Charles Alexander, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach
Christian Friedrich Karl Alexander von Brandenburg -Ansbach ( born February 24, 1736, in Ansbach, † January 5, 1806 in Castle Benham at Speen in England ) the last Margrave of the two Frankish margraviates Brandenburg -Ansbach was (since 1757) and Brandenburg- Bayreuth ( since 1769 ) from the House of Hohenzollern. The Friedrich -Alexander- University Erlangen- Nuremberg, he was the leading sponsor is named partly after him.
Life
Origin and family
His parents were Margrave Karl Wilhelm Friedrich von Brandenburg -Ansbach and Friederike Luise of Prussia, the daughter of King Frederick William I and sister of Frederick II
After the sudden death of his older brother Karl Friedrich August on May 9, 1737, he moved up to the crown prince of the Principality. From 1748 to 1759 he studied in Utrecht. As a young Count of Sayn ( the county of Sayn- Altenkirchen was already made in 1741 to the Principality of Ansbach ), he undertook a journey to Turin and Savoy. Whether he became infected in this journey with syphilis, is unclear. Anyway, Karl Alexander remained childless, despite two marriages and several relationships. On November 22, 1754, he married Caroline Friederike in Coburg Saxe-Coburg -Saalfeld ( 1735-1791 ), daughter of Duke Franz Josias.
On August 3, 1757 he was Margrave of Brandenburg- Ansbach. Although the residence of the Principality was in Ansbach, but Alexander remained preferably on his hunting and country estate Triesdorf on. There, the so-called White Castle for his beloved Hippolyte Clairon, the Red Castle as his home and the Villa Rotunda for his mistress and later wife Elizabeth Craven were built around or new.
Economic and military
In 1758 he founded the porcelain factory in Ansbach and sat through the import of sheep impulses in agriculture.
1780 Karl Alexander's own bank was founded, the Princely High -Brandenburg- Anspach - Bayreuthische Hofbanco, as the Bavarian State Bank with Bayerische Vereinsbank merged (now HypoVereinsbank ). He wanted the money transactions are not left to the then leading Jewish banking houses, but kept as a private banker income for themselves.
Main article: German involvement in the American Revolutionary War # Ansbach -Bayreuth
Revenue he generated among other things, that he let the British royal auxiliary troops for its colonies in America. These were involved under General Howe in New York City at the northern campaign and others under the command of General Cornwallis at the Battle of Yorktown in use.
Nominally Karl Alexander was chief of the Franconian Circle dragoon regiment in command of the 1644 -strong leased Frankish army, came back from the 1783 1183 man in the home. More troops let the Margrave of Holland. With the income he repaid the debt, which stood at five million guilders at his inauguration; 30 years later, the debt stood at his abdication only at 1.5 million guilders.
Secret agreement for the sale of the principalities of Prussia
1769 was also the Principality of Bayreuth under the Hohenzollern house and kingdom laws to Alexander. Karl Alexander sold on January 16, 1791 in a secret treaty his principality to Prussia. The treaty was arranged by the since 1790 working in Ansbach Minister Karl August Freiherr von Hardenberg. Prussia paid the Margrave of compensation according to contract an annual annuity of 300,000 florins and merged the two principalities of Ansbach -Bayreuth as an administrative area in his territory a. So this Frankish regions were Prussian. On December 15, 1805, the Principality of Ansbach dropped in exchange for the Electorate of Hanover and went to France 1806 to the Kingdom of Bavaria, in 1810 and the Principality of Bayreuth.
Karl Alexander was an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Sciences.
After Alexander's first wife Caroline Friederike died on 18 February 1791 in Unterschwaningen where they "dumped " had the Margrave, he left on 19 May of the same year Triesdorf towards the UK. On October 30, 1791, he married in Lisbon Lady Elizabeth Craven, the daughter of Augustus Berkeley, 4th Earl of Berkeley, and widow of William Craven. Her first husband, the 6th Baron Craven was, died shortly before. On December 2, Karl Alexander signed his abdication in Bordeaux. He went with his second wife as a private citizen to England and devoted himself to the horse breeding. In December 1791, he bought an estate at Hammersmith on the Thames, 1798, he acquired good Benham. On January 5, 1806 Charles Alexander died after a brief, " the lungs concerned ' disease. A plaque at St. Mary's Church of Speen near Newbury to the Margrave of fire Bourg, Anspach and Bareith.
White Castle of Triesdorf
Goal of Benham Valence
Goalposts of Benham Valence
St. Mary's Church of Speen near Newbury