Countess Elizabeth Augusta Of Sulzbach
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Elisabeth Auguste of Sulzbach (Elisabeth Auguste; 17 January 1721 – 17 August 1794) was the eldest granddaughter of the
Elector of the Palatinate The counts palatine of Lotharingia /counts palatine of the Rhine /electors of the Palatinate (german: Kurfürst von der Pfalz) ruled some part of Rhine area in the Kingdom of Germany and the Holy Roman Empire from 915 to 1803. The title was a kind ...
Charles III Philip, and by her marriage to Elector Palatine Charles IV Theodore,
Electress Palatine The Electress of the Palatinate () was the wikt:consort, consort of the Prince-elector of the Electorate of the Palatinate, one of the Holy Roman Empire's greatest princes. First Electorate, 1356–1648 House of Wittelsbach, Main branch, 1356 ...
and later
Electress of Bavaria An Electress (, ) was the consort of a Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire, one of the Empire's greatest princes. The Golden Bull of 1356 established by Emperor Charles IV settled the number of Electors at seven. However, three of these wer ...
.


Biography

Elisabeth Auguste's parents were Joseph Charles of Sulzbach (1694–1729) and Elisabeth Auguste of Neuburg (1693–1728), the latter the daughter of Elector Charles III Philip. On 17 January 1742, she married her cousin Charles Theodore of Sulzbach, who became
Elector of the Palatinate The counts palatine of Lotharingia /counts palatine of the Rhine /electors of the Palatinate (german: Kurfürst von der Pfalz) ruled some part of Rhine area in the Kingdom of Germany and the Holy Roman Empire from 915 to 1803. The title was a kind ...
in 1742 and
Elector of Bavaria The following is a list of rulers during the history of Bavaria. Bavaria was ruled by several dukes and kings, partitioned and reunited, under several dynasties. Since 1949, Bavaria has been a democratic state in the Federal Republic of Germ ...
in 1777. The marriage was arranged to avoid a potential inheritance dispute within the different family branches. While Charles Theodore was described as learned and interested in the enlightenment, Elisabeth Augusta was described as vivacious, pleasure loving, uneducated and shallow. During the first half of their marriage, she is said to have dominated her spouse, and during the Seven Years' War, she exerted influence over the Palatine foreign policy. In 1760, however, it was reported that Charles Theodor was beginning to free himself from her dominance. Elisabeth Auguste bore only one child, a son (christened Francis Louis Joseph) on 28 June 1762, twenty years after their marriage; but the long-awaited son and heir to the Palatinate died just one day after his birth. The couple thereafter largely lived apart, each one taking lovers of their own. Divorce was never contemplated. Due to her not having a child and unable to have another legitimate child due to the discontinued marital sexual relations, she had no power base at court after she had lost her personal influence over her spouse. In 1764, Charles Theodor had an official mistress, the dancer
Françoise Despres-Verneuil Françoise () is a French feminine given name (equivalent to the Italian Francesca) and may refer to: * Anne Françoise Elizabeth Lange (1772–1816), French actress * Claudine Françoise Mignot (1624–1711), French adventuress * Françoise Adn ...
, who was succeeded by Josefa Seiffert in 1766, which was a humiliation for Elisabeth Auguste. Elisabeth Auguste moved to her own residence of Schloss von Oggersheim, where she lived permanently with her own court from 1768, only making formal visits to the court of her spouse in winter: after 1781, she discontinued also with these visits.Stefan Mörz: Elisabeth Augusta - die letzte Kurfürstin She did not like the Bavarian court, which she regarded to be too spartan for her taste. She was quite popular in the Palatinate, especially since Charles Theodor moved to Bavaria in 1777. At the end of 1793, in the face of advancing French troops, Elisabeth Auguste fled to Weinheim, where she died in 1794. Her husband subsequently married Maria Leopoldine of Austria-Este.


Honours

: First Sovereign of the
Order of Saint Elizabeth The Order of Saint Elizabeth was an all-female chivalric and charitable order in the Kingdom of Bavaria. The following excerpt is from ''The Orders of Knighthood, British and Foreign'' (1884): History The first Consort of the Elector Charles T ...
(feminine order)


Issue

*Count Palatine Franz Ludwig Joseph of Sulzbach (28 June 1762 – 29 June 1762) died in infancy.


Ancestry


Bibliography

* ''Lebenslust und Frömmigkeit, Kurfürst Carl Theodor zwischen Barock und Aufklärung'', Handbuch und Ausstellungskatalog * Karl Kreuter, ''Kurfüstin Elisabeth Auguste von Pfalz-Bayern 1727 - 1794'', Oggersheim 1919 {{DEFAULTSORT:Elisabeth Auguste of Sulzbach, Countess Palatine Electresses of the Palatinate 1721 births 1794 deaths House of Wittelsbach Countesses Palatine of Sulzbach Electresses of Bavaria Electoral Princesses of Bavaria Duchesses of Jülich Duchesses of Berg Electoral Princesses of the Palatinate Burials at St. Michael's Church, Munich