Francis Charles of Saxe-Lauenburg
Franz Karl of Saxe- Lauenburg (* May 2, 1591, † November 30, 1660 in Neuhaus) was a prince of Saxe- Lauenburg and a general in the Thirty Years' War.
Life
Franz Karl was a son of Duke Francis II of Saxe -Lauenburg (1547-1619) from his second marriage with Maria (1566-1626), daughter of Duke Julius of Brunswick- Wolfenbüttel.
Franz Karl entered military service after he confirmed with his brothers, his older brother August in 1619 a contract of inheritance as Duke of Saxe- Lauenburg. After he served in various armies, he finally joined the Protestant army of Count Peter Ernst II von Mansfeld, where he fought against the Emperor in Bohemia. In the imperial army were on the opposite side three of Franz Karl's brothers.
In 1623 Franz Karl's older brother Julius Heinrich reached reconciliation with Emperor Ferdinand II. During the assembly of princes in Lauenburg was decided in 1625 to provide Lower Saxony under the protection of the Danish King Christian IV against the emperor and the Catholic League. Franz Karl recruited a regiment for the King of Denmark, and encamped in the neutral Saxony -Lauenburg his brother August, where he appeared with his hostile troops. After the defeat of Christian Franz Karl again sought reconciliation with the Emperor, where he made use of Wallenstein.
On September 19, 1628 married Francis Charles Agnes of Brandenburg, widow of Duke Philip Julius of Pomerania. Again with the aid of Wallenstein, reached Franz Julius that his wife was allowed to keep her jointure Barth. After King Gustav II Adolf of Sweden in 1630 landed in Pomerania, Franz Karl immediately allocated as a colonel in its services. At the residence of his brother August in Ratzeburg Franz Karl fell into the captivity of the imperial generals Pappenheim, but was soon back as a Swedish colonel in service and, after the death of Gustavus Adolphus in the Electorate of Saxony services, where he again managed to approach the imperial camp.
Under the company name, the prettiest he was admitted as a member of the literary Fruitbearing society.
Converted to Catholicism in 1637 Franz Karl and appeared as General sergeant in the Imperial service. An imperial mediation Francis Charles married after the death of his first wife on 27 August 1639 Ödenburg Catherine of Brandenburg, the very rich widow of the princes of Transylvania Gábor Bethlen. His wife sold all Hungarian possessions and moved to her husband to Germany, where she died in 1644. Francis Charles remarried in 1651 Countess Elisabeth Christine of Meggau, widow of the Barons Christoph Adolf von Teuff. After leaving the military service he toured Italy. He died in Neuhaus and left, despite his three marriages, children born out of wedlock only.