Background
He was born in Brussels as son of Charles Marie Raymond of Arenberg, one of the most prominent nobles in the Austrian Netherlands, and Louise Margaret von der Mark und Schleide.
He was born in Brussels as son of Charles Marie Raymond of Arenberg, one of the most prominent nobles in the Austrian Netherlands, and Louise Margaret von der Mark und Schleide.
Between 1803 and 1810 he ruled a Duchy in North-western Germany also called Duchy of Arenberg. At the age of 24, during a hunting party, he was hit in the face by a shotgun and remained blind for the rest of his life. Unable to pursue the usual military career, he turned to science, art and music
Under his patronage, the first manned gas-filled balloon flight in history took off from the front lawn of the Arenberg Castle on November 21, 1783.
The balloonist was professor January Pieter Minckeleers. At the beginning of the French Revolution, he succeeded in keeping his possessions, but when Bonaparte annexed the Rhineland, he lost most of his territories.
In the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss of 1803 though, he was compensated with Recklinghausen and Meppen, together also named the Duchy of Arenberg. Louis Engelbert was named senator by Napoleon and a count of the First French Empire.
After 1815, he returned to Belgium, where the Duchy of Arenberg was restored to the family by the Congress of Vienna, be it without the sovereignty of before.
Ludwig Engelbert married Louise Antoinette of Lauragais, daughter of Count Louis Leopold of Lauraguais.