Rosine Elisabeth Menthe (nicknamed: ''Madame Rudolphine''; 17 May 1663, in Brunswick – 20 May 1701, in Brunswick, Germany), was married

morganatically Morganatic marriage, sometimes called a left-handed marriage, is a marriage between people of unequal social rank, which in the context of royalty or other inherited title prevents the principal's position or privileges being passed to the spou ...

with Duke Rudolph Augustus of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (1627–1704), Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Prince of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.

Life

Rosine Elisabeth was born the daughter of a

barber A barber is a person whose occupation is mainly to cut, dress, groom, style and shave men's and boys' hair or beards. A barber's place of work is known as a "barbershop" or a "barber's". Barbershops are also places of social interaction and publi ...

and surgeon from Brunswick, Franz Joachim Menthe. In 1681 she married Rudolf August (1627–1704), the Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. Rudolph Augustus had been married in his first marriage with the Countess Christiane Elisabeth of Barby (1634–1681); she had died on 2 May 1681. On 7 June 1681 or 7 July 1681,Vehse, p. 169 the Duke married Rosine, who had just turned eighteen. They married in Hedwigsburg, near Wolffenbüttel. The Duke's younger brother Anthony Ulrich and his Chancellor Philipp Ludwig Probst von Wendhausen were present. She did not receive a title during her twenty-year marriage to the duke; she was simply called ''Madame Rudolphine''. We find this name in a letter from Electress

Sophia of Hannover Sophia of Hanover (born Princess Sophia of the Palatinate; 14 October 1630 – 8 June 1714) was the List of Hanoverian consorts, Electress of Hanover by marriage to Elector Ernest Augustus and later the heiress presumptive to the thrones of King ...

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm (von) Leibniz . ( – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat. He is one of the most prominent figures in both the history of philosophy and the history of math ...

of 18 August 1700.Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften und Akademie der Wissenschaften in Göttingen (eds.): ''Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Sämtliche Schriften und Briefe'', Akademie Verlag, Berlin 2005, p. 190 Children from this marriage would, according to an agreement Duke Rudloph Augustus made with his brother and co-ruler Anthony Ulrich, not receive a title either, but would receive "maintenance appropriate for a noble person". The marriage, however, remained childless. In 1695, the Duke ordered his royal architect Hermann Korb to expand the Wasserburg castle at

Vechelde Vechelde is a municipality in the district of Peine, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately 12 km southeast of Peine, and 10 km west of Braunschweig. Municipal subdivisions Twinned cities Vechelde is twinned with: ...

near Brunswick into the royal Vechelde Palace. They would use the '' Madamenweg'', which was named after her, to travel to Vechelde Palace from the Gray Court in downtown Brunswick.Uwe Flake
''Westwärts durch Feld, Wald und Wiesen''
in: Braunschweiger Zeitung, 3 July 2003, viewed on 16 May 2010 Elisabeth Rosine Menthe died in 1701 at the Gray Court in Brunswick.

References and sources

* Elisabeth E. Kwan, Anna E. Röhrig: ''Frauen vom Hof der Welfen'', Verlag Matrixmedia, Göttingen, 2006, * * Carl Eduard Vehse: ''Geschichte der Höfe des Hauses Braunschweig'', part 5: ''Die Hofhaltungen zu Hannover, London und Braunschweig'', Verlag Hoffmann und Campe, Hamburg, 1853 *

Johann Stephan Pütter Johann Stephan Pütter (25 June 1725, Iserlohn – 12 August 1807, Göttingen) was a German law lecturer and publicist. He was professor of law at the university of Göttingen from 1746 until his death. He exerted great influence on the law insti ...

: ''Über Mißheirathen teutscher Fürsten und Grafen'', Verlag Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, Göttingen, 1796.

Footnotes

External links

Portrait of Elisabeth Rosine Menthe
on the website of the Virtual Print Room of the Duke Anton Ulrich Museum Brunswick and the

Herzog August Library The Herzog August Library (german: link=no, Herzog August Bibliothek — "HAB"), in Wolfenbüttel, Lower Saxony, known also as ''Bibliotheca Augusta'', is a library of international importance for its collection from the Middle Ages and ear ...

in Wolfenbüttel (Retrieved 16 May 2010) {{DEFAULTSORT:Menthe, Rosine Elisabeth 1663 births 1701 deaths Rosine Nobility from Braunschweig 17th-century German people Morganatic spouses of German royalty