Anthony Ulrich, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
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Hitzacker
Hitzacker is a town in the Lüchow-Dannenberg district of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Elbe, approx. 8 km north of Dannenberg, and 45 km east of Lüneburg. The 2007 population of Hitzacker was 4,982, and its postal code is 29456. The mayor is Karl Guhl...
– 27 March 1714, Salzdahlum) was duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
Brunswick-Lüneburg
The Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg , or more properly Duchy of Brunswick and Lüneburg, was an historical ducal state from the late Middle Ages until the late Early Modern era within the North-Western domains of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, in what is now northern Germany...
and ruled over the Wolfenbüttel subdivision of the duchy from 1685 until 1702 jointly with his brother, and solely from 1704 until his death.
Life
Anthony Ulrich was the second son of Augustus the Younger, Duke of Brunswick-LüneburgAugustus the Younger, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
Augustus of Brunswick-Lüneburg , 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....
; he studied at the University of Helmstedt
University of Helmstedt
The University of Helmstedt, official Latin name: Academia Julia , was a university in Helmstedt in the Duchy of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel that existed from 1576 until 1810....
. After their father's death in 1666, Rudolph Augustus
Rudolph Augustus, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
Rudolph Augustus was duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg from 1666 until his death. He ruled over the Wolfenbüttel subdivision of the duchy...
, Anthony Ulrich's elder brother, became reigning duke and made Anthony Ulrich his proxy. In 1685, Rudolph Augustus made Anthony Ulrich a coregent with equal rights; Rudolph Augustus had little interest in government affairs and left most decisions to his brother.
After the Hanover
Electorate of Hanover
The Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg was the ninth Electorate of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation...
subdivision of the duchy had received a new prince-elector
Prince-elector
The Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire were the members of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire, having the function of electing the Roman king or, from the middle of the 16th century onwards, directly the Holy Roman Emperor.The heir-apparent to a prince-elector was known as an...
ship from the Emperor in 1692, tensions between the two states rose, as both Anthony Ulrich and Rudolph Augustus were dismayed that they had not received the electorship. While both Hanover and Lüneburg
Principality of Lüneburg
The Principality of Lüneburg was a territorial division of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg within the Holy Roman Empire, immediately subordinate to the emperor. It existed from 1269 until 1705 and its territory lay within the modern-day state of Lower Saxony in Germany...
sided with Emperor Leopold I
Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor
| style="float:right;" | Leopold I was a Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary and King of Bohemia. A member of the Habsburg family, he was the second son of Emperor Ferdinand III and his first wife, Maria Anna of Spain. His maternal grandparents were Philip III of Spain and Margaret of Austria...
in the War of the Spanish Succession
War of the Spanish Succession
The War of the Spanish Succession was fought among several European powers, including a divided Spain, over the possible unification of the Kingdoms of Spain and France under one Bourbon monarch. As France and Spain were among the most powerful states of Europe, such a unification would have...
, Anthony Ulrich decided to enter into an agreement with France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. This led to Hanover and Lüneburg invading the Principality of Wolfenbüttel in March 1702; Anthony Ulrich was almost captured while travelling from Wolfenbüttel
Wolfenbüttel
Wolfenbüttel is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, located on the Oker river about 13 kilometres south of Brunswick. It is the seat of the District of Wolfenbüttel and of the bishop of the Protestant Lutheran State Church of Brunswick...
to Brunswick. By order of the Emperor, Anthony Ulrich was deposed as duke against his brother's protestations, and Rudolph Augustus remained as the only ruler, while Anthony Ulrich fled to Saxe-Gotha
Saxe-Gotha
Saxe-Gotha was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine of the Wettin dynasty in the former Landgraviate of Thuringia. The ducal residence was erected at Gotha....
. In April 1702, Rudolph Augustus signed a treaty with Hanover and Lüneburg that Anthony Ulrich later agreed to.
After Rudolph Augustus' death in 1704, Anthony Ulrich took over government again. He continued to settle various disputes with Hanover, until a final agreement between the two sister principalities was reached in 1706.
In 1709, Anthony Ulrich converted to the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
, but guaranteed to his subjects that this would not influence his government, although he allowed the opening of the first Catholic church in his state. He died at Schloss Salzdahlum
Schloss Salzdahlum
Schloss Salzdahlum was a former summer palace built by Anthony Ulrich, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel in 1684.It was dismantled in 1813 but parts of it can still be seen in the town of Salzdahlum....
, which he had built, in 1714, and was succeeded by his eldest surviving son, Augustus William
Augustus William, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
Augustus William, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg ruled over the Wolfenbüttel subdivision of the duchy from 1714 until his death....
.
Anthony Ulrich is known as a supporter of scholarship and the arts. He significantly extended the Bibliotheca Augusta, a library founded by his father. He hired the philosopher Leibniz as a librarian, and was a supporter of Anton Wilhelm Amo
Anton Wilhelm Amo
Anton Wilhelm Amo or Anthony William Amo was born in what is now Ghana, taken to Europe, and became a respected philosopher and teacher at the universities of Halle and Jena in Germany. He was the first African known to have attended a European university.-Early life and education:Amo was a Nzema...
, the first black Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
in Europe. He wrote two novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
s and a number of poems, and had a large art collection, which later became the foundation of the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum
Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum
The Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum is an art museum in the German city of Braunschweig, Lower Saxony.Founded in 1754, the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum is one of the oldest museums in Europe. It houses a collection of masters of Western art, including Cranach, Holbein, Van Dyck, Vermeer, Rubens, and...
(Duke Anthony Ulrich Museum).
Children
Anthony Ulrich married Elizabeth Juliana, daughter of Frederick, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sønderburg-Nordborg, in 1656. They had the following children who reached adulthood:- Augustus Frederick (1657-1676)
- Elizabeth Eleanore Sophie (1658-1729), married John George, Duke of Mecklenburg-Mirow and Bernhard I, Duke of Saxe-MeiningenBernhard I, Duke of Saxe-MeiningenBernhard I, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen was a duke of Saxe-Meiningen.He was the sixth but third surviving son of Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Altenburg and Elisabeth Sophie of Saxe-Altenburg....
- Anne Sophie (1659-1742), married Charles Gustav, Margrave of Baden-Durlach
- Augustus WilliamAugustus William, Duke of Brunswick-LüneburgAugustus William, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg ruled over the Wolfenbüttel subdivision of the duchy from 1714 until his death....
(1662-1731) - Augusta Dorothea (1666-1751), married Anthony Gunther, Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen
- Henrietta Christine, Abbess of Gandersheim (1669-1753)
- Louis RudolphLouis Rudolph, Duke of Brunswick-LüneburgLouis Rudolph, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg ruled over the Wolfenbüttel subdivision of the duchy from 1731 until his death....
(1671-1735)
Ancestry
Novels
- Die durchleuchtige Syrerinn Aramena ("Aramena the Illustrious Syrian"; 1669-1673)
- Die Römische Octavia ("Octavia the Roman"; 1677-1707)