Louis, Prince of Nassau-Saarbrücken

Louis, Prince of Nassau-Saarbrücken
Louis, Prince of Nassau-Saarbrücken
Born	(1745-01-03)3 January 1745 Saarbrücken
Died	2 March 1794(1794-03-02) (aged 49) Aschaffenburg
Buried	St. Lawrence Church in Usingen
Noble family	House of Nassau
Spouse(s)	Wilhelmine of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt Katharina Kest, Countess of Ottweiler
Father	William Henry, Prince of Nassau-Saarbrücken
Mother	Sophie of Erbach-Erbach

Louis, Prince of Nassau-Saarbrücken (3 January 1745 in Saarbrücken – 2 March 1794 in Aschaffenburg) was the last ruling prince of Nassau-Saarbrücken. He ruled from 1768 until the French Revolution.

Life

Louis was born in Saarbrücken as the second child and first son of William Henry of Nassau-Saarbrücken and his wife Princess Sophie of Erbach-Erbach. Like his father, he was educated at the University of Strasbourg. His Grand Tour led to England (from 1759 to 1766), and the Netherlands, France, and Germany.

On 30 October 1766 Louis married at Schwarzburg Castle to Wilhelmine of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1751–1780). The marriage was an unhappy one, and Wihelmine retreated to Halberg Castle, where she raised their son:

• Henry Louis (1768–1797)

Outside his marriage, Louis fathered two illegitimate children with Baroness Amalie Frederike of Dorsberg, Frederika Louisa (1771), who married François Leclerc d'Alteville, and Louis Charles Philip (1774-1871). On 28 February 1787, he married her maidservant Katharina Kest (1757–1829). Since she was a commoner, Louis rose her to Countess of Ottweiler. From this morganatic marriage, he had seven other children, including his youngest son Adolph:

• Louis Albert (1775–1784)
• Charles Louis (1776–1799)
• Louise (1778–1855)
• Henry (1779–1781)
• Louis (1785–1796)
• Catherine (1786–1818)
• Adolph Louis (1789–1812)

In 1787, the Emperor legitimized their marriage. In 1789, Louis XVI of France conferred upon Katharina the title Duchess of Dillange.

After his father's death in 1768, Louis took up the business of government in Nassau-Saarbrücken. He largely continued his father's economic policies, but was increasingly subject to financial constraints, so that he had to mortgage the Lordsip of Jugenheim to the principality of Nassau-Usingen from 1769 until 1777. In 1770, he requested Emperor Joseph to appoint a Debt Commission. This commission was dissolved in 1782. Since his financial position was still tight, Louis moved his seat of government from the palace in Saarbrücken to his smaller hunting lodges in the surrounding area.

Despite his tight financial position, Louis was able to complete some construction projects. In 1769, he constructed the [Ludwigberg] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) palace and garden on the [Malstatter Bahn] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help). In 1775, he completed the [Ludwigskirche] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) by Friedrich Joachim Stengel, which his father had begun.

He was an enlightened absolutist ruler. He issued new regulations for agriculture and forestry and reformed the school system. He also reformed the penal code and abolished torture.

In 1793, his health was failing when he fled before the French Revolution to Aschaffenburg. He died there in exile, and was buried in the Evangelical St. Lawrence Church in Usingen. On 23 November 1995, his body was transferred to the Castle Church in Saarbrücken.

Ancestors

Family of Louis, Prince of Nassau-Saarbrücken

16. William Louis, Count of Nassau-Saarbrücken 8. Walrad, Prince of Nassau-Usingen 17. Anna Amalia of Baden-Durlach 4. William Henry, Prince of Nassau-Usingen 18. Eustache III de Croÿ-Roeulx 9. Catherine Françoise de Croÿ-Roeulx 19. Theodora of Ketteler 2. William Henry, Prince of Nassau-Saarbrücken 20. George Louis, Prince of Nassau-Dillenburg 10. Henry, Prince of Nassau-Dillenburg 21. Anna Augusta of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel 5. Charlotte Amalia of Nassau-Dillenburg 22. George III of Brieg 11. Dorothea Elisabeth of Brieg 23. Sophie Katharina of Münsterberg-Oels 1. Louis, Prince of Nassau-Saarbrücken 24. George Albert I of Erbach-Breuberg 12. George Albert II of Erbach-Fürstenau 25. Elisabeth Dorothea of Hohenlohe-Schillingfürst 6. George William of Erbach 26. Philip Gottfried of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg 13. Anna Dorothea Christina of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg 27. Anna Christine of Limpurg-Sontheim 3. Sophie of Erbach-Erbach 28. Julius August of Bothmer 14. John Caspar of Bothmer 29. Margaret Eleonore of Petersdorf 7. Sophia Charlotte of Bothmer 30. Louis Gebhard of Hoym 15. Gisela Erdmuthe of Hoym 31. Katharina Sophie of Schönfeldt

References

• Albert Ruppersberg: Geschichte der Grafschaft Saarbrücken,vol. 2, Saarbrücken, 2nd ed., 1910 (reprinted: St. Ingbert, 1979), p. 295-372

External links

• The funeral of Prince Louis of Nassau-Saarbrücken
• Louis of Nassau-Saarbrücken in the Saarland biographies