John Louis of Nassau-Hadamar, (

Dillenburg Dillenburg, officially Oranienstadt Dillenburg, is a town in Hesse's Gießen region in Germany. The town was formerly the seat of the old Dillkreis district, which is now part of the Lahn-Dill-Kreis. The town lies on the German- Dutch holiday roa ...

, 6 August 1590 –

Hadamar Hadamar () is a small town in Limburg-Weilburg district in Hesse, Germany. Hadamar is known for its Clinic for Forensics, Forensic Psychiatry/Centre for Social Psychiatry, lying at the edge of town, in whose outlying buildings is also found th ...

, 10 March 1653) and also known in German as Johann Ludwig, was a German nobleman and member of the House of Nassau who is best known for his role as an aide to the head of the imperial (Holy Roman Empire) delegation for the Peace of Westphalia, Count Maximilian von Trautmansdorff. He was the son of John VI, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg and his third wife Johannetta of Sayn-Wittgenstein. When his father died in 1606, Nassau was divided amongst his five sons. William Louis received

Nassau-Dillenburg The County of Nassau was a German state within the Holy Roman Empire from the period of the formal recognition of the countly title in 1159 (though "de facto" sovereignty began in 1125) until the declaration of the Duchy of Nassau in 1806 with ...

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

received

Nassau-Siegen Nassau-Siegen was a principality within the Holy Roman Empire that existed between 1303 and 1328, and again from 1606 to 1743. From 1626 to 1734, it was subdivided into Catholic and Protestant parts. Its capital was the city of Siegen, found ...

George George may refer to: Names * George (given name) * George (surname) People * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Papagheorghe, also known as Jorge / GEØRGE * George, stage name of Gior ...

received Nassau-Beilstein, Ernst Casimir received

Nassau-Dietz The House of Nassau is the name of a European aristocratic dynasty. The name originated with a lordship associated with Nassau Castle, which is located in what is now Nassau in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. With the fall of the Hohenstaufen ...

and John Louis received Nassau-Hadamar.

Marriage and children

He married in 1617 with Countess Ursula of

Lippe Lippe () is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Herford, Minden-Lübbecke, Höxter, Paderborn, Gütersloh, and district-free Bielefeld, which forms the region Ostwestfalen-Lippe. ...

, daughter of

Simon VI, Count of Lippe Count Simon VI of Lippe (15 April 1554 in Detmold – 7 December 1613 in Brake (now part of Lemgo)) was an imperial count and ruler of the County of Lippe from 1563 until his death. Life Simon was the son of Count Bernhard VIII of Lippe (1 ...

. They had 14 children, of which six survived infancy : * Johanna Elisabeth (1619–1647) married

Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode Frederick of Anhalt-Harzgerode (16 November 1613, Ensdorf, Bavaria – 30 June 1670, Plötzkau), was a German prince of the House of Ascania and the first ruler of the principality of Anhalt-Harzgerode. He was the fourth (but third survi ...

* Sofie Magdalene (1622–1658) married Louis Henry, Prince of Nassau-Dillenburg * Maurice Henry (1626–1679), his successor * Hermann Otto (1627–1660), a canon in Trier, Mainz and Cologne * Johann Ernst (1631–1651), a canon in Cologne and Münster * Franz Bernhard (1637–1695), a canon in Cologne

Career

When John Louis was 28 years old, 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 History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

broke out. He tried in vain to keep Nassau-Hadamar out of the war. His lands suffered from the passage of multitudes of Imperial and Protestant troops, which plundered and requisitioned them into poverty. Highly indebted, John Louis was forced to sell Esterau to Peter Melander Graf von Holzappel in 1643. John Louis was raised a Calvinist, as was sent in 1629 by his brothers as a diplomat to Vienna to negotiate a truce with Emperor Ferdinand II. Here John Louis converted to Catholicism under influence of Wilhelm Lamormaini. John Louis was much appreciated by the Emperor for his diplomatic skills. In 1638 he successfully led the peace negotiations in Cologne and Munster. In 1645 he was added to the Imperial delegation under Maximilian von und zu Trauttmansdorff who negotiated the

Peace of Westphalia The Peace of Westphalia (, ) is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and brought peace to the Holy Roman Empire ...

. By 1647 he had replaced Trauttmansdorff as head of the Imperial delegation, and it was he who finalized the treaty. For this, he was awarded the

Order of the Golden Fleece The Distinguished Order of the Golden Fleece (, ) is a Catholic order of chivalry founded in 1430 in Brugge by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, to celebrate his marriage to Isabella of Portugal, Duchess of Burgundy, Isabella of Portugal. T ...

by King Philip IV of Spain.

Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III (Ferdinand Ernest; 13 July 1608 – 2 April 1657) was Archduke of Austria, Kingdom of Hungary, King of Hungary and Kingdom of Croatia (Habsburg), Croatia from 1625, Kingdom of Bohemia, King of Bohemia from 1627 and Holy Roman Emper ...

made him a Prince (''Fürst'') and gave him a large sum of money.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nassau-Hadamar, John Louis of House of Nassau Diplomats of the Habsburg monarchy 1590 births 1653 deaths Royal reburials