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ERNEST II ., See also:duke of See also:Saxe-See also:Coburg-See also:Gotha (1818–1893), was See also:born at Coburg on the 21st of See also:June 1818, being the eldest son of Duke Ernest I. He enjoyed a varied See also:education; he studied at the university of See also:Bonn with his See also:brother See also:Albert; his military training he received in the Saxon See also:army. The widespread connexions of his See also:family opened to him many courts of See also:Europe, and after he became of See also:age he travelled much. The position of his See also:uncle See also:Leopold, who was See also:- KING
- KING (O. Eng. cyning, abbreviated into cyng, cing; cf. O. H. G. chun- kuning, chun- kunig, M.H.G. kiinic, kiinec, kiinc, Mod. Ger. Konig, O. Norse konungr, kongr, Swed. konung, kung)
- KING [OF OCKHAM], PETER KING, 1ST BARON (1669-1734)
- KING, CHARLES WILLIAM (1818-1888)
- KING, CLARENCE (1842–1901)
- KING, EDWARD (1612–1637)
- KING, EDWARD (1829–1910)
- KING, HENRY (1591-1669)
- KING, RUFUS (1755–1827)
- KING, THOMAS (1730–1805)
- KING, WILLIAM (1650-1729)
- KING, WILLIAM (1663–1712)
king of the Belgians, and especially the See also:marriage of his brother Albert to the See also:queen of See also:England, his See also:cousin, gave him See also:peculiar opportunities for becoming acquainted with the political_ problems of Europe. In 184o–1841 he under-took a See also:journey to See also:Spain and See also:Portugal; in the latter See also:country another cousin, See also:Ferdinand, was king-See also:consort. In 1844 he succeeded his See also:father. His own See also:character and the See also:influence of the king of the Belgians made him one of the most Liberal princes in See also:Germany. He was able to bring to a satisfactory conclusion disputes with the Coburg estates. He passed through the See also:ordeal of the revolution of 1848 with little trouble, for he anticipated the demands of the See also:people of Gotha for a reform, and in 1852 introduced a new constitution by which the See also:administration of his two duchies was assimilated in many points. The See also:government of his small dominions did not afford sufficient See also:- SCOPE (through Ital. scopo, aim, purpose, intent, from Gr. o'KOaos, mark to shoot at, aim, o ic07reiv, to see, whence the termination in telescope, microscope, &c.)
scope forhis restless and versatile ambition; his See also:desire to See also:play a See also:great See also:part in See also:German affairs was probably increased by the feeling that, though he was the See also:head of his See also:house, he was to some extent overshadowed by the younger branches of the family which ruled in See also:Belgium, England and Portugal. He was one of the foremost supporters of every See also:attempt made to reform the German constitution and bring about the unity of Germany. He took a warm See also:interest in the proceedings of the See also:Frankfort See also:parliament, and it was often said, probably without See also:reason, that he hoped to be chosen See also:emperor himself. However that may be, he strongly urged the king of See also:Prussia to accept that position when it was offered him in 1849; he took a very prominent part in the complicated negotiations of the following See also:year, and it was at his See also:suggestion that a See also:congress of princes met at See also:Berlin in 1850. He highly valued the opportunities which this and similar meetings gave him for exercising See also:political influence, and he would have See also:felt most at See also:home as a member of a permanent See also:council of the German princes.
Ambitious also of military distinction, and sympathizing with the rising of the people of See also:Schleswig-See also:Holstein against the Danes in 1849, Ernest accepted a command in the federal army. In the engagement of Eckernforde in See also:April 1849 the troops under his orders succeeded in capturing two Danish frigates, a remarkable feat of which he was justly proud. His greatest services to Germany were performed during the years of reaction which followed; almost alone among the German princes he remained faithful to the Liberal and See also:National ideals, and he allowed his dominions to be used as an See also:asylum by the writers and politicians who had to leave Prussia and See also:Saxony. The reactionary parties looked on him with great suspicion, and it was at this See also:- TIME (0. Eng. Lima, cf. Icel. timi, Swed. timme, hour, Dan. time; from the root also seen in " tide," properly the time of between the flow and ebb of the sea, cf. O. Eng. getidan, to happen, " even-tide," &c.; it is not directly related to Lat. tempus)
- TIME, MEASUREMENT OF
- TIME, STANDARD
time that he formed a friendship with Gustav See also:Freytag, the celebrated novelist, whom he protected when the Prussian government demanded his See also:arrest. His connexion with the See also:English See also:court gave him a position of much influence, but no one was more purely German in his feelings and opinions. The marriage of his niece See also:Victoria with See also:Frederick, the See also:heir to the Prussian See also:throne, strengthened his connexion with Prussia, but caused the Conservative party to look with increased suspicion on the Coburg influence. He was the first German See also:prince to visit See also:Napoleon III., and was See also:present when See also:Orsini made his celebrated attempt on the emperor's See also:life. After 186o he became the See also:chief See also:patron and See also:protector of the National Verein; he encouraged the newly-formed See also:rifle clubs, and notwithstanding the strongdisapproval of his See also:fellow-monarchs, allowed his court to become the centre of the rising national agitation. Still a warm adherent of Prussia, in 1862 he set an example to the other princes by voluntarily making an agreement by which his troops were placed in See also:war under the command of the king of Prussia. Like all the other Nationalists, he was much embarrassed by the policy of See also:Bismarck, and the democratic opinions of the Coburg court, which were shared by the See also:crown prince Frederick, were a serious embarrassment to that See also:minister. The opposition became more accentuated when the duke allowed his dominions to be used as the headquarters of the agitation in favour of Frederick, duke of Augustenburg, who claimed the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, and it was at this time that Bismarck is reported to have said that if Frederick the Great had been alive the duke would have been in the fortress of See also:Spandau. In 1863 he was present at the Fiirsten1ag in Frankfort, and from this time was in more frequent communication with the See also:Austrian court, where his cousin See also:Alexander, See also:Count Mensdorff, was minister. However, when war See also:broke out in 1866, he at once placed his troops at the disposition of Prussia; Bismarck had in an important See also:letter explained to him his policy and See also:tactics. He was personally concerned in one of the most interesting events of the war; for the Hanoverian army, in its attempt to See also:march See also:south and join the Bavarians, had to pass through Thuringia, and the See also:battle of See also:Langensalza was fought in the immediate neighbourhood of Gotha. His troops took part in the battle, which ended in the rout of the Prussians, the duke, who was not present during the fight, in vain attempting to stop it. He See also:bore an important See also:share in the negotiations before and after the battle, and his See also:action at this time has been
the. subject of much controversy, for it was suggested that while he offered to mediate he really acted as a See also:partisan of Prussia. For his services to Prussia he received as a present the See also:forest of See also:Schmalkalden. He was with the Prussian headquarters in Bohemia during the latter part of the war.
With the year 1866 the political role which Ernest had played ended. The result was perhaps not quite equal to his expectations, but it must be remembered how difficult was the position of the See also:minor German princes; and he quoted with great See also:satisfaction the words used in 187r by the emperor See also:- WILLIAM
- WILLIAM (1143-1214)
- WILLIAM (1227-1256)
- WILLIAM (1J33-1584)
- WILLIAM (A.S. Wilhelm, O. Norse Vilhidlmr; O. H. Ger. Willahelm, Willahalm, M. H. Ger. Willehelm, Willehalm, Mod.Ger. Wilhelm; Du. Willem; O. Fr. Villalme, Mod. Fr. Guillaume; from " will," Goth. vilja, and " helm," Goth. hilms, Old Norse hidlmr, meaning
- WILLIAM (c. 1130-C. 1190)
- WILLIAM, 13TH
William at See also:Versailles, that " to him in no small degree was due the See also:establishment of the See also:empire." He was a See also:man of varied tastes, a See also:good musician—he composed several operas and songs—and a keen sportsman, a quality in which he differed from his brother. Notwithstanding his Liberalism, he had a great regard for the dignity of his See also:rank and family, and in his support of constitutional government would never have sacrificed the essential prerogatives of See also:sovereignty. He died at Reinhardsbrunn on the 22nd of See also:August 1893. In 1842 the duke married Alexandrine, daughter of the grandduke of, See also:Baden; there were no See also:children by this marriage and the See also:succession to Saxe-Coburg-Gotha passed therefore to the children of his younger brother Albert. By Albert's marriage See also:contract the duchy could not be held together with the English crown; thus his eldest son, afterwards See also:Edward VII., was passed over and it came to his second son, See also:Alfred, duke of See also:Edinburgh (1844-1900). When Alfred died without sons in See also:July 1900 the succession to the duchy passed to a younger brother See also:Arthur, duke of See also:Connaught; but the duke and his son, Arthur, passed on their claim to See also:Charles Edward, duke of See also:Albany (b. 1884), who became duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha in succession to his uncle Alfred. In 1905 Charles Edward married Victoria See also:Adelaide (b. 1885), princess of Schleswig-Holstein, by whom he has a son See also:John Leopold (b. 1906).
Duke Ernest was something of a writer. He brought out an See also:account of the travels in See also:Egypt and See also:Abyssinia which he undertook in 1862 as Reise See also:des Herzogs See also:Ernst von Sachsen-Koburg-Gotha nach Agypten (See also:Leipzig, 1864); and he published his See also:memoirs, Aus meinem Leben and aus meiner Zeit (Berlin, 1887-1889). This See also:work is in three volumes and contains much valuable See also:information on a most See also:critical See also:period of German See also:history; there is an English See also:translation by P. Andreae (1888-189o).
See also See also:Sir T. See also:- MARTIN (Martinus)
- MARTIN, BON LOUIS HENRI (1810-1883)
- MARTIN, CLAUD (1735-1800)
- MARTIN, FRANCOIS XAVIER (1762-1846)
- MARTIN, HOMER DODGE (1836-1897)
- MARTIN, JOHN (1789-1854)
- MARTIN, LUTHER (1748-1826)
- MARTIN, SIR THEODORE (1816-1909)
- MARTIN, SIR WILLIAM FANSHAWE (1801–1895)
- MARTIN, ST (c. 316-400)
- MARTIN, WILLIAM (1767-1810)
Martin, Life of H.R.H. the Prince Consort (1875-188o) ; Hon. C. See also:Grey, See also:Early Years of the Prince Consort (1867); A. Ohorn, See also:Herzog Ernst II., ein Lebensbild (Leipzig, 1894); and E. Tempeltey, Herzog Ernst von Koburg and das Jahr 1866 (Berlin, 1898). (J. W.
End of Article: ERNEST II
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