John Ernest of Nassau-Siegen
Hereditary Count John Ernst of Nassau-Siegen. Studio of Jan Antonisz. van Ravesteyn, c. 1609–1633. Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.
Coat of arms
Full name
John Ernest Hereditary Count of Nassau-Siegen
Native nameJohann Ernst Erbgraf von Nassau-Siegen
BornJohann Ernst Graf zu Nassau, Katzenelnbogen, Vianden und Diez, Herr zu Beilstein
21 October 1582Jul.
Siegen Castle
Died16/17 September 1617Jul.
Udine
Buried19 April 1618
St. Nicholas Church, Siegen
Reburied: 29 April 1690
Fürstengruft, Siegen
Noble familyHouse of Nassau-Siegen
Spouse(s)–
Issue–
FatherJohn VII the Middle of Nassau-Siegen
MotherMagdalene of Waldeck-Wildungen
OccupationColonel in the Dutch States Army
General in the Republic of Venice

Hereditary Count John Ernest of Nassau-Siegen (21 October 1582Jul. – 16/17 September 1617Jul.), German: Johann Ernst Erbgraf von Nassau-Siegen, official titles: Graf zu Nassau, Katzenelnbogen, Vianden und Diez, Herr zu Beilstein, was since 1607 Hereditary Count of Nassau-Siegen, a part of the County of Nassau. He descended from the House of Nassau-Siegen, a cadet branch of the Ottonian Line of the House of Nassau. He first served as an officer in the Dutch States Army and later as general in the Republic of Venice during the Uskok War.

Biography

Siegen in 1617. From Braun & Hogenberg, Civitates orbis terrarum Band 6, Cologne, 1617. On the left Siegen Castle.

John Ernest was born at Siegen Castle on 21 October 1582Jul.,[1][note 1] the eldest son of Count John VII the Middle of Nassau-Siegen and his first wife, Countess Magdalene of Waldeck-Wildungen.[3] John Ernest studied in Kassel in 1595,[4][5] and then in Geneva.[5][6][7] He later stayed with his uncle William Louis of Nassau-Dillenburg in Leeuwarden.[5]

In the Dutch States Army

John Ernest served in the Dutch States Army under Maurice of Nassau since 1601, where he took part in the Siege of Ostend. Later, he served as a hopman in the regiment of his uncle Ernest Casimir of Nassau-Diez.[5] From May to July 1603 he took part in the special envoy to London to congratulate King James I of England on his accession to the throne. The envoy also included Frederick Henry of Nassau, grand pensionary Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, Walraven III van Brederode and the regent Jacob Valcke from Zeeland. At the first audience, a comical misunderstanding occurred when John Ernest was mistaken for Frederick Henry by James I.[8] John Ernest was appointed captain on 22 September 1603. At the Siege of Sluis in 1604 he was shot in the leg.[9] On 6 May 1606 he was appointed colonel of the regiment Walloons.[6][9]

John Ernest and his younger brothers Adolf and John the Younger had the reputation of being gamblers and of showing a completely unseemly splendour in their clothes and appearance. Their father wrote letters to the young counts, full of fatherly admonitions, exhorting them to be thrifty, because he did not know what to do with his worries and debts. In a letter of 8 December 1608 he even considered the death of Adolf as a punishment from God and he exhorted the two others, who with "einem ärgerlichen Leben mit Verschwendung fast allem, was ich in der Welt habe, durch Ehebrechen und Hurerei, Plünderung und Beraubung armer, unschuldiger Leute hoch und niederen Standen" ("an annoying life of squandering almost everything I have in the world, through adultery and fornication, plundering and robbing poor, innocent people of high and low rank") ruined the county of Nassau-Siegen, to lead a different, better life, worthy of the name Nassau.[10]

John Ernest took part in the Siege of Jülich in 1610 with Maurice of Nassau,[6][9][note 2] where he was appointed second-in-command.[11] In 1615 he took part in Frederick Henry of Nassau's march to the Hansa city of Brunswick,[6][9] which was in conflict with Duke Frederick Ulrich of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and besieged by him. The Dutch States Army crossed neutral territory – especially the Bishopric of Münster – to relieve the besieged city. It did not come to an armed encounter; when Frederick Henry arrived at Schlüsselberg by the Weser, Frederick Ulrich broke up the siege.[12] John Ernest's father then managed to negotiate an agreement between the Duke and the city.[13]

Hereditary Count of Nassau-Siegen

Siegen Castle, 2011.

When his grandfather Count John VI the Elder of Nassau-Siegen died on 8 October 1606, he was succeeded by John Ernest's father together with his brothers William Louis, George, Ernest Casimir and John Louis.[14] On 30 March 1607 these brothers divided their possessions.[4][7] John the Middle acquired Siegen, Freudenberg, Netphen, Hilchenbach, Ferndorf and the Haingericht.[14][note 3] The brothers then also signed an succession treaty.[16] By this agreement the heirs of the brothers were explicitly forbidden to convert to a religion other than the Reformed confession.[17] Since the partition, John the Middle has had his Residenz in Siegen Castle,[18] which he had renovated around that time.[19] Because the county of Nassau-Siegen was such a small country (it had about 9.000 inhabitants and yielded about 13.000 guilders annually) John the Middle decided that the county should not be divided up again. To avoid this, on 8 April 1607 he made a will and testament, which stated that only the eldest son would rule, and the other children should be compensated with money or offices. Thus, John Ernest became the heir apparent of Nassau-Siegen. With his father, his brother John the Younger and his uncle George of Nassau-Beilstein, John Ernest was present at the coronation of Roman King Matthias in Frankfurt in 1612.[20]

In the service of the Venetian Republic

The location of the main cities in the Uskok War.

The signing of the Twelve Years' Truce and the end of the War of the Jülich Succession deprived John Ernest of the opportunity to distinguish himself further.[11] In 1616 the Republic of Venice under Doge Giovanni Bembo requested assistance from the States General of the Netherlands in its struggle with Archduke Ferdinand of Inner Austria over the borders of Istria and Friuli and the protection which Ferdinand granted to the Uskoks, notorious pirates in the Adriatic Sea. After these Uskoks, this war between Venice and Inner Austria was called the Uskok War. The request concerned foot soldiers and cavalry.[21] John Ernest obtained permission from the States General in a resolution of 3 October 1616 to enter the service of the Venetian Republic with a regiment of foot soldiers.[22] The permission concerned a leave of absence from State service for one year to enable him to take command of 3,000 men.[21]

On 2 March 1617, John Ernest, at the head of his soldiers, left the shipstead of Texel and, after a prosperous journey, arrived in Venice on 4 April.[11][note 4] There John Ernest was received with joy. The Doge of Venice had previously granted him the rank and title of General of the Dutch Armed Forces.[11]

John Ernest arrived with his troops at Gradisca, a small but strong Austrian town in the County of Gorizia, on the River Isonzo, which had been besieged in vain by the Venetians for a long time. Initially, two enemy sconces were conquered by the Dutch, but when John Ernest wanted to take advantage of the terror of the besieged, the commander of the Venetians prevented him from doing so. John Ernest remained with his troops before Gradisca, and no doubt this city would have collapsed if the peace had not been signed shortly before. John Ernest did not live to see the signing of the peace; he died shortly before in Udine of dysentery.[11] The auxiliary army of John Ernest and also the troops of some other Dutch leaders dwindled away in a few years. The leaders were involved in conflicts or died. In the years 1619 and 1620, many of the survivors returned to the homeland.[23]

Death, burial and reburial

John Ernest died in Udine in the night of 16/17 September 1617Jul..[1][note 5] His body was embalmed, and taken in a coach to Venice.[25] From there, his body was taken at the expense of the Venetian Republic to Siegen, where it was interred on 19 April 1618 under the choir of the St. Nicholas Church.[26] There, his father had planned the construction of a dignified burial vault for the dynasty he founded. For this, there are remarkable notes in Latin, partly in elegiac couplets, for a projected memorial and burial place of the sovereign family, from the time around 1620, with the names of all 25 children from his two marriages, also with details of birth, marriage and death of his relatives. Since the project was not carried out, the burials of the members of the sovereign family between 1607 and 1658 took place in the inadequate burial vault under the choir of the mentioned parish church.[18] John Ernest was reburied in the Fürstengruft in Siegen on 29 April 1690.[26]

Ancestors

Ancestors of John Ernest of Nassau-Siegen[14][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37]
Great-great-grandparents John V of Nassau-Siegen
(1455–1516)
⚭ 1482
Elisabeth of Hesse-Marburg
(1466–1523)		 Bodo III the Blissful of Stolberg-Wernigerode
(1467–1538)
⚭ 1500
Anne of Eppstein-Königstein
(1481–1538)		 John IV of Leuchtenberg
(1470–1531)
⚭ 1502
Margaret of Schwarzburg-Blankenburg
(1482–1518)		 Frederick I the Elder of Brandenburg-Ansbach
(1460–1536)
⚭ 1479
Sophia of Poland
(1464–1512)		 Philip I of Waldeck-Waldeck
(1445–1475)
⚭ 1464
Joanne of Nassau-Siegen
(1444–1468)		 William of Runkel
(d. 1489)
⚭ 1454
Irmgard of Rollingen
(d. 1514)		 Gerlach II of Isenburg-Grenzau
(d. 1500)
⚭ 1455
Hildegard of Sierck
(d. 1490)		 Henry of Hunolstein-Neumagen
(d. 1486)
⚭ 1466
Elisabeth de Boulay
(d. 1507)
Great-grandparents William I the Rich of Nassau-Siegen
(1487–1559)
⚭ 1531
Juliane of Stolberg-Wernigerode
(1506–1580)		 George III of Leuchtenberg
(1502–1555)
⚭ 1528
Barbara of Brandenburg-Ansbach
(1495–1552)		 Henry VIII of Waldeck-Wildungen
(1465–1513)
⚭ before 1492
Anastasia of Runkel
(d. 1502/03)		 Salentin VII of Isenburg-Grenzau
(before 1470–1534)
⚭
Elisabeth of Hunolstein-Neumagen
(c. 1475–1536/38)
Grandparents John VI the Elder of Nassau-Siegen
(1536–1606)
⚭ 1559
Elisabeth of Leuchtenberg
(1537–1579)		 Philip IV of Waldeck-Wildungen
(1493–1574)
⚭ 1554
Jutta of Isenburg-Grenzau
(d. 1564)
Parents John VII the Middle of Nassau-Siegen
(1561–1623)
⚭ 1581
Magdalene of Waldeck-Wildungen
(1558–1599)

Notes

  1. ↑ "Dek (1962) and Dek (1968) write that he was born at Dillenburg Castle, but Dek (1970) corrects this and gives Siegen as place of birth, which is confirmed by Menk (1971), p. 18. Dek (1962) indicates as date of birth Sunday 21-10-1582, which corresponds with the Julian calendar."[2]
  2. ↑ When the reigning dynasty of Jülich-Cleves-Berg became extinct on 25 March 1609 with Duke John William of Jülich-Cleves-Berg, the heirs fought a succession war, which lasted until 1614 and is known as the War of the Jülich Succession (German: Jülich-Klevischer Erbfolgestreit).
  3. ↑ "The Haingericht was certainly located around the castle of Hainchen, which passed with its dependencies to the House of Nassau in 1313. See Historische Stätten Deutschlands III, 245."[15]
  4. ↑ Moquette (1914), p. 34 however, states that John Ernest, and before him some of his officers, went overland to Venice, where they had to wait for the Dutch auxiliary troops.
  5. ↑ "Dek (1962) indicates Udine as the place of death. See the file in the Royal House Archive of the Netherlands (4/135), entitled: «Ableben von Johann Ernst, Erbgraf zu Nassau-Siegen den 17 September stil veteri (1617) in Mitternacht zu Udine». The death announcement contained therein, as well as other announcements found in the State Archives Wiesbaden (170III 1617 Sep. Dez.) or in the State Archives Marburg (File 115, Waldeck 2, Nassau 339), were all sent from Udine by the brother of the deceased on 27-9 (i.e. new style), and indicate that the death, after an illness of three or four weeks, occurred, either «heute diese Nacht umb 12 Uhr», or «le 26, environ à minuit». All this information is consistent, and we can be sure that the count died during the siege of Udine, in the night of 16 to 17-9-1617 old style. See also a document concerning his death, on the occasion of his burial on 19-4-1618 in Siegen (Royal House Archive of the Netherlands 3/1072): «27 Septembris, Anno 1617 ohngefehr umb Mitternacht … zu Udina»."[24]

References

  1. 1 2 Huberty, et al. (1981), p. 233.
  2. ↑ Huberty, et al. (1981), p. 246.
  3. ↑ All sources that mention both parents, name these parents.
  4. 1 2 Dek (1970), p. 86.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Blok (1911), p. 1222.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Dek (1968), p. 248.
  7. 1 2 Vorsterman van Oyen (1882), p. 115.
  8. ↑ Poelhekke (1978), p. 43.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Dek (1970), p. 87.
  10. ↑ Lück (1981), pp. 95–98.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 Van der Aa (1860), p. 91.
  12. ↑ Poelhekke (1978), pp. 47–48.
  13. ↑ Joachim, Ernst (1881). "Johann der Mittlere von Nassau-Siegen". Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (in German). Vol. Band 14. Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot. p. 266.
  14. 1 2 3 Huberty, et al. (1981), p. 219.
  15. ↑ Huberty, et al. (1981), p. 224.
  16. ↑ Joachim, Ernst (1881). "Johann der Mittlere von Nassau-Siegen". Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (in German). Vol. Band 14. Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot. p. 265.
  17. ↑ Lück (1981), p. 122.
  18. 1 2 Menk (2004), p. 184.
  19. ↑ Aβmann & Menk (1996).
  20. ↑ Lück (1981), p. 99.
  21. 1 2 Moquette (1914), p. 33.
  22. ↑ Kossmann (1932), p. VIII.
  23. ↑ Kossmann (1932), p. X.
  24. ↑ Huberty, et al. (1981), pp. 246–247.
  25. ↑ Van der Aa (1860), p. 92.
  26. 1 2 Menk (2004), pp. 194–195.
  27. ↑ Schwennicke, Detlev (1978–1995). Europäische Stammtafeln. Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten. Neue Folge (in German). Marburg: J.A. Stargardt.
  28. ↑ Huberty, Michel; Giraud, Alain & Magdelaine, F. & B. (1989). l'Allemagne Dynastique (in French). Vol. Tome V: Hohenzollern-Waldeck-Familles alliées A-B. Le Perreux-sur-Marne: Alain Giraud. ISBN 2-901138-05-5.
  29. ↑ Schutte, O. (1979). "Genealogische gegevens". In Tamse, C.A. (ed.). Nassau en Oranje in de Nederlandse geschiedenis (in Dutch). Alphen aan den Rijn: A.W. Sijthoff. pp. 40–44, 224. ISBN 90-218-2447-7.
  30. ↑ Dek (1970), pp. 70–74, 83–87.
  31. ↑ Dek (1968), pp. 228–229, 234, 248.
  32. ↑ Dek (1962).
  33. ↑ von Ehrenkrook, Hans Friedrich; Förster, Karl & Marchtaler, Kurt Erhard (1928). Ahnenreihen aus allen deutschen Gauen. Beilage zum Archiv für Sippenforschung und allen verwandten Gebieten (in German). Görlitz: Verlag für Sippenforschung und Wappenkunde C.A. Starke.
  34. ↑ Hoffmeister, Jacob Christoph Carl (1883). Historisch-genealogisches Handbuch über alle Grafen und Fürsten von Waldeck und Pyrmont seit 1228 (in German). Cassel: Verlag Gustav Klaunig. pp. 18–27.
  35. ↑ Vorsterman van Oyen (1882), pp. 95–98, 109–115.
  36. ↑ von Behr, Kamill (1870) [1854]. Genealogie der in Europa regierenden Fürstenhäuser (in German) (Zweite verbesserte und ergänzte Auflage ed.). Leipzig: Verlag von Bernhard Tauchnitz.
  37. ↑ Textor von Haiger (1617), pp. 93–94.

Sources

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