Ferdinand Joseph von Lobkovicz

His Serene Highness Ferdinand Joseph Johann Nepomuk von Lobkowicz (13 April 1797 – 18 December 1868), 8th Prince of Lobkowitz, 2nd Duke of Raudnitz, was an aristocrat of Bohemia, from the House of Lobkowicz.

Ferdinand Joseph von Lobkowitz
Prince of Lobkowitz
Duke of Raudnitz
Portrait of Prince Lobkowitz by Franz Schrotzberg, 1844
Born(1797-04-13)13 April 1797
Hollabrunn, Lower Austria
Died18 December 1868(1868-12-18) (aged 71)
Vienna, Austria
Spouse
Princess Maria of Liechtenstein
(m. 1826; died 1868)
IssuePrince Maximilian von Lobkowicz
Prince Moritz von Lobkowicz
Princess Léopoldine Bossi-Fedrigotti
Princess Marie Blücher von Wahlstatt
HouseLobkowicz
FatherJoseph Franz von Lobkowitz
MotherMaria Karolina von Schwarzenberg

Early life

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Ferdinand was born on 13 April 1797 in Hollabrunn, Lower Austria. He was the eldest son of the twelve children of Joseph Franz, 7th Prince of Lobkowitz (1772–1816) (who had further been further ennobled in 1786 by Emperor Joseph II as Duke of Roudnice)[1] and Princess Maria Karolina von Schwarzenberg (1775–1816).[2]

His paternal grandparents were Ferdinand Philipp, 6th Prince Lobkowicz (son of Phillip Hyacinth, 4th Prince of Lobkowicz) and Princess Maria Gabriella di Savoia-Carignano (a daughter of Louis Victor, Prince of Carignano and Princess Christine of Hesse-Rotenburg).[3][4] His maternal grandparents were Johann I, Prince of Schwarzenberg [de] and Countess Maria Eleonore zu Oettingen-Wallerstein (a daughter of Count Philipp Karl von Oettingen-Wallerstein).[5]

Career

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Upon the death of his father, aged 44, in 1816, he became the 8th Prince of Lobkowitz, however, the family's Imperial immediacy over Princely county of Störnstein in the Holy Roman Empire had been mediatized to Bavaria in 1807. As such, the House of Lobkowicz belong to the small group of families that constitute the Hochadel (German for 'high nobility'). In 1825, Ferdinand Joseph was able solidify the family's princely status by obtaining the honorific title of Durchlaucht ("Serene Highness"). While its usage was initially for the head of the family, it was extended to all members of the senior line in 1869.[6] As Ferdinand had many brothers, the family estates were divided thereby creating several new subsidiary lines: Prince Johann Nepomuk founding the line of Křinice, Prince Joseph Franz founding the line of Dolní Beřkovice (and serving as Head of Household of the Empress Elisabeth), Prince Ludwig Johann founding a line in Hungary, and Prince Karl Johann serving as Governor of Lower Austria, Moravia, and of Tyrol.[6]

The prince embraced the entrepreneurial spirit of the times and opened a substantial sugar factory in the town of Bílina.[6]

Political career

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As one of sixteen mediatized princely houses, he was a hereditary member of the Austrian House of Lords from 1861 until his death in 1868. It was the upper house of the Imperial Council, the bicameral legislature of the Austrian Empire (and of the Cisleithanian half of Austria-Hungary upon the Compromise of 1867).

Also from 1861 onwards, he was a member of the Bohemian Diet (the parliament of the Kingdom of Bohemia within the Austro-Hungarian Empire that existed between 1861 and Czechoslovak independence in 1918).[7]

Personal life

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Portrait of his three eldest children, Maximilian, Moritz and Leopoldine, by Franz Schrotzberg, 1844

In 1826, he married Princess Marie von und zu Liechtenstein (1808–1871), a daughter of Prince Moritz of Liechtenstein (a son of Prince Karl Borromäus of Liechtenstein) and Princess Maria Léopoldine Josepha Aloysia Esterházy de Galántha.[8] His younger brother, Prince Ludwig Johann, married Princess Marie's sister, Princess Léopoldine.[8] Together, they were the parents of:[9]

The Prince died on 18 December 1868 in Vienna. As his eldest son predeceased him in 1849, he was succeeded in his titles by his second son, Moritz.[10]

Descendants

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Through his son Moritz, he was a grandfather of Ferdinand, 10th Prince of Lobkowicz (1858–1938), who served as the penultimate Vice President of the Austrian House of Lords (succeeding Prince Alois Schönburg-Hartenstein) from 12 October 1917 until 12 November 1918 (when he was succeeded by Count Ernst of Silva-Tarouca).[14]

Through his daughter Marie, he was a grandfather of Gebhard, 4th Prince Blücher of Wahlstatt (1865–1931),[15] who married Englishwoman Evelyn Stapleton-Bretherton (a granddaughter of William Petre, 12th Baron Petre), in 1907.[16][17]

References

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  1. ^ Family History Archived 2018-06-12 at the Wayback Machine Lobkowicz, accessed 25 February 2017.
  2. ^ Franz Joseph Maximilian von Lobkowitz Kulturfreunde Lobkowitz Neustadt a.d. Waldnaab, accessed 30 December 2014.
  3. ^ Steinforth, Dirk H.; Rozier, Charles C. (17 May 2021). Britain and its Neighbours: Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Medieval and Early Modern Europe. Routledge. p. 206. ISBN 978-1-000-36537-5. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
  4. ^ Kent, Princess Michael of (13 September 2005). The Serpent and the Moon: Two Rivals for the Love of a Renaissance King. Simon and Schuster. p. 18. ISBN 978-0-7432-5106-8. Retrieved 23 August 2024.
  5. ^ Hofstaat, Österreich-Ungarn (1898). Handbuch des Allerhöchsten Hofes und des Hofstaates seiner K. u. K. Apostolischen Majestät: für das Jahr ... (in German). Verlag d. K. K. Hof- und Staatsdruckerei. p. 107. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
  6. ^ a b c "Lobkowicz Princes: Survivors of the Great Bohemian Purge". dukesandprinces.org. Dukes and Princes. 19 November 2023. Retrieved 23 August 2024.
  7. ^ Wingfield, Nancy Meriwether (2007). Flag Wars and Stone Saints: How the Bohemian Lands Became Czech. Harvard University Press. p. 7. ISBN 9780674025820.
  8. ^ a b Pisano, Sandra; Collections, Lobkowicz (2007). The Lobkowicz Collections. Scala Publishers Limited. pp. 4, 55. ISBN 978-1-85759-520-8. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
  9. ^ a b Historisch-genealogischen Atlas (in German). 1858. pp. 422–423. Retrieved 23 August 2024.
  10. ^ a b c Raineval, Melville Henry Massue marquis de Ruvigny et; Raineval, Melville Henry Massue Marquis of Ruvigny and (1914). The Titled Nobility of Europe: An International Peerage, Or "Who's Who," of the Sovereigns, Princes, and Nobles of Europe. Burke's Peerage. pp. 89, 1136. ISBN 978-0-85011-028-9. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  11. ^ Becke-Klüchtzner, Edmund von der (1879). Der Adel des Königreichs Württemberg. Neu bearbeitetes Wappenbuch (in German). W. Kohlhammer. p. 18. Retrieved 23 August 2024.
  12. ^ Walterskirchen, Gudula (2000). Blaues Blut für Österreich: Adelige im Widerstand gegen den ... p. 318. Retrieved 23 August 2024.
  13. ^ "Gustav Gebhard Lebrecht Blucher, Count Blucher von Wahlstatt (1837-1881), Prussian politician". www.npg.org.uk. National Portrait Gallery, London. Retrieved 23 August 2024.
  14. ^ Stenographisches Protokoll. Herrenhaus. 39. Sitzung der XXII. Session
  15. ^ Prince.), Gebhard Lebrecht Bluecher von Wahlstatt (4th; Blücher, Gebhard Leberecht von (1932). Memoirs of Prince Blücher. J. Murray. Retrieved 23 August 2024.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  16. ^ "TO DEGRADE PRINCE BLUCHER.; Measures to Strike His Name from the Prussian Herrenhaus". The New York Times. 8 July 1899. Retrieved 23 August 2024.
  17. ^ "PRINCE BLUCHER SERVED RIGHT". The New York Times. 23 July 1888. Retrieved 23 August 2024.
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