Marie Eleonore von Brandenburg (1607-1675) was a princess of Brandenburg, Countess Palatine and from 1655 to 1658, regent of

Simmern Simmern (; officially Simmern/Hunsrück) is a town of roughly 7,600 inhabitants (2013) in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, the district seat of the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis, and the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' Simmern-Rheinböllen. In the Rhinelan ...

Biography

Marie Eleonore was the only child of Elector Joachim Frederick of Brandenburg from his second marriage to

Eleanor of Prussia Eleanor of Prussia (German: Eleonore von Preußen; 21 August 1583 – 9 April 1607) was a princess of the Duchy of Prussia by birth and Electress of Brandenburg by marriage. Life Eleanor was the fourth daughter of Albert Frederick of Prussia ...

, daughter of

Albert Frederick, Duke of Prussia Albert Frederick (german: Albrecht Friedrich; pl, Albrecht Fryderyk; 7 May 1553 – 27 August 1618) was the Duke of Prussia, from 1568 until his death. He was a son of Albert of Prussia and Anna Marie of Brunswick-Lüneburg. He was the secon ...

. Orphaned as an infant, she grew up with her uncle

Christian, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth Christian, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth (30 January 1581 in Cölln – 30 May 1655 in Bayreuth) was a member of the House of Hohenzollern and Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach (later renamed ''Brandenburg-Bayreuth''). He was the eldest o ...

. On December 4, 1631, she married Count Palatine Ludwig Philipp von Simmern (1602–1655), a brother of the Bohemian Winter King

Frederick V of the Palatinate Frederick V (german: link=no, Friedrich; 26 August 1596 – 29 November 1632) was the Elector Palatine of the Rhine in the Holy Roman Empire from 1610 to 1623, and reigned as King of Bohemia from 1619 to 1620. He was forced to abdicate both r ...

, in Cölln. In the spring of 1632, after the liberation by the Swedes, the couple was able to move to the Palatinate. Ludwig Philipp acted as the administrator of the Electoral Palatinate, but was expelled again in 1635 by imperial troops. Marie Eleonore and her husband lived in exile in

Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand E ...

and Sedan for a few years. After Ludwig Philipp's death in 1655, his nephew Karl Ludwig claimed guardianship of Palatinate-Simmern-Kaiserslautern. However, Marie Eleonore, described as energetic, resisted these efforts with the support of her grandnephew, Elector Friedrich Wilhelm von Brandenburg, and asserted her regency. Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III confirmed her on July 6, 1655 as regent of the principality, pending the adulthood of her son.Pauline Puppel: ''The Regent. Guardian rule in Hesse 1500-1700'' (= ''series "History and Gender".'' 43). Campus, Frankfurt am Main et al. 2004, , p. 92 (also: Kassel, University, dissertation, 2002/2003). Marie Eleonore resided in Kaiserslautern. In 1658, her child, Ludwig Heinrich, turned 18 and her regency ended. Ludwig Heinrich was the count till 1674.

Issue

Louis Philip and Marie Eleonore had seven children, only twho of whom survived to adulthood. * Charles Frederick (6 January 1633 - 13 January 1635) * Gustavus Louis (1 March 1634 - 5 August 1635) * Charles Philip (20 April 1635 - 24 February 1636) * Louis Casimir (27 September 1636 - 14 December 1652) * Elizabeth Maria Charlotte (23/24 October 1638 - 10/22 May 1664), wife of

George III of Brieg George III of Brieg ( pl, Jerzy III Brzeski; Brzeg, 4 September 1611 – Brzeg, 4 July 1664), was a Duke of Brzeg since 1633 (as administrator; in 1639 he took formally the title, together with his brothers until 1654) and Legnica-Wołów during ...

, had no issue *

Louis Henry Louis Henry (1911 – 1991) was a French historian. He was the founder of the historical demography and one-place study fields. His 1956 book co-written with Michel Fleury Michel Fleury (17 November 1923 in Paris – 18 January 2002 in Paris) ...

(11 October 1640 - 3 January 1674), married

Maria of Orange-Nassau (1642–1688) Maria of Nassau or Maria of Orange-Nassau (5 September 1642 – 20 March 1688) was a Dutch princess of the house of Orange and by marriage ''pfalzgräfin'' or countess of Simmern-Kaiserslautern. Life Maria was born in The Hague, the younges ...

, had no issue * Louise Sophie Eleanore (27 June 1642 - 29 March 1643) She survived all of her children, and her son, Louis Henry, had no children of his own. This ended the

Palatinate-Simmern The House of Palatinate-Simmern (german: Pfalz-Simmern) was a German- Bavarian cadet branch of the House of Wittelsbach. The house was one of the collateral lineages of the Palatinate. The Palatinate line of the House of Wittelsbach was divided i ...

line.

References

{{reflist People from the Holy Roman Empire 1607 births 1675 deaths Palatinate nobility Mothers of monarchs