Augustus II, Duke of Brunswick

For other people named Augustus of Brunswick-Lüneburg (disambiguation)|Augustus of Brunswick-Lüneburg, see Augustus of Brunswick-Lüneburg (disambiguation).

Augustus of Brunswick-Lüneburg
Augustus of Brunswick-Lüneburg in 1666
Born	(1579-04-10)10 April 1579 Dannenberg
Died	17 September 1666(1666-09-17) (aged 87) Wolfenbüttel
Noble family	House of Guelph
Spouse(s)	Clara Maria of Pomerania-Barth Dorothea of Anhalt-Zerbst Elisabeth Sophie of Mecklenburg
Father	Henry, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
Mother	Ursula of Saxe-Lauenburg

Augustus of Brunswick-Lüneburg (10 April 1579 – 17 September 1666), called the Younger, was duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg. In the estate division of the House of Welf of 1635, he received the Principality of Wolfenbüttel.

August von Brunswick-Lüneburg. Engraving after Anselm van Hulle.

Augustus in his library (1650)
by Conrad Buno

Augustus was born in Dannenberg, the seventh child of Henry, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg. After complicated negotiations with his family members and an intervention by Emperor Ferdinand II, it was agreed that he should inherit Wolfenbüttel, whose last ruler had died in 1634. Because of the Thirty Years' War, he could not move into his residence until 1644. Augustus instituted a number of government reforms, and founded the Bibliotheca Augusta, a large library, in Wolfenbüttel (now the Herzog August Bibliothek — "HAB").

Under the pseudonym Gustavus Selenus, he wrote a book on chess in 1616, Chess or the King's Game, and on cryptography in 1624: Cryptomenytices et Cryptographiae libri IX. The pseudonym is a cryptic reference to his name, Gustavus anagrams (with U=V) to Augustus, the surname is a play on the Greek goddess of the moon (Selene). The book on cryptography is largely based on earlier work by Trithemius.

Augustus died at Wolfenbüttel and was succeeded by his three sons, Rudolph Augustus, Anthony Ulrich, and Ferdinand Albert. His daughter Clara Augusta of Brunswick-Lüneburg married Frederick of Württemberg-Neuenstadt (19 December 1615 – 24 March 1682) on 7 June 1653.

Ancestors

Family of Augustus II, Duke of Brunswick

16. Otto V of Lüneburg 8. Henry I of Lüneburg 17. Anna of Nassau-Dillenburg 4. Ernest I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg 18. Ernest, Elector of Saxony 9. Margarete of Saxony 19. Elisabeth of Bavaria 2. Henry III, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg 20. Magnus II, Duke of Mecklenburg (= 30) 10. Henry V, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin 21. Sophie of Pomerania-Stettin (= 31) 5. Sophia of Mecklenburg-Schwerin 22. John Cicero, Elector of Brandenburg 11. Ursula of Brandenburg 23. Margarethe of Saxony 1. Augustus the Younger, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel 24. John V, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg 12. Magnus I, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg 25. Dorothea of Brandenburg 6. Francis I, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg 26. Henry IV, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg 13. Catherine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel 27. Catherine of Pomerania 3. Ursula of Saxe-Lauenburg 28. Albert III, Duke of Saxony 14. Henry IV, Duke of Saxony 29. Sidonie of Poděbrady 7. Sybille of Saxony 30. Magnus II, Duke of Mecklenburg (= 20) 15. Catherine of Mecklenburg 31. Sophie of Pomerania-Stettin (= 21)

External links

• Bibliotheca Augusta