Count John VII the Middle of Nassau-Siegen (7 June 1561 – 27 September 1623), , official titles: Graf zu Nassau, Katzenelnbogen, Vianden und Diez, Herr zu Beilstein, was since 1606 Count of Nassau-Siegen, a part of the County of Nassau, and the progenitor of the House of Nassau-Siegen, a cadet branch of the Ottonian Line of the House of Nassau.
John was one of the most important military theorists of his time, who introduced many innovations and inventions. His Kriegsbuch contained all the military knowledge of his time, but also many new ideas, which made an essential contribution to the reform of the Dutch States Army by his cousin Maurice. John served in the Dutch States Army, was colonel general of the Palatinate and commander-in-chief of the Swedish army. His reputation reached far beyond the borders of the Holy Roman Empire.
Biography
thumb|left|Siegen Castle, 2011.
John was born at on 7 June 1561 as the second son of Count John VI the Elder of Nassau-Siegen and his first wife Landgravine Elisabeth of Leuchtenberg.
John first attended the Counts' School in Siegen and then – in 1576 John got involved early in the administration, finances and military affairs of his father's county. for which troops were assembled in the area of Siegen. At that time, John became acquainted with the practice of mercenary armies, whose disadvantages his father had described in numerous conversations.
From 1584 onwards, John was engaged in reinforcing the fortifications of Nassau Castle and Dillenburg Castle. John was one of the most important military theorists of his time and his reputation reached far beyond the borders of the Holy Roman Empire. which he accepted "trotz der geringen Lusten" ("despite the low desire"), but only for a period of three months, because the Swedish army was in a more than poor condition. The foot soldiers, for instance, were so miserably armed that John devised and immediately ordered the production of spiked carts, which were pushed in front of the infantry and proved to be a great protection against the attacking cavalry. Such spiked carts were kept in the arsenal of Siegen for decades.
In 1621 he organised the defence of the Palatinate against the Spaniards under Spinola. However, the Spanish pressure on Nassau forced him to retreat prematurely and thus ruined his life's work. On 30 March 1607 the brothers divided their possessions. John acquired Siegen, Freudenberg, Netphen, Hilchenbach, and the Haingericht. The brothers then also signed a succession treaty. By this agreement the heirs of the brothers were explicitly forbidden to convert to a religion other than the Reformed confession. Since the partition, John has had his Residenz in Siegen Castle, which he had renovated around that time.
In 1610 John took part in the Princes' Day in Schwäbisch Hall as the representative of the entire House of Nassau and the Wetterauer Grafenverein. In 1612 he travelled to Frankfurt, with his brother George and his two sons John Ernest and John the Younger, for the coronation of Roman King Matthias, whom he congratulated as spokesman of the House of Nassau and many other counts. It was up to him to be the first to cut off a piece of the roast beef in front of the Römer and bring it to the royal table. On 15 November 1617, John declared his will of 8 April 1607 to be null and void. Abolition of the primogeniture would have meant a division of the small country, and therefore John opposed all proposals in that direction. Instead, in an amicable agreement, he had his son sign a declaration on 31 December 1617, in which the latter declared that, although he himself was and remained a Catholic, he would not force his subjects to any other than the existing religious confession. All his brothers advised John the Middle to change the primogeniture, but he firmly trusted the word, the letter and the seal of his son, whom he loved in spite of everything, as the latter loved and respected his father. It grieved them both that they had to hurt each other because of the difference in their beliefs. The administration of the city of Siegen would remain in joint ownership of the three sons.
For John the Younger, therefore, only one third of the county was provided for in the third will. On 6 August 1621, he was informed of this, with a precise statement of the reasons that had led his father to take this step. On 9 May 1623, i.e. not until two years later, John the Younger protested against this with a letter from Frankfurt to the councillors of Siegen. Of course, in the meantime he had not been idle and had not hesitated to denounce his father to the Emperor. At the time of his letter of protest he was certainly already aware of the Poenale mandatum cassatorium, which Emperor Ferdinand II officially issued some time later, on 27 June 1623, informing John the Middle that at the time of making his third will as a fellow combatant of the outlawed Winter King he was not entitled to make a will. He had to revoke it and answer to an imperial court within two months. It seems that John the Younger then shrank from having the imperial decree delivered to his seriously ill father. on 27 September 1623. None of the three sons mentioned in the will were present at the death of their father. On 13 October William and John Maurice arrived in Siegen, and on 26 October John the Younger. Georgius Remus wrote a Leichenpredigt for him, which was published in Herborn in 1624.
John the Middle was reburied on 29 April 1690 with his two wives in the in Siegen. With the exception of John Maurice and George Frederick, the younger brothers accepted only modest appanages. Henceforth, until 1645, the county of Nassau-Siegen had two governments, one in Siegen, the other in Hilchenbach. However, for a short period (1632–1635) this situation underwent a temporary change: during the Thirty Years' War, his brothers, who were fighting on the Protestant side, rebelled against John the Younger. Countess Dowager Margaret, through the mediation of Louis Henry, turned to Gustavus Adolphus and asked for help against the machinations of her stepson John the Younger. Consequently, on 14 February 1632 the Swedish king sent an order from Frankfurt to Louis Henry to provide military support for his first cousin John Maurice. Louis Henry then occupied the city of Siegen with his regiment of Dutch and Swedish soldiers. One day later, on 29 February, John Maurice and his brother Henry arrived in Siegen. Just as John the Younger had kept his cavalry in reserve eight years earlier, now John Maurice and Henry, supported by the presence of the Swedish regiment, negotiated with the citizens, who felt bound by the oath they had sworn to John the Younger. On 4 March, after long and difficult negotiations, the citizens paid homage to John Maurice and Henry. John Maurice obtained for himself not only the Freudenberg district, which his father had intended for him in the will of 1621, but also Netphen, which had been intended for John the Younger in the same will. William was not only confirmed in the possession of Hilchenbach, but also received Ferndorf and Krombach, as stipulated in his father's will. The city of Siegen paid homage only to William and John Maurice, who only in 1635 admitted their elder brother John the Younger back into co-sovereignty. However, the latter soon restored the old order: in 1636, he again became the sole owner of his father's property, with the exception of Hilchenbach, which he left to William, and he again governed the city of Siegen alone. John Maurice was again excluded from the county's sovereignty.
John the Younger died in Ronse on 27 July 1638. On 22 January 1645, after his return from Brazil, the latter, with his brothers George Frederick and Henry and an 80-man entourage, had forcibly occupied Siegen Castle and on 15 February had received the renewed homage from the citizens, albeit this time only for two thirds of the county. In order to end the constant dispute, John Maurice wanted to adhere strictly to his father's will of 1621 and leave his nephew John Francis Desideratus the one third that was due to him. Already before his departure to Brazil, on 25 October 1635, he had explicitly authorised his subjects to recognise the then still living John the Younger as co-ruler. In 1645 John Maurice relinquished his rights to the Freudenberg district, granted by the will of 1621, in favour of his brother George Frederick.
Explanation of the nickname the Middle
In the time that John the Middle lived, it was not yet customary for reigning counts to be numbered, as was the case with kings. When father and son had the same given name and the son came of age, it was necessary to distinguish both. In this case, the father was referred to as Johann der Ältere and the son as Johann der Jüngere. This is similar to the still-used custom that, when father and son bear the same given name and surname, they are distinguished by the addition of the respective abbreviations Sr. (senior) and Jr. (junior) after the surname. That John the Middle was originally called the Younger is shown in the documents found in the 1990s in the Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv in Wiesbaden (HHStA 171 D 1161), in which an attempt was made to record, at least from time to time, who was buried where and when in the burial vault in Dillenburg. In these documents John's first wife is mentioned as Graf Johan des Jüngern gemahlin frau Magdalena gebohrne von Waldeck and his son, who died in 1600, as Graf Johans des Jungern söhnlein Friderich Ludwig.<br />
But this Johann der Jüngere also had a son named John. When this son came of age, the distinction was no longer sufficient, since there were now three men from three successive generations with the same given name. The youngest was now referred to as Johann der Jüngere, and the middle one was called Johann der Mittlere. It was not until the nineteenth century that historians started to give the reigning counts a regal number. Johann der Ältere became John VI, Johann der Mittlere became John VII, and Johann der Jüngere became John VIII.
Marriages and issue
First marriage
John the Middle married firstly at Dillenburg Castle on 9 December 1581 to Countess Magdalene of Waldeck-Wildungen (1558 – Idstein Castle, 9 September 1599), the youngest daughter of Count Philip IV of Waldeck-Wildungen and his third wife Countess Jutta of Isenburg-Grenzau. Magdalene was the widow of Count Philip Louis I of Hanau-Münzenberg.
From the marriage of John and Magdalene the following children were born:
- John Ernest (Siegen Castle, 21 October 1582<sup>Jul.</sup> – Udine, 16/17 September 1617<sup>Jul.</sup>), was, among other things, a general in the Venetian army, involved in the Uskok War.
- Count John VIII the Younger (Dillenburg Castle, 29 September 1583<sup>Jul.</sup> – near Oudenaarde, 27 July 1638 to Count Christian of Waldeck-Wildungen (Eisenberg Castle, 24/25 December 1585 – , 31 December 1637).
- Adolf (Dillenburg Castle, 8 August 1586 – Xanten, 7 November 1608), was a captain in the Dutch States Army.
- Juliane (Dillenburg Castle, 3 September 1587 – Eschwege, 15 February 1643