Duchy of Nassau
The Duchy of Nassau (German: Herzogtum Nassau) was an independent state between 1806 and 1866, located in what is now the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse. It was a member of the Confederation of the Rhine and later of the German Confederation. Its ruling dynasty, now extinct, was the House of Nassau.[1][2] The duchy was named for its historical core city, Nassau, although Wiesbaden rather than Nassau was its capital. In 1865, the Duchy of Nassau had 465,636 inhabitants. After being occupied and annexed into the Kingdom of Prussia in 1866 following the Austro-Prussian War, it was incorporated into the Province of Hesse-Nassau. The area today is a geographical and historical region, Nassau, and Nassau is also the name of the Nassau Nature Park within the borders of the former duchy.
This article is about the former state in present-day Germany. For its ruling family, including its branches in present-day Netherlands and Luxembourg, see House of Nassau. For other uses, see Nassau.
Duchy of NassauHerzogtum Nassau (German)
State of the Confederation of the Rhine
(1806–1813)
State of the German Confederation
(1815–1866)
30 August 1806
23 August 1866
Today, the Grand Duke of Luxembourg still uses "Duke of Nassau" as his secondary title, and "Prince" or "Princess of Nassau" is used as a title by other members of the grand ducal family. Nassau is also part of the name of the Dutch royal family, which styles itself Orange-Nassau.
Population[edit]
At its foundation in 1806, the Duchy had 302,769 inhabitants. The citizens were mostly farmers, day labourers, or artisans. In 1819, 7% of Nassauers lived in settlements with more than 2,000 inhabitants, while the rest lived in 850 smaller settlements and 1,200 isolated homesteads. Wiesbaden was the largest settlement with 5,000 inhabitants, and Limburg an der Lahn was the second-largest with around 2,600 inhabitants. By 1847, Wiesbaden had grown to 14,000 inhabitants and Limburg to 3,400. The third-largest city was Höchst am Main.
West side of a boundary stone, inscribed with ON for Orange-Nassau
East side of a boundary stone, inscribed with HD for Hesse-Darmstadt
Boundary stone of the Duchy of Nassau and the Kingdom of Prussia
Boundary column of the Duchy of Nassau in Dillenburg
Politics[edit]
Foreign affairs[edit]
In foreign affairs, the Duchy's geographic location and economic weakness greatly limited its room to manoeuvre – in the Napoleonic period, it had no autonomy at all. The Nassau 'army' was at the beck and call of Napoleon. In 1806, they were stationed as occupation troops in Berlin. Then three battalions were stationed at the Siege of Kolberg. Two regiments of infantry and two cavalry squadrons fought for more than five years in the Peninsular war; only half of them came back. In November 1813, Nassau joined the Sixth Coalition against Napoleon. Nassau troops fought at the battle of Waterloo: 1/2 rgt. was part of the crew of the fortified Hougemont farm which hold out against Napoleon, 1/1 rgt. was heavily battered after the French taking of La Haye Sainte. Of 7507 men inc. volunteers, 887 were killed in action. After the Congress of Vienna in 1815, Nassau was a member of the German Confederation.
Military[edit]
Nassau's military policy was shaped by Duchy's membership of the German Confederation. Like the rest of the administration, the military was reformed in order to unite the various military forces inherited from Nassau's predecessor states into a single body.
The majority of the troops consisted of two regiments of infantry, created in 1808/09. During the Napoleonic Wars, these were supported by squadrons of Jäger. After the Battle of Waterloo, the Duchy raised an artillery company, which became an artillery division with two companies in it after 1833. Further units were added (pioneers, Jägers, baggage trains, reserves). Further contingents were added as required during wartime. The whole military was placed under a brigade command structure. At its head was the Duke, but day-to-day operations were organised by an Adjutant general. Ordinarily, the Nassau army contained roughly 4,000 soldiers.
After the annexation of the Duchy, most of the officers and soldiers joined the Prussian Army.
Education[edit]
The Duchy could not afford its own university, so Duke William I made a treaty with the Kingdom of Hannover, which allowed citizens of Nassau to study at the University of Göttingen. In order to finance schools and university scholarships, on 29 March 1817, Duke William established the Nassau Central Study Fund, which still exists today, by consolidating a number of older secular and religious funds, and endowed it with farmland, forests, and bonds.
In Göttingen, non-Nassau students occasionally participated illicitly in a free dinner funded by the Central Study Fund. The German term nassauer, meaning 'someone who partakes of a privilege they are not entitled to' is said to derive from this practice, although etymologists report that the word is actually a Berlin dialect term derived from Rotwelsch Yiddish and that this story was invented after the fact.