Johannetta, Countess of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn-Altenkirchen (27 August 1632 – 28 September 1701), was
Sovereign Countess of
Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn-Altenkirchen
Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn-Altenkirchen (sometimes called Sayn-Altenkirchen) was a German county located in what is now Rhineland-Palatinate, near the river Sieg.
When Count William III of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn died in 1623 without clear heirs, the ...
from 1648 to 1701. She was also Landgravine of
Hesse-Braubach by marriage to
John, Landgrave of Hesse-Braubach, and Duchess of
Saxe-Marksuhl
The Duchy of Saxe-Marksuhl was one of the Saxon Duchies held by the Ernestine line of the Wettin Dynasty. Established in 1662 for John George I, third son of Wilhelm, Duke of Saxe-Weimar. Originally John George was supposed to share Saxe-Eisen ...
(later
Saxe-Eisenach
Saxe-Eisenach (german: Sachsen-Eisenach) was an Ernestine duchy ruled by the Saxon House of Wettin. The state intermittently existed at three different times in the Thuringian region of the Holy Roman Empire. The chief town and capital of all th ...
) by marriage to
John George I, Duke of Saxe-Eisenach
Johann Georg I, Duke of Saxe-Eisenach (Weimar, 12 July 1634 – hunting accident, Eckhartshausen, Marksuhl, 19 September 1686).
He was the fifth but third surviving son of Wilhelm, Duke of Saxe-Weimar and Eleonore Dorothea of Anhalt-Dessau.
...
.
Life
Born in Wittgenstein, she was the sixth and youngest child of
Ernest, Count of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn
Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn was a county of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, comprising the lands of the region of Sayn. It was created as a partition of Sayn-Wittgenstein in 1607, although it was not until the next year that it obtained fully the C ...
and
Countess Louise Juliane of Erbach. She was born three months after her father's death, on 22 May 1632. She was probably named after her paternal aunt Johannetta of
Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn
Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn was a county of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, comprising the lands of the region of Sayn. It was created as a partition of Sayn-Wittgenstein in 1607, although it was not until the next year that it obtained fully the Co ...
, by marriage Countess of
Erbach-Erbach.
Succession
In his will, Count Ernest left his domains to his only son
Louis 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 ( ...
, under the regency of his mother Louise Juliane during his minority. In case he would die prematurely, his two surviving daughters (
Ernestine Salentine and Johannetta) would inherited the County.
When Count Louis died four years later (16 July 1636), the male line of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn died out. A violent dispute over his inheritance erupted between the Dowager Countess and the three half-brothers of her late husband (sons of Count William III and his second wife Anna Ottilie of Nassau-Weilburg), who claimed the succession of the whole County.
After two months, one of them, Count Louis Albert of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Neumagen, finally forced Louise Juliane to surrender the County to him and his brothers. In the meanwhile, Count Christian, Louis Albert's youngest brother besieged
Altenkirchen
Altenkirchen () is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, capital of the district of Altenkirchen. It is located approximately 40 km east of Bonn and 50 km north of Koblenz. Altenkirchen is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("co ...
and the
Electorate of Mainz
The Electorate of Mainz (german: Kurfürstentum Mainz or ', la, Electoratus Moguntinus), previously known in English as Mentz and by its French name Mayence, was one of the most prestigious and influential states of the Holy Roman Empire. In the ...
besieged Hachenburg, who was forced to surrender when the food ran out; without options, Louise Juliane and her daughters fled to
Freusburg
The Freusburg is a castle high above the Sieg Valley, which also gives its name to a village (Freusburg Siedlung). It lies between Mudersbach and Kirchen and has belonged since 1969 to the town of Kirchen. Before that, Freusburg was a self-govern ...
. When the
Electorate of Trier
The Electorate of Trier (german: Kurfürstentum Trier or ' or Trèves) was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire that existed from the end of the 9th to the early 19th century. It was the temporal possession of the prince- ...
prepared to besiege Freusburg, they fled to
Friedewald
Friedewald is a municipality in the district of Altenkirchen, in Rhineland-Palatinate, in western Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous countr ...
, where they found safety. Louise Juliane sued her in-laws before the
Reichskammergericht
The ''Reichskammergericht'' (; ; la, Iudicium imperii) was one of the two highest judicial institutions in the Holy Roman Empire, the other one being the Aulic Council in Vienna. It was founded in 1495 by the Imperial Diet in Worms. All legal ...
and the Emperor. She sent her councillors to
Münster
Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state distr ...
and
Osnabrück
Osnabrück (; wep, Ossenbrügge; archaic ''Osnaburg'') is a city in the German state of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the river Hase in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest. With a population ...
where the
Peace of Westphalia
The Peace of Westphalia (german: Westfälischer Friede, ) is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and brought pea ...
of 1648 was being negotiated. The rights of Johannetta and Ernestine were recognized and, with Swedish assistance, one part of the county after the other was returned to her.
During her family exile in Friedewald, Johannetta (aged 15) married on 30 September 1647 to Landgrave
John of Hesse-Braubach
John of Hesse-Braubach (17 June 1609, Darmstadt - 1 April 1651, Ems) was a German nobleman and general. He was born into the House of Hesse-Darmstadt and later became Landgrave of Hesse-Braubach.
Early life
Johann was born as the seventh chil ...
(aged 37), younger brother of
George II, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt
George II of Hesse-Darmstadt, german: Georg II von Hessen-Darmstadt (17 March 1605, in Darmstadt – 11 June 1661) was the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt from 1626 to 1661. He was the son of Ludwig V and Magdalene of Brandenburg.
He married Sop ...
; however, Louise Juliane retained the regency of the County of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn for her two daughters. After four years of childless union, Landgrave John died on 1 April 1651 in
Bad Ems
Bad Ems () is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Rhein-Lahn rural district and is well known as a spa on the river Lahn. Bad Ems is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' (administrative community) Bad E ...
.
Rule
One year later (1652), Louise Juliane finally handed over the County of Sayn to her daughters, who was divided in two parts:
Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn-Altenkirchen (for Johannetta) and
Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn-Hachenburg (for Ernestine, who recently married Count Salentin Ernest of Mandersheid-Blankenheim).
In
Wallau image:Wappen Wallau (Taunus).png, The Coat of arms, Coat of Arms of Wallau
Wallau in Taunus is a quarter of Hofheim, Hesse, Hofheim in Main-Taunus-Kreis in Hesse, Germany, and has a population of 4,442 (as of 31 December 2019).
An archaeological te ...
on 29 May 1661, Johannetta (aged 29) married secondly to Prince
John George (aged 27), third surviving son of
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 ...
.
After the death of Duke William (1662), his two older sons inherited almost all the family domains; as result, John George only received an income from the new duchy of Saxe-Eisenach and the small town of
Marksuhl
Marksuhl is a village and a former municipality in the Wartburgkreis district of Thuringia, Germany. Since July 2018, it is part of the municipality Gerstungen.
Geography
Marksuhl is located in the center of the Wartburgkreis district, approximat ...
as residence. For this, Johannetta and her husband mainly resided in her County, where all her children were born.
The successive death of Dukes
Adolf William (1668) and
William August of Saxe-Eisenach (1671), enabled John George to inherited this part of the paternal domains. Since them, Johannetta became Duchess consort of Saxe-Eisenach.
Johannetta died in
Jena
Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a popu ...
aged 69, having survived her second husband and six of her children. She was buried in the ''Georgenkirche'', Eisenach.
Saxe-Eisenach line in: Royaltyguide.nl
etrieved 27 September 2014
The County of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn-Altenkirchen remained united to the Duchy of Saxe-Eisenach until 1741, when Johannetta's male line died out. Then, the County was inherited by Charles William Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach
Charles William Frederick (12 May 1712 – 3 August 1757), nicknamed ''der Wilde Markgraf'' (the ''Wild Margrave''), was the margrave of the Principality of Ansbach from 1723 to his death.
Early life
Charles William Frederick was the son of W ...
, grandson of Eleonore Erdmuthe, Johannetta's eldest daughter. In 1803, the County was mediatised to Nassau-Weilburg
The House of Nassau-Weilburg, a branch of the House of Nassau, ruled a division of the County of Nassau, which was a state in what is now Germany, then part of the Holy Roman Empire, from 1344 to 1806.
On 17 July 1806, upon the dissolution of t ...
.
Issue
She had eight children:
# Eleonore Erdmuthe Luise (Friedewald, 13 April 1662 – Schloss Pretzsch, 19 September 1696), married firstly on 4 November 1681 to Johann Friedrich, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach
John Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (18 October 1654 – 22 March 1686) succeeded his father Albert II, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, Albert II as margrave of Principality of Ansbach, Ansbach in 1667. He married his second wife Princ ...
, and secondly on 17 April 1692 to Johann Georg IV, Elector of Saxony. By her first marriage, Eleonore was the mother of the Queen Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach
Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach (Wilhelmina Charlotte Caroline; 1 March 1683 – 20 November 1737) was List of British royal consorts, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland and List of Hanoverian royal consorts, Electress of Hanover from 11 June ...
, wife of the King George II of Great Britain
, house = Hanover
, religion = Protestant
, father = George I of Great Britain
, mother = Sophia Dorothea of Celle
, birth_date = 30 October / 9 November 1683
, birth_place = Herrenhausen Palace,Cannon. or Leine ...
.
#Frederick August, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Eisenach (Friedewald, 30 October 1663 – killed in battle, Pressburg, 19 September 1684)
#John George II, Duke of Saxe-Eisenach
Johann Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Eisenach (24 July 1665, in Friedewald – 10 November 1698, in Eisenach), was a duke of Saxe-Eisenach.
He was the second son of Johann Georg I, Duke of Saxe-Eisenach and Johannetta of Sayn-Wittgenstein.
The death o ...
(Friedewald, 24 July 1665 – Eisenach, 10 November 1698).
# John William, Duke of Saxe-Eisenach (Friedewald, 17 October 1666 – Eisenach, 14 January 1729).
#Maximilian Henry (Friedewald, 17 October 1666 – Altenkirchen, 23 July 1668), twin of John William.
#Louise (Friedewald, 18 April 1668 – Altenkirchen, 26 June 1669).
# Fredericka Elisabeth (Altenkirchen, 5 May 1669 – Langensalza, 12 November 1730), married on 7 January 1698 to Johann Georg, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels
Johann Georg, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels (13 July 1677, in Halle – 16 March 1712, in Weissenfels), was a duke of Saxe-Weissenfels-Querfurt and a member of the House of Wettin.
He was the third child and first surviving son of Johann Adolf ...
.
#Ernest Gustav (Friedewald, 28 August 1672 – Altenkirchen, 16 November 1672).
References
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, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sayn-Wittgenstein, Johannetta of
1632 births
1701 deaths
17th-century German people
18th-century German people
17th-century German women
18th-century German women
17th-century women rulers
18th-century women rulers
German countesses
Johannetta
Johannetta