Henry II, Count of Reuss-Gera

Henry II, Count of Reuss-Gera

Henry II Reuß, Count of Gera
Spouse(s) Magdalena of Hohenlohe-Weikersheim-Langenburg
Noble family House of Reuss
Father Henry XVI of Reuss-Gera
Mother Dorothea of Solms-Sonnewalde
Born (1572-06-10)10 June 1572
Gera
Died 23 December 1635(1635-12-23) (aged 63)
Gera
Buried Salvator Church in Gera

Henry II of Reuss (younger line), nicknamed the Posthumous (10 June 1572 in Gera – 23 December [O.S. 13 December] 1635 in Gera) was Lord of Gera, Lord of Lobenstein and Lord of Oberkranichfeld.

Life

Henry II was born posthumously, as the only son of Henry XVI of Reuss-Gera (1530-1572), the founder of the Younger Line, and his wife, Countess Dorothea of Solms-Sonnewalde (1547-1595).

Henry successfully promoted education and the economy of his country. In 1608, he founded the Rutheneum Gymnasium in Gera (now the Goethe-Gymnasium/Rutheneum). Against the advice of his theological councillor, he granted asylum to Calvinist refugees from Flanders and housed them in his capital city Gera. This led to an upsurge in wool production and an economic boom. During his reign, Gera also developed into the cultural centre of the Reuss areas. He had a particular fondness for "ring riding", and was a frequent guest at the courts in Vienna and Dresden.

Henry II died on 23 December 1635 and was buried in the Salvator Church in Gera. The composer Heinrich Schütz wrote his Musikalische Exequien for this occasion. His elaborately decorated copper outer coffin, with biblical proverbs and evangelical chorals, was transferred from the Salvator Church to the St. John church in 1995. In 2011, it was displayed in an exhibition about funeral practices in the early modern age in the city museum of Gera. It has also been on display in the Museum for Sepulchral Culture in Kassel.

Marriages and issue

Henry II married twice. In 1594, he married Magdalena (1572-1596), the daughter of Wolfgang, Count of Hohenlohe-Weikersheim-Langenburg. With her, he had one daughter:

In 1597, Henry II married to Magdalena (1580-1652), the daughter of Count Albert VII of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, with whom had the following children:

Honors

Since 2008, the motor car of one of the trams in Gera bears his name.

References

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