John Ernest van Nassau-Siegen

Hereditary Count John Ernest of Nassau-Siegen (21 October 1582Jul. – 16/17 September 1617Jul.), , official titles: Graf zu Nassau, Katzenelnbogen, Vianden und Diez, Herr zu Beilstein, was since 1607 Hereditary Count 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. He first served as an officer in the Dutch States Army and later as general in the Republic of Venice during the Uskok War.

Biography Siegen in 1617. From Braun & Hogenberg, Civitates orbis terrarum Band 6, Cologne, 1617. On the left Siegen Castle. John Ernest was born at on 21 October 1582Jul., the eldest son of Count John VII the Middle of Nassau-Siegen and his first wife, Countess Magdalene of Waldeck-Wildungen. John Ernest studied in Kassel in 1595, and then in Geneva. He later stayed with his uncle William Louis of Nassau-Dillenburg in Leeuwarden. John Ernest was appointed captain on 22 September 1603. At the Siege of Sluis in 1604 he was shot in the leg. On 6 May 1606 he was appointed colonel of the regiment Walloons.

John Ernest took part in the Siege of Jülich in 1610 with Maurice of Nassau, where he was appointed second-in-command. In 1615 he took part in Frederick Henry of Nassau's march to the Hansa city of Brunswick, John Ernest's father then managed to negotiate an agreement between the Duke and the city.

Hereditary Count of Nassau-Siegen

When his grandfather Count John VI the Elder of Nassau-Siegen died on 8 October 1606, he was succeeded by John Ernest's father together with his brothers William Louis, George, Ernest Casimir and John Louis. On 30 March 1607 these brothers divided their possessions. The brothers then also signed a succession treaty. By this agreement the heirs of the brothers were explicitly forbidden to convert to a religion other than the Reformed confession. Since the partition, John the Middle has had his Residenz in Siegen Castle, which he had renovated around that time. Because the county of Nassau-Siegen was such a small country (it had about 9.000 inhabitants and yielded about 13.000 guilders annually) John the Middle decided that the county should not be divided up again. To avoid this, on 8 April 1607 he made a will and testament, which stated that only the eldest son would rule, and the other children should be compensated with money or offices. Thus, John Ernest became the heir apparent of Nassau-Siegen. With his father, his brother John the Younger and his uncle George of Nassau-Beilstein, John Ernest was present at the coronation of Roman King Matthias in Frankfurt in 1612.

In the service of the Venetian Republic

The signing of the Twelve Years' Truce and the end of the War of the Jülich Succession deprived John Ernest of the opportunity to distinguish himself further. John Ernest obtained permission from the States General in a resolution of 3 October 1616 to enter the service of the Venetian Republic with a regiment of foot soldiers. The permission concerned a leave of absence from State service for one year to enable him to take command of 3,000 men. There John Ernest was received with joy. The Doge of Venice had previously granted him the rank and title of General of the Dutch Armed Forces.

Death, burial and reburial John Ernest died in Udine in the night of 16/17 September 1617Jul.. His body was embalmed, and taken in a coach to Venice. From there, his body was taken at the expense of the Venetian Republic to Siegen, where it was interred on 19 April 1618 under the choir of the . There, his father had planned the construction of a dignified burial vault for the dynasty he founded. For this, there are remarkable notes in Latin, partly in elegiac couplets, for a projected memorial and burial place of the sovereign family, from the time around 1620, with the names of all 25 children from his two marriages, also with details of birth, marriage and death of his relatives. Since the project was not carried out, the burials of the members of the sovereign family between 1607 and 1658 took place in the inadequate burial vault under the choir of the mentioned parish church. Great-great-grandparents

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