Hedwig of Brandenburg, Duchess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
Hedwig of Brandenburg | |
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Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg | |
![]() Hedwig of Brandenburg, Duchess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, detail of a family portrait | |
Born | 23 February 1540 Cölln, Brandenburg |
Died | 21 October 1602 Wolfenbüttel, Brunswick-Lüneburg | (aged 62)
Noble family | House of Hohenzollern |
Spouse(s) | Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg |
Issue | Sophie Hedwig Henry Julius Maria Elisabeth Philip Sigismund Joachim Charles Dorothea Augusta Julius Augustus Hedwig |
Father | Joachim II Hector, Elector of Brandenburg |
Mother | Hedwig Jagiellon |
Hedwig of Brandenburg (23 February 1540 – 21 October 1602), a member of the Hohenzollern dynasty, was Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Princess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel from 1568 to 1589, by her marriage with the Welf duke Julius.
Life
[edit]Born at the City Palace in Cölln (today part of Berlin), Hedwig was a younger daughter of Elector Joachim II Hector of Brandenburg (1505–1571) from his second marriage with Hedwig Jagiellon (1513–1573), a daughter of King Sigismund I of Poland. Her elder sister Elizabeth Magdalena was married to Duke Francis Otto of Brunswick-Lüneburg in 1559; however, her husband died in the same year.
One year later, on 25 February 1560, Hedwig was married in Cölln on the Spree river to the Welf prince Julius of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1528–1589). The couple had met at the Küstrin court of Margrave John of Brandenburg, where Julius had fled from his wayward[clarification needed] father, Duke Henry V
After Julius had reconciled with his father, who had agreed only reluctantly to the marriage of his son with a Protestant princess, the couple received the castles of Hessen and Schladen as residences. As Julius's elder brothers had been killed in the 1553 Battle of Sievershausen, Duke Henry V was alleged to have appeared at Hessen Castle and let himself into the room of his daughter-in-law, took her newborn son Henry Julius from the cradle and exclaimed: You'll now have to be my beloved son![1]
In 1568 Julius succeeded his father as ruling Prince of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. He turned out to be a capable ruler; nevertheless, he later came under the fraudulent influence of the alchemists Philipp Sömmering and Anne Marie Schombach (nicknamed Schlüter-Liese), whom he received at the Wolfenbüttel court in 1571, and gradually estranged from his wife.[2]
Hedwig was described as a pious and humble, with preference for domestic activities. In 1598, the theologician Stephan Prätorius dedicated his book Der Witwen Trost ("The Widow's Consolation") to Hedwig.
Issue
[edit]From her marriage to Julius, Hedwig had following children:
- Sophie Hedwig (1561–1631)
- married in 1577 Duke Ernest Louis of Pomerania-Wolgast (1545-1592)
- Henry Julius (1564–1613), Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, married:
- in 1585, Princess Dorothea of Saxony (1563–1587)
- in 1590, Princess Elizabeth of Denmark (1573–1625)
- Maria (1566–1626)
- married in 1582, Duke Francis II of Saxe-Lauenburg (1547-1619)
- Elisabeth (1567–1618), married
- in 1583 to Count Adolf XI of Holstein-Schauenburg (d. 1601)
- in 1604 to Duke Christopher of Brunswick-Harburg (d. 1606)
- Philip Sigismund (1568–1623), Bishop of Osnabrück and Verden
- Margaret (1571–1580)
- Joachim Charles (1573–1615)
- Sabine Catharina (1574–1590)
- Dorothea Augusta (1577–1625), Abbess of Gandersheim
- Julius Augustus (1578–1617), abbot of Michaelstein Abbey
- Hedwig (1580–1657)
- married in 1621 Duke Otto III of Brunswick-Harburg (1572-1641)
References
[edit]- Inge Mager: Die Konkordienformel im Fürstentum Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1993, p. 22 ff
Footnotes
[edit]External links
[edit] Media related to Hedwig of Brandenburg at Wikimedia Commons