Hedwig Elisabeth of Neuburg (
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
: ''Jadwiga Elżbieta Amalia Sobieska''; 18 July 1673 – 10 August 1722) was a Polish princess by marriage to
James Louis Sobieski
James Louis Henry Sobieski ( Polish: ''Jakub Ludwik Henryk Sobieski''; French: ''Jacques Louis Henri de Sobieski'') 2 November 1667 – 19 December 1737) was a Polish-French nobleman, politician, diplomat, scholar, traveller and the son of John II ...
. She was the daughter of
Philip William, Duke of Neuburg and
Landgravine Elisabeth Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt en, Elizabeth Amelia Magdalena of Hesse-Darmstadt
, image= Elisabeth Amalia Magdalena im Jahr 1705.jpg
, caption= Portrait by Jan Frans van Douven, c. 1705.
, succession = Electress Palatine
, consort=yes
, reign=26 May 1685 - 2 September 1690
, ...
.
She was the grandmother of
Charles Edward Stuart, the "Young Pretender" also known as ”Bonnie Prince Charlie".
Life
Born at the Stadtschloss in
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second- ...
, she was the fifteenth of seventeen children. Her sisters included
Eleonor Magdalene, Holy Roman Empress,
Maria Sofia, Queen of Portugal,
Maria Anna, Queen of Spain and
Dorothea Sophie, Duchess of Parma and mother of queen
Elisabeth Farnese
Elisabeth Farnese ( Italian: ''Elisabetta Farnese'', Spanish: ''Isabel Farnesio''; 25 October 169211 July 1766) was Queen of Spain by marriage to King Philip V. She exerted great influence over Spain's foreign policy and was the ''de facto'' r ...
. She was raised with her sisters Maria Sophia, Maria Anna and Dorothea Sophie. The sisters where schooled by private tutors in German, Latin, French, Italian, music and dance. Her elder sister Eleonor Magdalene acted as the benefactor of her sisters at the Imperial court.
Marriage
In 1689, she was suggested to marry
Prince James Louis Henry Sobieski, son of King
John III Sobieski of Poland
John III Sobieski ( pl, Jan III Sobieski; lt, Jonas III Sobieskis; la, Ioannes III Sobiscius; 17 August 1629 – 17 June 1696) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1674 until his death in 1696.
Born into Polish nobility, Sobie ...
.
The marriage was arranged in order to secure an alliance between John III Sobieski and the Emperor within the Holy League, as Hedwig Elisabeth was the sister of empress Eleonor Magdalene, and secure Habsburg support in the future election of Prince James as the next Polish king. From the part of her family, the marriage was arranged with the presumption that Prince James would have a good change to be elected king of Poland after the death of his father.
In the negotiations, it was specified that Hedwig Elisabeth would be secured a dowry of 100 000 thaler, and granted lands by the emperor in Silesia with an official residence in
Oława
Oława (pronounced , , szl, Oława) is a historic town in south-western Poland with 33,029 inhabitants (2019). It is situated in Lower Silesian Voivodeship (from 1975–1998 it was in the former Wrocław Voivodeship), within the Wrocław ...
, where the couple could settle comfortably under Imperial protection in the case Prince James would not be elected king after his father's death.
The wedding took place on 8 February 1691, and the couple settled in an apartment in the Royal Palace in Warsaw - they would share their place of residence in the Kazimierzowski Palace in Warsaw during the winters, and their property in Oława in Silesia during the summers, where she stayed during the Moldau campaign.
Poland
Hedwig Elisabeth was friendly received by her mother-in-law, queen Maria Kazimiera, who actively wanted to win her trust and affection and thus treated her with consideration and charm and gave her several valuable gifts. She did, however, dislike Hedwig Elisabeth's German household retinue, as she considered them an obstacle for her daughter-in-law to acclimatize to Poland, and doubted that the Habsburg and Neuburg dynasties would support her son as future king.
The relationship between Hedwig Elisabeth and Prince James has been given contradictory accounts. Prince James reportedly placed too high demands on everybody around him, including his wife, but he affectionately referred to her as ''Little Liesl'' and did sometime listen to her advice. Hedwig Elisabeth was described as a devoted spouse who made great efforts to work for his benefit and give him useful advise to curb unwise actions. In her capacity as a relative of the emperor, she was expected to play the part of a channel and mediator between the Emperor and her in-laws, a task she was asked to perform on several occasions.
From the beginning, Hedwig Elisabeth was put under pressure to produce a male heir to strengthen her husband's future candidacy to the throne. Already in 1691, she had a miscarriage, and the following year, her mother-in-law is known to have recommended her medicine to prevent another miscarriage. In the spring of 1693, she welcomed her mother on a visit to Oława. On 30 May 1693, she gave birth to her first living child, Maria Leopoldyna, in Warsaw in the presence of her parents-in-law and the royal senators.
In 1696, her father-in-law died, and in the following election of 1696-97, the courts of in Vienna and Dusseldorf did support Prince James as candidate for the Polish throne. Hedwig Elisabeth reportedly actively participated in the work to raise funds for the election: she negotiated with the burghers of Wrocław to secure loans for her husband's campaign, and she personally received money and jewels from the imperial court of Vienna to use as security for the campaign loans. Despite the efforts, however, the Sobieski Party lost the election.
Later life
The couple retired to their lands in Silesia where they lived under Imperial protection. The failure to produce a living son was still a pressure upon Hedwig Elisabeth, but her mother-in-law commented that a son could sometime be the cause of a family's ruin as well as a blessing, while a daughter could be a blessing, as Hedwig Elisabeth's sister the empress had been for her family. She continued to give birth until 1717, the last birth nearly killing her.
In 1704, during the imprisonment of her spouse and brother-in-law, Hedwig Elisabeth visited the Imperial court in Vienna to use her influence as a relation of the emperor in their favor and negotiate their release. She performed the task despite being heavily pregnant, which caused her a miscarriage. When Peter the Great offered to place James on the Polish throne, he sent his envoy to Hedwig Elisabeth rather than James to make the offer, expecting her to persuade her husband, but she refused.
When her daughter Maria Clementina married James Stuart against the consent of the emperor in 1719, prince James as well as Hedvig Elisabeth herself was held in house arrest in Innsbruck, and was only released and allowed to return to Oława after the mediation of her sisters, Empress Eleonora and Duchess Dorothea Sofia: her husband, however, was exiled from Silesia. The last years of her life she suffered from ill health. On her deathbed, she successfully asked the emperor to allow her spouse to return home and to see to the welfare of her daughters, and her husband was allowed home to attend to her deathbed.
Hedwig Elisabeth was the maternal grandmother of
Bonnie Prince Charlie
Bonnie, is a Scottish given name and is sometimes used as a descriptive reference, as in the Scottish folk song, My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean. It comes from the Scots language word "bonnie" (pretty, attractive), or the French bonne (good). That ...
, and the great aunt of
Maria Theresa of Austria
Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina (german: Maria Theresia; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was ruler of the Habsburg dominions from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position '' suo jure'' (in her own right) ...
.
Issue
# Maria Joanna Leopoldyna (30 April 1693 – 12 July 1695).
# Maria Kazimiera (20 January 1695 – 18 May 1723) - she became a nun. Her father tried to get her married to
Charles XII of Sweden.
# Jan (born in 1695/1696, died in 1696).
#
Maria Karolina Katarzyna, known as ''Charlotte'' (25 November 1697 – 8 May 1740) married twice; firstly to
Frédéric Casimir de La Tour d'Auvergne, no issue; married again
Charles Godefroy de La Tour d'Auvergne
Charles Godefroy de La Tour d'Auvergne (16 July 1706 – 24 October 1771) was a French nobleman and member of the powerful House of La Tour d'Auvergne.
Biography
His parents, Emmanuel Théodose de La Tour d'Auvergne (1668–1730) and Marie Arma ...
and had issue.
# Jan (21 October 1698 – July 1699).
#
Maria Klementyna (18 July 1702 – 24 January 1735), married
James Francis Edward Stuart
James Francis Edward Stuart (10 June 16881 January 1766), nicknamed the Old Pretender by Whigs, was the son of King James II and VII of England, Scotland and Ireland, and his second wife, Mary of Modena. He was Prince of Wales fro ...
(1688–1766), son of King
James II of England
James VII and II (14 October 1633 16 September 1701) was King of England and King of Ireland as James II, and King of Scotland as James VII from the death of his elder brother, Charles II, on 6 February 1685. He was deposed in the Glorious Re ...
(1633–1701) and had issue.
# Maria Magdalena (born and died 3 August 1704).
Ancestry
References
* Roszkowska W., Oława królewiczów Sobieskich, Wydawnictwo Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich, Wrocław-Warszawa-Kraków 1968, s. 121-122, 142.
* Skrzypietz A., Narodziny i śmierć dzieci w rodzinie Sobieskich
:S. Achremczyk (red.), Między barokiem a oświeceniem. Radości i troski dnia codziennego, Olsztyn 2006, s. 288-289.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hedwig Elisabeth Amelia Of Neuburg, Countess Palantine
Polish royalty
1673 births
1722 deaths
17th-century Polish people
18th-century Polish people
17th-century German people
18th-century German people
Polish princesses
Hedwig Elisabeth
People from Düsseldorf
Countesses Palatine of Neuburg
House of Wittelsbach
17th-century Polish women
17th-century German women
18th-century Polish women
18th-century German women