Frederick Charles, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
Friedrich Karl of Schwarzburg- Rudolstadt ( born June 7, 1736, in Rudolstadt, † April 13, 1793 ibid ) was from 1790 to 1793 Ruling Prince of Schwarzburg- Rudolstadt and was kind collector. The prince was descended from the house of Schwarzburg.
Life
Frederick Charles was the son of Prince Louis II Günther von Schwarzburg -Rudolstadt and his wife Sophie Henriette, née Countess Reuss to Untergreiz. The prince was sent to the education and learning of the French language from 1755 to 1756 in France. In Lyon, he visited factories in Marseille the natural history cabinet of the Marquis de Fontanière. Various manufactories, a natural history cabinet and libraries were then visited in Paris.
He took in 1764 at the coronation of Emperor Joseph II in Frankfurt. He also visited the grave of Günther XXI:. , The ancestor and anti-king was buried there in 1349. On August 29, 1790, Friedrich Karl Regent. Even before the throne showed some mental problems of the Prince. Even as a child Friedrich Karl began with the installation of its natural history collection which showed the later the Natural History Museum of Rudolstadt. The first Naturalienkabinett visited the prince in 1743 in Greiz. In 1757 he taught in Ludwigsburg, the " Princely Naturalienkabinett " one, which was later extended in the 19th century took seven rooms of the castle. One of the first supervisor of the collection was Christoph Ludwig eunuch. 1919 moved the collection over the Heidecksburg castle.
Frederick Charles corresponded among others Johann Heinrich Merck, leaving him rhinoceros bones and other pieces from his collection for research. Even Johann August Ephraim Goeze (1731-1793), the physician Friedrich Heinrich Wilhelm Martini (1729-1778), the pastor Johann Samuel Schroeter (1735-1808) and Johann Ernst Immanuel Walch (1725-1778) used the prince -friendly and scientific relations. Her writings have been largely adopted in the library of his natural history collection and were dedicated to some extent even Friedrich Karl. So was approximately 1777 published third volume of Martini 's Conch Cabinets the intent Text " His Princely Highness high, the Hereditary Prince Friedrich Karl of Schwarzburg- Rudolstadt, dedicated in subjection by the author " and the revised Nathanael Gottfried Leske work Naturalis dispositions; Echinodermatum of Jacob Theodor Klein, published in a second edition in Leipzig in 1778, was also dedicated to Friedrich Karl. 1777 Frederick Charles was awarded an honorary membership of the University of Erfurt for his scientific commitment. He was also a member of the society of nature-searching friends to Berlin. In 1792 he left the comedy house built on Anger, inaugurated a few weeks after the death of the prince. For this theater, whose head was 1793-1803 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the Thuringian State Theater Rudolstadt emerged.
The prince suffered a stroke in 1792 and died on 13 April 1793. Among the sovereigns he had two and a half years, the shortest reign.
Marriages and descendants
Frederick Charles married on October 21, 1763 his first wife Sophie Friederike Auguste ( 1745-1778 ), daughter of Prince Johann Friedrich von Schwarzburg- Rudolstadt. The marriage produced the following six children:
- Friederike (1765-1767)
- Ludwig Friedrich II (1767-1807), Prince of Schwarzburg- Rudolstadt
- Henriette (1770-1783)
- Karl Günther (1771-1825) ∞ Louise of Hesse -Homburg, daughter of Landgrave Friedrich V.
- Karoline (1774-1854) ∞ Prince Günther Friedrich Carl I of Schwarzburg- Sondershausen
- Luise (1775-1808) ∞ Landgrave Ernst von Hessen- Philippstal
His second wife was the prince since November 28, 1780 by Princess Louise Friederike Auguste ( 1752-1805 ), daughter of Prince John August of Saxe- Gotha -Altenburg, married. This marriage remained childless.