Joseph, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg
Joseph Georg Friedrich Ernst Karl of Saxe- Altenburg ( born August 27, 1789 in Hildburghausen, † November 25, 1868 in Altenburg ) was 1834-1848 Duke of Saxe- Altenburg.
Life
Joseph was a son of Duke Friedrich of Saxe- Hildburghausen ( since 1826 Duke of Saxe- Altenburg ) and his wife Charlotte of Mecklenburg -Strelitz. His godparents were, among others, Emperor Joseph II, George III. of Great Britain and King Frederick William II of Prussia.
The birth of the Prince was welcomed in Hildburghausen with cannon fire and the Masonic Lodge coined for the occasion a commemorative coin. Joseph was brought from Coburg Hofadvokat Friedrich August Scheler. Traditionally, the prince learned the craft of a carpenter. 1806 Joseph began at the request of his mother his studies at the University of Erlangen. On the occasion of the marriage of his sister Therese with the Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig he was inducted into the Order of St. Hubert 1810. He and his brother George in 1814 fought with the allies against France. Later he was a Major General in the Saxon services.
On April 24, 1817, he married in Kirchheim unter Teck, Duchess Amalie ( 1799-1848 ), daughter of Duke Louis of Württemberg.
Already since 1830, co-regent with his father, Joseph this was followed after his death in 1834 as the Duke of Saxe- Altenburg. On behalf of his father, he renewed in 1833 together with the Dukes Ernst I of Saxe- Coburg and Gotha and Bernhard II of Saxe -Meiningen the Ducal Saxony- Ernestine House Order.
He led in Altenburg several buildings, including the royal stables, a palace guard, which he allowed to grow in a similar style to the Castle Church and in 1841 he placed in the cemetery of Altenburg a new royal crypt at. 1839, the French castle park was transformed into an English landscape garden. The restoration began under his father the residential palace was continued accelerated under Joseph.
Joseph reigned conservative and unwilling to reform. The parliament meetings were not public and it was still compulsory guild, which inhibited trade and industry. Joseph favored ultra religious directions and called 1848 Empire troops into the country, because demands for a Free State were loud. He eventually had to resign from the government, which was outstanding in the Thuringian States during the bourgeois revolution in 1848. On November 30, 1848, two days after the death of his wife, he renounced because he had no sons, in favor of his brother George the throne.
After his abdication Joseph lived mainly at Schloss happy return in Wolfersdorf. He restored it thoroughly and saved it from imminent decay. Joseph supported artistic and scientific projects. At his own expense he had some paintings in the Hall of Altenburg restore.
At Schloss happy return he received on June 30, 1866 after the Battle of Long Salza his son, the newly deposed King George V of Hanover, who went from here to his Austrian exile. Joseph was so closely associated with Wolfersdorf that his heart was buried here at his favorite place. In his will he had decreed: "I wish to be buried unadorned as possible. The eulogy is to tell the truth, but ernstlichst be taken to ensure that I do not deceitful flattery be called after that I always hated in life and always kept me against them. "
Progeny
He and his wife Amalie Joseph had six daughters:
- Marie (1818-1907)
- Pauline (1819-1825)
- Therese (1823-1915)
- Elisabeth (1826-1896)
- Alexandra (1830-1911)
- Luise (1832-1833)