Catherine of Nassau-Dillenburg (29 December 1543 at

Dillenburg Castle Castle Dillenburg, in the provincial town of Dillenburg in Hesse-Nassau, is situated on a hill (elevation 958 feet) above the Dill river, 25 miles northwest from Gießen on the Giessen-Troisdorf railway line. The main building of the old castle w ...

Dillenburg Dillenburg, officially Oranienstadt Dillenburg, is a town in Hesse's Gießen (region), Gießen region in Germany. The town was formerly the seat of the old Dillkreis district, which is now part of the Lahn-Dill-Kreis. The town lies on the German-N ...

– 25 December 1624 in

Arnstadt Arnstadt () is a town in Ilm-Kreis, Thuringia, Germany, on the river Gera about south of Erfurt, the capital of Thuringia. Arnstadt is one of the oldest towns in Thuringia, and has a well-preserved historic centre with a partially preserved town ...

) was a daughter of

William I, Count of Nassau-Siegen Count William I of Nassau-SiegenIn many sources he is called William I of Nassau(-Dillenburg) and in some sources of Nassau-Katzenelnbogen. He was born with the titles Count of Nassau, Vianden and Diez. Two years before his death, he o ...

and his second wife,

Juliana of Stolberg Juliana, Countess of Stolberg-Wernigerode (15 February 1506 in Stolberg, Saxony-Anhalt – 18 June 1580) was the mother of William the Silent, the leader of the successful Dutch Revolt against the Spanish in the 16th century. Juliana was born i ...

. She was a sister of

William the Silent William the Silent (24 April 153310 July 1584), also known as William the Taciturn (translated from nl, Willem de Zwijger), or, more commonly in the Netherlands, William of Orange ( nl, Willem van Oranje), was the main leader of the Dutch Re ...

Life

Catherine was raised at Dillenburg. In 1560, she married

Günther XLI, Count of Schwarzburg-Arnstadt Günther XLI, Count of Schwarzburg-Arnstadt, nicknamed "the Quarrelsome" or , (25 September 1529 in Sondershausen – 23 May 1583 in Antwerp) was the ruling count of Schwarzburg from 1552 to 1571 and then Count of Schwarzburg-Arnstadt until ...

and she moved with her husband to Arnstadt. The marriage was childless, but she reportedly had a good relationship with her husband. They were also on good terms with her brother William. In 1574, they traveled to

Breda Breda () is a city and municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Brabant. The name derived from ''brede Aa'' ('wide Aa' or 'broad Aa') and refers to the confluence of the rivers Mark and Aa. Breda has ...

to mediate between him and the Habsburg government. This attempt was not successful. Catherine and her husband lived with William in Antwerp, where she continued to live after Günther died. She was present in Delft when her brother was assassinated by

Balthasar Gérard Balthasar Gérard (alternative spellings Gerards or Gerardts; c. 1557 – 14 July 1584) was the assassin of the Dutch revolt's leader, William the Silent of the House of Orange (William the Silent, and later known as the "Father of the Fatherla ...

. She then took Catharina Belgica, a daughter of William and

Charlotte of Bourbon Charlotte of Bourbon (1546/1547 – 5 May 1582) was a Princess consort of Orange as the third spouse of William the Silent, Prince of Orange, the main leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish. She was the fourth daughter of Louis III de Bou ...

, with her to Arnstadt. In 1593, she tried to settle a dispute between

Maria of Nassau Maria of Nassau may refer to: * Maria of Nassau (1539–1599), daughter of William the Rich and Juliana of Stolberg * Maria of Nassau (1553–1554), first daughter of William the Silent and Anna of Egmond * Maria of Nassau (1556–1616), second daug ...

and

Maurice, Prince of Orange Maurice of Orange ( nl, Maurits van Oranje; 14 November 1567 – 23 April 1625) was ''stadtholder'' of all the provinces of the Dutch Republic except for Friesland from 1585 at the earliest until his death in 1625. Before he became Prince o ...

over the legacy of their father William. She was not successful, but did succeed in mediating between

Louise de Coligny Louise de Coligny (23 September 1555 – 9 November 1620) was a Princess consort of Orange as the fourth and last spouse of William the Silent. She was the daughter of Gaspard II de Coligny and Charlotte de Laval. Biography Louise was born at C ...

and

John VI, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg Count John VI of Nassau-Dillenburg (22 November 1536 – 8 October 1606) was the second son of William the Rich and the younger brother of William the Silent. He has a special place in the history of the Netherlands because he is the male-lin ...

, who had disagreed over the future marriages of William's six daughters by Charlotte of Bourbon. As a widow, Catherine collected books and gave to charity. She died in Arnstadt in 1624.

References

{{Authority control House of Nassau 1543 births 1624 deaths 16th-century German people 17th-century German people People of the Eighty Years' War People from Dillenburg Daughters of monarchs