Marriage contract no. 273: Württemberg - Braunschweig-Lüneburg-Wolfenbüttel

Contract content

Article 1: Marriage is decided

Article 2: Dowry fixed at 18.000 Reichsthaler (the thaler at 24 Ggl [sic!]), interest at 5% per annum

Article 3: Augusta is provided with jewellery, silverware, clothing and other items

Article 4: According to the Brunswick Pactis Familiae 1. Renunciation of Brunswick-Lüneburg inheritance as long as the male line exists. 2. Augusta and her husband shall renounce all other inheritances, unless otherwise stipulated in the will

Article 5: Morning gift (jewel and 2.000 Reichstaler), with 10% interest annually; Augusta is to receive a letter and seal to enable her to dispose of the money

Article 6: Frederick guarantees his wife “hand and play money”. She is to receive 3.000 Reichsthaler per year, always 750 per quarter. All other immediate expenses are to be provided for

Article 7: Augusta’s ladies-in-waiting and other servants are to be financed. Frederick decides on the servants, but no one is to be employed with whom Augusta does not agree

Article 8: If Frederick dies before his wife: Augusta is to be paid 10.000 Rhenish guilders a year, the guilder at 60 Creuzern. Of this, 6.000 guilders (1.500 guilders quarterly) are to be paid in cash from the Württemberg general treasury. The remaining 4.000 guilders are to be payed (1.000 guilders per quarter) from the landgraviate in Württemberg

Article 9: After Frederick’s death, the “hand and play money” (Article 6) is discontinued. Augusta is then to be financed from the parate funds of the princely estate

Article 10: Everything Augusta has received or acquired as a gift may be kept by her

Article 11: After Frederick’s death, the morning gift is to be paid in cash from his estate. Should this not be possible, Frederick II Eugene - should he still be alive - promises to pay the morning gift from the princely court treasury. If both are no longer alive, their heirs are to pay the morning gift

Article 12: Augusta is to be paid her dowager’s pension, regardless of where she lives as a dowager (whether Württemberg or Brunswick). Transportable furniture and equipment are to be transported at the expense of the estate. A carriage with seven horses and accompanying equipage from the marriage estate is also available to her as a dowager. Augusta must pay for their sustenance herself. Should Augusta remain in Württemberg, Neuenstatt Castle on the Kocher is prepared for her

Article 13: Duke Charles, reigning Duke of Württemberg and Teck, grants a special mortgage on the 6.000 Rhenish guilders so that Augusta is financially secure. The mortgage is taken up on Neuenstatt am Kocher. If the 6.000 gulden cannot be earned from Neuenstatt: compensation from other estates regulated

Article 14: After Frederick’s death, Augusta is allowed to use funds for another quarter of a year - except for the allowance in form of the hand money, which is immediately cancelled

Article 15: Should Augusta obtain her dowager’s residence in Württemberg, she will be supplied with venison at a favourable price

Article 16: Furnishings of the dower and inventory thereof regulated

Article 17: The dowager’s residence shall be maintained by the House of Württemberg

Article 18: Augusta may exercise lower court jurisdiction over her servants

Article 19: Augusta may practise her religion according to the Augsburg Confession during the marriage and as a widow, without any disadvantage to others

Article 20: If there are children, the father determines the guardianship. If no arrangements are made, guardianship remains with the mother as long as she remains in Württemberg. The children should be financially secure through their father and grandfather. Should the father die, Frederick II Eugene is to pay the children 4.000 guilders a year from the court treasury, which the father would otherwise have received

Article 21: Should Augusta remarry, the dower shall be cancelled and the issued prescriptions shall be returned

Article 22: Should Augusta also die, her entire estate is to be bequeathed to her children, whom she has with Frederick. If the children die, the matrimonial property shall be bequeathed to the Princely House of Württemberg. The rest of the inheritance goes to Augusta’s heirs. If there are no children and no testamentary disposition by Augusta, half of the matrimonial property goes to the House of Württemberg, the other half to the reigning Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg. Jewels, jewellery, etc. (including the morning gift) are to be bequeathed to the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg

Article 23: Should debts have been accumulated during the marriage, Frederick or his heirs, not Augusta, shall pay for them

Article 24: If one of the spouses dies after the solemnization and consummation of the marriage but before the securitisation (mentioned in Article 2), the points agreed in this contract must be observed

Article 25: If one of the spouses dies before solemnization and consummation of the marriage, the contract is null and void

Article 26: The Testamentum Codicillum Donationes mortis causa is valid for the betrothed, but the Pactis Familia of both Princely Houses shall not be violated

Article 27: Marriage is notarised

Regulations on succession to the throne

Article 4: According to the Brunswick Pactis Familiae 1. Renunciation of Brunswick-Lüneburg inheritance as long as the male line exists. 2. Augusta and her husband shall renounce all other inheritances, unless otherwise stipulated in the will

Confessional regulations

Article 19: Augusta may practise her religion according to the Augsburg Confession during the marriage and as a widow, without any disadvantage to others

Regulations on inheritance law

Article 22: Should Augusta also die, her entire estate is to be bequeathed to her children, whom she has with Frederick. If the children die, the matrimonial property shall be bequeathed to the Princely House of Württemberg. The rest of the inheritance goes to Augusta’s heirs. If there are no children and no testamentary disposition by Augusta, half of the matrimonial property goes to the House of Württemberg, the other half to the reigning Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg. Jewels, jewellery, etc. (including the morning gift) are to be bequeathed to the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg

Commentary

The couple lived separated since 1786

References

• Archive copy: NLA Wf 3 Urk 5 Nr. 65
• Contract language archive copy: German

Recommended citation

Dynastische Eheverträge der frühen Neuzeit. Contract No. 273. Philipps University of Marburg. Available online at https://dynastische-ehevertraege.online.uni-marburg.de/en/vertraege/273.html.

@misc{ Dynastische Ehevertr{“a}ge der fr{”u}hen Neuzeit, 
title = {Dynastische Ehevertr{“a}ge der fr{”u}hen Neuzeit: Contract No. 273},
 url = {https://dynastische-ehevertraege.online.uni-marburg.de/en/vertraege/273.html}
}