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CHARLES AUGUSTUS [KARL AUGUST] (1757-...

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 940 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CHARLES See also:AUGUSTUS [KARL See also:AUGUST] (1757-1828) , See also:grand-See also:duke of See also:Saxe-See also:Weimar, son of See also:Constantine, duke of Saxe-Weimar-See also:Eisenach, and See also:Anna Amalia of See also:Brunswick, was See also:born on the 3rd of See also:September 1757. His See also:father died when he was only nine months old, and the boy was brought up under the regency and supervision of his See also:mother, a woman of enlightened but masterful temperament. His See also:governor was See also:Count Eustach von See also:Gorz, a See also:German nobleman of the old strait-laced school; but a more humane See also:element was introduced into his training when, in 1771, See also:Wieland was appointed his See also:tutor. In 1774 the poet Karl See also:Ludwig von See also:Knebel came to Weimar as tutor to the See also:young See also:Prince Constantine; and in the same See also:year the two princes set out, with Count Gorz and Knebel, for See also:Paris. At See also:Frankfort, Knebel introduced Karl August to the young See also:Goethe: the beginning of a momentous friendship. In 1775 Karl August returned to Weimar, and the same year came of See also:age and married Princess See also:Louise of See also:Hesse-See also:Darmstadt. One of the first acts of the young grand-duke was to summon Goethe to Weimar, and in 1776 he was made a member of the privy See also:council. " See also:People of discernment," he said, " congratulate me on possessing this See also:man. His See also:intellect, his See also:genius is known. It makes no difference if the See also:world is offended because I have made Dr Goethe a member of my most important collegium without his having passed through the stages of See also:minor See also:official See also:professor and councillor of See also:state." To the undiscerning, the beneficial effect of this See also:appointment was not at once apparent. With Goethe the " See also:storm and stress " spirit descended upon Weimar, and the stiff traditions of the little See also:court dissolved in a See also:riot of youthful exuberance. The duke was a deep drinker, but also a See also:good sportsman; and the See also:revels of the court were alternated with break-See also:neck rides across See also:country, ending in nights spent See also:round the See also:camp See also:fire under the stars.

Karl August, however, had more serious tastes. He was interested in literature, in See also:

art, in See also:science; critics, unsuspected of flattery, praised his See also:judgment in See also:painting; biologists found in him an See also:expert in See also:anatomy. Nor did he neglect the See also:government of his little state. His reforms were the outcome of something more than the spirit of the " enlightened despots " of the 18th See also:century; for from the first he had realized that the See also:powers of the prince to See also:play " earthly See also:providence " were strictly limited. His aim, then, was to educate his people to See also:work out their own See also:political and social salvation, the See also:object of See also:education being in his view, as he explained later to the dismay of Metternich and his school, to help men to " See also:independence of judgment." To this end See also:Herder was summoned to Weimar to reform the educational See also:system; and it is little wonder that, under a See also:patron so enlightened, the university of See also:Jena attained the See also:zenith of its fame, and Weimar became the intellectual centre of See also:Germany. Meanwhile, in the affairs of Germany and of See also:Europe the See also:character of Karl August gave him an See also:influence out of all proportion to his position as a See also:sovereign prince. He had See also:early faced the problem presented by the decay of the See also:Empire, and began to work for the unity of Germany. The plans of the See also:emperor See also:Joseph II., which threatened to absorb a See also:great See also:part of Germany into the heterogeneous See also:Habsburg See also:monarchy, threw him into the arms of See also:Prussia, and he was the See also:prime mover in the See also:establishment of the See also:league of princes (Fiirstenbund) in 1785, by which, under the leadership of See also:Frederick the Great, Joseph's intrigues were frustrated. He was, however, under no illusion as to the See also:power of See also:Austria, and he wisely refused the offer of the Hungarian See also:crown, made to him in 1787 by Prussia at the instance of the Magyar malcontents, with the dry remark that he had no See also:desire to be another " See also:Winter See also:King." In 1788 Karl August took service in the Prussian See also:army as See also:major-See also:general in active command of a See also:regiment. As such he was See also:present, with Goethe, at the cannonade of Valmy in 1792, and in 1794 at the See also:siege of See also:Mainz and the battles of Pirmasenz (September 14) and See also:Kaiserslautern (See also:October 28-30). After this, dissatisfied with the attitude of the powers, he resigned; but rejoined on the See also:accession of his friend King Frederick See also:William III. to the Prussian See also:throne. The disastrous See also:campaign of Jena (1806) followed; on the 14th of October, the See also:day after the See also:battle, Weimar was sacked; and Karl August, to prevent the See also:confiscation of his territories, was forced to join the See also:Confederation of the See also:Rhine.

From this See also:

time till after the See also:Moscow campaign of 1812 his contingent fought under the See also:French See also:flag in all See also:Napoleon's See also:wars. In 1813, however, he joined the Grand See also:Alliance, and at the beginning of 1814 took the command of a See also:corps of 30,000 men operating in the Nether-lands. At the See also:congress of See also:Vienna Karl August was present in See also:person, and protested vainly against the narrow policy of the powers in confining their debates to the " rights of the princes " to the exclusion of the " rights of the people." His services in the See also:war of liberation were rewarded with an See also:extension of territory and the See also:title of grand-duke; but his liberal attitude had already made him suspect, and his subsequent See also:action brought him still further into antagonism to the reactionary powers. He was the first of the German princes to See also:grant a liberal constitution to his state under See also:Article XIII. of the See also:Act of Confederation (May 5, 1816) ; and his concession of full See also:liberty to the See also:press made Weimar for a while the See also:focus of journalistic agitation against the existing See also:order. Metternich dubbed him contemptuously " der See also:grosse Bursche " for his patronage of the " revolutionary " Burschenschaften; and the celebrated " festival " held at the See also:Wartburg by his permission in 1818, though in effect the mildest of political demonstrations, brought down upon him the wrath of the great powers. Karl August, against his better judgment, was compelled to yield to the remonstrances of Prussia, Austria and See also:Russia; the liberty of the press was again restricted in the grand-duchy, but, thanks to the good understanding between the grand-duke and his people, the regime of the See also:Carlsbad Decrees pressed less heavily upon Weimar than upon other German states. Karl August died on the 14th of See also:June 1828. Upon his See also:con-temporaries of the most various types his See also:personality made a great impression. Karl von See also:Dalberg, the prince-See also:primate, who owed the coadjutorship of Mainz to the duke's friendship, said that he had never met a prince " with so much understanding, character, frankness and true-heartedness "; the Milanese, whenhe visited their See also:city, called him the " uomo principe and Goethe himself said of him " he had the See also:gift of discriminating intellects and characters and setting each one in his See also:place. He was inspired by the noblest good-will, the purest humanity, and with his whole soul desired only what was best. There was in him something of the divine. He would gladly have wrought the happiness of all mankind.

And finally, he was greater than his surroundings. . . . Everywhere he himself saw and judged, and in all circumstances his surest See also:

foundation was in himself." He See also:left two sons: Charles Frederick (d. 1853), by whom he was succeeded, and Bernhard, duke of Saxe-Weimar (1792-1862), a distinguished soldier, who, after the congress of Vienna, became See also:colonel of a regiment in the service of the king of the See also:Netherlands, distinguished himself as See also:commander of the Dutch troops in the Belgian campaign of 1830, and from 1847 to 1850 held the command of the forces in the Dutch See also:East Indies. Bernhard's son, William Augustus See also:Edward, known as Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar (1823-1902), entered the See also:British army, served with much distinction in the See also:Crimean War, and became colonel of the 1st See also:Life See also:Guards and a See also:field See also:marshal; in 1851 he contracted a morganatic See also:marriage with See also:Lady See also:Augusta See also:Gordon-See also:Lennox (d. 1904), daughter of the 5th duke of See also:Richmond and Gordon, who in Germany received the title of countess of See also:Dornburg, but was granted the See also:rank of princess in Great See also:Britain by royal See also:decree in 1866. Karl August's only daughter, See also:Caroline, married Frederick See also:Louis, hereditary grand-duke of See also:Mecklenburg-See also:Schwerin, and was the mother of Helene (1814-1858), wife of See also:Ferdinand, duke of See also:Orleans, eldest son of King Louis Philippe. Karl August's See also:correspondence with Goethe was published in 2 vols. at Weimar in 1863. See the See also:biography by von Wegele in the Allgem. deutsche Biographie.

End of Article: CHARLES AUGUSTUS [KARL AUGUST] (1757-1828)

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