John Frederick, Duke of WÃ¼rttemberg

Duke Johann Friedrich of Württemberg ( born May 5, 1582 Mömpelgard; † July 18, 1628 on the way to Heidenheim ) was from February 4, 1608 until his death in the seventh Duke of Württemberg.

Life

Johann Friedrich von Württemberg was the first child of Frederick I and Sibylla of Anhalt in the castle of Mömpelgard to the world. At the age of four his family moved with him to the capital Stuttgart.

On November 5, 1609 he married Barbara Sophia of Brandenburg ( 1584-1636 ), daughter of the Elector Joachim Frederick of Brandenburg. On the occasion of this marriage he had rebuilt the castle in Urach Urach, now with the Golden Hall of counts one of the most beautiful banquet halls of the Renaissance in Germany.

From this marriage the following children were born:

A benevolent and peace-loving, but weak, his difficult time not grown Regent, presented the country's constitution, which had been his father to modify the terms, restore, let the councilors who died in 1593, Duke Ludwig, who had eliminated Friedrich I. come back to the helm and Frederick powerful chancellor Enzlin for embezzlement and extortion sentenced to lifelong imprisonment, litigate later because of treasonable intrigues embarrassing and in the market to execute Urach ( 1613 ). However, a significant improvement of the disordered household of the duchy, he was unable to effect, but it came to new debt, which brought about unpleasant discussions with the estates, even to the service trade and the deterioration of the coin.

In other Protestant princes, he joined following the extended already by his father at the time the negotiations 12./16. May 1608 in Auhausen near Nördlingen to advise on the well-known under the name of the Protestant Union alliance together and also developed some activity for the same, as he went out with a unionist army in the Palatinate, for example in 1621. In the latter year broke the covenant without having achieved something Erkleckliches, again.

Duke Johann Friedrich in particular praised the emperor anew loyalty; after the Battle of Wimpfen (26 April 1622), in which the Margrave Georg Friedrich of Baden through the Bavarian commander, Count of Tilly was defeated and the Duke's youngest brother Magnus fell, but the winner devastated the north-western parts of the country, despite a neutrality agreement and in the following years through congested trains and billeting repeated on the same hard.

Since the first Württemberg Duke Johann Friedrich had several brothers, he left the prince fraternal settlement dated May 28, 1617 his eldest brother Ludwig Friedrich the the Duchy of Württemberg not inseparably fused Mömpelgard including the Alsatian dominions, the following Julius Friedrich the only in recent years acquired possessions Brenz and Weiltingen, whereby the two secondary lines Württemberg- Montbéliard emerged ( extinct 1723), and Württemberg- Weiltingen ( extinguished 1792). In addition, the Friedrich Achilles and Magnus brothers received the castles new city or Neuenbürg. Since the latter two died unmarried, their possessions quickly fell back to the main line.