Christian William I, Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen

Christian William I, Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen
Christian William, first Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen
Born	(1647-01-06)6 January 1647 Sondershausen
Died	10 May 1721(1721-05-10) (aged 74) Sondershausen
Noble family	Schwarzburg
Spouse(s)	Antonie Sybille of Barby-Mühlingen Wilhelmine Christiane of Saxe-Weimar
Father	Anton Günther I, Count of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen
Mother	Countess Palatine Maria Magdalene of Birkenfeld

Christian William I of Schwarzburg (6 January 1647 – 10 May 1721) was Count and later Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, Count of Hohenstein, Lord of Sondershausen, Arnstadt and Leutenberg. From 1681, he also carried the title of Count in Ebeleben, and from 1716 Count in Arnstadt.

Life[]

Christian William was born and died in Sondershausen, Schwarzburg-Sondershausen. He was a son of Count Anton Günther I of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen and his wife Countess Palatine Maria Magdalene of Birkenfeld (1622–1689).

In 1666 he succeeded his father jointly with his brother . In 1681, they divided the country and Anton Günther became Count of Schwarzburg-Arnstadt. On 3 September 1697, the brothers were raised to Imperial Princes by Emperor Leopold I. Anton Günther died in 1716 and Arnstadt fell back to Christian William.

He concluded a treaty of succession with his brother, in which the indivisibility of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen was established and primogeniture would determine the succession. After Prince Louis Frederick I of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt joined the treaty in 1710, it was confirmed in 1719 by Emperor Charles VI.

During Christian Williams reign, Schwarzburg-Sondershausen broke away from the increasing dominance of the Electorate of Saxony. He renovated his Sondershausen Palace and reshaped it from a Renaissance style to a Baroque style. A cultural center in northern Thuringia was named after him.

Marriage and issue[]

In 1672, Christian Williams was engaged with the hymn poet Ludmilla Elisabeth of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, but she died unexpectedly later that year.

He married on 22 August 1673 Antonie Sybille (1641–1684), daughter of Count Albert Frederick I of Barby-Mühlingen, with whom he had the following children:

• Anton Albert (1674–1680)
• August William (1676–1690)
• Günther XLIII (1678–1740), who succeeded him as ruling Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen (1720–1740)
• Sophie Magdalene (1680–1751), married Count George Albert of Schönburg-Hartenstein (1673–1716)
• Christiane Emilie (1681–1751) married Duke Adolph Frederick II of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
• Albertine Louise (1682–1765)
• Antonie Sibille (1684)

Christian William married a second time in 1684, with Wilhelmine Christiane (1658–1712), daughter of the Duke John Ernest II of Saxe-Weimar, with whom he had the following children:

• Johanne Auguste (1686–1703)
• Christiane Wilhelmine (1688–1749)
• Henry XXXV (1689–1758), who succeeded his half-brother Günther as ruling Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen (1740–1758)
• (1691–1750), who also held the title of Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, but never ruled
• Ernestine Henriette (1692–1759)
• Rudolph (1695–1749)
• William II (1699–1762)
• (1700–1749), who also held the title of Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, but never ruled; he married Sophie Christine Eberhardine, daughter of Lebrecht, Prince of Anhalt-Zeitz-Hoym

References[]

• Bernhard Anemüller (1876), "Christian Wilhelm I.", Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB) (in German), 4, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 211–212
• Friedrich Apfelstedt: Heimathskunde für die Bewohner des Fürstenthums Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, Part 3: Geschichte des Fürstlich-Schwarzburgischen Hauses, Eupel, Sondershausen, 1856 (reprinted: Donhof, Arnstadt, 1998, ISBN 3-86162-025-1)
• Friedrich Apfelstedt: Das Haus Kevernburg-Schwarzburg von seinem Ursprunge bis auf unsere Zeit, Bertram, Sondershausen, 1890 (reprinted: Thüringer Chronik-Verl. Müllerott, Arnstadt, 1996, ISBN 3-910132-29-4)