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19-720: In 1780, Margrave Alexander of Brandenburg-Ansbach , inspired by the example of the Prussian Royal Bank in Berlin , founded the Hochfürstlich-Brandenburg-Anspach-Bayreuthische Hofbanco ( lit.   ' Princely Court Bank of Brandenburg-Anspach-Bayreuth ' ) in Ansbach , using a small amount of 15,000 guilders as operating capital. The margrave resorted to this plan for economic reasons, as he wanted to avoid

38-837: A property near the River Thames , Brandenburgh House at Fulham , and in 1798, he acquired the Benham Park estate at Speen near Newbury in Berkshire . On 5 January 1806, aged 69, Alexander died after a short illness caused by lung disease. Today, a memorial in St Mary's Church in Speen , simply records "In Memory of the Margrave of Anspach, who died at Benham 5th January 1806". The Franconian region over which Alexander had ruled changed hands many times. On 15 December 1805, in

57-624: The HypoVereinsbank ). He evidently wanted to avoid supporting the Jewish banking houses that were then overseeing his financial affairs, and to keep as much of his revenue as possible in his own hands by setting himself up as a private banker. One of Alexander's enterprises earned income from hiring auxiliary troops to King George III of Great Britain for the American Revolutionary War . He had nominal command over

76-579: The Holy Roman Empire centered on the Franconian city of Ansbach . The ruling Hohenzollern princes of the land were known as margraves , as their ancestors were margraves (so the principality was a margraviate but not a march ). The principality was established at the death of Frederick V, Burgrave of Nuremberg , on 21 January 1398, when his lands were partitioned between his two sons. The younger son, Frederick VI , received Ansbach and

95-701: The Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach . The Residenz of the principality was at Ansbach, but Alexander preferred his hunting estate and country seat in Triesdorf . Here, he renovated the "White Castle" for his mistress Hippolyte Clairon , the "Red Castle" for himself, and built the Villa Sandrina for another mistress, "Fräulein Kurz", and the "Round Villa" ( Villa Rotunda ) for his mistress (and later wife) Elizabeth, Baroness Craven . In 1758, Alexander founded

114-801: The porcelain factory in Ansbach and made ventures into agriculture by importing sheep. In 1769, he acquired the principality of Bayreuth pursuant to the Haus- und Reichsgesetze laws of the House of Hohenzollern . In 1780, Alexander founded his own bank, the Hochfürstlich-Brandenburg-Anspach-Bayreuthische Hofbanco , out of which later came the Bayerische Hypotheken- und Wechselbank ("Bavarian Mortgage and Change Bank", today absorbed into

133-474: The "Frankish Army" of 1,644 mercenaries, of whom only some 1,183 returned to their homeland in 1783. The Margrave leased further troops to Holland. With these incomes, he paid down the principality's debts, which amounted to 5,000,000 guilders at the time he inherited the throne (1757). By the time of his abdication 34 years later, the principality's debt stood at only 1,500,000 guilders. On 16 January 1791, Alexander sold his Margraviate to Prussia . The contract

152-471: The British King George I and niece of the reigning British King George II (who would die aged 77 and leave his grandson, Charles's second cousin, as King George III, when Charles was 24). After the sudden death of his elder brother Carl Frederick August on 9 May 1737, "Alexander", as he later called himself, became Crown Prince of the principality. From 1748 to 1759, he studied at Utrecht . As

171-647: The bank became Königlich Baierische Banco , then Königliche Bank Nürnberg as its seat was relocated to Nuremberg in 1807. It opened operations in Würzburg in 1835, then in Augsburg and Munich in 1875, the latter known as the Royal Subsidiary Bank ( German : Königliche Filialbank ). The end of the monarchy in Bavaria in 1918 saw the renaming of the bank to Bavarian State Bank. It

190-454: The elder, John III , received Bayreuth . After John III's death on 11 June 1420, the two principalities were reunited under Frederick VI, who had become Elector Frederick I of Brandenburg in 1415. Upon Frederick I's death on 21 September 1440, his territories were divided between his sons; John received the principality of Bayreuth (Brandenburg-Kulmbach), Frederick received Brandenburg, and Albert received Ansbach. Thereafter Ansbach

209-656: The fees charged by the foreign banks and access the aid funds provided by England for his soldier trade. The American Revolutionary War between England and France in North America had led England to conclude contracts with German counts and request troops from them in exchange for aid funds. In 1792, the Principality of Ansbach was taken over by Prussia and the bank was renamed Königlich Preußische Banco in Franken . In 1806, Ansbach became part of Bavaria and

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228-755: The first Treaty of Schönbrunn , Prussia ceded the Principality of Ansbach to France in exchange for the Electorate of Hanover ; in 1806, Ansbach was acquired by the Kingdom of Bavaria in exchange for the Duchy of Berg , and soon afterwards the Prussian defeat at Jena on 14 October 1806 resulted in the Principality of Bayreuth also being ceded to the French in the Treaty of Tilsit of July 1807. In 1810, Bayreuth

247-619: The same year, Alexander left Triesdorf for England. On 13 October or 30 October 1791, in Lisbon , Alexander married Elizabeth Craven, Baroness Craven (1750–1828), the daughter of the Earl of Berkeley and the widow of the William Craven, 6th Baron Craven , who had died shortly before. Alexander sailed to England as a private citizen with his new wife, and there the couple dedicated themselves to breeding horses. By December 1791, he had found

266-563: The young "Count of Sayn" (the county of Sayn-Altenkirchen in the Westerwald having been absorbed into the Principality of Ansbach in 1741) he travelled to Turin and Savoy . On 22 November 1754, in Coburg , Alexander married Princess Frederica Caroline of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (1735–1791), daughter of Franz Josias, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld , and Anne Sophia, Princess of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt . On 3 August 1757, Alexander became

285-482: Was acquired by Bavaria. In 1871, Bavaria became part of the new German Empire under the King of Prussia, but retained its internal independence, and it continues as a Land of the present-day Germany . Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach The Principality or Margraviate of (Brandenburg) Ansbach ( German : Fürstentum Ansbach or Markgrafschaft Brandenburg-Ansbach ) was a free imperial principality in

304-579: Was arranged by Karl August von Hardenberg , who had been Acting Minister in Ansbach since 1790. Under the terms of the contract, Prussia paid the Margrave as compensation an annual stipend of 300,000 guilders. On 2 December, in Bordeaux, France , he signed his formal abdication as Margrave. Alexander's first wife, Frederica Caroline, died on 18 February 1791 in Unterschwaningen , where she had lived since separating from her husband. On 19 May of

323-733: Was eventually acquired by the Vereinsbank in 1971. In late 2023, a luxury Rosewood hotel opened in the former building of the State Bank in Munich, including the adjacent 18th-century Palais Neuhaus-Preysing  [ de ] which the bank had purchased in 1898. This bank and insurance -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Alexander, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach Christian Frederick Charles Alexander ( German : Christian Friedrich Carl Alexander ; 24 February 1736 – 5 January 1806)

342-406: Was held by cadet branches of the House of Hohenzollern , and its rulers were commonly called Margraves of Brandenburg-Ansbach. On 2 December 1791, the reigning Prince and Margrave of Ansbach, Charles Alexander , who had also succeeded to Bayreuth, sold the sovereignty of his principalities to King Frederick William II of Prussia . The Margrave was middle-aged and childless, and Frederick William

361-401: Was the last margrave of the two Franconian principalities, Bayreuth and Ansbach , which he sold to the King of Prussia , a fellow member of the House of Hohenzollern . His parents were Charles William Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach , and Friederike Luise of Prussia , daughter of King Frederick William I of Prussia , sister of Frederick II of Prussia , a granddaughter of

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