Name Frederick Prince | ||
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Spouse(s) Princess Auguste of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
Princess Auguste of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg Father Louis Gunther II, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt Mother Sophie Henriette of Reuss-Untergreiz Born 7 June 1736
Rudolstadt ( 1736-06-07 ) Died April 13, 1793, Rudolstadt, Germany Children Louis Frederick II, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Louise of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt Parents Sophie Henriette of Reuss-Untergreiz, Louis Gunther II, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt Grandchildren Friedrich Gunther, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt Grandparents Louis Frederick I, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Anna Sophie of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg Great-grandparents Countess Emilie Juliane of Barby-Muhlingen | ||
Noble family House of Schwarzburg | ||
Prince Frederick Charles of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (7 June 1736 in Rudolstadt – 13 April 1793) was a German Natural History collector, and from 1790 until his death the reigning Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt.
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Life
Frederick Charles of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt was the son of Prince Louis Günther II of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and his wife Sophie Henriette, born Countess Reuss of Untergreiz (1711–1771). As a child, he began his natural history collection, which later went to the Natural History Museum of Rudolstadt. In 1757, he created the Princely Natural History Collection at the Ludwigsburg Castle in Rudolstadt. The collection was later enlarged, and in the 19th century, it occupied seven rooms in the castle. One of the first supervisors of the collection was Christoph Ludwig Kämmerer. In 1919, the collection was moved to Heidecksburg Castle.
Frederick Charles of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt corresponded with Johann Heinrich Merck, among others, and let him have some rhinoceros bones and other pieces from his collection for research. Frederick Charles also corresponded with Johann August Ephraim Goeze (1731–1793), with the physician Friedrich Martini, with the vicar Johann Samuel Schröter (1735–1808) and with Johann Ernst Immanuel Walch (1725–1778). He had personal and scientific relationships with his corresponcents and kept their writings in the library of his Cabinet. Some of these writings were dedicated to him, for example the third volume of Martini's conchology text, published in 1777, was dedicated to His Princely Highness, the Crown Prince Frederick Charles of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, dedicated by his humble subject, the author. The second edition of Jacob Theodor Klein's Naturalis Dispositio; Echinodermatum was edited and revised by Nathaniel Gottfried Leske and was also dedicated to Frederick Charles.
In 1792, Frederick Charles built a theatre on the green in Rudolstadt. It was inaugurated a few weeks after his death. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was its director from 1793 to 1803. It later evolved to form the Thuringia State Theatre in Rudolstadt.
Marriage and issue
Frederick Charles married his first wife, Princess Friederike Sophie Auguste of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1745–1778), in 1763. They had six children:
In 1780, Frederick Charles married his second wife, Princess Louise Friederike Auguste (1752–1805), the daughter of Prince John August of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. This marriage was childless.