A Second Liechtenstein: An Independent Principality of Neuchatel

The Mouse That Roared, still a good film, was on television last weekend which got me thinking of whether it was possible to have more microstates in Europe like the fictional Duchy of Grand Fenwick. Happily the Principality of Neuchatel seems to fit the bill quite handily and appears like it could easily have become a second Liechtenstein-like state but on the western border of Switzerland with France. One of the main events that needs to be changed however is the selection of Frederick I in Prussia as the new Prince when the reigning house died out in 1707 so as to avoid the later unpleasantness of 1848 that saw them become a republic.

I've done some brief searches on the internet but all any of the sites that cover it say is that when the Princess Marie de Nemours died in 1707 that there were between fifteen and twenty or so candidates that put themselves forward as potential choices to become the new Prince, but not who they actually were. I don't suppose anyone would happen to know who was on the list do they? Failing that anyone that would have made a decent candidate that fulfilled the criteria of being Protestant, strong enough to oppose any potential French encroachments yet far enough away to not actively intervene in local affairs? Thanks.
 
The Mouse That Roared, still a good film, was on television last weekend which got me thinking of whether it was possible to have more microstates in Europe like the fictional Duchy of Grand Fenwick. Happily the Principality of Neuchatel seems to fit the bill quite handily and appears like it could easily have become a second Liechtenstein-like state but on the western border of Switzerland with France. One of the main events that needs to be changed however is the selection of Frederick I in Prussia as the new Prince when the reigning house died out in 1707 so as to avoid the later unpleasantness of 1848 that saw them become a republic.

I've done some brief searches on the internet but all any of the sites that cover it say is that when the Princess Marie de Nemours died in 1707 that there were between fifteen and twenty or so candidates that put themselves forward as potential choices to become the new Prince, but not who they actually were. I don't suppose anyone would happen to know who was on the list do they? Failing that anyone that would have made a decent candidate that fulfilled the criteria of being Protestant, strong enough to oppose any potential French encroachments yet far enough away to not actively intervene in local affairs? Thanks.

The candidates were:
- William Hyacinth, Prince of Nassau-Siegen
- Julianne-Catherine d'Amont
- Beat-Albert-Ignace, Baron de Montjoie
- The Magrave of Baden
- Frobenius-Ferdinand, Count of Furstenberg

- Francois-Louis de Bourbon, Prince of Conti
- Friedrich I of Prussia
- Emmanuel Philipert of Savoy, Prince of Carignan
- Leopold Eberhard, Duke of Wurttemberg-Montbeliard

- Paule-Francoise de Gondi, Duchess of Retz
- Jacques de Matignon, later Prince of Monaco
- Angelique-Cuneguonde de Montmorency de Luxembourg (only claimed a dowager's portion for her own life)
- Jeanne de Mouchy, Marquise de Mailly de nesle
- Yves d'Alegre


In italics are the ones who were obvious timewasters, legally speaking. Even Frederick of Prussia had hardly any right to the Principality, but was merely popular. As far as I can make out, the Duchess of Retz had the best genealogical claim, but as you can see, the only powerful Protestant counterweight to French hegemony was the King of Prussia.

EDIT: Indeed, the dowager and the Prince of Conti were only valid if you see Neuchatel as allodial land, which it had been established not to be a few decades earlier in some legal document or other.
 
Oh excellent, thanks for that list. So since they went for Friedrich I who as you say had little if any real claim to the throne then realistically they could have chosen anyone provided they thought they would make a could counterweight to any French ambitions. That opens some potentially interesting possibilities.
 
Yeah, out of the OTL candidates only the Duke of Wurttemberg-Montbeliard and the Prince of Nassau-Siegen (depending on which Margrave of Baden is meant) were Protestants, and they were both tyrannical wankers who nobody would want as a ruler. Any potential rival to Friedrich would have to be:
1) conveniently distant. That effectively means the leader of another, larger state, because a younger brother or a dethroned Prince would take up residence in the local chateau and annoy the burghers.
2) Protestant.
3) Anti-French.

That basically means Frederick of Prussia, Frederick IV of Denmark or Georg von Hannover (Elector-rank or above, Protestant, not Swedish). Not a wide selection, to say the least. And of these, only the King of Prussia had even a shadow of a claim. The alternative would be taking an unmarried woman from the list (don't know who, the Duchess of Retz was a widow, but quite old) and marrying her to the choice of the judges.
 
I've done some brief searches on the internet but all any of the sites that cover it say is that when the Princess Marie de Nemours died in 1707 that there were between fifteen and twenty or so candidates that put themselves forward as potential choices to become the new Prince, but not who they actually were. I don't suppose anyone would happen to know who was on the list do they? Failing that anyone that would have made a decent candidate that fulfilled the criteria of being Protestant, strong enough to oppose any potential French encroachments yet far enough away to not actively intervene in local affairs? Thanks.


The question of succession to the principality of Neuchâtel is more complicated than you might think. Around the small state and its independence / survival, have moved the interests of the great powers of Europe. But, unfortunately, these pages of history seems to have been forgotten.
Come to order.
On 16 June 1707, at the age of 82, died in Paris Marie d'Orléans-Longueville, Dowager Duchess de de Nemours, «par la grace de Dieu, souveraine de Neuchâtel et Vallangin»; without descent.
Wikipedia.fr defines the question of succession that this event has opened (Le Procès de 1707) «an example of a succession dispute in European aristocracies of the Ancien Régime».
But the starting point is not this.
The starting point is this: to advantage their children, Henri II d'Orléans, duc de Longueville, and his second wife, Anne-Geneviève de Bourbon-Condé, exclude Marie from the largest part of the Longueville's estate , through a renunciation that they are doing at their daughter before a notary, although this provision is not recognized under French law. In 1655, his father her also forces to abandon the property of his late mother, Louise de Bourbon-Estouteville. It also the duc de Longueville combines for his daughter the marriage, two years later, with a cripple, Henri II de Savoie-Nemours [he was Archbishop of Reims and «Primate of Gallia Belgica»; when his brother Charles Amadeus died in a duel with his brother-in-law, the Duke of Beaufort, Henri succeed him in the title of Duke de Nemours, de Genevois et d'Aumale, comte de Gisors, marquis de Saint-Sorlin et de Saint-Rambert, Pair de France] under a contract that grants her an unworthy dower of her rank, and which includes a waiver, of the future, of all estate of her father and her half-brothers. Childless widow on 4 January 1659, Marie manages its assets and chooses not to remarry.
Second point: in 1663, his half-brother Jean-Louis d'Orléans-Longueville succeeded his father as Duke de Longueville, Prince souverain de Neuchâtel et de Valangin, etc. , but soon he pronounced vows and became the «Abbé d'Orléans» in 1669. The previous year (1668), he bequeathed, in a a holographic will, his titles and property to his young brother Charles-Paris (as universal heir), with a reversion clause in the case where Charles-Paris would die before him without a male child; and in a will, he appointed to succeed them, in case they would die without both male child, their closest male cousins, the Princes de Conti.
Yet, the year 1672 marks a pivotal moment in this story: Sunday 12 June, during the Louis XIV's Dutch War first campaign, Charles-Paris crossed the Rhine to swim with the French cavalry, but he was attacked out of the river at Tolhuis and was killed. He died unmarried and childless. Jean-Louis has resumed the titles, but he is declared incapable and his mother Anne-Geneviève named his guardian.
Marie, then, has claimed the legal sovereignty of Neuchâtel, by aiming more generally to the succession at the Longueville's estate. During the sensational trial that opens in 1674 before the Council of State, Marie impeached French ideology of the «droit masculin» (inheritance for right male), exercised in private law since the 1550s, contaminated, according to her, by the fraudulent succession law, called "Salic Law". It denounces the negative effects of its application in the family and in the state. It revokes the rights of natural law. Marie also denounced the waivers that she had signed and proclaimed herself the only legal heir of her father.
In front of that, Anne-Geneviève (in name of her crazy son Jean-Louis) defended the «droit masculin», ensured that the Marie's waiver was valid, and claimed for Jean-Louis the sovereignty of Neuchâtel. Although the decision pronounced by Louis XIV, with a sentence in April 1674, reaffirms the «droit masculin» and confirms Jean-Louis, yet Marie is preparing for next fight for Neuchâtel.
Third point: While traveling in Italy, mental health of Jean-Louis d'Orléans-Longueville showed signs of significant deterioration, until in 1690 his parents obtained the recognition of his legal incapacity as «insensé» (foolish) and a "lettre de cachet" did shut up hin in a monastery, the Abbey of Saint-Georges, Boscherville, where he died on 2 April 1694.
There followed a lengthy trial in succession between the François-Louis de Bourbon (1664-1709), Prince de Conti, and Marie, which declared that the her half-brother was already «dément» (insane) when he drew up the will of 1668, which therefore had to be considered invalid, judged by President Henri François d'Aguesseau (1668-1758, future Chancellor of France) on 10 January 1696: the court recognized the validity of the will.
At this point the Three states of Neuchâtel (Council of the Nation and Supreme Court) give the sovereignty to Marie, invoking one hand her natural rights as heir of Longueville family [The Dukes of Longueville had acquired the principality of Neuchâtel through marriage to a Swiss princess, Margravine Johanna of Baden-Hochberg-Sausensberg], and the other part, also, for the custom of Neuchâtel who accepted the succession of women; and they dismissed the request pretensions of François-Louis de Bourbon-Conti, who alleged the «droit masculin».
The Dowager Duchesse de Nemours went to Neuchâtel to claim her succession. She was accompanied by the Chevalier de Soissons, Louis Henri de Bourbon (1640-1703), it was called «Monsieur de Neuchâtel» because she had given him the inheritance rights at the country as soon as she died.
The Three states of Neuchâtel, outraged that their country was treated as a private legacy, had stipulated that their princes could not alienate the state without popular consent. The Three States, assembled on 8 March 1694, recognized "sovereign" the Dowager Duchess of Nemours on 12 March, and declared the principle that the country is inalienable. The independence of the Principality of Neuchâtel, as an ally of the Swiss, had been recognized by the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648. On hearing this new ordinance for Neuchâtel, the new sovereign, surprise, protested and tried in vain to obtain the removal of that fatal ordinance.
But the Prince de Conti had raised his protest.
The country of Neuchâtel is then torn between his supporters and those of the Prince de Conti, a relative of Louis XIV. Swiss cantons took the Duchess's parts. The people remained faithful to Marie who returned to Neuchâtel. She was led in triumph to the castle. The Prince de Conti asked to convene an impartial tribunal to reform the 1694 sentence, but the population of the country and the Swiss cantons feared that Neuchâtel become a French province and prepared to defend the boundaries. Infact Louis XIV was, in those years, still, the strongest militarily sovereign in Europe: with the War of Devolution, the War of the Reunions and the Nine Years' War he had gained more land in the Spanish Netherlands, the Luxembourg, the Franche-Comté, the Palatinate and the Lorraine: France was reaching the natural border of the Rhine river. And as arbitrator and peacemaker in many conflicts, he enhanced French influence in Europe.
the Municipalities Delegates assembled at Neuchâtel on 24 April 1699 and resolved to maintain the authority of the Three States. The Prince de Conti had to give up his claims. But Louis XIV called back in France the Prince de Conti and the Dowager Duchesse de Nemours, arguing that they were his subjects. Marie was exiled to his estate of Coulsdon (January 1700) given that she had wanted to resist the desire of her king who wanted to force her to remove those of her councilors who had been most opposed to the part of the Prince de Conti. She has been released after an exile of four years and came to Valangin.



Even Frederick of Prussia had hardly any right to the Principality, but was merely popular. As far as I can make out, the Duchess of Retz had the best genealogical claim, but as you can see, the only powerful Protestant counterweight to French hegemony was the King of Prussia.

EDIT: Indeed, the dowager and the Prince of Conti were only valid if you see Neuchatel as allodial land, which it had been established not to be a few decades earlier in some legal document or other.



Is not of entirely true.
Fourth point: already during the life of Marie, not only in Europe there was concern about the fate of her principality of Neuchâtel and Valangin, but ardently was coveted the principality's possession. Some contenders at this sovereignty, through their agents, plenipotentiaries or observers based in Neuchâtel, intriguing and spreading rumors of the interest and rivalries to one or the other of families and individuals contenders.
On 16 June 1707, at the age of 82, Marie d'Orléans-Longueville died.
A trial of investiture began six weeks later, according to custom, and fifteen contenders presented it. Six of them were eliminated or desisted at the beginning of the trial; nine remained, but most went away gradually, after becoming aware of the selection procedure: they ranged in three classes:
1. those who called in their favor the testamentary dispositions of the last sovereigns;
2. those who invoked their kinship with the house of Longueville;
3. those who called to the succession of the head of the house of Chalon under a sovereignty's law, dating from 1288 [Paul JACOTTET, Le procès de 1707, dans Musée neuchâtelois, 1881, p. 125.]. In this class there was William Henry of Orange, Stadtholder in the Dutch Republic, who later became King of England, Scotland and Ireland as William III, and sovereign Prince of Orange [very important fact!], a tiny protestant enclave inside the Papal Possession of Avignon, a small enclave in the Kingdom of France. The city of Orange was at the center of the plot that Pope Innocent XI had effectively financed the overthrow of the Catholic king James II by the Protestant claimant William III in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. This was because Innocent's family, the Odescalchi (based in Como), were an important banking dynasty that had lent money to William and sought a financial return [see «Imprimatur», a wonderful Italian historical novel, written by Rita Monaldi and Francesco Sorti]. William III d'Orange, also, declared himself the heir of the House of Châlon, and he declared at the Treaty of Rijswijk [20 September 1697, which ended the Nine Years' War, and where Louis XIV recognised William III as King of England], he had rights over Neuchâtel and has done include the county and the city of Neuchâtel in the peace treaty.
Since William III died childless in 1702 the principality d'Orange [captured by the forces of Louis XIV in 1672, and annexed in August 1682] and the rights of the House of Châlon was been inherited by his closest cognate relative, Frederick I of Prussia.
The planes of the testamentary heirs and the blood heirs, supported by Louis XIV, had been to fail the fragile pretensions of the successors of Chalon, namely the King of Prussia. But the misfortune of the French was then to be too numerous at claim the principality of Neuchâtel: instead of joining, they have demolished one another each other.

Three months after the opening of the succession of the Dowager Duchess de Nemours, at the time when the debate has arrived on the merits, the court did have to decide between two competitors: deaf-mute Prince Emmanuel Philibert Amadeus of Savoy (1628–1709), 2nd prince de Carignan, and Frederick I, King of Prussia.
This surprising result was the work of Count Ernst von Metternich-Chursdorf, the clever diplomat from the Prussian monarch. Prussia began patiently and silently his diplomatic work already in 1685. The Principality of Neuchâtel «clef du Jura français et de la plaine suisse» (key of the French Jura and Swiss plain), «forteresse de premier ordre pour un grand état qui voudrait dominer la Suisse et menacer la France» (first-class fortress to a great state who would dominate Switzerland and threatened France), was so necessary to Frederick I of Prussia for the realization of his war and conquest plans,
By a secret treaty of 16 October 1707 [Charles ROBERT, Le renonciation du prince de Carignan en faveur du roi de Prusse, dans Musée neuchâtelois, 1909, p. 37.], von Metternich-Chursdorf has obtained the waiver of the Prince de Carignan for the King of Prussia, with 33.100 «écus» and 100 «louis d'or» at Charles Fortis, lawyer of the prince, which protested for the form was made when the decision of 3 November 1707, after 27 meetings and hundreds of pages of text, by which the country was given to Frederick, first to be owned by him as an independent state, inalienable and indivisible.
This provision was confirmed by the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713
The bourgeoisies and the Worthy Class of the Pastors obtained the recognition of the acquired rights; the administration remained in place, but the Council of State took importance. The king was made represent in Neuchâtel by a governor, often descendant of Huguenot families taken refuge in Prussia. Some resided downtown, others made only short appearances in the country. The military organization prescribed that each old man from 17 to 60 years was compels with the service; the soldier was to be equipped with his expenses.

Three weeks after the award, Frederick I and von Metternich-Chursdorf studied together the means to invade Franche-Comté, and the skilled diplomat has sought to engage the Confederates in this action. It was for his oversight, his error: Louis XIV, informed, has appealed to the Swiss reasonableness and has invited them to move away from the dangerous road taken by the Prussian, while leading his troops on the Franche-Comté and Neuchâtel. The Council of State Neuchâtel, seeing the imminent danger, declared that he would oppose any invasion of Burgundy through our territory. Then the Diet of Baden and the Peace of Aarau (11 August 1712) momentarily made the King of Prussia to abandon the plans he had formed. Frederick I of Prussia, who ceded also the principality of Orange - at least the lands, but not the formal title - to France in 1713.

From that moment the principality of Neuchâtel ceased to interest for Frederick I. His successor tried to sell it to the Duke of Bourbon in 1726 [Musée neuchâtelois, 1902, p. 206]. The opportunity to discard it appeared in 1806. Frederick William III exchanged with Napoleon the country for the Hanover, unconditionally [Cf. la polémique au sujet de sous ou de sans contrainte, entre Samuel de Chambrier et Arthur Piaget: Samuel DE CHAMBRIER, A propos des années 1707,1806,1814. Réponse à la conférence de M. Arthur Piaget du 22 janvier 1912. Neuchâtel, 1912. Arthur PlAGET, La Cession de Neuchâtel en 1806, sa reprise en 1814. Réponse à M. Samuel de Chambrier. Neuchâtel, 1912.], violating the promises to always keep the sovereignty of Neuchâtel «dans toute son indépendance, inaliénabilité et indivisibilité» (throughout its independence, inalienable and indivisible).

Marie d'Orléans-Longueville, Dowager Duchess de de Nemours, «par la grace de Dieu, souveraine de Neuchâtel et Vallangin» became a living example of respect for natural rights. The interest of his long struggle appears in all its magnitude: many families in turn, in 1674 and throughout the eighteenth century, have continued to practice in order to oppose the «droit naturel» to the «droit masculin», in paragraph of cluttering the tribunals. The generalization of this action will allow the Revolution legislators to institute the equality of girls and boys in inheritance.




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Leopold Eberhard of Wurttemberg-Montbéliard was the last ruler of the Duchy of Wurttemberg-Montbéliard from 1699 until 1723.
He was the son of Duke George II and Comtesse Anne de Coligny.
During his early youth, Leopold Eberhard followed the military career in Austria.
Suppose there are no mistresses. Suppose he has the perfect reign and the ducal court is at peace.
Suppose Leopold Eberhard is chosen to be the Prince of Neuchatel. What happens then?
 
Suppose there are no mistresses. Suppose he has the perfect reign and the ducal court is at peace.
Suppose Leopold Eberhard is chosen to be the Prince of Neuchatel. What happens then?


The problem was not the religion of the prince who would be chosen.
It was irrelevant that it was Catholic, Protestant and Calvinist.
If it were not for the interest of Frederick I of Prussia, most likely the principality would be transformed into an oligarchic republic, linked to the Swiss Confederation.

Leopold Eberhard of Wurttemberg-Montbéliard had already been excluded from the selection made by the Three States.
Even if he had a matrimonial life more regular, he would have been ruled out, probably, because of its bad political reputation and government.
Already despised by his subjects for his injustice and licentious life he was leading publicly, he attached through fraudulent methods to increase his property. After the Thirty Years War the right to escheat was exercised by his predecessor Leopold-Frederick, and vacant property were entered in his possessions. Leopold Eberhard argued to still have this right, to place the farmers of his estates, mostly Anabaptists or Mennonites, expelled from the canton of Berne and Alsace because of religion... So he sent in 1713 in each locality the officers for seize on his behalf the properties whose owners were unable to produce the property titles. This measure produced odious expropriations.
He was arrogant and despotic prince and absolutist.

Instead, it would be interesting to imagine what would have happened if he had been chosen the Prince Emmanuel Philibert Amadeus of Savoy (1628–1709), 2nd prince de Carignan.
Deaf and dumb, who learned to read and write without limitations, so he could study various sciences; was a man of great culture, just think that his tutor was Emanuele Tesauro, one of the most important European intellectuals of the Baroque era. From him the young prince learned several languages and had a solid foundation in history, science, arts.
Emanuele Filiberto was also a skilled politician, so much so that his cousin Carlo Emanuele II did not disdain to entrust him with delicate missions. He was also a brave officer in the service of the Sun King.
Handsome, (but all the Princes of Carignano had to be, judging from the pictures), well-educated, brave, bright, curious, this prince managed to forget his disability or, however, not to feel it as an impediment to develop their personality.

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Maybe Giving Frederick I an extra child thus making that one to inhereted it appart of prussia and them he become independant in middle term and post napoleon is confirmed?
 
@ Urbanus VII: your remark about the principality of Orange can be disputed though. Like other princes of Orange before him Willem III made a fellow Nassau, Johan Willem Friso of the Nassau-Dietz branch (descended from John the Old, brother of William the Silent, though maternally related to the latter branch) his heir.
The problem is that Frederick Henry (Frederik Hendrik) promised the principality to his female line heirs (senior ones were the Brandenburg-Prussian Hohenzollern), when his male line went extinct.
However the prince of Orange had every right to arrange his succession in his will; that how William the Silent (Nassau-Dillenburg, later Orange-Nassau) inherited it from his uncle René of Chalons (Nassau-Breda).

On topic I wouldn't call Neuchatel a second Liechtenstein though; castle Liechtenstein is in Austria. ;) On a more serious note another Luxembourg, Andorra, San Marino, Monaco, Vatican City, Liechtenstein could be intriguing though.
 
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your remark about the principality of Orange can be disputed though. Like other princes of Orange before him Willem III made a fellow Nassau, Johan Willem Friso of the Nassau-Dietz branch (descended from John the Old, brother of William the Silent, though maternally related to the latter branch) his heir.


William III of England, was the last Prince of Orange to rule the principality, because the princedom ceased to exist as a sovereign realm, de facto, when Louis XIV captured in 1672 and annexed the territory in August 1682.
The dispute between Frederick I of Prussia and John William Friso of Nassau-Dietz was merely for the title of «Prince of Orange». ;)
Frederick I of Prussia used his claim only to dealing with Louis XIV: you do not break the eggs in the basket to me on the question of Neuchâtel, I acknowledge to you the annexation that you made of the Orange's princedom. :D
 
@ Urbanus VII: your remark about the principality of Orange can be disputed though. Like other princes of Orange before him Willem III made a fellow Nassau, Johan Willem Friso of the Nassau-Dietz branch (descended from John the Old, brother of William the Silent, though maternally related to the latter branch) his heir.
The problem is that Frederick Henry (Frederik Hendrik) promised the principality to his female line heirs (senior ones were the Brandenburg-Prussian Hohenzollern), when his male line went extinct.
However the prince of Orange had every right to arrange his succession in his will; that how William the Silent (Nassau-Dillenburg, later Orange-Nassau) inherited it from his uncle René of Chalons (Nassau-Breda).

On topic I wouldn't call Neuchatel a second Liechtenstein though; castle Liechtenstein is in Austria. ;) On a more serious note another Luxembourg, Andorra, San Marino, Monaco, Vatican City, Liechtenstein could be intriguing though.

William III of England, was the last Prince of Orange to rule the principality, because the princedom ceased to exist as a sovereign realm, de facto, when Louis XIV captured in 1672 and annexed the territory in August 1682.
The dispute between Frederick I of Prussia and John William Friso of Nassau-Dietz was merely for the title of «Prince of Orange». ;)
Frederick I of Prussia used his claim only to dealing with Louis XIV: you do not break the eggs in the basket to me on the question of Neuchâtel, I acknowledge to you the annexation that you made of the Orange's princedom. :D

I know it's off topic, but how important was the title of Prince of Orange to the Nassau family? If, for example, William the Silent never received this title, would he be less important?
 
I know it's off topic, but how important was the title of Prince of Orange to the Nassau family? If, for example, William the Silent never received this title, would he be less important?

Yes, even when he still gets the rest of the Nassau-Breda inheritance (which made him the most important noble in the Low Countries), as prince of Orange, he wasn't only a noble, but a sovereign prince.
 
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