Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1871-12-20
The Family Of the Guelphs.- History
Of Queen EictOria'S House.

The Family Of the Guelphs-- History
Of Queen VietOria's House.
The exact origin of the family of the
house of Guelph is somewhat obscure.
Some persons have indeed asserted
that Queen Victoria descends directly
from the deified hero Wooden, whom
the Scandinayians adored as a god.
The true founder of the house of
Hanover was AzOn D'Este, Marquis
of Tuscany, an italian adventurer,
who. at the commencement of the
eleventh century, took service under
the Emperor Conrad, in the hope of
acquiring fortune in Germany by
conquest or marriage. His matri-
monial speculation proved the most
profitable. He espoused Gunegunda
of Guelph, a wealthy heiress, and
discarded the name of D'Este for that
of his wife. Heneeforth he was called
| Guelph. Their son, Robert the RO-
bust, contracted q still more fortunate
alliance in marrying the widow of
| Tostic, Earl of Kent, brother to
! Edward the COnfessor. The newly
welded pair found great favor with
the Emperor, Henry the Fourth, who
despOiled Ohio of Saxony of his
Bavarian possessions in order to
enrich them. The great-grandson of
Robert rebelling against the Emperor
Barbarossa his estates were confis-
Gated. A third time, however, the
race of Azon retrieved the fortunes of
the family by a lucky marriage, the
bride being daughter of Henry the
Second, King of England, who pre-
vailed upon the German Caesar to
bestow the countships of Brunswick
and Luenburg upon his son-in-law.
| Otho the Fourteenth raised them to
the rank of duchies in the thirteenth
/ century, and William Of Guelph took
the title of Duke. OF the ducal
representatives of the house some were
distinguished for their courage and
military talents, others for their less
noble qualities as Henry, surnamed
the Dog" for his snarling temper;
Magnus the insolent;P Ernest the
"eruel." Ohio the Fourteenth was
the first of a long line ofpetty princes
who departed from the matrimonial
policy of his family by a marriage of
inclination with Matilda de Campal,
a simple gentlewoman Of Brunswick
and his own subject.
The great grandfather Of George
the First, King of England, had
seven sons, all dukes, and entitled to
share of his possessions. To avoid
splitting the family coronet by a
permanent division of their fathers
estates the brothers on his death enter
ed into a most steXtraordinary compact.
One only of the number was to con-
tract a legal marriage! Lots were
cast; chance favored George, the sixth
son, who espoused Anne Eleanora, q
Princess of Hesse Darnstadt. There
eldest son, Ernest Augustus, who
for many years bore no higher title
than Prince Bishop of Osnaberg,
married Sophia, daughter of the un-
fortunate Queen of Bohemia, and
granddaughter of James the first
which alliance first opened to the
house of Hanover prospect of the
crown of Great Britain. The bride
was sister of Rupert, so well known
in English history for his devotion to
Charles the First, to say nothing of
his discoveries in science and art and
engraving in meZZotinto. Ernest
Augustus was q dissipated prince, but
crafty and ambitious. On succeeding
to the title of the Duke Of Hanover
he dropped the title of Bishop of
Osnaberg. Following the example of
his father, he prevailed upon bis
brother, Duke William of Zelle, to
devote himself to life of celibacy in
consideration of sum Of money ad- |
vanced to him in a moment of distress. |
At Brussels the Prince contracted
mOrganatic marriage with Eleonora |
d'Olbreuse, who fled with her father
from France on the revocation of the
edict of Nantes by Louis the Four
teenth.
Ofthe issue of the Duke Of Zelle and
Eleonora d'Olbreuse, n daughter,
Sophia DOrothea, alone survived the
age of childhood. Her father had
received into his family Philip Won
Koningsmark, the son of an old
friend, who came to be educated in
The boy was just thirteen
when he arrived from Sweden, and
Sophia Dorothea was several years
Younger; Philip remained at the
Court of Zelle rather more than a year,
and then returned to Sweden. The
Court OF the Prince Bishop presented
an unfayorable contrast with that of
his brother. His adopted sister,"
the Countess Platch, completely gov
erued the vain old man, whose wife
consoIed herself for her husbands
infidelities by a Platonic friendship
with the philosopher Leibnitz. George
Louis. the heir of this accommodate
ing pair, possessed one solitary virtue;
he was courageous, but ridiculously I
vain, cruel and immoral, deformed in
person as in mind. Following the
example of his right and princely
parent, he, too, had an adopted sister,
Won Schulenberg, whom,
IN his accession to the English crown,
ne created Duchess of Kendall. The
services of George Louis
induced The Emperor to confer the
electoral dignity upon his father, but
he other ele3tors refused to acknow-
edge him, disputed the validity of {
lis claim in the Diet, giving him no
higher title than Duke of Hanover, {
@ which he had just previously sue 8
,eeded. Money became necessary to
,uy off their opposition. Ernest and |
he Electress looked around for a '
bride for their son, and with l
he exception of the bar sinister,
,ould find no one so eligible as Sophia I
whoss father, DukeWilliam,
istened eagerly to the proposal, and }
lespite the entreaties of his wife and
he tears of his daughter broke off I
Ter engagement with her cousin, !
Augustus of Wolfenbuttel, the only /
nan she ever loved, to alliance her to ]
pIohigate incapable Of appreciating
he virtues of his reluctant bride. !
soon after the ill-Opened marriage the
of George Louis degener-
ted into hatred, which his parents 4
hared. The Eleotress never forgaYe /
Ter daughter-in-law the blot upon /
Ter birth; the Elector, her steadfast
efusal to associate with his adopted
lister, the Countess Platen; and his /
on became so infuriated from a simi- \
ar cause that he attempted to murder /
Ter by strangulatiOn, and was only /
Ieleated in his design by the cries of b
Ter attendants. In order to hush up
his outrage, which was severely COM il
nented upon in Germany, Sophia t
)orothea was permitted to visit her s
ather at Zelle. Vainly she implored
lis protection.