Rosa Dorothea Ritter (29 July 1759 – 13 January 1833), also called Rosette Ritter and

Baroness Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...

of Lindenthal after 1783, was a German woman who was the second mistress of

William I, Elector of Hesse William I, Elector of Hesse (german: link=no, Wilhelm I., Kurfürst von Hessen; 3 June 1743 – 27 February 1821) was the eldest surviving son of Frederick II, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel) and Princess Mary of Great Britain, the d ...

from 1779 until 1788. She was an ancestor of the Barons of Haynau. Rosa was the daughter of the

apothecary ''Apothecary'' () is a mostly archaic term for a medical professional who formulates and dispenses '' materia medica'' (medicine) to physicians, surgeons, and patients. The modern chemist (British English) or pharmacist (British and North Amer ...

Johann Georg Ritter and his wife Maria Magdalena Witz. She replaced Charlotte Christine Buissine.Georg Wittenberger: Stadtlexikon Babenhausen. Babenhausen 1995. William bought Rosa a property in Hanau and a country estate in the Rheingau and had her ennobled by the Holy Roman Emperor in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. On 17 March 1783, the Emperor elevated them to the nobility of the Empire with the ''Privilegium Denominandi''. William gave Rosa, his

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...

wife, the Lindenthal estate near

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

, after which she called herself ''

Freifrau (; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , literally "free lord" or "free lady") and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empire ...

von Lindenthal''. Issue: With William I, Elector of Hesse, she had eight children, seven of whom lived to adulthood: * Wilhelm Karl von Haynau (24 December 1779 – 21 January 1856) * George Wilhelm von Haynau (27 February 1781 – February 1813) * Philipp Ludway von Haynau (18 May 1782 – 5 June 1843) * Wilhelmine von Haynau (20 July 1783 – 27 May 1866) * Moritz von Haynau (4 July 1784 – 9 September 1812) * Marie Sophie von Haynau (11 September 1785 – 21 April 1865) *

Julius Jacob von Haynau Julius Jakob Freiherr von Haynau (14 October 1786 – 14 March 1853) was an Austrian general who suppressed insurrectionary movements in Italy and Hungary in 1848 and later. While a hugely effective military leader, he also gained renown as an agg ...

(14 October 1786 – 14 March 1853) * Otto von Haynau (12 June 1788 – before 24 May 1792), died in childhood The surviving children were all

legitimized Legitimation or legitimisation is the act of providing legitimacy. Legitimation in the social sciences refers to the process whereby an act, process, or ideology becomes legitimate by its attachment to norms and values within a given society. It ...

on 10 March 1800 and made Barons of Haynau. In 1788, William hypocritically accused Rosa, who had been constantly pregnant with his children for most of the last decade, of

infidelity Infidelity (synonyms include cheating, straying, adultery, being unfaithful, two-timing, or having an affair) is a violation of a couple's emotional and/or sexual exclusivity that commonly results in feelings of anger, sexual jealousy, and ri ...

and banished her to Babenhausen Castle. He replaced her with

Karoline von Schlotheim Karoline von Schlotheim (6 July 1766 - 7 January 1847) was a German noblewoman who was the third and final mistress of William I, Elector of Hesse from 1788 until 1811. Life Karoline was the daughter of General Heinrich Christian Wilhelm von Schl ...

. There, on 13 February 1794, Rosa married her guardian, Johann Georg Kleinhans (d. 17 February 1835), who later became Councilor of the Grand Duchy of Hesse, and was thereby released. Descendants from this marriage are said to live in the United States.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ritter, Rosa Dorothea Mistresses of William I, Elector of Hesse 1759 births 1833 deaths