Henry II, Count of Reuss-Gera
Henry II of Reuss , nicknamed the Posthumous because his father died two months before he was born, 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, the founder of the Younger Line, and Countess Dorothea of Solms-Sonnewalde, daughter of Frederick Magnus I, Count of Solms-Laubach.Henry successfully promoted education and the economy of his country. In 1608, he founded the Rutheneum Gymnasium in Gera. 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
In Weikersheim on 7 February 1594, Henry II married firstly Magdalena, daughter of Wolfgang, Count of Hohenlohe-Neuenstein and Countess Magdalena, Gräfin of Nassau-Dillenburg. They had one daughter:- Dorothea Magdalena, married in 1620 to Burgrave George of Kirchberg.
- Juliane Marie, married in 1614 to Count David of Mansfeld-Schraplau.
- Henry I
- Agnes, married in 1627 to Count Ernest Louis of Mansfeld-Heldrungen.
- Elisabeth Magdalene.
- Henry II, Lord of Gera and Saalburg.
- Henry III, Lord of Schleiz.
- Henry IV.
- Henry V, twin with Henry VI.
- Henry VI, twin with Henry V.
- Sophie Hedwig.
- Dorothea Sibylle, married in 1627 to Baron Christian Schenk of Toutenburg.
- Henry VII.
- Henry VIII.
- Anna Katharina.
- Henry IX, Lord of Schleiz.
- Ernestine, married in 1639 to Otto Albert of Schönburg-Hartenstein.
- Henry X, Lord of Lobenstein and Ebersdorf.