Louis Engelbert, 6th Duke of Arenberg
{{Short description|German nobleman}}
Image:Louis Engelbert d'Arenberg.jpg]]
Louis Engelbert of Arenberg (3 August 1750{{cite book |title=Historisch-genealogischer Kalender (Calender) auf das Jahr 1808 |publisher=Reyher |page=9 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Historisch_genealogischer_Kalender_Calen/4xRkAAAAcAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Ludwig+Engelbert+%E2%80%9E3.+August+1750%22&pg=PA9&printsec=frontcover |access-date=26 November 2024 |language=de}} in Brussels – 7 March 1820 in Brussels{{cite book |title=Bayreuther Zeitung: 1820 |date=1820 |publisher=Giessel |page=235 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Bayreuther_Zeitung/M_tDAAAAcAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Ludwig+Engelbert+7+marz+1820+Brussel&pg=PA235&printsec=frontcover |access-date=26 November 2024 |language=de}}), nicknamed the blind duke, was between 1778 and 1801 the sixth Duke of Arenberg and 12th Duke of Aarschot. Between 1803 and 1810 he ruled a Duchy in North-western Germany also called Duchy of Arenberg.
Biography
He was born in Brussels as son of Charles Marie Raymond of Arenberg, one of the most prominent nobles in the Austrian Netherlands, and Louise Margaret von der Mark und Schleide.
At the age of 24, during a hunting party, he was hit in the face by a shotgun and remained blind for the rest of his life.
Unable to pursue the usual military career, he turned to science, art and music.
Under his patronage, the first manned gas-filled balloon flight in history took off from the front lawn of the Arenberg Castle on 21 November 1783; the balloonist was professor Jan Pieter Minckeleers.{{cite book |title=Mitteilungen zur Geschichte der Medizin und der Naturwissenschaften |date=1914 |publisher=Deutsche Gesellschaft für Geschichte der Medizin, Naturwissenschaft und Technik. |page=224 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Mitteilungen_zur_Geschichte_der_Medizin/hQugAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Ludwig+Engelbert+%E2%80%9E21.+November+1783%22&pg=PA224&printsec=frontcover |access-date=26 November 2024 |language=de}}{{cite book |last1=Starke |first1=Rich F. |title=Erzeugung und Verwendung des Gases zur öffentlichen Gasversorgung |date=8 July 2019 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG |isbn=978-3-486-75327-1 |page=87 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Erzeugung_und_Verwendung_des_Gases_zur/k8lOEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Ludwig+Engelbert+%E2%80%9E21.+November+1783%22&pg=PA87&printsec=frontcover |access-date=26 November 2024 |language=de}}
At the beginning of the French Revolution, he succeeded in keeping his possessions, but when Bonaparte annexed the Rhineland, he lost most of his territories. In the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss of 1803 though, he was compensated with Recklinghausen and Meppen, together also named the Duchy of Arenberg. In 1810 he abdicated in favor of his son Prosper Louis.
Louis Engelbert was named senator by Napoleon and a count of the First French Empire.{{cite web |title=Arenberg, Ludwig Engelbert Herzog von - Deutsche Biographie |url=https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/pnd120802147.html#ndbcontent |website=www.deutsche-biographie.de |access-date=26 November 2024 |language=de}} After 1815, he returned to Belgium, where the Duchy of Arenberg was restored to the family by the Congress of Vienna, be it without the sovereignty of before.
Marriage and children
Ludwig Engelbert married Louise Antoinette de Brancas-Villars, Countess of Lauragais, daughter of Louis-Léon de Brancas, Duke of Villars and Elisabeth-Pauline de Gand, Princess d'Isenghien. They had six children:
- Pauline (1774–1810), married Prince Josef Johann of Schwarzenberg (1769–1833)
- Louis Engelbert (1777)
- Prosper Louis 7th Duke of Arenberg (1785–1861), his successor
- Philemon Paul Maria (1788–1844), Bishop of Namur{{Citation needed|reason=List of bishops does not contain this name|date=November 2022}}
- Pierre d'Alcantara Charles (1790–1877), since 1828 French Duke and Peer, married Alix Marie Charlotte of Talleyrand-Périgord (1808–1842)
- Philipp Joseph (1794–1815)
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20090227083143/http://www.arenbergcenter.com/en/history/house/index.html Arenberg Foundation]
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Category:Nobility from Brussels
Category:Knights of the Golden Fleece of Austria