1803 in Germany
# 1803 in Germany

Events in the year 1803 in Germany

## Incumbents

### Holy Roman Empire

* Francis II (5 July 1792 – 6 August 1806)

**Important Electors**

* Baden- Charles Frederick (27 April 1803 – 6 August 1806)
* Bavaria- Maximilian I (16 February 1799 – 6 August 1806)
* Saxony- Frederick Augustus I (17 December 1763 – 20 December 1806)
* Württemberg - Frederick I (1803 – 30 October 1816)

### Kingdoms

* Kingdom of Prussia
   * Monarch – Frederick William III of Prussia (16 November 1797 – 7 June 1840)

### Grand Duchies

* Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
   * Frederick Francis I (24 April 1785 – 1 February 1837)
* Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
   * Charles II (2 June 1794 – 6 November 1816)
* Grand Duke of Oldenburg
   * Wilhelm (6 July 1785 – 2 July 1823) Due to mental illness, Wilhelm was duke in name only, with his cousin Peter, Prince-Bishop of Lübeck, acting as regent throughout his entire reign.
   * Peter I (2 July 1823 – 21 May 1829)
* Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar
   * Karl August (1758–1809) Raised to grand duchy in 1809

### Principalities

* Schaumburg-Lippe
   * George William (13 February 1787 – 1860)
* Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
   * Louis Frederick II (13 April 1793 – 28 April 1807)
* Schwarzburg-Sondershausen
   * Günther Friedrich Karl I (14 October 1794 – 19 August 1835)
* Principality of Lippe
   * Leopold II (5 November 1802 – 1 January 1851)
* Principality of Reuss-Greiz
   * Heinrich XIII (28 June 1800 – 29 January 1817)
* Waldeck and Pyrmont
   * Friedrich Karl August (29 August 1763 – 24 September 1812)

### Duchies

* Duke of Anhalt-Dessau
   * Leopold III (16 December 1751 – 9 August 1817)
* Duke of Saxe-Altenburg
   * Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen (1780–1826) - Frederick
* Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
   * Francis (8 September 1800 – 9 December 1806)
* Duke of Saxe-Meiningen
   * Bernhard II (24 December 1803 – 20 September 1866)
* Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck
   * Frederick Charles Louis (24 February 1775 – 25 March 1816)

### Other

* Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt
   * Louis I (6 April 1790 – 14 August 1806)

## Events

* 25 February – A major redistribution of territorial sovereignty within the Holy Roman Empire is enacted via an act known as the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss.
* 30 May – Following Britain's declaration of war on France, Édouard Mortier leads 12,000 troops in an Invasion of Hanover
* 5 July – The convention of Artlenburg confirms the French occupation of Hanover (which had been ruled by the British king).

## Births

### January–June

* 15 February
   * John Sutter, pioneer (died 1880)
   * Karl Friedrich Schimper, botanist, naturalist and poet (died 1867)
* 26 February – Arnold Adolph Berthold, physiologist and zoologist (died 1861)
* 17 March Carl Jacob Löwig, chemist (died 1890)
* 12 May – Justus von Liebig, chemist (died 1873)

### July–December

* 8 July – Julius Mosen, poet (died 1867)
* 17 July – Johann Samuel Eduard d'Alton, anatomist (died 1854)
* 19 July – Wolfgang Franz von Kobell, mineralogist and writer (died 1882)
* 5 October – Friedrich Bernhard Westphal, painter (died 1844)
* 29 November – Gottfried Semper, architect (died 1879)
* 26 September – Adrian Ludwig Richter, German painter (died 1884)
* 6 October – Heinrich Wilhelm Dove, German physicist and meteorologist (died 1879)
* 31 December – Johann Carl Fuhlrott, German paleoanthropologist (died 1877)

## Deaths

### January–June

* 18 February – Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim, poet (born 1719)
* 14 March – Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, poet (born 1724)

### July–December

* 18 December – Johann Gottfried Herder, philosopher and writer (born 1744)
