Christian Eberhard

Christian Eberhard was born on October 1, 1665 in Esens. Shortly before the birth of the prince, his father, Georg Christian, prince of Ostfriesland, died. His mother Christina Charlotte , nee Princess of Württemberg, became the regent for the young heir. Until the age of ten, Christian Eberhard grew up at a court in Aurich. In 1675, the young prince was sent to study abroad. Christian Eberhard traveled to the Republic of the United Provinces and the French Kingdom , where he met with King Louis XIV in Paris . Then he visited the , the Papal Region and the Kingdom of Naples , the Archduke of Austria .

The prince was in no hurry to begin independent management of the principality. It was not until 1690 that he ended his mother's rule. During the period of her regency in the principality, the conflict between the ruling house and the communities intensified. Christian Eberhard began his reign with the resolution of disputes; in 1693 in Hanover and in 1698 in Aurich he managed to negotiate with representatives of the communities. For the establishment of peace in the principality, he received the nickname "Peaceful." The prince was one of the few rulers to whom the inhabitants of the city of Emden respected, which was demonstrated during his visit to the city in 1699.

Christian Eberhard was a rational, tolerant and pious man. He gave the Reformed freedom of religion, although he himself was a Lutheran . He prepared an agreement on the inheritance of the Principality by Ernst Augustus , Elector of Hanover from the Welfare House, in case of suppression of the main line of the Kirksen house. The agreement did not receive the approval of Emperor Leopold I , who determined the inheritance of imperial linen in favor of Frederick I , Elector of Brandenburg and the first king of Prussia from the house of the Hohenzollern . This served as the basis for the annexation of the principality by the Prussian kingdom in 1744, after the suppression of the main line of the Kirksen house.

Since childhood, the prince was in poor health, so he was always accompanied by a personal doctor . Christian Eberhard died in Aurich on June 30, 1708 in his forty-third year of life. He was buried in the in Aurich. The prince was succeeded by the second son Georg Albrecht.

In Bayreuth on March 3, 1685, Christian Eberhard, the prince of Ostfriesland married his cousin Ebergardine Sofia Ettingen (16.8.1666 - 10/30/1700), the daughter of Albrecht Ernst I, Prince Ettingen-Ettingen and Christina Frederick Württemberg ^[3] . The mother-in-law of the prince was his mother’s sister. In the marriage, ten children were born to the spouses:

• Leopold Ignaz (10 / 20.2.1687 - 11 / 21.6.1687), Prince of Ostfriesland, died shortly after birth;
• Christina Sophia (16.3.1688 - 31.3.1750), Princess of Ostfriesland, on December 31, 1728 in Rudolstadt was married to Friedrich Anton (14.8.1692 - 1.9.1744), Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt;
• Maria Charlotte (10.4.1689 - 12.12.1761), Princess of Ostfriesland, married on April 10, 1709 in Aurich with her cousin, Prince Frederick Ulrich of Ostfriesland (12.31.1667 - 13.3.1710);
• Georg Albrecht (13.6.1690 - 12.6.1734), Prince of Ostfriesland, Knight of the Order of the Elephant from 1722, married first on September 24, 1709 in Idstein with Louise Christina Nassau-Idstein (31.3.1691 - 13.4.1723), daughter of George Augustus , Count of Nassau-Idstein , and Dorothea Henrietta Oettingen, second marriage on December 8, 1723 in Berum with Sofia Carolina Brandenburg-Kulmbach (1705 - 7.6.1764), daughter of Christian Heinrich , Margrave Brandendburg-Kulmbach and Sofia Christina von Wolfstein;
• Ulrich Friedrich (18.7.1691 - 21.9.1691), Prince of Ostfriesland, died shortly after birth;
• Karl Enno (12/25/1692 - 3.8.1709), Prince of Ostfriesland, died at an early age;
• Frederick Wilhelmina (10/04/1695 - 07/29/1750), Princess of Ostfriesland, Canoness at Herford;
• Enno Augustus (13.2.1697 - 3.8.1725), Prince of Ostfriesland;
• Juliana Louise (13.6.1698 - 6.2.1740), Princess of Ostfriesland, married on 17 February 1721 in Braunschweig with Joachim Friedrich (9.5.1668 - 25.1.1722), Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Plein;
• Christina Charlotte (09.17.1699 - 08.23.1733), Princess of Ostfriesland ^[4] .

After the death of his first wife, Christian Eberhard married a second morganatic marriage in 1701 with the maid of honor of the late wife Anna Juliana von Kleinau (1674-1727), daughter of the nobles Heinrich von Kleinau and Sofia Clara, nee von der Osten. The prince granted her the title of Baroness von Sandhorst. In this marriage, the only child of three children survived - the daughter of Sophia Antoinette Juliana (4.1.1707 - 14.1.1725), Baroness von Sandhorst, who died of smallpox at an early age and was buried in the tomb of Criksen's house in Aurich ^[4] .

• Walter Deeters. Christian Eberhard (Neopr.) . Biographisches Lexikon für Ostfriesland. - The article "Christian Eberhard" on the website of the Biographical Dictionary of East Frisia. Date of treatment June 13, 2016. (German)