Christoph, Duke of Württemberg

Christoph of Württemberg ( born May 12, 1515 Urach, † December 28, 1568 in Stuttgart) was from 1550 to 1568, fourth Duke of Württemberg. He was the son of Duke Ulrich and his wife Sabina of Bavaria.

Life

Only a few months after Christopher's birth, his mother fled in November 1515 at the farm of her parents to Munich. The young Christoph remained first with his older sister Anna 's father in Stuttgart. When the Swabian League against Duke Ulrich mobile made ​​, this brought his children to the castle Hohentübingen. After the surrender of the castle and the banishment Ulrichs 1519 the boy Christopher was to Innsbruck at the court of Emperor Charles V, the successor of his great-uncle died in the same year Maximilian I sent. Here he grew up and was able to gain significant political experience.

Meanwhile Württemberg came under Austrian administration. Christopher's mother Sabina made ​​efforts to secure the throne for her son, but this was unclear until further notice. At the Diet of Augsburg in 1530 Ferdinand was transferred the Duchy of Württemberg as a hereditary fief. Christopher traveled meanwhile, after he had in 1529 narrowly escaped a kidnapping by wandering Turkish troops during his stay in Wiener Neustadt, with the emperor as a noble youth, through central Europe: in January 1531 he was present at the election of the king Ferdinand in Cologne and the coronation at Aachen with and was then in the Netherlands. About Württemberg in 1532 he came to the Diet of Regensburg and moved to Vienna, where he stayed against the Turks at the Military Parade of Emperor Charles V. In the summer of 1532, he was penniless, he received payments from neither of King Ferdinand still by Emperor Karl. He saw himself in the role of heir uncomfortable and afraid of being sidelined or murdered. He should follow suit in the wake of the Emperor to Italy to distant Spain, but only got as far Carinthia and fled from there with his friend and teacher Michael Tiffernus via Salzburg to Bavaria, where he went into hiding then to avoid detection by the persecutors of the Habsburgs. From 1532 to 1534 he held on to undisclosed locations in Bavaria and Switzerland. In the winter of 1533/34 he appeared at a meeting of the Swabian League to advocate for the interests of his dynasty.

Duke Ulrich came after the battle of Lauffen 1534 back to the rule of Württemberg, where for the Reformation. At the same time the claim Christopher was backed up to its successor, although the father had a distant relationship to the Son with the return Ulrichs. From 1534 to 1542 Christoph was at the behest of his father in the French service at King Francis I of France. When Duke Ulrich and his son einsahen that their conflict could lead to a loss of the Duchy for the dynasty, they approached again. Duke Christopher turned to Protestantism and received the left bank of Württemberg County Mömpelgard awarded as governor in the Treaty of Reichenweier 1542. In 1544 he married to his father helped him Anna Maria of Brandenburg- Ansbach, daughter of George from a Protestant dynasty, bringing consolidated his denominational position.

When Duke Ulrich died in 1550, was the imperial Interim in Württemberg. Christopher was able to achieve a lifting of the interim in the Treaty of Passau in 1552, but had to turn away with high fees paid an imperial Felonieverfahren. In the following years, Duke Christoph arranged by adopting comprehensive "orders" the entire state and church administration new. These reforms were in the " Great Church Order " from 1559, a legal reference work, codified. The most important adviser in religious matters was the reformer Johannes Brenz. Württemberg theologians exerted great influence on other Protestant state churches.

Family

In 1544 he married to his father helped him Anna Maria of Brandenburg- Ansbach, daughter of George. The couple had the following children:

  • Eberhard ( born January 7, 1545 Mömpelgard; † May 2, 1568 in Göppingen)
  • Hedwig ( born January 15, 1547 Basel, † March 4, 1590 in Marburg ); ∞ Ludwig IV of Hesse - Marburg
  • Elisabeth ( * March 3, 1548 in Montbéliard, † February 18, 1592 in Durlach ); ∞ 1 Georg Ernst Graf von Henneberg - Schleusingen, ∞ 2 Georg Gustav Count Palatine of Veldenz - Lauterecken
  • Sabina ( born July 2, 1549 Mömpelgard; † August 17, 1582 in Rotenburg adFulda ); ∞ Wilhelm IV of Hesse -Kassel
  • Emilie ( born August 19, 1550 in Montbéliard, † June 4, 1589 in simmering ); ∞ Reichard Count Palatine of simmering
  • Eleonore (* March 22, 1552 in Tübingen, † January 12, 1618 in Lichtenberg ); ∞ 1 Joachim Ernst I Prince of Anhalt, ∞ 2 George I of Hesse -Darmstadt
  • Duke Ludwig I. (* January 1, 1554 in Stuttgart, † August 28, 1593 ibid )
  • Maximilian ( born August 27, 1556 Stuttgart, † March 17, 1557 ibid )
  • Ulrich ( born March 11, 1558 Stuttgart, † July 7, 1558 ibid )
  • Dorothea Maria ( born September 3, 1559 in Stuttgart, † March 13, 1639 in Hilpoltstein ); ∞ Otto Heinrich, Count Palatine of Sulzbach
  • Anna ( born June 12, 1561 Stuttgart, † July 7, 1616 in Haynau ); ∞ 1 Johann Georg von Ohlau and Wohlau, ∞ 2 Frederick IV of Legnica
  • Sophie ( born November 20, 1563 in Stuttgart, † July 21, 1590 in Vacha ); ∞ Frederick William I Duke of Saxe- Altenburg
Bad Urach Squire Protestant Reformation Anna Maria of Brandenburg-Ansbach George, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach Augsburg Interim Louis IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Marburg George Gustavus, Count Palatine of Veldenz William IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel Richard, Count Palatine of Simmern-Sponheim Joachim Ernest, Prince of Anhalt George I, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt Otto Henry, Count Palatine of Sulzbach John George of Ohlau Frederick IV of Liegnitz Vacha, Germany Frederick William I, Duke of Saxe-Weimar Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie Neue Deutsche Biographie Johann Heinrich Zedler Integrated Authority File
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