Wilhelm Kettler
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2021}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name = Wilhelm Kettler
| title = Duke of Courland and Semigallia
| image =Vilhelms Ketlers.jpg
| succession = Duke of Courland
| reign = 1587–1617
| coronation =
| predecessor = Gotthard Kettler
| successor = Friedrich Kettler
| spouse = {{marriage|Duchess Sophie of Prussia|1609|1610|end=d.}}
| issue = Jacob, Duke of Courland
| house = Kettler
| father = Gotthard Kettler
| mother = Anna of Mecklenburg
| birth_date = 20 June 1574
| birth_place = Mitau, Duchy of Courland and Semigallia
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1640|4|7|1574|6|20}}
| death_place = Kucklow, Duchy of Pomerania
| burial_place= Ducal crypt in the Jelgava Palace
| religion = Lutheranism
}}
Wilhelm Kettler (20 June 1574 – 7 April 1640) was the Duke of Courland, a Baltic German region in today's Latvia. He ruled the western Courland portion of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia, while his brother Friedrich ruled the eastern Semigallia portion.
Life and family
Born in Mitau in 1574, Wilhelm Kettler was the youngest son of Gotthard Kettler and his wife, Anna of Mecklenburg. After their father's death in 1587, Friedrich inherited the title of Duke of Courland and Semigallia, but economic control was split between Wilhelm and Friedrich.{{cite book |last1=Plakans |first1=Andrejs |title=The Latvians: A Short History |date=1995 |publisher=Hoover Press |isbn=978-0-8179-9303-0 |page=50 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ad3-xvwdjE4C&q=friedrich |access-date=2 February 2024 |language=en}} The brothers divided the duchy between themselves, and Wilhelm ruled the Courland portion, with the seat in Kuldīga.{{cite thesis |last=Berkis |first=Alexander Valdonis |date=1954 |title=A history of the Duchy of Courland |url=https://minds.wisconsin.edu/handle/1793/38193 |degree=Master of Arts |page=39 |publisher=University of Wisconsin-Madison|access-date=1 February 2024}}
In 1609, William married Princess Sophia of Brandenburg-Prussia (1582–1610), daughter of Albert Frederick, Duke of Prussia, receiving as a dowry the territory of Grobiņa.
Due to conflicts with the local nobility, he lost control of the duchy in 1617 and emigrated.{{cite thesis |last=Freeman |first=J |date=2021 |title=The Duchy of Courland's Colonial Networks and Encounters from the Baltic to the Atlantic: 1638-1698 |url=https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/items/5230f472-d43f-487d-a105-520fac3d154b |degree=Doctor of Philosophy |publisher=University of Cambridge|page=2 |access-date=1 February 2024}} Thereafter, his brother Friedrich became the sole ruler of the duchy.
He died in the Kucklow abbey in Pomerania on 7 April 1640. His son, Jacob Kettler, succeeded Friedrich as Duke of Courland and Semigallia in 1642.
Wilhelm's remains were returned to Courland in 1642, and he was interred in the ducal tomb on 23 February 1643.
References
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Category:17th-century Latvian people
Category:16th-century Latvian people
Category:Burials in the Ducal Crypt of the Jelgava Palace
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