gotha to his possessions, in exchange losing Saalfeld to the duke of Saxe-Meiningen . As the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, he adopted the name Ernst I (until 1852, the two duchies were united only by a personal unity ). In Gotha, where feudal order was preserved, he carried out a series of progressive reforms, eliminated the patrimonial (coming directly from the overlord) justice system, and abolished restrictions on trade and industry [6] (including the abolition of existing monopolies). Under him, an Ernestine gymnasium was established, the budget of the ducal library was increased, teachers' salaries were increased, theaters in Coburg and Gotha were built. In 1834, Ernst sold the Principality of Lichtenberg to Prussia for 2 million thalers, having bought the land in Prussia and Bavaria, necessary for rounding the territory of his own duchy with the money earned in 1836-1838. He died in January 1844 at Friedenstein Castle in Gotha [4] .
Family
In 1817, Ernst married Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg ( 1800 - 1831 ), daughter of Augustus and Duke of Saxe-Goth-Altenburg Augustus and Louise Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Schwerinsk . Children:
- Ernst II ( 1818 - 1892 ), Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
- Albert ( 1819 - 1861 ), Prince Consort of Great Britain.
This marriage was unhappy, and in 1824 the couple divorced (officially divorced in 1826 ). The death in 1825 of Uncle Louise, the last Duke of Saxe-Goth-Altenburg, Frederick IV, led to a dispute between the branches of the dynasty. Ernst at the time was in the process of divorcing Louise, and because of this, other branches opposed his receipt of Gotha . They reached a compromise in November 1826: Ernst got Gotha and lost Saalfeld to the Saxe-Meiningen branch.
In 1832, Ernst married a second time to his niece Anthony Maria Württemberg ( 1799 - 1860 ), the daughter of his sister Anthony and Alexander Württemberg . There were no children in this marriage.
Ernst had three illegitimate children.
Dynastic ties
Ernst I's youngest son, Albert Saxe-Coburg-Gotha , married Victoria , Queen of Great Britain (his cousin), and founded the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha ( Windsor ) dynasty on the English throne from 1917.
The royal houses of Belgium are also related to the Saxe-Coburg-Goth dukes ( King of Belgium Leopold I , in his youth also a general of the Russian service, was Ernst's sibling), Portugal and Bulgaria.
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 Encyclopædia Britannica
- ↑ 1 2 The Peerage - 717826 copies.
- ↑ 1 2 German National Library , Berlin State Library , Bavarian State Library , etc. Record # 118983334 // General regulatory control (GND) - 2012—2016.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 August Beck .. Ernst I. (Herzog von Sachsen-Coburg-Saalfeld) // Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). - Bd. 6. - Lpz. : Duncker & Humblot, 1877. - S. 313-317. (German)
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Dictionary of Russian generals, participants in the hostilities against the army of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1812-1815. // Russian archive. The history of the Fatherland in the evidence and documents of the XVIII — XX centuries. : Collection. - M .: TRITE studio N. Mikhalkova , 1996. - T. VII . - S. 548 . - ISSN 0869-20011 . (Comm. A. A. Podmazo )
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 Ernst III // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907. - T. 41. - S. 43-44.
Literature
- Dictionary of Russian generals, participants in the hostilities against the army of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1812-1815. // Russian archive. The history of the Fatherland in the evidence and documents of the XVIII — XX centuries. : Collection. - M .: TRITE studio N. Mikhalkova , 1996. - T. VII . - S. 548 . - ISSN 0869-20011 . (Comm. A. A. Podmazo )
- Ernst III // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907. - T. 41.- S. 43-44.
- August Beck .. Ernst I. (Herzog von Sachsen-Coburg-Saalfeld) // Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). - Bd. 6. - Lpz. : Duncker & Humblot, 1877. - S. 313-317. (German)