Anna von Oldenburg
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Anna of Oldenburg (14 November 150124 September 1575) was a Countess consort of
East Frisia East Frisia or East Friesland (german: Ostfriesland; ; stq, Aastfräislound) is a historic region in the northwest of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is primarily located on the western half of the East Frisian peninsula, to the east of West Frisia ...
as the spouse of Count
Enno II of East Frisia Enno II of East Frisia (1505 – 24 September 1540 in Emden) was the son of Edzard I of East Frisia. In 1528 he became count of East Frisia. For most of his life he ruled together with Johan I of East Frisia, who remained Catholic, while Enno was ...
. She was the Regent of East Frisia in 1542–1561 as the guardian for her minor sons, Johan II and Edzard II. Her reign lasted until 1561 and was generally supported by the Estates.


Early life

Anna was born in
Oldenburg Oldenburg may also refer to: Places *Mount Oldenburg, Ellsworth Land, Antarctica *Oldenburg (city), an independent city in Lower Saxony, Germany **Oldenburg (district), a district historically in Oldenburg Free State and now in Lower Saxony *Olde ...
as the only daughter of Count Johann ΧΙV von Oldenburg-Delmenhorst (1483-1526) and Princess Anna von
Anhalt-Zerbst Anhalt-Zerbst was a district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts Potsdam-Mittelmark (Brandenburg) and Wittenberg, the city of Dessau and the districts of Köthen, Schönebeck and Jerichower L ...
(1460-1531). She had four surviving brothers Johann VI, Georg,
Christopher Christopher is the English language, English version of a Europe-wide name derived from the Greek language, Greek name Χριστόφορος (''Christophoros'' or ''Christoforos''). The constituent parts are Χριστός (''Christós''), "Jesus ...
and
Anton I Anton may refer to: People *Anton (given name), including a list of people with the given name *Anton (surname) Places *Anton Municipality, Bulgaria **Anton, Sofia Province, a village *Antón District, Panama **Antón, a town and capital of th ...
. She married count Enno II of East Frisia in 1530.


Regency

In 1540, Enno II of East Frisia died, and was succeeded by their minor son, Edzard II. Anna was appointed regent of the regency government in 1542. Her chief advisor was her brother, count
Christopher of Oldenburg Christopher, Count of Oldenburg (German: ''Christoph, Graf von Oldenburg'') (c. 1504 – 4 August 1566) was German count and regent in eastern Denmark between 1534–36 during the Count's Feud (Danish: ''Grevens Fejde'') which was named after ...
. The main characteristic of her policy towards the
Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...
was an effort to balance the various confessions and allow them to coexist. She adhered to the faith herself, but saw that among the East Frisian nobility
Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...
ism as
Zwinglianism The theology of Ulrich Zwingli was based on an interpretation of the Bible, taking scripture as the inspired word of God and placing its authority higher than what he saw as human sources such as the ecumenical councils and the church fathers. He ...
were about equally distributed. It was clear that a selection of one of these as the state religion of East Frisia, would not be enforceable.
Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
and
Spiritualists Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century, Spiritualism (when not lowercase) b ...
were also allowed to practise their faith in East Frisia. Only under pressure from the emperor, was
Baptism Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...
forbidden in 1549. The main church administrator at her court until 1550 was Polish reformer
Jan Łaski Jan Łaski or Johannes à Lasco (1499 – 8 January 1560) was a Polish Calvinist reformer. Owing to his influential work in England (1548–1553) during the English Reformation, he is known to the English-speaking world by the Anglicised form Jo ...
. She founded the police force in East Frisia (1545), reformed the legal system. Next to its administrative tasks, the Chancellery was given judiciary tasks. Councillors and legal scholars were added to the Chancellery to carry out these tasks. The Chancellery was mostly a court of appeals, but would also act a court of first instance in cases involving the nobility. During Anna's rule, the armed conflict with the
Harlingerland The Harlingerland is a strip of land on the North Sea coast of East Frisia. While today the whole of the district of Wittmund is usually described as Harlingerland, historically it specifically refers to the northern part of the present district, ...
flared up one more time, when Count John II "the Mad" of Harlingerland seized a strip of land at the Accumer Deep. Anna took her case to the
Reichskammergericht The ''Reichskammergericht'' (; ; la, Iudicium imperii) was one of the two highest judicial institutions in the Holy Roman Empire, the other one being the Aulic Council in Vienna. It was founded in 1495 by the Imperial Diet in Worms. All legal ...
and to the
Lower Rhenish-Westphalian Circle Lower may refer to: *Lower (surname) *Lower Township, New Jersey *Lower Receiver (firearms) *Lower Wick Lower Wick is a small hamlet located in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is situated about five miles south west of Dursley, eig ...
. The Circle arrested John, who had made many enemies, and he died in captivity in 1562. In 1558, she abolished the law that the first born would succeed as sole ruler of the county; instead, power was to be shared between her three sons, Edzard, Christopher and Johan. This was meant to prevent Swedish dominance in view of the wedding between her son Edzard to princess
Katharina Vasa , birth_date = 6 June 1539 , death_date = , father = Gustav I of Sweden , mother = Margaret Leijonhufvud , spouse = Edzard II, Count of East Frisia , issue = Countess Margareta Anne, Electress PalatineEnno III, Count of Ostfriesland John II ...
of Sweden (1559). It also implied a continuation of the religious balance, with Johan being a Calvinist and Edzard being Lutheran and neither of them able to establish their faith as the only religion allowed in the county. Her regency ended in 1561.


Later life

The relationship between Edzard and Johan was not too good to begin with and it worsened after Christopher died in 1566. The power struggle between the brothers often blocked the exercise of their shared power; this greatly strengthened the nobility and the citizens of
Emden Emden () is an independent city and seaport in Lower Saxony in the northwest of Germany, on the river Ems. It is the main city of the region of East Frisia and, in 2011, had a total population of 51,528. History The exact founding date of E ...
.
Menso Alting Menso Alting (Eelde, 9 November 1541 – Emden, 7 October 1612) was a Dutch Reformed preacher and reformer. Alting was born in Eelde and was raised in a Catholic family. After visiting several schools in the Netherlands and Germany, he s ...
had only been preacher at Emden for a short time, when Countess Anna died there on 24 September 1575. He held his first major funeral sermon when she was buried in the family vault in the Great Church in Emden, the Reformed church, locally known as the ("Mother Church"). After Johan's death in 1591 Edzard II became the sole ruler of the County of East Frisia, but his authority had been severely hit by the ongoing conflict. The weakening of the Count's house was one of the factors leading to the so-called "
Emden Revolution The Emden Revolution of 18 March 1595 marked the beginning of the status of Emden as a quasi-autonomous city-state. In 1595, after Count Edzard II had increased the tax burden several times and passed new laws, disregarding their effect on the ...
".


Issue

From her marriage to Count Enno II, she had six children: * Elizabeth (born: 10 January 1531; died: 6 September 1555), married in 1553 Count John V of Holstein-Pinneberg (1531–60) * Edzard II (born: 24 June 1532; died: 1 September 1599) * Hedwig (born: 29 June 1535; died: 4 November 1616), married on 8 October 1562 Duke Otto II of Brunswick-Harburg (1528–1603) * Anna (born: 3 January 1534; died: 20 May 1552) * Christopher (born: 8 October 1536; died: 29 September 1566 in
Komárom Komárom (Hungarian: ; german: Komorn; la, Brigetio, later ; sk, Komárno) is a city in Hungary on the south bank of the Danube in Komárom-Esztergom County. Komárno, Slovakia, is on the northern bank. Komárom was formerly a separate villag ...
, Hungary) *
Johan Johan * Johan (given name) * Johan (film), ''Johan'' (film), a 1921 Swedish film directed by Mauritz Stiller * Johan (band), a Dutch pop-group ** Johan (album), ''Johan'' (album), a 1996 album by the group * Johan Peninsula, Ellesmere Island, Nunav ...
(born: 29 September 1538; died: 29 September 1591)


Ancestors


References and sources

* Heiko Ebbel Janssen: ''Gräfin Anna von Ostfriesland - eine hochadelige Frau der späten Reformationszeit (1540/42-1575). Ein Beitrag zu den Anfängen der reformierten Konfessionalisierung im Reich'', Münster, 1998, 285 pages, * Henning P. Jürgens: ''Die vormundschaftliche Regentschaft der Gräfin Anna und die Berufung Johannes a Lascos zum ostfriesischen Superintendenten'', in: ''Emder Jahrbuch'', vol. 79, 1999, pp. 42–65 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Anna of Oldenburg 1501 births 1575 deaths People from Oldenburg (city) Countesses of Oldenburg 16th-century women rulers Regents of East Frisia Countesses of East Frisia House of Cirksena