Gustav Adolph, Duke of Mecklenburg-Güstrow

Gustav Adolph, Duke of Mecklenburg [-Güstrow] (26 February 1633 – 6 October 1695) was the last ruler of Mecklenburg-Güstrow from 1636 until his death and last Lutheran Administrator of the Prince-Bishopric of Ratzeburg from 1636 to 1648.[1]

Gustav Adolph, Duke of Mecklenburg
Born(1633-02-26)26 February 1633
Güstrow
Died6 October 1695(1695-10-06) (aged 62)
Güstrow
SpouseMagdalene Sibylle of Holstein-Gottorp
IssueChristine of Mecklenburg-Güstrow
Charles of Mecklenburg-Güstrow
Hedwig of Mecklenburg-Güstrow
Louise of Mecklenburg-Güstrow
Elisabeth of Mecklenburg-Güstrow
HouseHouse of Mecklenburg
FatherJohn Albert II, Duke of Mecklenburg
MotherEleonore Marie of Anhalt-Bernburg
Gustav Adolph, Duke of Mecklenburg - Güstrow wafer y.1672

Life

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Gustav Adolph was born at the ducal residence in Güstrow, the son of Duke John Albert II and his third wife Eleonore Marie (1600–1657), daughter of Prince Christian I of Anhalt-Bernburg.

As Gustav Adolph was a minor when his father died in 1636, his uncle Duke Adolph Frederick I of Mecklenburg-Schwerin at first became regent at Güstrow. This was fiercely opposed by Gustav Adolph's mother. In 1654 he came of age and married Magdalene Sibylle, a daughter of Duke Frederick III of Holstein-Gottorp. Their marriage produced eleven children:

The death of the only surviving son, the Hereditary Prince Charles, in 1688 at the age of 23, caused a succession crisis in Mecklenburg-Güstrow. Gustav Adolph's daughter Marie married her cousin Adolphus Frederick II of Mecklenburg, who after the death of his father-in-law claimed the Güstrow heritage, but could not prevail against the ruling duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. A younger daughter, Louise in 1695 married the Danish crown prince Frederick IV and in 1699 became queen consort of Denmark.

Gustav Adolph died in Güstrow at the age of 62. The subsequent inheritance conflict within the House of Mecklenburg was settled by the establishment of the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz in 1701.

Ancestry

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Gustav Adolph, Duke of Mecklenburg-Güstrow
Cadet branch of the House of Mecklenburg
Born: 26 February 1633 Died: 6 October 1695
German nobility
Religious titles
Preceded by Administrator of the
Prince-Bishopric of Ratzeburg

1636–1648
prince-bishopric secularised
as Principality of Ratzeburg
German nobility
Preceded by Duke of Mecklenburg-Güstrow
1636–1695
Succeeded byas Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

References

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  1. ^ Jonathan Strom: Orthodoxy and reform: the clergy in seventeenth century in Rostoc , Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 1999, ISBN 3-16-147191-1