Duchess Maria of Saxe-Weimar (7 October 1571 – 7 March 1610) was

Princess-Abbess of Quedlinburg This is a list of princess-abbesses of Quedlinburg Abbey Quedlinburg Abbey (german: Stift Quedlinburg or ) was a house of secular canonesses ''(Frauenstift)'' in Quedlinburg in what is now Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It was founded in 936 on the in ...

from 1601 until her death. Born in

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouri ...

, Maria was the daughter of

John William, Duke of Saxe-Weimar Johann Wilhelm (11 March 1530 – 2 March 1573) was a duke of Saxe-Weimar. Life He was the second son of Johann Frederick I, Elector of Saxony, and Sibylle of Cleves. At the time of his birth, his father still carried the title Elector of Saxo ...

, and

Dorothea Susanne of Simmern Dorothea Susanne of Simmern (15 November 1544 in Simmern – 8 April 1592 in Weimar) was a princess of the Electorate of the Palatinate and by marriage Duchess of Saxe-Weimar. Life Dorothea Susanne was the daughter of elector palatine Fred ...

. Princess-Abbess Anna III of Quedlinburg died on 12 May 1601. The provost of the congregation had died of plague and had not been replaced. Maria was suggested as Anna III's successor by the guardian of the abbey, her brother,

Frederick William I, Duke of Saxe-Weimar Friedrich Wilhelm I (25 April 1562 in Weimar – 7 July 1602 in Weimar) was a duke of Saxe-Weimar. He was the eldest son of Johann Wilhelm, Duke of Saxe-Weimar and Dorothea Susanne of Simmern. Life At the time of the death of his father ...

Emperor Rudolf II Rudolf II (18 July 1552 – 20 January 1612) was Holy Roman Emperor (1576–1612), King of Hungary and Croatia (as Rudolf I, 1572–1608), King of Bohemia (1575–1608/1611) and Archduke of Austria (1576–1608). He was a member of the Hous ...

confirmed her election on 2 July. Her reign was calm. She proved to be unwilling to confront the abbey's protectors, the dukes of Saxony, which led to the decrease in her own temporal authority. She died suddenly in

Halle, Saxony-Anhalt Halle (Saale), or simply Halle (; from the 15th to the 17th century: ''Hall in Sachsen''; until the beginning of the 20th century: ''Halle an der Saale'' ; from 1965 to 1995: ''Halle/Saale'') is the largest city of the German state of Saxony-An ...

, on her way to

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

, and was buried in Quedlinburg. She was succeeded by Princess Dorothea of Saxony.

References

* {{Authority control Abbesses of Quedlinburg Lutheran abbesses House of Wettin 1571 births 1610 deaths Daughters of monarchs