Johanetta of Sayn-Wittgenstein (15 February 1561 – 13 April 1622) was German countesses of the house of

Sayn-Wittgenstein Sayn-Wittgenstein was a county of medieval Germany, located in the Sauerland of eastern North Rhine-Westphalia. History Sayn-Wittgenstein was created when Count Salentin of Sayn-Homburg, a member of the House of Sponheim, married the heiress Cou ...

, who became the third wife of Count

John VI, Count 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 ...

Live

Johanetta was born in 1561, the first child of Count

Louis I, Count of Sayn-Wittgenstein Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewis ( ...

(1532-1605) and his first wife, Anna of Solms-Braunfels (1538–1565). Anna was a relative of the later

Amalia of Solms-Braunfels Amalia may refer to: People *Amalia (given name), feminine given name (includes a list of people so named) * Princess Amalia (disambiguation), several princesses with this name Films and television series * ''Amalia'' (1914 film), the first ...

(1602-1675). She was most likely named after her grandmother Johannetta of Isenburg-Neumagen (1500-1563), daughter of Salentin VII, lord of Isenburg and Neumagen (1462-1533). His father was raised in

Wittgenstein Castle Bad Laasphe () is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, in the Siegen-Wittgenstein district. Geography Location The town of Bad Laasphe lies in the upper Lahn Valley, near the stately home of :de:Schloss Wittgenstein, Wittgenstein Castle ( ...

, near

Bad Laasphe Bad Laasphe () is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, in the Siegen-Wittgenstein district. Geography Location The town of Bad Laasphe lies in the upper Lahn Valley, near the stately home of :de:Schloss Wittgenstein, Wittgenstein Castle ( ...

. After his marriage he and his family settled in a Castle in the country near the city of

Berleburg Bad Berleburg (, earlier also Berleburg) is a town, in the district of Siegen-Wittgenstein, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is one of Germany's largest towns by land area. It is located approximately northeast of Siegen and northwest of ...

. Her mother gave birth to two more children, Juliana in 1562 and George II in 1565, before she died in 1565. Her father Louis I remarried Elisabeth of Solms-Laubach (1549–1599), daughter of

Frederick Magnus I, Count of Solms-Laubach Frederick Magnus I, Count of Solms-Laubach (1521 – 13 January 1561 in Laubach) was regent of Solms-Laubach from 1522 to 1548, and the ruling Count of Solms-Laubach from 1548 until his death. After the early death of his father Otto (1496– ...

. She gave birth to another 19 children, of which some died young.Sayn-Wittgenstein, Ludwig der Aeltere, der Fromme, Graf zu“ von Friedrich Wilhelm Cuno
in: ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, herausgegeben von der Historischen Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften'', Band 43 (1898), S. 624–626. They grew up at the ancestral

on a hilltop overlooking

to a former hunting lodge near Berleburg. In 1586 at the 14th of June 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 ...

at the age of 25 she married Count John VI, the eldest son of William the Rich and

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 ...

, who was 50 years old by then.

Family

John and Johanetta had the following children: # George Louis (12 April 1588 – 16 April 1588). # Prince

John Louis of Nassau-Hadamar John Louis of Nassau-Hadamar, ( Dillenburg, 6 August 1590 – Hadamar, 10 March 1653) and also known in German as Johann Ludwig, was a German nobleman and member of the House of Nassau who is best known for his role as an aide to the head of the ...

(6 August 1590 – 10 March 1653). # Johannette Elisabeth (13 February 1593 – 13 September 1654), married on 16 December 1616 to Count Conrad Gumprecht of Bentheim-Limburg. # Anna (24 November 1594 – 11 February 1660), married on 19 June 1619 to Count Philip Ernest of Isenburg-Birstein. # Magdalene (13 November 1595 – 31 July 1633), married on 29 May 1624 to Count George Albert I of Erbach. # Anna Amalie (19 July 1599 – 4 May 1667), married on 25 November 1648 to Count William Otto of Isenburg-Birstein. # Juliane (9 June 1602 – 26 August 1602).

References

German countesses House of Nassau 1561 births 1622 deaths 16th-century German people {{Germany-countess-stub