Louis I, Count of Sayn-Wittgenstein

Louis I ( the Elder), Count of Sayn Wittgenstein (* December 7, 1532 at Schloss Wittgenstein, † July 2, 1605 on the trip at the Old Church ) reigned from 1558 the County of Wittgenstein at the headwaters of the river Lahn, Eder. He led in his domain a Reformed faith and was an influential politician in the service of the Palatinate.

Life

Ludwig was the son of William I, Count of Sayn- ​​Wittgenstein ( born August 24, 1488 † April 18, 1570 ) and the Johanetta of Isenburg - border tax adjustments (* 1500, † after 1561).

He received the first education at Wittgenstein Castle by the pastor of Weidenhausen. Then he went in 1543 with his brothers for further education to Cologne and earned there profound knowledge both in ancient and in modern languages ​​. In addition to Latin and Greek he had mastered English, French, Italian and some Spanish. Since 1545, he studied along with two brothers at the Universities of Louvain, Paris and Orléans. Between 1553-1556, he traveled south and west Europe ( Padua, Malta, Rome, Savoy, France, England). A short time he served as treasurer of Pope Pius IV.

Returned in 1556, according to Wittgenstein, Ludwig turned to discover that his father had now adopted a moderate Lutheran church order. He then dealt with the novel teachings and joined her. 1558 he took over the regency of his deceased elder brother William II in Brussels, which had begun in 1551 during the lifetime of her elderly father William I († April 18, 1570 ). The following year, Louis married the elder on the Dillenburg Castle on August 14, Anna Countess of Solms- Braunfels (* 1538, † 1565). Moved his residence to the pair of his father's hilltop castle Schloss Wittgenstein Laasphe in the former hunting lodge after the city Berleburg. A short time later he also began to keep a diary. After the death of his first wife he married in 1567 his second wife Countess Elisabeth zu Solms - Laubach ( born March 6, 1549 † 1599).

Count Ludwig the Elder was a highly educated humanist regent, who remained in close intellectual exchange especially with its Calvinist minded contemporaries. He traveled to the Netherlands and visited the grave of Erasmus of Rotterdam. He began an intense correspondence with various scholars of his time. As a result of these contacts, he began to increasingly turn to the Reformed doctrine. In 1568, he traveled to Zurich and arrived there with numerous representatives of the Reformed in contact. This, too, there was an intense correspondence. Correspondents were, inter alia, Nicholas Zell, John Pincier, Heinrich Bullinger, Rudolf Gwalther, Theodore Beza and Jerome Zanchi.

Between 1574 and 1577 he served as Lord High Steward at the Calvinist court of the Elector Frederick III. in Heidelberg. From this he was entrusted with numerous political orders. In Heidelberg he entered into close contact with Reformed theologians and scholars. After the Palatinate under Louis VI. had returned to Lutheranism, ended his service there.

On his return he brought the reformer Caspar Olevian with in his native county of Wittgenstein, where from 1578 also outwardly the Reformed confession was introduced by abolishing the altars and images. Already in the years 1563 and 1565 reformed church orders were issued. Count Louis was closely associated with its almost the same neighbors, which also reformed minded Count Johann VI. of Nassau- Dillenburg (1536-1606) friends. Ludwig Wittgenstein was involved with him in the founding of High School Herborn. He was also the promoter of the major Calvinist jurist Johannes Althusius, who taught at the High School and later was syndic of Emden.

Between 1592 and 1594 he served a second time as Lord High Steward in Heidelberg after the Reformed confession was there again been introduced.

Of greatest importance for the county Wittgenstein was going back to Ludwig called Wittgenstein district law, a collection of laws and legal systems of the 1560s and 1570s that were so advanced that the Prussian government partially Reserve left in force after 1816 as particular law.

From his diaries are extensive parts preserved ( Princely Archive Berleburg ), of which only excerpts were printed in the 19th century. They are an important source for the intellectual and political history of his time dar. Also the extensive correspondence has not been fully evaluated.

Progeny

Survivors children from the first marriage were:

  • Johannette of Sayn -Wittgenstein, * February 15, 1561, married to John VI. Count of Nassau - Katzenelenbogen -Diez
  • Juliane von Sayn and Wittgenstein, * September 18, 1562
  • George II, Count of Sayn -Wittgenstein- Berleburg, born April 30, 1565 married to Elizabeth, Countess of Nassau -Weilburg and Maria Anna Juliana, Countess of Nassau- Dillenburg

Children from the second marriage were:

  • Agnes, Countess of Sayn -Wittgenstein, born April 18, 1568 married to John Albert I, Count of Solms- Braunfels
  • William II, Count of Sayn -Wittgenstein- Hachenburg, born March 14, 1569 married to Anna Elisabeth, Countess of Sayn, and with Anna Ottilie, Countess of Nassau -Saarbrücken
  • Louis II, Count of Sayn -Wittgenstein- Wittgenstein, born March 15, 1571 married to Julian of Solms- Braunfels
  • Anna von Sayn- ​​Wittgenstein, * February 11, 1570
  • Conrad von Sayn -Wittgenstein, * May 5, 1572
  • Friedrich Magnus von Sayn -Wittgenstein, * August 15, 1574
  • Magdalene von Sayn -Wittgenstein, * October 28, 1575

Literature ( in chronological order)

  • Ludwig the Elder, Count of Sayn Wittgenstein, in narrative, letter and Regulation, be autobiographer. From handwritten diaries and documents presented by Fr Wilh. Winckel, evangel. Rector in Berleburg, Berleburg 1855. Digitized at Google Books.
  • Friedrich Wilhelm Cuno: Memory book of German princes and princesses Reformed Confessions, 5th delivery, Barmen oJ (1883 ), pp. 44-61.
  • Friedrich Wilhelm Cuno: Sayn -Wittgenstein, Ludwig the Elder, the Pious, Count. In: General German Biography (ADB ). Volume 43, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1898, pp. 624-626.
  • John Burkardt: Sayn -Wittgenstein, Ludwig the Elder. In: Biographic- bibliographic church encyclopedia ( BBKL ). Volume 19, Bautz, Nordhausen 2001, ISBN 3-88309-089-1, Sp 1190-1196. (Articles / Articles beginning possibly in the Internet Archive )
  • Ulf Lückel / Andreas Kroh: The Princely House of Sayn -Wittgenstein- Hohenstein ( German princely houses, No. 11 ), Werl 2004, there pp. 5-6.
  • John Burkardt / Ulf Lückel: The Princely House of Sayn -Wittgenstein- Berleburg, ( German princely houses, Issue 17), 4th edition, Werl 2008, pp. 5-6.
Altenkirchen Calvinism Bad Laasphe Frederick III, Elector Palatine Louis VI, Elector Palatine Kaspar Olevianus John VI, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie Integrated Authority File
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