KÖNIGSHÜTTE, a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Silesia, situated in the middle of the Upper Silesian coal and iron district, 3 m. S. of Beuthen and 122 m. by rail S.E. of Breslau. Pop. (1852), 4495; (1875), 26,040; (1900), 57,919. In 1869 it was incorporated with various neighbouring villages, and raised to the dignity of a town. It has two Protestant and three Roman Catholic churches and several schools and benevolent institutions. The largest iron-works in Silesia is situated at Königshütte, and includes puddling works, rolling-mills, and zinc-works. Founded in 1797, it was formerly in the hands of government, but is now carried on by a company. There are also manufactures of bricks and glass and a trade in wood and coal. Nearly one-half of the population of the town consists of Poles.
See Mohr, Geschichte der Stadt Königshütte (Königshütte, 1890).
KÖNIGSLUTTER, a town of Germany, in the duchy of Brunswick, on the Lutter 36 m. E. of Brunswick by the railway to Eisleben and Magdeburg. Pop. (1905), 3260. It possesses an Evangelical church, a castle and some interesting old houses. Its chief manufactures are sugar, machinery, paper and beer. Near the town are the ruins of a Benedictine abbey founded in 1135. In its beautiful church, which has not been destroyed, are the tombs of the emperor Lothair II., his wife Richenza, and of his son-in-law, Duke Henry the Proud of Saxony and Bavaria.
KÖNIGSMARK, MARIA AURORA, Countess of (1662-1728), mistress of Augustus the Strong, elector of Saxony and king of Poland, belonged to a noble Swedish family, and was born on the 8th of May 1662. Having passed some years at Hamburg, where she attracted attention both by her beauty and her talents, Aurora went in 1694 to Dresden to make inquiries about her brother Philipp Christoph, count of Königsmark, who had suddenly and mysteriously disappeared from Hanover. Here she was noticed by Augustus, who made her his mistress; and in October 1696 she gave birth to a son Maurice, afterwards the famous marshal de Saxe. The elector however quickly tired of Aurora, who then spent her time in efforts to secure the position of abbess of Quedlinburg, an office which carried with it the dignity of a princess of the Empire, and to recover the lost inheritance of her family in Sweden. She was made coadjutor abbess and lady-provost (Pröpstin) of Quedlinburg, but lived mainly in Berlin, Dresden and Hamburg. In 1702 she went on a diplomatic errand to Charles XII. of Sweden on behalf of Augustus, but her adventurous journey ended in failure. The countess, who was described by Voltaire as “the most famous woman of two centuries,” died at Quedlinburg on the 16th of February 1728.
See F. Cramer, Denkwürdigkeiten der Gräfin M. A. Königsmark (Leipzig, 1836); and Biographische Nachrichten von der Gräfin M. A. Königsmark (Quedlinburg, 1833); W. F. Palmblad, Aurora Königsmark und ihre Verwandte (Leipzig, 1848-1853); C. L. de Pöllnitz, La Saxe galante (Amsterdam, 1734); and O. J. B. von Corvin-Wiersbitzki, Maria Aurora, Gräfin von Königsmark (Rudolstadt, 1902).
KÖNIGSMARK, PHILIPP CHRISTOPH, Count of (1665-1694), was a member of a noble Swedish family, and is chiefly known as the lover of Sophia Dorothea, wife of the English king George I. then electoral prince of Hanover. Born on the 14th of March 1665, Königsmark was a brother of the countess noticed above. After wandering and fighting in various parts of Europe he entered the service of Ernest Augustus, elector of Hanover. Here he made the acquaintance of Sophia Dorothea, and assisted her in one or two futile attempts to escape from Hanover. Regarded, rightly or wrongly, as the lover of the princess, he was seized, and disappeared from history, probably by assassination, on the 1st of July 1694. One authority states that George I. was accustomed to boast about this deed; but this statement is doubted, and the Hanoverian court resolutely opposed all efforts to clear up the mystery. It is not absolutely certain that Sophia Dorothea was guilty of a criminal intrigue with Königsmark, as it is probable that the letters which purport to have passed between the pair are forgeries. The question of her guilt or innocence, however, has been and still remains a fruitful and popular subject for romance and speculation.