The offspring of the house Hohenzollern went as more or less successful military leader into history. From 1655 until his death, he was Margrave of the Franconian Principality of Bayreuth.
The young nobleman was already an orphan at the age of seven. After the death of his grandfather, Margrave Christian, in 1655, he succeeded to the throne while still a minor. He chose the Great Elector of Brandenburg as his guardian. In 1661, at the age of 17, he took over the throne from him. Government of the Bayreuth region.
After completing his studies in Strasbourg, he learned the economic skills of the Huguenots This must have influenced the fact that in 1685, for cameralistic (special accounting) reasons, capable tradesmen and capitalists to his principality, which had not yet recovered from the consequences of the Thirty Years' War.
He also attempted to have his financial problems solved by the goldsmith Cronemann. However, the pseudo-alchemist turned out to be a fraud, and the project failed.
The foundation of the school, supported by substantial state funds, from 1701 to 1812 after Christian-Erlang named Neustadt Erlangen and the reception of refugees (French refugees), German Reformed Churches, Catholics and others, proved to be a pioneering personal achievement that not only brought him fame but also benefited the entire country.
A few years later, he died in his new palace, "Elisabethenburg," named after his third wife, Elisabeth Sophie, which he had bequeathed to her as a widow's residence. The lifestyle of the Margrave and his last two wives, as well as the gifts they made to them, exacerbated the margraviate's financial situation.
As a passionate hunter, he owned 85 dogs and had several zoos and hunting lodges built.
Traces of Christian Ernst in Erlangen:
- Relief with a portrait at the Pauli Fountain on the market square. Below, a plaque bears the inscription: "Margrave Christian Ernst, founder of the New Town of Erlangen. 1661–1712."
- Since 1965, the Christian-Ernst-Gymnasium has borne the name of the Margrave.
- A street in the Buckenhof settlement is named after him.
At our City tour Find out even more interesting things about our Margrave!