Item: i111080

Authentic Medal of:

Germany – German States – Baden
Frederick I – Grand Duke of Baden: 1858-1907
1858-1907 (ND) White Metal Medal 40mm (9.06 grams)
Reference: Drentwett
FRIEDRICH GROSHERZOG V BADEN LUISE PRINZ V PREUSSEN SEBALD F. DRENTWETT., Friedrich and Louise facing right.
Incuse of obverse.

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Frederick I (Frederick Wilhelm Ludwig) (9 September 1826 – 28 September 1907) was the Grand Duke of Baden from 1856 to 1907.

Frederick was born in Karlsruhe, on 9 September 1826. He was the third son of Grand Duke Leopold (1790–1852) and of his wife, Grand Duchess Sophie (1801–1865), who was born Princess of Sweden, daughter of King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden.

He became the heir presumptive to the Grand Duchy upon the death of his father in 1852 and the accession of his brother as Grand Duke Louis II. Due to his brother’s mental ill-health, he was Regent ad interim of Baden in 1852–1855, and took the title of Grand Duke in 1856. His brother, Louis II, died in 1858. He was considered a relatively liberal supporter of a constitutional monarchy. During his reign the option of civil marriages was introduced in Baden as well as direct elections to the Lower House of the Parliament of Baden in 1904.

In 1856, he married Princess Louise, daughter of Prince Wilhelm of Prussia and his wife, Augusta of Saxe-Weimar. The couple had three children.

The Grand Duke had a pivotal role in the history of the Zionist Movement. In 1896 the Grand Duke met Theodor Herzl (the founder of political Zionism) via their mutual acquaintance the reverend William Hechler, and helped Herzl in obtaining an audience with his nephew, the German Emperor. After some persuasion on the part of the Grand Duke, the Emperor had finally accepted the appeal for an audience and it took place in Palestine in the 2 November 1898, while the Kaiser was in his trip to Palestine to inaugurate the Church of the Redeemer in Jerusalem.

Frederick I was present at the proclamation of the German Empire at Versailles in 1871, as he was the only son-in-law of the Emperor and one of the reigning sovereigns of Germany. He died at his summer residence at the island of Mainau in southern Germany on 28 September 1907. Today, Mainau is owned by the Lennart Bernadotte-Stiftung (the Lennart Bernadotte Foundation), created by Frederick’s great-grandson Count Lennart Bernadotte, (1909–2004).

The Grand Duchy of Baden (German: Großherzogtum Baden) was a state in the southwest of Germany on the east bank of the Rhine. It existed between 1806 and 1918.

It came into existence in the 12th century as the Margraviate of Baden and subsequently split into different lines, which were unified in 1771. It then became the much-enlarged^[1] Grand Duchy of Baden through the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1803–06 and was a sovereign country until it joined the German Empire in 1871, remaining a Grand Duchy until 1918 when it became part of the Weimar Republic as the Republic of Baden. Baden was bordered to the north by the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Grand Duchy of Hessen-Darmstadt; to the west,^[1] along most of its length, by the River Rhine, which separated Baden from the Bavarian Rhenish Palatinate and Alsace in modern France; to the south by Switzerland; and to the east by the Kingdom of Württemberg, the Principality of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen and Bavaria.

After World War II, the French military government in 1945 created the state of Baden (originally known as “South Baden”) out of the southern half of the former Baden, with Freiburg as its capital. This portion of the former Baden was declared in its 1947 constitution to be the true successor of the old Baden. The northern half of the old Baden was combined with northern Württemberg, becoming part of the American military zone, and formed the state of Württemberg-Baden. Both Baden and Württemberg-Baden became states of West Germany upon its formation in 1949.

In 1952 Baden merged with Württemberg-Baden and Württemberg-Hohenzollern (southern Württemberg and the former Prussian exclave of Hohenzollern) to form Baden-Württemberg. This is the only merger of states that has taken place in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany.

The unofficial anthem of Baden is called “Badnerlied” (Song of the People of Baden) and consists of four or five traditional verses. However, over the years, many more verses have been added – there are collections with up to 591 verses of the anthem.

Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany is a federal parliamentary republic in western–central Europe. It includes 16 constituent states and covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres (137,847 sq mi) with a largely temperate seasonal climate. Its capital and largest city is Berlin. With 81 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state in the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular migration destination in the world.

Various Germanic tribes have occupied northern Germany since classical antiquity. A region named Germania was documented before 100 CE. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward. Beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation.

The rise of Pan-Germanism inside the German Confederation resulted in the unification of most of the German states in 1871 into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic. The establishment of the Third Reich in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After 1945, Germany split into two states, East Germany and West Germany. In 1990, the country was reunified.

In the 21st century, Germany is a great power and has the world’s fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP, as well as the fifth-largest by PPP. As a global leader in several industrial and technological sectors, it is both the world’s third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a developed country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled and productive society. It upholds a social security and universal health care system, environmental protection and a tuition free university education.

Germany was a founding member of the European Union in 1993. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999. Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world. Known for its rich cultural history, Germany has been continuously the home of influential artists, philosophers, musicians, sportsmen, entrepreneurs, scientists and inventors.