Albertine Agnes of Nassau (April 9, 1634 – May 26, 1696), was the regent of Friesland, Groningen and Drenthe during the minority of her son

Henry Casimir II, Count of Nassau-Dietz Henry Casimir II of Nassau-Dietz (18 January 1657 – 25 March 1696) was Stadtholder of Friesland and Groningen from 1664 till 1696. Life Henry Casimir II of Nassau-Dietz was born in The Hague, the eldest son of Willem Frederik of Nassau-Dietz ...

, between 1664 and 1679.Geert H. Janssen, Albertine Agnes van Oranje, in: Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van Nederland. URL: http://resources.huygens.knaw.nl/vrouwenlexicon/lemmata/data/AlbertineAgnes 7/04/2016/ref> She was the sixth child and fifth daughter of stadtholder

Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange Frederick Henry ( nl, Frederik Hendrik; 29 January 1584 – 14 March 1647) was the sovereign prince of Orange and stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, Overijssel in the Dutch Republic from 1625 until his death in 1647. In the last ...

and

Amalia of Solms-Braunfels Amalia may refer to: People *Amalia (given name), feminine given name (includes a list of people so named) * Princess Amalia (disambiguation), several princesses with this name Films and television series * ''Amalia'' (1914 film), the first ...

Life

Albertine Agnes was born in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

and was the sixth of nine children born to her parents. Some of her siblings died in childhood. Albertine and four other siblings lived to adulthood. Her surviving siblings were:

William II, Prince of Orange William II (27 May 1626 – 6 November 1650) was sovereign Prince of Orange and Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, Overijssel and Groningen in the United Provinces of the Netherlands from 14 March 1647 until his death three year ...

Luise Henriette of Nassau Louise Henrietta of Nassau ( nl, Louise Henriëtte van Nassau, german: Luise Henriette von Nassau; 7 December 1627 – 18 June 1667) was a Countess of Nassau, granddaughter of William I, Prince of Orange, "William the Silent", and an El ...

Henriette Catherine of Nassau Henriette Catherine of Nassau (10 February 1637 – 5 November 1708) was princess consort of Anhalt-Dessau by marriage to John George II, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, and regent of Anhalt-Dessau from 1693 to 1698 during the minority (and then the abse ...

and Mary of Nassau. In 1652 she married her second-cousin,

William Frederick, Prince of Nassau-Dietz William Frederick ( nl, Willem Frederik; Arnhem 7 August 1613 – Leeuwarden 31 October 1664), Count (from 1654 Imperial Prince) of Nassau-Dietz, Stadtholder of Friesland, Groningen and Drenthe. Biography Family life William Frederick was the s ...

Regency

After the death of her husband in 1664, she became regent for her son in

Friesland Friesland (, ; official fry, Fryslân ), historically and traditionally known as Frisia, is a province of the Netherlands located in the country's northern part. It is situated west of Groningen, northwest of Drenthe and Overijssel, north of ...

, Groningen and Drenthe. In 1665, both England and the

bishopric of Münster In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associat ...

declared war on

the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. Because most of the money for defence had been used for the fleet, the army had been neglected. When Groningen was under siege, Albertine Agnes hastened to the city to give moral support. Pressure by King

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Ver ...

of France, then an ally, forced the forces of her enemies retreated, but six years later the Netherlands were attacked from the south, by the French under Louis XIV and from the north by the bishop of Münster and archbishop of Cologne. She organised defence and kept morale high. In 1676 Albertine Agnes bought a country seat in Oranjewoud and called it

Oranjewoud Palace The Oranjewoud Palace is a palace and estate which gives its name to Oranjewoud in the Province of Friesland in the Netherlands. Countess Albertine Agnes of Nassau, widow of William Frederick, Prince of Nassau-Dietz, acquired what was then know ...

. It was here that she died in 1696. She also had

Schloss Oranienstein Schloss Oranienstein is one of the palaces of the House of Orange-Nassau, sited at Diez on the Lahn. It was built on the ruins of Dierstein Abbey between 1672 and 1681 for Countess Albertine Agnes of Nassau after she was widowed. After the Fr ...

built from 1672 as her new residence at Diez.

Issue

She had three children: * Amalia of Nassau-Dietz, married to

John William III, Duke of Saxe-Eisenach John William III, Duke of Saxe-Eisenach (17 October 1666 – 14 January 1729), was a duke of Saxe-Eisenach, and came from the Ernestine line of the House of Wettin. Life John William III was born in Friedewald, the third son of John George ...

, married to

Henriëtte Amalia of Anhalt-Dessau Henriëtte is a Dutch version of the feminine given name Henrietta. The diaeresis is sometimes omitted in foreign texts. People with the name include: *Henriëtte Amalia of Anhalt-Dessau (1666–1726), mother of John William Friso, Prince of Orang ...

* Wilhelmina Sophia Hedwig (1664–1667)

Ancestors

References

External links

The Correspondence of Albertine Agnes van Oranje-Nassau
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EMLO
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nassau, Albertine Agnes Albertine Agnes 17th-century Dutch women Albertine Agnes of Nassau Nobility from The Hague 1634 births 1696 deaths Albertine Agnes