Benigna Marie of Reuss-Ebersdorf (15 December 1695 in Ebersdorf – 31 July 1751 in

Pottiga Pottiga is a village and a former municipality in the district Saale-Orla-Kreis, in Thuringia, Germany. Since 1 January 2019, it is part of the municipality Rosenthal am Rennsteig Rosenthal am Rennsteig is a municipality in the district Saale-Orl ...

) was a Protestant German hymn writer and a titular Countess of Reuss. She was a member of the

Reuss-Ebersdorf Reuss-Ebersdorf was a county and from 1806 a principality located in Germany. The Counts of Reuss-Ebersdorf belonged to the Reuss Junior Line. Reuss was successively a part of the Holy Roman Empire, Confederation of the Rhine, German Confederatio ...

line from the

Reuss-Lobenstein Reuss-Lobenstein (german: link=no, Reuß-Lobenstein) was a state located in the German part of the Holy Roman Empire. History The members of Reuss-Lobenstein family belonged to the Reuss Junior Line. Reuss-Lobenstein has existed on two occasions ...

Life

Benigna Marie was a daughter of Count Heinrich X of

(1662-1711) and Countess Benigna Erdmuthe of

Solms-Laubach Solms-Laubach was a County of southern Hesse and eastern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The House of SolmsSee German article on the ''House of Solms'' or French article '' Maison de Solms. had its origins in Solms, Hesse. History Solms-Laubach w ...

(1670-1732). She grew up in Ebersdorf and was educated in a strictly

pietistic Pietism (), also known as Pietistic Lutheranism, is a movement within Lutheranism that combines its emphasis on biblical doctrine with an emphasis on individual piety and living a holy Christian life, including a social concern for the needy and ...

fashion. After her parents' death, she moved to

. Here she wrote a series of hymns in the spirit of

Zinzendorf Nikolaus Ludwig, Reichsgraf von Zinzendorf und Pottendorf (26 May 1700 – 9 May 1760) was a German religious and social reformer, bishop of the Moravian Church, founder of the Herrnhuter Brüdergemeine, Christian mission pioneer and a major figu ...

, who was married with her younger sister Erdmuthe Dorothea. However, she rejected Zinzendorf's Moravian Church and schism in the

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...

church that this caused. She was a close friend of

Johann Jakob Moser Johann Jakob Moser (18 January 1701 – 30 September 1785) was a German jurist, publicist and researcher, whose work earned him the title "The Father of German Constitutional Law" and whose political commitment to the principles of Liberalism cau ...

, and died unmarried in Pottiga, at the 55 years.

References

* (mentioned at p. 194) * Christian hymnwriters House of Reuss German countesses 1695 births 1751 deaths Daughters of monarchs {{Germany-countess-stub