Catharina Belgica of Nassau (31 July 1578 – 12 April 1648) was a countess of Hanau-Münzenberg by marriage to

Philip Louis II, Count of Hanau-Münzenberg Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who populariz ...

. She was regent of Hanau-Münzenberg during the minority of her son from 1612 until 1626.

Biography

Early life

She was the third daughter of William the Silent and his third spouse Charlotte of Bourbon. Catharina Belgica was born in

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

. After her father had been assassinated in 1584, her aunt Catherine took her to

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 ...

, while most of her sisters were raised by Louise de Coligny. Her older sister Juliana would later criticize Catharina's Lutheran education. In 1596 she married

with whom she had ten children.

Regent

When her husband died in 1612, Catharina Belgica became regent for her son Philip Maurice. When emperor Ferdinand II requested passage through Hanau for his coronation in Frankfurt in 1618, she refused him entry. Her territories were ravaged by imperial troops in 1621, and she and her children had to evacuate to The Hague. In 1626, her son took over government. When king

Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden Gustavus Adolphus (9 December Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">N.S_19_December.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Old Style and New Style dates">N.S 19 December">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="/now ...

liberated Hanau from Imperial occupation in 1631, it was Catharina Belgica who issued negotiations with the Swedish king and successfully secured the state for her son, and she guarded the alliance between Sweden and Hanau in cooperation with her daughter, the regent of Hesse-Cassel. Matty Klatter, Catharina Belgica van Oranje, in: Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van Nederland. URL: http://resources.huygens.knaw.nl/vrouwenlexicon/lemmata/data/CatharinaBelgica 3/01/2014 She died, aged 69, in The Hague.

Family

During a wedding feast in Dillenburg that lasted from 23 October 1596 - 3 November 1596, she married

Philip Louis II of Hanau-Münzenberg Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who populariz ...

, producing the following children: #Charlotte Louise (1597–1649

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...

), not married #Daughter (29 July 1598 – 9 August 1598), died unbaptised #Philip Ulrich (2 January 1601 – 7 April 1604 Steinau) # Amalia Elisabeth (1602–1651

), married to William V, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel #Katharina Juliane (1604–1668 Hanau), married first on 11 September 1631 to Count Albert Otto II of Solms-Laubach, Rödelheim and Assenheim and second on 31 March 1642 to Moritz Christian von Wied-Runkel # Philip Maurice (1605–1638), buried in the Marienkirche in Hanau #Wilhelm Reinhard (1607–1630

Aachen Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...

), buried in the Marienkirche in Hanau #Henry Louis (1609–1632) died during the Siege of Maastricht #Frederick Louis (27 July 1610 – 4 October 1628 Paris), buried in the family tomb of the Duke of Bouillon in Sedan #Jakob Johann (1612–1636 Zabern), buried in St. Nicholas in

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

Ancestry

References

Sources

Catharina Belgica: biography on Worldroots
17th-century women rulers 1578 births 1648 deaths House of Orange-Nassau Burials in the Royal Crypt at Nieuwe Kerk, Delft Countesses of Hanau-Münzenberg Countesses of Nassau People of the Thirty Years' War {{Europe-noble-stub