Adolf, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp

Adolf, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp
Duke Adolf in cuirass, painting by an unknown author, 1586.
Duke of Holstein-Gottorp
Reign 1544–1586
Predecessor Christian III of Denmark
Successor Frederick II of Holstein-Gottorp
Frederick II of Denmark and Norway
Spouse Christine of Hesse
Issue
Frederick II of Holstein-Gottorp
Sofie
Philipp
Christine of Holstein-Gottorp
Elisabeth
Johann Adolf of Holstein-Gottorp
Anna of Holstein-Gottorp
Christian
Agnes
John Frederick of Holstein-Gottorp, Prince-Bishop
Father Frederick I of Denmark
Mother Sophie of Pomerania
Born 25 January 1526(1526-01-25)
Died 1 August 1586(1586-08-01)

Adolf of Holstein-Gottorp (25 January 1526 – 1 October 1586) was the first Duke of Holstein-Gottorp from the line of Holstein-Gottorp of the House of Oldenburg.

He was the third son of King Frederick I of Denmark and his second wife Sophie of Pomerania. Frederick had his son educated by Landgrave Philip I of Hesse. He spent four years in the Philip's castle in Kassel.

In 1544 Adolf, his brother Johann, and their half-brother King Christian III of Denmark, divided the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. The areas were divided according to approximately equal tax proceeds. Adolf, as the youngest, was entitled the first choice. Since he selected the part with the castle Gottorp, the line of the house Oldenburg created by him, was called Schleswig Holstein Gottorp.

Contents

Partition of Holstein and Schleswig

Until the Treaty of Speyer, concluded on 23 May 1544, Adolf's half-brother Christian III of Denmark ruled the entire Duchies of Holstein and of Schleswig also in the name of the then still minor Adolf and his brother John the Elder (Hans den Ældre). They determined their youngest brother Frederick, Prince of Denmark was to have a career as Lutheran administrator of an ecclesiastical state within the Holy Roman Empire.[1]

In 1544 the elder three brothers partitioned Holstein (a fief of the Holy Roman Empire) and of Schleswig (a Danish fief) in an unusual way, following negotiations between the brothers and the Estates of the Realm of the duchies, which opposed a factual partition. So the revenues of the duchies were divided into three equal shares by assigning the revenues of particular areas and landed estates to each of the elder brothers. While other general revenues, such as taxes from towns and customs dues, were levied together but then shared among the brothers. The estates, whose revenues were assigned to the parties, made Holstein and Schleswig look like patchwork rags, technically inhibiting the emergence of separate new duchies, as intended by the estates of the duchies.

The secular rule in the fiscally divided duchies thus became a condominium of the parties. As dukes of Holstein and Schleswig the three brothers bore the formal title of "Duke of Schleswig, Holstein, Ditmarsh and Stormarn". Adolf founded a cadet branch of the royal Danish House of Oldenburg called House of Holstein-Gottorp. A convenient usage for the technically more correct Duke of Schleswig and Holstein at Gottorp.

John the Elder conveniently called Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Haderslev produced no issue, so no branch emerged from his side. After his death in 1580, Adolf and his nephew Frederick II of Denmark halved John's share among themselves.[2]

Adolf travelled, entrusting Johan Rantzau to manage his country. Adolf participated in the Diet of Augsburg where he witnessed Emperor Charles V at the high point of his power. In 1553 Adolf turned to his homeland. In 1556 Adolf succeeded his younger brother Frederick as Bishop of Schleswig. After a period of sede vacante Prince Ulrik of Denmark (1578–1624, Rühn, son of Frederick II of Denmark and Sophie of Mecklenburg-Güstrow) followed as the last Bishop of Schleswig (1602–1624).

Family and children

On 17 December 1564 he married Christine, daughter of Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, and had the following children:

  1. Frederick II of Holstein-Gottorp (21 April 1568 – 15 June 1587).
  2. Sofie (1 June 1569 – 14 November 1634), married on 17 February 1588 to Johann V-VII, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.
  3. Philipp of Holstein-Gottorp (10 August 1570 – 18 October 1590).
  4. Christine (13 April 1573 – 8 December 1625), married on 27 August 1592 to King Charles IX of Sweden.
  5. Elisabeth (11 March 1574-13 January 1587)
  6. Johann Adolf of Holstein-Gottorp (27 February 1575 – 31 March 1616), prince-bishop of Bremen, Lübeck, later duke of Holstein and duke of Schleswig.
  7. Anna (27 February 1575 – 24 April 1625), married 28 January 1598 to Count Enno III of Ostfriesland.
  8. Christian (29 May 1576-22 April 1577)
  9. Agnes (20 December 1578 – 1627).
  10. John Frederick (1 September 1579 – 3 September 1634), prince-bishop of Bremen, Lübeck and Verden.

In fiction

Duke Adolf is a character in Stefan Heym's book 1981 Ahasver (published in English as The Wandering Jew). Heym's depiction of the Duke is highly satyrical and unflattering. The Duke is shown in the midst of a night of lechery and drunkenness, charging Church Superintendent Paul von Eitzen with creating "The Kingdom of God" in his duchy - i.e. imposing the newly-minted Lutheran orthdoxy and persecuting "heretics" such as the Mennonites. At the same time the Duke, out of political expediency, also sends troops to help the efforts of the zealously Catholic Philip II of Spain to stamp out the Dutch Revolt conducted by the Duke's fellow Protestants.

Ancestry

Notes

  1. ^ In 1551 Frederick became administrator of the Prince-Bishopric of Hildesheim, comprising ecclesiastical and secular power, and, however, lacking secular power Bishop of Schleswig with the pertaining revenues from episcopal estates.
  2. ^ Cf. Carsten Porskrog Rasmussen, "Die dänischen Könige als Herzöge von Schleswig und Holstein", Frauke Witte and Marion Hartwig (trls.), in: Die Fürsten des Landes: Herzöge und Grafen von Schleswig, Holstein und Lauenburg [De slevigske hertuger; German], Carsten Porskrog Rasmussen (ed.) on behalf of the Gesellschaft für Schleswig-Holsteinische Geschichte, Neumünster: Wachholtz, 2008, pp. 73-109, here pp. 87seq. ISBN 978-3-529-02606-5

References

External links

Adolf of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp
Cadet branch of the House of Oldenburg
Born: 25 January 1526 Died: 1 October 1586
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Christian III		 Duke of Holstein and Schleswig
1544–1586
with John the Elder (1544-1580)
Christian III (1544-1559)
Frederick II (1559-1586)		 Succeeded by
Frederick II (Gottorp) and
Frederick II (Denmark)
Religious titles
Preceded by
Frederick of Denmark		 Lutheran bishop of Schleswig
assisted by Superintendent Paul von Eitzen (since 1562)
1556–1586		 Vacant
Title next held by
Ulrik of Denmark