Ernest Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel-Bevern

Ernest Ferdinand of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel-Bevern (4 March 1682 in Osterholz – 14 April 1746 in Brunswick) was a titular Duke of Brunswick and Lüneburg. He was Prince of Brunswick-Bevern and founder of the younger Brunswick-Bevern line.

Ernest Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
Ernest Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
Born	(1682-03-04)4 March 1682 Osterholz
Died	14 April 1746(1746-04-14) (aged 64) Brunswick
Noble family	House of Guelph
Spouse(s)	Eleonore Charlotte of Courland
Issue	August William Christine Sophie Frederica George Louis George Frederick Anne Marie Frederick Charles Ferdinand
Father	Ferdinand Albert I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
Mother	Christine of Hesse-Eschwege

Life

He was born in 1682 as the fourth son of Duke Ferdinand Albert I of Brunswick-Bevern and his wife, Landgravine Christine of Hesse-Eschwege. On 1 May 1706, he became a colonel in the Prussian army. In December of that year he succeeded his twin brother, Ferdinand Christian (d. 1706) as provost of the chapters of St. Blaise and St. Cyriakus in Brunswick.

On 1 March 1735, his elder brother, Duke Ferdinand Albert II of Brunswick-Bevern inherited Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. Ferdinand Albert II then gave Brunswick-Bevern to Ernest Ferdinand as an apanage.

Ernest Ferdinand died in Brunswick in 1746. He was the founder of the younger Brunswick-Bevern line, which died out with the death of his son Frederick Charles Ferdinand in 1809

Marriage and issue

Eleonore Charlotte of Courland (1686-1748).

On 4 August 1714, he married Eleonore Charlotte of Courland (1686-1748), daughter of Frederick Casimir Kettler, with whom he had thirteen children:

• August William (1715-1781)
• Christine Sophie (1717-1779), married Margrave Frederick Ernest of Brandenburg-Kulmbach (1703-1762)
• Frederica (1719-1772)
• George Louis (1721-1747), father of Danish courtesan Støvlet-Cathrine Benthagen
• Ernestine (1721)
• George Frederick (1723-1766)
• Amalia (1724-1726)
• Charles William (1725)
• Frederick August (1726-1729)
• Anne Marie (1728-1754)
• Frederick Charles Ferdinand (1729-1809), Danish Marshal
• John Charles (1731-1732)

Ancestors

Ancestors of Ernest Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel-Bevern

16. Ernest I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg 8. Henry III, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg 17. Sophia of Mecklenburg-Schwerin 4. Augustus the Younger, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg 18. Francis I, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg 9. Ursula of Saxe-Lauenburg 19. Sibylle of Saxony 2. Ferdinand Albert I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg 20. John V, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin 10. John Albert II, Duke of Mecklenburg-Güstrow 21. Sophia of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp 5. Elisabeth Sophie of Mecklenburg-Güstrow 22. Christopher, Duke of Mecklenburg 11. Elisabeth of Mecklenburg-Gadebusch 23. Princess Elizabeth of Sweden 1. Ernest Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg 24. William IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel) 12. Maurice, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel) 25. Sabine of Württemberg 6. Frederick, Landgrave of Hesse-Eschwege 26. John VII, Count of Nassau-Siegen 13. Juliane of Nassau-Siegen 27. Magdalene of Waldeck-Wildungen 3. Christina Wilhelmina of Hesse-Eschwege 28. John I, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken 14. John Casimir, Count Palatine of Kleeburg 29. Magdalene of Jülich-Cleves-Berg 7. Countess Palatine Eleonora Catherine of Zweibrücken 30. Charles IX of Sweden 15. Catherine of Sweden 31. Maria of the Palatinate-Simmern

References

• Christof Römer (ed.): Braunschweig-Bevern. Ein Fürstenhaus als europäische Dynastie, 1667–1884, Brunswick State Museum, Brunswick, 1997, p. 57–58
• Ferdinand Spehr (1877), "Ernst Ferdinand, Herzog von Braunschweig-Bevern", Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 6, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, p. 261