Frederick II | |
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Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg | |
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Reign | 1691–1732 |
Predecessor | Frederick I |
Successor | Frederick III |
Regent | Bernhard I and Heinrich |
Spouse | Magdalena Augusta of Anhalt-Zerbst |
Issue | |
Princess Sophie Frederick III Prince Wilhelm Prince Karl Frederick Prince John August Prince Christian Prince Christian Wilhelm Prince Ludwig Ernst Prince Emanuel Prince Moritz Princess Sophie Prince Karl Fredericka, Duchess of Saxe-Weissenfels Princess Magdalena Sibylle Augusta, Princess of Wales Prince Johann Adolf |
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House | House of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg |
Father | Frederick I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg |
Mother | Magdalene Sibylle of Saxe-Weissenfels |
Born | 28 July 1676 Gotha |
Died | 23 March 1732 Altenburg |
(aged 55)
Frederick II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (Gotha, 28 July 1676 – Altenburg, 23 March 1732), was a duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg.
He was the fifth child and first son of Frederick I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg and Magdalene Sibylle of Saxe-Weissenfels.
After the death of his father, in 1691, Frederick II assumed the duchy of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg.
Because he was still under age, a guardianship and co-regency was formed between his uncles, the dukes Bernhard I of Saxe-Meiningen and Heinrich of Saxe-Römhild. In 1693, after he returned from a journey to Holland and England, he wrote to the emperor for a license of adult age and took independent control of the government of his duchy. Frederick was a splendor-loving baroque ruler; his yard attitude and the standing army, whom he had taken over from his father and even expanded, devoured some of his income. As a solution, Frederick rented his soldiers to foreign princes, which brought him a great difficulty in 1702, when the King Louis XIV of France rented his troops and used them in his war against the Emperor.
Relating to domestic affairs, Frederick essentially continued the policy of his father. He created an orphanage in Altenburg (1715), a breed and a lunatic asylum in Kahla (1726), as well as the Magdalenenstift -in honor of his mother and wife (both with the same name)- (1705), a school for noble women. For 100,000 talents from his private property, he bought the famous numismatic collection of the Prince Anton Günther of Schwarzburg Arnstadt, which formed the current collection of coins (Münzkabinetts) in the Schloss Friedenstein.
By accumulation of parts of Saxe-Coburg (became extinct in 1699), Saxe-Eisenberg (became extinct in 1707) and Saxe-Römhild (became extinct in 1710), he succeeded to all, however only at long hereditary disputes under the other Ernestine Duchies, which went only to 1735 with an arbitral award of the Emperor finally to end reaching in each case area increases for his country.
In Schloss Friedenstein, Gotha on 7 June 1696, he married with Magdalena Augusta of Anhalt-Zerbst. They had nineteen children:
Preceded by Frederick I |
Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg 1691–1732 |
Succeeded by Frederick III |