Wilhelm Augustus (Duke of Brunswick-Harburg)

The son of Duke Otto II of Brunswick-Harburg (1528-1603) and his second wife Hedwig (1535-11616), daughter of Count Enno II of Ostfriesland .

William Augustus was considered very educated and, like his father, was a follower of Lutheran doctrine. In 1575 he became the rector of the University of Rostock . Later he continued his studies at the University of Leipzig . In 1582 he made a grand tour of France and England, and then with his brothers entered the University of Helmstedt . In 1594, he again traveled through Germany, Poland, Switzerland, Italy, Holland, Denmark and Livonia. Wilhelm Augustus kept a diary about his travels.

After the death of his father, he assumed the government of Harburg, along with his brothers and Otton III . After Christopher’s death in 1606, William Augustus reigned with Otton III, who died in 1641, just a year before the death of William Augustus himself. Their joint rule was harmonious. In the contract of January 11, 1630, the brothers waived their rights to inherit Braunschweig-Lüneburg in favor of Christian in exchange for Christian paying their debts, which exceeded 150 thousand thalers ^[2] .

In 1618, William Augustus began the construction of a palace in Moisburg . After the death of Duke Friedrich Ulrich Braunschweig-Wolfenbuttelski, he received the inheritance of the county of Hoya . August Wilhelm died unmarried and childless. His inheritance was divided by the dukes of Frederick IV of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Augustus the Younger .

• August B. Michaelis, Julius Wilhelm Hamberger: Einleitung zu einer volständigen Geschichte der Chur- und Fürstlichen Häuser in Teutschland , Meyer, 1759, vol. 1, p. 121
• Vaterländisches Archiv für hannoverisch-braunschweigische Geschichte , Herold & Wahlstab, 1835, p. 243 ff, Online