Countess Palatine Dorothea of Simmern (6 January 1581 – 18 September 1631) was a

Countess Palatine The Countess of the Palatinate () was the wikt:consort, consort of the Count of the Palatinate, one of the Empire's greatest princes. Non-Hereditary, 1085–1156 House of Hohenstaufen, 1156–1195 House of Welf, 1195–1214 House of Wit ...

Simmern Simmern (; officially Simmern/Hunsrück) is a town of roughly 7,600 inhabitants (2013) in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, the district seat of the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis, and the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' Simmern-Rheinböllen. In the Rhinelan ...

by birth and Princess of

Anhalt-Dessau Anhalt-Dessau was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire and later a duchy of the German Confederation. Ruled by the House of Ascania, it was created in 1396 following the partition of the Principality of Anhalt-Zerbst, and finally merged into t ...

by marriage.

Life

Dorothea was born in Kaiserslautern, the only surviving child of the Count Palatine John Casimir of Simmern (1543–1592) from his marriage to Elisabeth (1552–1590), the daughter of Elector

August of Saxony August of Saxony (7 September 1589, Dresden – 26 December 1615, Naumburg) from the Albertine line of the House of Wettin was Administrator of the diocese of Naumburg-Zeitz. Life August was the youngest son of the elector Christian I of ...

. She married on 21 February 1595 in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

to Prince John George I of Anhalt-Dessau (1567–1618). She was his second wife. She was led to the altar by her guardian, Elector Palatine Frederick IV. Under her influence, her husband openly converted to

Calvinism Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...

in 1596.Andreas Thiele: ''Erzählende genealogische Stammtafeln zur europäischen Geschichte: Deutsche Kaiser-, Königs-, Herzogs- und Grafenhäuser'', part 2, R. G. Fischer, 1994, p. 450 After his death, she retired to her widow seat Sandersleben Castle. She was a member of the

Virtuous Society Virtue ( la, virtus) is moral excellence. A virtue is a trait or quality that is deemed to be morally good and thus is valued as a foundation of principle and good moral being. In other words, it is a behavior that shows high moral standards: ...

under the nickname ("the Hospitable"). Dorothea died in Sandersleben, aged 50, and was buried in the Church of St. Mary in Dessau. Her two eldest sons added a tomb stone to her grave in 1631.

Issue

From her marriage Dorothea had the following children: #

John Casimir, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau John Casimir, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau (17 December 1596 – 15 September 1660), was a German prince of the House of Ascania. He was ruler of the principality of Anhalt-Dessau from 1618 to 1660. During his reign the tasks of government were carried ...

(b. Dessau, 7 September 1596 – d. Dessau, 15 September 1660) # Anna Elisabeth (b. Dessau, 5 April 1598 – d.

Tecklenburg Tecklenburg () is a town in the district of Steinfurt, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Its name comes from the ruined castle around which it was built. The town is situated on the Hermannsweg hiking trail. The coat of arms shows an anchor ...

, 20 April 1660), married on 2 January 1617 to William Henry, Count of Bentheim-Steinfurt # Frederick Maurice (b. Dessau, 18 February 1600 – d.

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...

, 25 August 1610) # Eleonore Dorothea (b. Dessau, 16 February 1602 – d. Weimar, 26 December 1664), married on 23 May 1625 to

William, Duke of Saxe-Weimar Wilhelm, Duke of Saxe-Weimar ( Altenburg, 11 April 1598 – Weimar, 17 May 1662), was a duke of Saxe-Weimar. Wilhelm was the fifth (but third surviving) son of Johann, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, and Dorothea Maria of Anhalt. He was brother to Be ...

# Sibylle Christine (b. Dessau, 11 July 1603 – d. Hanau, 21 February 1686), married firstly on 26 December 1627 to

Philip Maurice, 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 popularize ...

, and secondly on 13 May 1647 to

Frederick Casimir, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg Friedrich Casimir of Hanau (born 4 August 1623 in Bouxwiller; died 30 March 1685 in Hanau) was a member of the Hanau-Lichtenberg branch of the House of Hanau. He was the ruling Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg from 1641 and of Hanau-Münzenberg from ...

# Henry Waldemar (b. Dessau, 7 November 1604 – d. Dessau, 25 September 1606) # George Aribert (b. Dessau, 3 June 1606 – d.

Wörlitz is a town and a former municipality in the district of Wittenberg, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 January 2011, it has been part of the town Oranienbaum-Wörlitz. It is situated on the left bank of the Elbe, east of Dessau. The historic p ...

, 14 November 1643) # Kunigunde Juliane (b. Dessau, 17 February 1608 – d.

Rotenburg Rotenburg may refer to: *Rotenburg (district), Lower Saxony, Germany *Rotenburg an der Wümme, capital of the district *Rotenburg an der Fulda, near Kassel in Hesse *Rothenburg ob der Tauber, in the Franconia region of Bavaria *Hersfeld-Rotenburg, ...

, 26 September 1683), married on 2 January 1642 to

Herman IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Rotenburg Landgrave Hermann IV of Hesse-Rotenburg (15 August 1607 in Kassel – 25 March 1658 in Rotenburg an der Fulda), was the first Landgrave of the semi-independent Landgraviate of Hesse-Rotenburg. He was the fourth son of the Landgrave Maurice o ...

# Susanna Margarete (b. Dessau, 23 August 1610 – d. Babenhausen, 13 October 1663), married on 16 February 1651 to John Philip of Hanau-Lichtenberg # Johanna Dorothea (b. Dessau, 24 March 1612 – d. Tecklenburg, 26 April 1695), married on 9 February 1636 to Count Maurice of Bentheim-Tecklenburg (a nephew of her brother-in-law William Henry) # Eva Catherine (b. Dessau, 11 September 1613 – d. Dessau, 15 December 1679).

Royal descendants

* The current reigning monarchs

King Charles III of the United Kingdom 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 to a ...

King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden Carl XVI Gustaf (Carl Gustaf Folke Hubertus; born 30 April 1946) is King of Sweden. He ascended the throne on the death of his grandfather, Gustaf VI Adolf, on 15 September 1973. He is the youngest child and only son of Prince Gustaf Adolf, D ...

King Felipe VI of Spain Felipe VI (;, * eu, Felipe VI.a, * ca, Felip VI, * gl, Filipe VI, . Felipe Juan Pablo Alfonso de Todos los Santos de Borbón y Grecia; born 30 January 1968) is King of Spain. He is the son of former King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofía, and ...

King Harald V of Norway Harald V ( no, Harald den femte, ; born 21 February 1937) is King of Norway. He acceded to the throne on 17 January 1991. Harald was the third child and only son of King Olav V of Norway and Princess Märtha of Sweden. He was second in the lin ...

Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands Beatrix (Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard, ; born 31 January 1938) is a member of the Dutch royal house who reigned as Queen of the Netherlands from 1980 until her abdication in 2013. Beatrix is the eldest daughter of Queen Juliana and her husba ...

Queen Margrethe II of Denmark Margrethe II (; Margrethe Alexandrine Þórhildur Ingrid, born 16 April 1940) is Queen of Denmark. Having reigned as Denmark's monarch for over 50 years, she is Europe's longest-serving current head of state and the world's only incumbent fema ...

, King Philippe of Belgium and

Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg Henri (french: Henri Albert Gabriel Félix Marie Guillaume, ; born 16 April 1955) is the Grand Duke of Luxembourg. He has reigned since 7 October 2000. Henri, the eldest son of Grand Duke Jean and Princess Joséphine-Charlotte of Belgium, is a f ...

are all her direct-line descendants.

References

* Johann C. Hönicke: ''Urkundliche Merkwürdigkeiten aus der Herzogl. Schloß- und Stadtkirche zu St. Maria in Dessau, besonders das Anhaltische Fürstenhaus betreffend'', Fritsche, 1833, p. 95 ff * Dieter Merzbacher, Klaus Conermann and Gabriele Ball: ''Briefe der Fruchtbringenden Gesellschaft und Beilagen'', Niemeyer, 2003, p. 162 * Bernhard Joseph Schleiss: ''Familienkalender des Durchl. Erzhauses Pfalz-Wittelsbach für das doppelte Jubel- und Schaltjahr 1792'', 1792, p. 3
Online
h1>

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dorothea of Simmern House of Palatinate-Simmern People from Kaiserslautern German countesses 1581 births 1631 deaths 17th-century German people