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Louis William, Margrave of Baden-Baden (german: links=no, Ludwig Wilhelm von Baden-Baden; 8 April 1655 – 4 January 1707) was the ruling Margrave of Baden-Baden in Germany and chief commander of the Imperial army. He was also known as ''Türkenlouis'' ("Turkish Louis") for his numerous victories against Ottoman forces. After his death in 1707, his wife, Sibylle of Saxe-Lauenburg, acted as regent of Baden-Baden during the minority of his eldest son, who succeeded him as Margrave of Baden-Baden.


Family

Born in
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...
, Louis was a son of Hereditary Prince Ferdinand Maximilian of Baden-Baden and his French wife, Louise of Savoy. His godfather was
Louis XIV of France , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of ...
. His father was the elder son of Wilhelm, Margrave of Baden-Baden, whom he pre-deceased, leaving Louis to succeed as reigning
Margrave Margrave was originally the medieval title for the military commander assigned to maintain the defence of one of the border provinces of the Holy Roman Empire or of a kingdom. That position became hereditary in certain feudal families in the ...
of Baden-Baden and head of the Catholic branch of the
House of Zähringen The House of Zähringen (german: Zähringer) was a dynasty of Swabian nobility. The family's name derived from Zähringen Castle near Freiburg im Breisgau. The Zähringer in the 12th century used the title of Duke of Zähringen, in compensation ...
. His mother's brother was the Count of Soissons, father of the renowned general
Prince Eugene of Savoy Prince Eugene Francis of Savoy–Carignano, (18 October 1663 – 21 April 1736) better known as Prince Eugene, was a Generalfeldmarschall, field marshal in the army of the Holy Roman Empire and of the Austrian Habsburg dynasty during the 17th a ...
, whose military career would start in the shadow of Louis, Eugene being Louis's junior; the cousins would serve together the
Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...
against the French in several campaigns. His parents being estranged, he was kidnapped as a child from his mother's home in Paris and re-patriated to Germany, where he was raised by his paternal step-grandmother.


Military career

Louis William served first under Raimondo Montecuccoli against Turenne, and then under the duke of Lorraine. At the siege of Vienna by the Turks, in 1683, he threw his forces into the city, and by a brilliant sally effected a junction with Jan III Sobieski and the Duke of Lorraine, who had come to its relief. In 1689 he defeated the Turks at
Niš Niš (; sr-Cyrl, Ниш, ; names in other languages) is the third largest city in Serbia and the administrative center of the Nišava District. It is located in southern part of Serbia. , the city proper has a population of 183,164, whi ...
. Louis came to be called the ''Türkenlouis'' or ''shield of the empire''. The Turks called him the ''red king'', because his red uniform jacket made him very visible on the battlefield. He was known as a defender of Europe against the Turks, as was Eugene of Savoy. As a military commander in the service of the
Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 unt ...
, in 1689 he was made chief commander of the Imperial army in
Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...
, where he scored a resounding victory against the Ottomans at Slankamen in 1691. Louis saw
Osijek Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...
as a location of exceptional strategic importance in the war against the Ottomans. He urged the repair of the city walls, and proposed construction of a new fort called Tvrđa, according to Vauban's principles of military engineering. Shortly afterward he was sent to head the army of the Rhine in the War of the Grand Alliance. In 1701, he built the Lines of Stollhofen, a line of defensive earthworks designed to protect northern
Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden i ...
from French attack. He later led the imperial army in the
War of the Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1714. The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Phil ...
where he successfully concluded the Siege of Landau in September 1702, but soon had to withdraw across the
Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , source ...
and was defeated by the French under the
Duke of Villars Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are r ...
at
Friedlingen The Battle of Friedlingen was fought in 1702 between France and the Holy Roman Empire. The Imperial forces were led by Louis William, Margrave of Baden-Baden, while the French were led by Claude Louis Hector de Villars. The French were victor ...
. In 1704 however, he participated in the successful German campaign of Marlborough and Eugene of Savoy. He distinguished himself in the Battle of Schellenberg and besieged and conquered
Ingolstadt Ingolstadt (, Austro-Bavarian: ) is an independent city on the Danube in Upper Bavaria with 139,553 inhabitants (as of June 30, 2022). Around half a million people live in the metropolitan area. Ingolstadt is the second largest city in Upper Ba ...
and
Landau Landau ( pfl, Landach), officially Landau in der Pfalz, is an autonomous (''kreisfrei'') town surrounded by the Südliche Weinstraße ("Southern Wine Route") district of southern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a university town (since 1990 ...
, thus drawing Bavarian troops away from the decisive
Battle of Blenheim The Battle of Blenheim (german: Zweite Schlacht bei Höchstädt, link=no; french: Bataille de Höchstädt, link=no; nl, Slag bij Blenheim, link=no) fought on , was a major battle of the War of the Spanish Succession. The overwhelming Allied ...
. . At the Battle of Schellenberg in July 1704, Ludwig Wilhelm had suffered a wound that did not fully heal. He continued to command on the Upper Rhine without treating the injury and died as a result of this wound on January 4, 1707 at the age of 51 in his unfinished Schloss Rastatt. In his painting "The Last Hours of Louis Wiliam" the German-Greek painter Aris Kalaizis immortalized the end of the life of the commander. His wife took up a regency for their son, Louis George. The latter took over the government from his mother in October 1727.


Marriage and children

The Emperor gave him a young heiress to wed, Sibylle of Saxe-Lauenburg. They had the following children: #Leopold William of Baden-Baden (1694 – 1695) Hereditary Prince of Baden-Baden, died in infancy; #Charlotte of Baden-Baden (1696 – 1700) died in infancy; #Charles Joseph of Baden-Baden (1697 – 1703) Hereditary Prince of Baden-Baden, died young; # Louis George Simpert of Baden-Baden, (7 June 1702 – 22 October 1761) Margrave of Baden-Baden, married Maria Anna of Schwarzenberg, had children; married again to Maria Anna of Bavaria, no children; #Wilhelmine of Baden-Baden (1700 in Schlackenwerth – 1702 in Schlackenwerth), died in infancy; #Luise of Baden-Baden (1701 in Nürnberg – 1707), died young; #Wilhelm Georg Simpert of Baden-Baden (1703 – 1709), died young; # Auguste of Baden-Baden, (10. November 1704 in Aschaffenburg – 8. August 1726 in Paris) married Louis d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans and had children. # Augustus George Simpert of Baden-Baden, (14 January 1706 – 21 October 1771) Margrave of Baden-Baden, married Marie Victoire d'Arenberg, no male children. Seventeen years after the margrave's death, the only one of his daughters to survive childhood, Princess Auguste, married Louis d'Orléans, son of the infamous French
Regent A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...
and, at the time of the wedding, first in the line of succession to the throne of France. His descendant through this marriage became King Louis Philippe of the French in 1830. After the death of Louis, his widow built Schloss Favorite castle as a summer residence in memory of her husband. He was buried at the Stiftskirche in Baden-Baden.


Ancestry


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Louis William, Margrave of Baden-Baden 1655 births 1707 deaths House of Zähringen Nobility from Paris Roman Catholic monarchs Candidates for the Polish elective throne Hereditary Princes of Baden-Baden Margraves of Baden-Baden German army commanders in the War of the Spanish Succession German military personnel of the Nine Years' War Knights of the Golden Fleece People of the Great Turkish War Field marshals of the Holy Roman Empire Soldiers of the Imperial Circles Burials at Stiftskirche, Baden-Baden Military personnel of the Franco-Dutch War