Caroline of the Palatinate-Zweibrücken (Caroline Henriette Christiane Philippine Louise; 9 March 1721 – 30 March 1774) was
Landgravine
Landgrave (german: Landgraf, nl, landgraaf, sv, lantgreve, french: landgrave; la, comes magnus, ', ', ', ', ') was a noble title used in the Holy Roman Empire, and later on in its former territories. The German titles of ', ' ("margrave"), ...
of
Hesse-Darmstadt
The Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt (german: Landgrafschaft Hessen-Darmstadt) was a State of the Holy Roman Empire, ruled by a younger branch of the House of Hesse. It was formed in 1567 following the division of the Landgraviate of Hesse betwee ...
by marriage to
Louis IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt
Louis IX of Hesse-Darmstadt (german: Ludwig) (15 December 1719 – 6 April 1790) was the reigning Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt from 1768 to 1790.
Louis IX and his wife became the most recent common ancestors of all current European monarchs ...
. She was famed as one of the most learned women of her time and known as The Great Landgräfin.
Biography
Henriette Caroline was the daughter of
Christian III, Duke of Zweibrücken and his wife
Caroline of Nassau-Saarbrücken
Caroline may refer to:
People
* Caroline (given name), a feminine given name
* J. C. Caroline (born 1933), American college and National Football League player
* Jordan Caroline (born 1996), American (men's) basketball player
Places Antarctica
* ...
.
She married on 12 August 1741 in
Zweibrücken
Zweibrücken (; french: Deux-Ponts, ; Palatinate German: ''Zweebrigge'', ; literally translated as "Two Bridges") is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Schwarzbach river.
Name
The name ''Zweibrücken'' means 'two bridges'; olde ...
,
Louis IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt
Louis IX of Hesse-Darmstadt (german: Ludwig) (15 December 1719 – 6 April 1790) was the reigning Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt from 1768 to 1790.
Louis IX and his wife became the most recent common ancestors of all current European monarchs ...
. The marriage was arranged and unhappy: Caroline was interested in music and literature, while her consort was interested in military matters, and she lived separated from him at
Buchsweiler. She founded a factory to ease the states economy. In 1772, she promoted the politician
Friedrich Karl von Moser.
Caroline was better known as The Great Landgräfin, a name given to her by
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as t ...
. She befriended several writers and philosophers of her time, such as
Johann Gottfried Herder,
Christoph Martin Wieland and Goethe. Wieland wished he had the power to make her ''Queen of Europa''. She also had contact with
Frederick II of Prussia. She was one of the few women that the ''Alte Fritz'' respected, and he famously referred to her as ''the Glory and Wonder of our century''; after her death, he sent an urn to Darmstadt with the text ''femina sexo, ingenio vir'' ('A woman by sex, a man by spirit').
[Philipp A. Pauli: Darmstadt: Eine historisch-topographische Skizze und Excursionen in die Umgegend. Will, 1815, S. 89.]
She and her husband became the most recent common ancestors of all current European monarchs in 2022 after the
death
Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...
of
Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, who was not a descendant; her son,
Charles III
Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person t ...
– a descendant through
his father – succeeded her as the King.
Issue
Ancestry
Literature
*Marita A. Panzer: ''Die Große Landgräfin Caroline von Hessen-Darmstadt'', Verlag Friedrich Pustet Regensburg, 2005
References
External links
Karoline Henriette Christine Pfalzgräfin von Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld at thepeerage.comWikisource: ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' "Karoline Landgräfin von Hessen-Darmstadt" (in German)
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Caroline of Zweibrucken, Countess Palatine
1721 births
1774 deaths
House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken
People from Strasbourg
Landgravines of Hesse-Darmstadt
Countesses Palatine of Zweibrücken