Elisabeth of Leuchtenberg (born: March 1537- died: 6 July 1579 in

Dillenburg Dillenburg, officially Oranienstadt Dillenburg, is a town in Hesse's Gießen (region), Gießen region in Germany. The town was formerly the seat of the old Dillkreis district, which is now part of the Lahn-Dill-Kreis. The town lies on the German-N ...

) was the daughter of Landgrave

George III, Landgrave of Leuchtenberg George III, Landgrave of Leuchtenberg (13 December 1502 – 21 May 1555) was Landgrave of Leuchtenberg from 1 September 1531 to 1555. George succeeded John IV as Landgrave after his death in 1531. His mother was Margareta von Schwarzburg, who ...

and Margravine Barbara of

Brandenburg-Ansbach The Principality or Margraviate of (Brandenburg-)Ansbach (german: Fürstentum Ansbach or ) was a principality in the Holy Roman Empire centered on the Franconian city of Ansbach. The ruling Hohenzollern princes of the land were known as margrave ...

(1495-1552). After her death, the German theologian Christoph Pezel wrote an obituary about her.

Portraits

At least two portraits of Elisabeth of Leuchtenberg exist. The first is in the collection of the

Rijksmuseum The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the St ...

in the form of an anonymous picture, made between 1850 and 1930, a reproduction of a painting by an unknown painter. The second is a drawing in circular shape. Another portrait, also made by an anonymous painter, was initially identified as portrait of

Charlotte of Bourbon Charlotte of Bourbon (1546/1547 – 5 May 1582) was a Princess consort of Orange as the third spouse of William the Silent, Prince of Orange, the main leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish. She was the fourth daughter of Louis III de Bou ...

, but it was later identified by L.J. van der Klooster as possibly Elisabeth van Leuchtenberg. File:Elisabeth van Leuchtenberg voorheen gedacht portret van Charlotte de Bourbon.jpg, Possibly Elisabeth van Leuchtenberg. She is wearing a dark dress with

puff sleeve A sleeve ( ang, slīef, a word allied to ''slip'', cf. Dutch ) is the part of a garment that covers the arm, or through which the arm passes or slips. The sleeve is a characteristic of fashion seen in almost every country and time period, acro ...

s and rings on her index fingers. File:Elisabeth van Leuchtenberg (1537-1579) (cropped).jpg, Photo of a drawing. Collection

Royal House of the Netherlands The House of Orange-Nassau (Dutch: ''Huis van Oranje-Nassau'', ) is the current reigning house of the Netherlands. A branch of the European House of Nassau, the house has played a central role in the politics and government of the Netherlands ...

Marriage and issue

Elisabeth was the first wife of

John VI of Nassau-Dillenburg Count John VI of Nassau-Dillenburg (22 November 1536 – 8 October 1606) was the second son of William the Rich and the younger brother of William the Silent. He has a special place in the history of the Netherlands because he is the male-lin ...

, son of William "the Rich" of Nassau en

Juliana of Stolberg Juliana, Countess of Stolberg-Wernigerode (15 February 1506 in Stolberg, Saxony-Anhalt – 18 June 1580) was the mother of William the Silent, the leader of the successful Dutch Revolt against the Spanish in the 16th century. Juliana was born ...

. She married on 6 June 1559 at

Dillenburg Castle Castle Dillenburg, in the provincial town of Dillenburg in Hesse-Nassau, is situated on a hill (elevation 958 feet) above the Dill river, 25 miles northwest from Gießen on the Giessen-Troisdorf railway line. The main building of the old castle w ...

. They had thirteen children: * William Louis (1560-1620),

stadtholder In the Low Countries, ''stadtholder'' ( nl, stadhouder ) was an office of steward, designated a medieval official and then a national leader. The ''stadtholder'' was the replacement of the duke or count of a province during the Burgundian and H ...

Frisia Frisia is a cross-border cultural region in Northwestern Europe. Stretching along the Wadden Sea, it encompasses the north of the Netherlands and parts of northwestern Germany. The region is traditionally inhabited by the Frisians, a West Ger ...

(1584-1620), married Anna of Nassau (1563-1588) * John VII (1561-1623) *

George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...

(1562-1623) * Elisabeth (1564-1611), married in 1583 with

Philip IV, Count of Nassau-Weilburg Philip IV of Nassau-Weilburg, also known as Philip III of Nassau-Saarbrücken (14 October 1542 in Weilburg – 12 March 1602 in Saarbrücken) was Count of Nassau-Weilburg from 1559 until his death and since 1574 also Count of Nassau-Saarbrü ...

and in 1603 with

Wolfgang Ernst I of Isenburg-Büdingen-Birstein Wolfgang Ernst I, Count of Isenburg-Büdingen (Birstein, 29 December 1560 – Birstein, 21 May 1633) was a German count of the House of Isenburg. He was count of Isenburg-Birstein from 1596 to 1633, after violently seizing power from Henry of Coun ...

, * Juliana (1565-1606) *

Philip 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 ...

(1566-1595) *

Maria Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial * 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 * Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...

(1568-1625), married John Louis I of Nassau-Wiesbaden-Idstein, * Anna Sibylla (1569-1576), died young * Mathilda (1570-1625), married Count William V, of Mansfeld-Arnstein * Albert (1572-1572), died young *

Ernst Casimir Ernest Casimir I (22 December 1573 – 2 June 1632) was a Count of Nassau-Dietz and Stadtholder of Friesland, Groningen and Drenthe. Biography He was the 11th child of John VI, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg, and Countess Elisabeth of Le ...

(1573-1632), Count of Nassau-Dietz, stadtholder of Frisia and

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...

(1620-1632), married in 1597 with

Sophia Hedwig of Brunswick-Lüneburg Sophie Hedwig of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (13 June 1592, in Wolfenbüttel – 13 January 1642, in Arnhem), was Countess of Nassau-Dietz by marriage to Ernest Casimir I, Count of Nassau-Dietz, and regent of the County of Nassau-Dietz during the abs ...

(1583-1642). The

Dutch Royal Family The monarchy of the Netherlands is a constitutional monarchy. As such, the role and position of the monarch are governed by the Constitution of the Netherlands. Consequently, a large portion of it is devoted to the monarch. Roughly a third of ...

descends from this marriage. * Louis Gunther (1575-1604), died in battle at

Sluis Sluis (; zea, label=Zeelandic, Sluus ; french: Écluse) is a town and municipality located in the west of Zeelandic Flanders, in the south-western Dutch province of Zeeland. The current incarnation of the municipality has existed since 1 January ...

, married in 1601 Countess Margareta of Manderscheid-Blankenheim (1575–1606) * stillborn son (1579) Elisabeth died in 1579. After her death, John VI had two later marriages, with still more children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elisabeth of Leuchtenberg German countesses 1537 births 1579 deaths 16th-century German people House of Leuchtenberg