Frederick William Adolf, Prince of Nassau-Siegen

Prince Frederick William Adolf of Nassau-Siegen (20 February 1680 – 13 February 1722), , official titles: Fürst zu Nassau, Graf zu Katzenelnbogen, Vianden, Diez, Limburg und Bronkhorst, Herr zu Beilstein, Stirum, Wisch, Borculo, Lichtenvoorde und Wildenborch, Erbbannerherr des Herzogtums Geldern und der Grafschaft Zutphen, was since 1691 Fürst of Nassau-Siegen, a part of the County of Nassau. He descended from the House of Nassau-Siegen, a cadet branch of the Ottonian Line of the House of Nassau.

Not much is known about his life, but a short biography written by his councillor Miltenberger is kept in the in The Hague.

Biography Frederick William Adolf was born in the in Siegen on 20 February 1680 as the eldest son of Fürst William Maurice of Nassau-Siegen and Princess Ernestine Charlotte of Nassau-Schaumburg. He was baptised in Siegen on 3 March. Among his godfathers were two later kings, namely Elector Frederick III of Brandenburg (later King Frederick I of Prussia) and Prince William III of Orange (later King William III of England). of Friesland. Frederick William Adolf also succeeded his father as count of Bronkhorst, lord of , , and , and hereditary knight banneret of the Duchy of Guelders and the County of Zutphen. The young prince made several trips to the royal courts of England and France, from where he returned to Siegen as late as 1701. Both buildings were built in 1488 by Count John V of Nassau-Siegen as a Franciscan monastery. The Nassauischer Hof housed, among others, the collection of paintings of the Fürsten of Nassau-Siegen. Numerous valuable paintings by famous artists, including Rembrandt, Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck, fell victim to the flames. Frederick William Adolf devoted all his energy to governmental affairs and the reconstruction of the city of Siegen and the new palace (for which the plans were still the work of Fürst John Maurice and his Dutch architects Pieter and Maurits Post).

William Hyacinth, who stayed with the Emperor in Vienna at the beginning of 1705 and hoped in vain to win him over, experienced many changes on his return. Suddenly he intensified the pressure in the religious domain. Complaints about this and about the unbearable burden of the tax rate, as well as about completely nonsensical regulations which paralysed economic life in Siegerland, finally led the Aulic Council to order the Electoral Palatinate to investigate the conditions in Nassau-Siegen. On 15 July 1706, dragoons from Palatinate-Neuburg suddenly entered Siegen, together with a detachment of Prussian troops and 500 men of the Ausschuß of the Duchy of Berg. They did not leave the city until 24 July, after various military measures to end harrowing injustices.

The next year and a half, William Hyacinth stayed in Regensburg. His attempts at the Imperial Diet achieved nothing. Furthermore, at that time he also tried to sell the Catholic principality of Nassau-Siegen. He offered it to Frederick I of Prussia, but the latter did not even consider it because he knew that such a sale would be against the Nassau house laws. Willem Hyacinth also offered it to his Protestant second cousin Frederick William Adolf. The latter did not accept the offer because everyone could foresee that the Catholic line of Nassau-Siegen sooner or later would become extinct without male heirs and that the part of the land would fall to the Protestant relatives anyway.

In October 1712 Frederick William Adolf and William Hyacinth reached an agreement about their share in the city of Siegen. William Hyacinth ceded the Catholic land to Frederick William Adolf in exchange for an annual pension of 12,000 Reichsthalers. There was even an intention to marry off Maria Anna Josepha, William Hyacinth's underage daughter, to the even younger reformed Hereditary Prince Frederick William. All this was done not in the least to get rid of the troublesome foreign administration. When the principality of Nassau-Hadamar was divided in 1717, Frederick William Adolf and William Hyacinth of Nassau-Siegen acquired the city of Hadamar, Dehrn and Niederzeuzheim. These territories represented one third of the inheritance. As they belonged to both William Hyacinth and Frederick William Adolf, Frederick William Adolf therefore owned only one-sixth of Nassau-Hadamar.

Death, burial and succession The entrance to the Fürstengruft in Siegen. Photo: Bob Ionescu, 2009. Frederick William Adolf died of dropsy He was buried on 10 April in the Fürstengruft there. He was succeeded by his son Frederick William II, who was under the custody and regency of his stepmother until 1727.

Marriages and issue First marriage Frederick William Adolf married at Homburg Castle on 7 January 1702 to Landgravine Elisabeth Juliana Francisca of Hesse-Homburg (Homburg Castle, 6 January 1681 – Nassauischer Hof, Siegen, Charlotte Frederica (Siegen, 30 November 1702 – Stadthagen, 22 July 1785 ("See State Archives Bückeburg, Des.) L. 176, Stadthagen (ref.) N. 1, S. 92. However, the document does not explicitly mention the place of death. It is also not mentioned in the records of the Lutheran St. Martin's Church in Stadthagen." (Nassauischer Hof, Siegen, 21 September 1705 to Countess Sophie Polyxena Concordia of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein (Berlin, 28 May 1709 – , Siegen, 15 December 1781 ("See Dek (1970), confirmed by the parish registers, notifications and an article in the Dillenburgische Intelligenz Nachrichten, LI.) Stück, Sonnabends, den 22 Decembris 1781: «Den 15ten dieses des Abends». Vorsterman van Oyen (1882) states she died in 1783." on 13 April 1708 Sophia Wilhelmine Adolphina (Nassauischer Hof, Siegen, 28 February 1709 ("According to the parish registers of Siegen, she was born on 1‑3, but the draft notification (State Archives Wiesbaden 170III) shows that she was born on 28‑2: «gestrigen Donnerstag Nachts zwischen eilff und 12 Uhren»." (Nassauischer Hof, Siegen, 25 April 1711 – Untere Schloss, Siegen, 7 March 1771).) Augusta Amelie (Siegen, 9 September 1712 – Wittgenstein Castle, Laasphe, 22 February 1742), married in Siegen on 6 May 1738 to Count Frederick of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein (Berlin, 29 January 1708 – 9 June 1756). He later remarried the youngest sister of Augusta Amelie. Louis Ferdinand (Nassauischer Hof, Siegen, 29 March 1714 – Nassauischer Hof, Siegen, 26 February 1715). Caroline Amelie Adolphina ("The baptismal certificate names her Charlotte Amélie Adolphine.) In the notification of death «Charlotte» is changed into «Caroline»." Great-great-grandparents

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