Ferdinand Kettler (November 1, 1655 - May 4, 1737) was the

Duke of Courland and Semigallia The Duchy of Courland and Semigallia ( la, Ducatus Curlandiæ et Semigalliæ; german: Herzogtum Kurland und Semgallen; lv, Kurzemes un Zemgales hercogiste; lt, Kuršo ir Žiemgalos kunigaikštystė; pl, Księstwo Kurlandii i Semigalii) was ...

from 1730 to 1737. He was married to

Johanna Magdalene of Saxe-Weissenfels Johanna Magdalene of Saxe-Weissenfels (17 March 1708 – 25 January 1760), was a Duchess consort of Courland and by marriage member of the House of Kettler. By birth she was member of the Saxe-Weissenfels line of the House of Wettin. Ear ...

in 1730.

Early life

Ferdinand Kettler was the son of

Jacob Kettler Jacob Kettler (german: link=no, Jakob von Kettler) (Latvian: Hercogs Jēkabs Ketlers) (28 October 1610 – 1 January 1682) was one of the greatest Baltic German Dukes of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia (1642–1682). He was intelligent, sp ...

and

Louise Charlotte of Brandenburg Louise Charlotte of Brandenburg (13 September 1617 – 28 August 1676), was a Duchess consort of Courland by marriage to Duke Jacob Kettler of Courland. She was born to George William, Elector of Brandenburg and Elizabeth Charlotte of the P ...

. He was introduced to this world on November 1, 1655, in

Jelgava, Latvia Jelgava (; german: Mitau, ; see also other names) is a state city in central Latvia about southwest of Riga with 55,972 inhabitants (2019). It is the largest town in the region of Zemgale (Semigalia). Jelgava was the capital of the united D ...

. Therefore, he is Latvian. He and his family were held captive by the

Swedes Swedes ( sv, svenskar) are a North Germanic ethnic group native to the Nordic region, primarily their nation state of Sweden, who share a common ancestry, culture, history and language. They mostly inhabit Sweden and the other Nordic countr ...

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the ...

. They were moved to

Ivangorod Ivangorod ( rus, Иванго́род, p=ɪvɐnˈɡorət; et, Jaanilinn; vot, Jaanilidna) is a town in Kingiseppsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the east bank of the Narva river which flows along the Estonia–Russia int ...

, then part of Swedish

Ingermanland Ingria is a historical region in what is now northwestern European Russia. It lies along the southeastern shore of the Gulf of Finland, bordered by Lake Ladoga on the Karelian Isthmus in the north and by the River Narva on the border with ...

, and held there between 1658 and 1660 (a total of two years). After the death of his father, Jacob Kettler, in 1682, the duchy passed to Ferdinand's older brother,

Frederick Casimir Kettler Frederick Casimir Kettler ( German: ''Friedrich Casimir Kettler''; 6 July 1650 – 22 January 1698) was Duke of Courland and Semigallia from 1682 to 1698. Frederick Casimir was the son of Jacob Kettler and Louise Charlotte of Brandenburg. In his ...

. Frederick was in the

Polish army The Land Forces () are the land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 62,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military history stre ...

, where he reached the rank of Lieutenant-General and participated in many battles against the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...

. After Frederick's death in 1698, his widow and Ferdinand became guardians of the minor heir, Friedrich Wilhelm Kettler, and ruled the duchy in his name.

Later life

When the

Great Northern War The Great Northern War (1700–1721) was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swe ...

started in 1700, Ferdinand fought in battles near

. After his defeat in the Battle of Daugava, he fled to Danzig, where he stayed until his death. The council of the duchy (''Landtag'') under Swedish occupation refused to recognize Ferdinand as duke. Meanwhile, Friedrich Wilhelm Kettler had married

Anna of Russia Anna Ioannovna (russian: Анна Иоанновна; ), also russified as Anna Ivanovna and sometimes anglicized as Anne, served as regent of the duchy of Courland from 1711 until 1730 and then ruled as Empress of Russia from 1730 to 1740. Much ...

. When Friedrich Wilhelm died, he left Ferdinand as the last heir to the throne of Courland from the

House of Kettler Ketteler (also Kettler) is the name of a Baltic German noble family that originated in Westphalia. Origin Goswin Ketteler zu Assen (c. 1400 – c. 1471) divided the property with his younger brother Röttger around 1440. He built a new house on ...

. However, Ferdinand was reluctant to return, and the duchy was instead ruled by Anna of Russia, who acted as regent. In 1725, the Council of the Duchy elected

Maurice de Saxe Maurice, Count of Saxony (german: Hermann Moritz von Sachsen, french: Maurice de Saxe; 28 October 1696 – 20 November 1750) was a notable soldier, officer and a famed military commander of the 18th century. The illegitimate son of Augustus I ...

as the new duke. However, he soon left Courland because of friction with the Russian imperial administration. In 1730, Ferdinand, then 75 years old, married young Princess Johanna Magdalene of

Saxe-Weissenfels Saxe-Weissenfels (german: Sachsen-Weißenfels) was a duchy of the Holy Roman Empire from 1656/7 until 1746 with its residence at Weißenfels. Ruled by a cadet branch of the Albertine House of Wettin, the duchy passed to the Electorate of Saxony u ...

. That same year, Anna of Russia became

tsar Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East and South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" in the European medieval sense of the ter ...

ina of the Russian Empire. The Council of the Duchy finally recognized Ferdinand as duke. However, in 1736, the King of Poland, August III, in a private meeting, offered the throne of Courland to

Ernst Johann von Biron Ernst Johann von Biron (german: Ernst Johann von Biron; russian: link=no, Эрнст Иоганн Бирон; (german: link=no, Bühren); ) was a Duke of Courland and Semigallia (1737–1740 and 1763–1769) and briefly regent of the Russian E ...

. Biron was Anna's lover and had great influence on state affairs. Ferdinand died in Danzig, Poland, on May 4, 1737. He had no children. A month later, the Council of the Duchy elected Ernst Johann von Biron as the new Duke of Courland and Semigallia.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kettler, Ferdinand Generals of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Dukes of Courland 1655 births 1737 deaths 18th-century Latvian people Baltic-German people People from Jelgava Burials in the Ducal Crypt of the Jelgava Palace