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Duchy of Nassau
Herzogtum Nassau (de)
State of the Confederation of the Rhine (1806–1813) State of the German Confederation (1815–1866)
←   ←   ← 1806–1866 →
Flag Coat of arms
The Duchy of Nassau in 1815.
Capital		Weilburg (1806–1816) Wiesbaden (1816–1866)
Languages		German
Government		Constitutional monarchy
Duke of Nassau
•	1806–1816	Frederick Augustus
•	1816–1839	William
•	1839–1866	Adolph
Historical era		Modern era
•	Established	30 August 1806
•	Annexed by Prussia	23 August 1866
Currency		Kronenthaler

The Duchy of Nassau (German: Herzogtum Nassau), or simply Nassau, was an independent state between 1806 and 1866, located in what is now the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse. It was a member of the Confederation of the Rhine and later of the German Confederation. Its ruling dynasty, now extinct, was the House of Nassau. The duchy was named for its historical core city, Nassau, although Nassau was not its capital. As of 1865, it had 465,636 inhabitants. After being occupied and annexed into the Kingdom of Prussia in 1866, it was succeeded by the Province of Hesse-Nassau. The area today is a geographical and historical region, Nassau, and Nassau is also the name of the Nassau Nature Park within the borders of the former duchy.

Today, the Grand Duke of Luxembourg still uses "Duke of Nassau" as his secondary title (of pretense), and "Prince" or "Princess of Nassau" is used as a title of pretense by other members of the grand ducal family. Nassau is also part of the name of the Dutch Royal Family, which styles itself Orange-Nassau.

History[edit]

The ancestral and core coat of arms of Nassau, which formed the heart shield of the greater coat of arms. It is almost identical to the coat of arms of the Netherlands and is also included as the third and fourth field in the coat of arms of the Grand Duke of Luxembourg.

On 17 July 1806, the remaining counties of Nassau-Usingen and Nassau-Weilburg joined the Confederation of the Rhine. Under pressure from Napoleon I both counties merged to form the Duchy of Nassau on 30 August 1806, under the joint rule of Frederick Augustus, and his younger cousin Frederick William. As Frederick August had no heirs, he agreed that Frederick William should become sole ruler after his death. However Frederick William died from a fall on the stairs at Weilburg Castle on 9 January 1816, and it was his son William who became Duke of Nassau.

At the Congress of Vienna, the Principality of Orange-Nassau was incorporated into the Duchy of Nassau and subsequently the unified Duchy joined the German Confederation with Wiesbaden as its new capital. Through the extinction of most lines, the Nassau-Usingen branch of the Nassau-Weilburg line under Duke William became the reigning house of Nassau until the Austro-Prussian War in 1866, when it was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia and incorporated as the Wiesbaden Region into the Province of Hesse-Nassau. William's son Adolphe, the last Duke of Nassau, received Luxembourg after the male line of Nassau-Dillenburg became extinct in 1890.^[1]

References[edit]

1. ^ "Image Gallery of the Coins of Nassau". Retrieved December 2013. 

v t e States of the Confederation of the Rhine (1806–13) Rank elevated by Napoleon Kingdoms Bavaria Saxony Württemberg Grand Duchies Baden Hesse Duchies Nassau States created Kingdoms Westphalia Grand Duchies Berg Frankfurt1 Würzburg Principalities Aschaffenburg2 Leyen Regensburg2 Pre-existing states Saxon duchies Coburg-Saalfeld Gotha-Altenburg Hildburghausen Meiningen Weimar3 Eisenach3 Weimar-Eisenach4 Other duchies Anhalt (Bernburg Dessau Köthen) Arenberg Mecklenburg-Schwerin Mecklenburg-Strelitz Oldenburg Principalities Hohenzollern Hechingen Sigmaringen Isenburg Liechtenstein Lippe-Detmold Reuss Ebersdorf Greiz Lobenstein Schleiz Salm5 Schaumburg-Lippe Schwarzburg Rudolstadt Sondershausen Waldeck 1 from 1810 2 until 1810 3 until 1809 4 from 1809 5 until 1811

v t e States of the German Confederation (1815–66) Empires Austria1 Kingdoms Prussia1 Bavaria Saxony Hanover Württemberg Electorates Hesse Grand Duchies Baden Hesse Luxembourg Mecklenburg-Schwerin Mecklenburg-Strelitz Oldenburg Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach Duchies Anhalt Bernburg2 Dessau2 Köthen3 Brunswick Holstein Limburg4 Nassau Saxe-Lauenburg Saxony Altenburg5 Coburg-Saalfeld6 Coburg-Gotha5 Gotha-Altenburg6 Hildburghausen6 Meiningen Principalities Hesse-Homburg Hohenzollern Hechingen7 Sigmaringen7 Liechtenstein Lippe Reuss Elder Junior Schaumburg-Lippe Schwarzburg Rudolstadt Sondershausen Waldeck and Pyrmont City-states Bremen Frankfurt Hamburg Lübeck Unrecognized 1 w/o areas listed under other territories 2 Merged with Anhalt from 1863 3 until 1847 4 from 1839 5 from 1826 6 until 1826 7 until 1850 8 1849–60 9 as of 1849 10 until 1837 11 until 1829 12 until 1848/57 13 until 1848 14 as of 1848 15 as of 1829 16 as of 1864