After the death of his mother in 1758, he inherited the Herrschaft of Wilhermsdorf. Philipp Ferdinand was megalomaniac, and led a fastuous life in his palace of Wilhermsdorf, inspired by the court of Versailles. He had his own court theatre, music chapel and even a corps of hussar. In 1760, after his elder brother's death, he inherited Styrum.
Because of his very extravagant life, he soon had huge debts and was forced to sell Wilhermsdorf in 1769, moving his possessions to Oberstein. Despite selling many of his assets (farms and castles), his debt kept rising. He also gave money to the Jesuits to create a Catholic school and Catholic parish in Protestant Mülheim. The emperor, Joseph II, was trying to control the Church and didn't approve of these actions. When he heard about the enormous debts of the count, he sent a fiscalist to Styrum to take action in order to avoid future problems.
Despite this reprimand, Philipp Ferdinand kept on living a very extravagant life. In order to raise money he created two orders of chivalry (the Order of St Philip of the Lion of Limburg and the Order of the Four Emperors), which he gave to prominent figures, but usually for a fee. He also tried to claim territories, like the Herrschaft of Pinneberg in the County of Holstein, and the immediate lordship of Oberstein; which should have become his possession through heritage. This involved him in huge and expensive trials. He finally recovered in 1773 two thirds of the territory of Oberstein. He also claimed the title of Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, which Joseph II refused to recognize.
In 1766 he was made prince by the French parliament, but in 1789 Joseph II forbade him to wear this title.
In 1770, Philipp Ferdinand was put into prison for not paying his debts. A letter from his brother, Ernst Maria, to the emperor, in which he insisted on all the services the House of Limburg-Stirum had given to the Empire, was enough to have Philipp Ferdinand released.
In 1772, Princess Tarakanova, who had left Paris after a scandal, settled in Frankfurt am Main. The court marshal of Philipp Ferdinand, count de Rochefort-Valcourt, told him about this woman who pretended to be the daughter of Elizabeth I of Russia,and granddaughter of Peter the Great. Philipp Ferdinand invited her to stay with him and immediately fell in love with her. She promised to marry him if he could guarantee surety for all her debts which she had accumulated in Paris. He accepted everything his mistress asked. But in 1774, she left Oberstein for Venice. Despite his own difficult financial situation, Philipp Ferdinand gave her a great sum of money for her trip and also gave her the right to wear the title princess of Limburg Stirum after his death.
Philipp Ferdinand had two natural children (a son and a daughter) from his relationship with Marie Therese Satori. These children were illegitimate and couldn't inherit his rights and possessions.
He died on September 10, 1794, in Bartenstein (=Schrozberg). His brother Ernst Maria inherited Oberstein and Styrum. Ernst Maria lost Oberstein soon thereafter when invaded by the French troops.
Sources
De takken Gemen en Styrum van het geslacht van Limburg Stirum; Dr. A.J. Bonke; Stichting van Limburg Stirum; 's-Gravenhage, 2007
Iconografie van het Geslacht van Limburg Stirum; C.J. Graaf van Limburg Stirum; Walburg Instituut, Amsterdam, 1994
A. Giraud, M. Huberty, F. et B. Magdelaine, "L'Allemagne Dynastique, Tome VII"
Related Research Articles
Princess Tarakanova was a pretender to the Russian throne. She styled herself, among other names, Knyazhna Yelizaveta Vladimirskaya, Fräulein Frank, and Madame Trémouille. Tarakanova is a later name, used only in entertainment, apparently on the basis of how she lived her last months and died. In her own time, she was not known by that name.
Georg of Limburg, count of Limburg, son of Adolf of Limburg, count of Limburg.
Leopold Count van Limburg Stirum was a politician who was part of the Triumvirate that took power in 1813 in order to re-establish the monarchy in the Netherlands.
Jobst of Limburg was count of Limburg and Bronckhorst, Lord of Styrum, Wisch and Borculo (1616), and the son of Hermann Georg of Limburg, count of Limburg and Bronckhorst.
Hermann Otto I of Limburg-Styrum, count of Limburg and Bronckhorst, lord of Styrum, Gemen, Wisch and Borculo, and from 1640 to 1644 advocate of the imperial abbey of Vreden, was born in 1592, and died on 17 October 1644. He was the eldest son of Jobst of Limburg Stirum.
Moritz of Limburg Stirum (1633–1664) was the reigning Count of Limburg-Styrum-Styrum.
Moritz Hermann of Limburg,, count of Limburg Stirum was the second reigning count of the branch Limburg-Styrum-Styrum.
Christian Otto von Limburg Stirum, count of Limburg Bronkhorst and Stirum (1694–1749), was a member of the House of Limburg-Stirum and the third reigning monarch from the branch of Limburg-Styrum-Styrum.
Gemen was an immediate, sovereign lordship of the Holy Roman Empire, in the Lower Rhine region. Since Gemen had a vote in the Imperial Diet it was also an Imperial Estate. It was centered on Gemen, a small town and castle in the present municipality of Borken, western North Rhine-Westphalia.
Adolf Ernst of Limburg Stirum, count of Limburg Stirum, sovereign lord zu Gemen, son of Hermann Otto I of Limburg-Styrum.
Field Marshal Hermann Otto II of Limburg Stirum, count of Limburg Stirum and Bronckhorst, sovereign lord zu Gemen, was the son of Adolf Ernst of Limburg Stirum and an imperial Field Marshal.
Otto Leopold of Limburg Stirum, count of Limburg Styrum and Bronckhorst, sovereign lord zu Gemen and Raesfeld, was born in 1688 the son of Hermann Otto II of Limburg Stirum.
Maximilian Wilhelm of Limburg Stirum (1653–1728), count of Limburg Styrum, sovereign lord of Illereichen and Simontornya. He was the third son of Adolf Ernst of Limburg Stirum, sovereign lord zu Gemen.
Ferdinand Gotthard Meinrad of Limburg Stirum, count of Limburg, "Fürst" von Styrum, sovereign lord zu Gemen, was born in 1701, son of Maximilian Wilhelm of Limburg Stirum.
Karl Joseph Alois of Limburg Stirum, count of Limburg Stirum from the branch Limburg-Styrum-Iller-Aichheim, was the son of Maximilian Wilhelm of Limburg Stirum. He was born in 1685 and died in 1738. After his father's death he became sovereign lord of Simontornya.
Karl Josef Maximilian of Limburg Stirum, count of Limburg Styrum, sovereign lord zu Gemen, was the son of Alois of Limburg Stirum.
Ferdinand IV August Carl Joseph Johannes Nepomuk Thaddeus, Count of Limburg-Stirum zu Illereichen, was sovereign lord of the immediate lordship of Gemen.
The House of Limburg-Stirum, which adopted its name in the 12th century from the immediate county of Limburg an der Lenne in what is now Germany, is one of the oldest families in Europe. It is the eldest and only surviving branch of the House of Berg, which was among the most powerful dynasties in the region of the lower Rhine during the Middle Ages. Some historians link them to an even older dynasty, the Ezzonen, going back to the 9th century.
Leopold Johann Otto Wilhelm of Limburg Stirum, was count of Limburg Styrum from the branch Limburg-Styrum-Iller-Aichheim.
Count William Wirich of Daun-Falkenstein was a German nobleman. By descent, he was a Count of Falkenstein; by inheritance, he was Lord of Broich and Bürgel.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
