Augustus the Elder,
Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...
(18 November 1568 – 1 October 1636) was the Lutheran
Bishop of Ratzeburg
The Diocese of Ratzeburg (, ) is a former diocese of the Catholic Church. It was erected from the Diocese of Oldenburg c. 1050 and was suppressed in 1554. The diocese was originally a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Hamburg; in 1072 it became a su ...
from 1610 to 1636 and the
Prince of Lüneburg
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The fem ...
from 1633 to 1636.
Life
Augustus was born in 1564 as the fifth of fifteen children and the son of
William the Younger and his wife
Dorothea of Denmark. As a young man he was a colonel in the service of
Rudolf II
Rudolf II (18 July 1552 – 20 January 1612) was Holy Roman Emperor (1576–1612), King of Hungary and Croatia (as Rudolf I, 1572–1608), King of Bohemia (1575–1608/1611) and Archduke of Austria (1576–1608). He was a member of the H ...
and fought in the campaigns against France and Turkey. In 1610 Augustus became the Lutheran
administrator
Administrator or admin may refer to:
Job roles Computing and internet
* Database administrator, a person who is responsible for the environmental aspects of a database
* Forum administrator, one who oversees discussions on an Internet forum
* N ...
of the Prince-Bishopric of Ratzeburg.
In order to prevent hereditary aspirations the Ratzeburg
cathedral chapter
According to both Catholic and Anglican canon law, a cathedral chapter is a college of clerics ( chapter) formed to advise a bishop and, in the case of a vacancy of the episcopal see in some countries, to govern the diocese during the vacancy. In ...
, the elective body, insisted that on ascending to power in the prince-bishopric (an
elective monarchy
An elective monarchy is a monarchy ruled by a monarch who is elected, in contrast to a hereditary monarchy in which the office is automatically passed down as a family inheritance. The manner of election, the nature of candidate qualifications, ...
), Augustus committed himself in his
election capitulation not to marry. Nevertheless he lived with Ilse Schmidtchen, a commoner, in a 'marriage-like relationship'
[Christa Geckler, ''Die Celler Herzöge - Leben und Wirken 1371-1705'', p. 73] and had 12 children by her; he built her a house near his residence,
Celle Castle
Celle Castle () or, less commonly, Celle Palace, in the German town of Celle in Lower Saxony, was one of the residences of the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg. This quadrangular building is the largest castle in the southern Lüneburg Heath reg ...
. The children were later elevated to the hereditary peerage under the name ''von Lüneburg''; this surname still exists.
In 1633 Augustus succeeded his brother,
Christian
A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
, who had died, as Prince of Lüneburg. During the
Thirty Years War
The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine, or disease, whil ...
he continued the policy of neutrality started by his brother. He died in
Celle
Celle () is a town and capital of the district of Celle (district), Celle in Lower Saxony, in north-central Germany. The town is situated on the banks of the river Aller (Germany), Aller, a tributary of the Weser, and has a population of about ...
in 1636.
Since 1831, the family descended from Augustus has resided at
Essenrode Manor
The Essenrode Manor in Essenrode, a town within the municipality of Lehre, Lower Saxony, was built by Gotthart Heinrich August von Bülow in 1738.
Description
The mansion is built in a late Baroque style surrounded by a small English-style park ...
. The last male heir (who died in 1961) of this ''von Lüneburg''
morganatic line adopted his great-nephew, Baron Ernst Bussche, heir of Essenrode Manor, who took on the name ''von Lüneburg''.
Ancestors
See also
*
House of Welf
The House of Welf (also Guelf or Guelph) is a European dynasty that has included many German and British monarchs from the 11th to 20th century and Emperor Ivan VI of Russia in the 18th century. The originally Franconian family from the Meuse-Mo ...
References
Sources
* Geckler, Christa (1986). ''Die Celler Herzöge: Leben und Wirken 1371–1705''. Celle: Georg Ströher. . .
External links
Die House of Welf
{{DEFAULTSORT:Augustus 01, Duke of Brunswick-Luneburg
Princes of Lüneburg
17th-century Lutheran bishops
1568 births
1636 deaths
Lutheran Prince-Bishops of Ratzeburg
Middle House of Lüneburg
New House of Lüneburg