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Anne of Denmark, Electress of Saxony

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For the Queen Consort of James VI and I, king of Scotland, England and Ireland, see Anne of Denmark
Anne of Denmark
Portrait of Anne of Denmark, by Lucas Cranach the Younger
Electress of Saxony
Tenure9 July 1553 – 1 October 1585
Born22 November 1532
Haderslev
Died1 October 1585(1585-10-01) (aged 52)
Dresden
SpouseAugustus, Elector of Saxony
Issue
among others...
Christian I, Elector of Saxony
Elisabeth, Countess Palatine of Simmern
Dorothea, Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg
Anna, Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Eisenach
HouseOldenburg
FatherChristian III of Denmark
MotherDorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg
ReligionLutheran

Anne of Denmark or Anna (22 November 1532, Haderslev – 1 October 1585, Dresden[1]) was Electress of Saxony and Margravine of Meissen. She was a member of the House of Oldenburg.

Life

Anne was the eldest child of King Christian III of Denmark and his wife Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg. Anne learned needlework from her mother as well as herbs, home care, and agriculture. In 1548, she married Augustus I of Saxony ( "Father of August"). She went on to have fifteen children; eleven of them would die young. The couple took up residence at Weissenfels. Before each birth she brought out her shrouds, so they'd be at hand in case of an emergency. She washed and churned herself, doctored her husband and also tried to gain influence on state affairs when court officials did not like the idea of "female domination" at the Saxon court. Elector August was furious, angry that he even changed his religious affiliation to his own form of Lutheranism.

Chancellor Craco died under torture, the Philippist doctor Caspar Peucer went to jail, and others went into exile. To celebrate this event a medal was made, with an inscription "To commemorate the victory of orthodoxy over reason". Anne, very pleased with this development because it was close to even the orthodoxy and took the ancient right of the princesses. She remained irreconcilable, even when her daughter Elizabeth married John Casimir of the Palatinate-Simmern, Anne urged her daughter to stay away from her husband, which led to a severe marital crisis. John Casimir finally forbade the correspondence of his wife with her mother. When Elizabeth gave birth to a stillborn child, she said to her mother, it was better that her child was dead than a Calvinist.

Annaburg was named in her honour. She set up two labs and put together an art book with recipes. Anna was in correspondence with famous doctors and trained young girls in traditional herbal medicine. Anna managed refugees, pregnant and sick. She founded the Anne's Church .In 1869, the so-called Anne Memorial by Robert Henze was built. Today it stands next to the ceremonial hall of the Anne Old Cemetery in Dresden.

Anne died in 1585 in Dresden of Plague.

Children

  1. John Henry (b. Weissenfels, 5 May 1550 – d. Weissenfels, 12 November 1550).
  2. Eleonore (b. Wolkenstein, 2 May 1551 – d. Wolkenstein, 24 April 1553).
  3. Elisabeth (b. Wolkenstein, 18 October 1552 – d. imprisoned in Heidelberg, 2 April 1590), married on 4 June 1570 to Count Palatine Johann Casimir of Simmern; they were separated in 1589.
  4. Alexander (b. Dresden, 21 February 1554 – d. Dresden, 8 October 1565), Hereditary Elector of Saxony. [2]
  5. Magnus (b. Dresden, 24 September 1555 – d. Dresden, 6 November 1558).
  6. Joachim (b. Dresden, 3 May 1557 – d. Dresden, 21 November 1557).
  7. Hector (b. Dresden, 7 October 1558 – d. Dresden, 4 April 1560).
  8. Christian I (b. Dresden, 29 October 1560 – d. Dresden, 25 September 1591), successor of his father in the Electorship.
  9. Marie (b. Torgau, 8 March 1562 – d. Torgau, 6 January 1566).
  10. Dorothea (b. Dresden, 4 October 1563 – d. Wolfenbüttel, 13 February 1587), married on 26 September 1585 to Duke Heinrich Julius of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.
  11. Amalie (b. Dresden, 28 January 1565 – d. Dresden, 2 July 1565).
  12. Anna (b. Dresden, 16 November 1567 – d. imprisoned in Veste Coburg, 27 January 1613), married on 16 January 1586 to Duke John Casimir, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Eisenach; they divorced in 1593.
  13. Augustus (b. Dresden, 23 October 1569 – d. Dresden, 12 February 1570).
  14. Adolf (b. Stolpen, 8 August 1571 – d. Dresden, 12 March 1572).
  15. Frederick (b. Annaberg, 18 June 1575 – d. Annaberg, 24 January 1577).

Ancestry

Family of Anne of Denmark, Electress of Saxony

Literature

  • August Richard Victor: The Elector of Saxony, Chancellor Nicholas Krell. Kuntze, Dresden 1859th
  • Carl von Weber: Anna, Duchess of Saxony Churchill. Tauchniz, Leipzig, 1865.
  • Otto Posse: The House of Wettin. Giesecke & Devrient, Leipzig, 1897.
  • Konrad Sturmhoefel: Princess Anna of Saxony. A political and sittengeschichtliches picture of life from the XVI. Century. Haberland, Leipzig 1905.
  • Otto Eduard Schmidt: Saxon raids. Grunow, Leipzig, 1913.
  • Thomas Klein: The battle for the 2nd Reformation in Saxony 1586-91. In: Mitteldt. Research. Vol 25, Cologne / Graz 1962nd
  • Dr. Hellmut robbers Gardening and landscape design. In: The Union. 4. June 1994.
  • Reinhard Delau: From the history of Ostragehege (3): rise and fall of the Ostra chamber estate. In: SZ 1 November 1995.
  • Heath Inhetveen: Agrarpionierinnen. Women as bearers of the agricultural progress. In: Hermann Heidrich (ed.): Ms worlds. Work, life, politics and prospects in the country. Verl Franconian Open-air Museum, Bath Windsheim 1999, ISBN 3-926834-41-2.
  • Katrin Keller: Princess Anna of Saxony. Of possibilities and limits of a "mother country". ) In: *Jan Hirschbiegel, Werner Paravicini (ed.: The Women's Room. The woman at the court in late medieval and early modern. Thorbecke, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-7995-4511-5 (Residence Bd 11).
  • Ursula Schlude: The Hofhalterin. Princess Anna of Saxony 1532 - 1585. WDR television series "Women of the Renaissance", WDR 2000, 15 min.
  • Ursula Schlude, Heath Inhetveen, Albrecht High: From the shops of the Princess. In: Research (Magazine of the DFG), 2 (2005), p. 22–24

References

  1. ^ [1]
Anne of Denmark, Electress of Saxony
Born: 22 November 1532 Died: 1 October 1585
German royalty
Preceded by Electress consort of Saxony
9 July 1553 – 1 October 1585
Vacant
Title next held by
Agnes Hedwig of Anhalt