It was an arranged marriage, and she was reportedly a cripple.
Married to a cripple, and the son of a madwoman, can Karl II's life get better?
It was an arranged marriage, and she was reportedly a cripple.
Having a mistress and illegitimate offsprings has always been badly seen. Even for Kings: the Duke of Saint-Simon is very critical on Louis XIV and his bastard children in his memoirs for example. Bigamy is an even bigger crime because you're not supposed to have two wives in Christian Europe.JonasResende said:I also read (into it) that Karl I's bigamy played a part in it. Why would this be when countless kings in the period had mistresses and bastards alongside their lawful family.
That doesn't necessarilly mean Karl II didn't receive a rigorous calvinist education. Not saying this isn't true: just pointing out it doesn't necessarilly contradict what I read. In fact, who's to say we're not both right?Rich Rostrom said:It was an arranged marriage, and she was reportedly a cripple.
She married Prince Carl in 1672, and was given a large dowry (all the princesses were given large doweries upon their marriages, amounting to one fifth of the countires expences for a year). The marriage hovewer was very unhappy, and Carl had married her because of his father and against his wishes. According to sources he found her lacking court skils and insignificant, and in 1677 he had plans of divorcing her, which didn't happen.
Maybe, IDK the circumstances of Friedrich's death. But one has to wonder, Karl II not having legitimate children didn't do anything to make Prince Rupert marry and have kids, so would Friedrich still marry in his brother's life time or no?
EDIT: An interesting match - and sadly just that, I think - would be for Karl II/Friedrich to marry a Neuburg cousin. Then again, I've also toyed with the question of what if the Pfalz-Simmern and Pfalz-Neuburg lines had simply swapped consorts (Charlotte of Hesse-Kassel marrying Philipp Wilhelm and Elisabeth Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt marrying Karl I). Granted, would Charlotte have willingly converted though?
Hesse-Darmstadt was famously the most conservatively Lutheran of the major German states; Hesse-Kassel was one of the main Calvinist states. Darmstadt tended to be allied to the Habsburgs and the Saxons, Kassel with the Palatinate and the Dutch. It's hard to see that switch happening, especially in terms of a Hesse-Kassel princess marrying a Catholic.
A Neuburg/Simmern match also seems tough, but I suppose the Simmern Wittelsbachs have been going Catholic left and right at this point, so not totally crazy.