Princess Dorothea of Saxony (7 January 1591 - 17 November 1617) reigned as

Princess-Abbess of Quedlinburg This is a list of princess-abbesses of Quedlinburg Abbey. {{DEFAULTSORT:Quedlinburg, Princess-abbesses Lists of monarchs Lists of female office-holders Lists of clerics Lists of European people ...

from 1610 until her death. Dorothea was born in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

Christian I, Elector of Saxony Christian I of Saxony (29 October 1560 in Dresden – 25 September 1591 in Dresden) was Elector of Saxony from 1586 to 1591. He belonged to the Albertine line of the House of Wettin. He was the sixth but second surviving son of Elector Augu ...

, and his wife, Princess

Sophie of Brandenburg Sophie of Brandenburg (6 June 1568 – 7 December 1622) was Electress of Saxony by marriage to Christian I, Elector of Saxony. She was regent from 1591 to 1601 during the minority of their son Christian II. Biography Sophie was born at ...

. Her

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 ...

was notably held without the customary

exorcism Exorcism () is the religious or spiritual practice of evicting demons, jinns, or other malevolent spiritual entities from a person, or an area, that is believed to be possessed. Depending on the spiritual beliefs of the exorcist, this may be ...

Reign

On 18 April 1610, Dorothea was elected successor of Princess-Abbess Maria of Quedlinburg.

Vogt During the Middle Ages, an (sometimes given as modern English: advocate; German: ; French: ) was an office-holder who was legally delegated to perform some of the secular responsibilities of a major feudal lord, or for an institution such as ...

and patron of the abbey-principality at the time was Dorothea's brother,

Christian II, Elector of Saxony Christian II of Saxony (23 September 1583 – 23 June 1611) was Elector of Saxony from 1591 to 1611. He was born in Dresden, the eldest son of Christian I of Saxony and Sophie of Brandenburg. He belonged to the Albertine line of the House of Wet ...

Emperor Rudolf II Rudolf II (18 July 1552 – 20 January 1612) was Holy Roman Emperor (1576–1612), King of Hungary and Croatia (as Rudolf I, 1572–1608), King of Bohemia (1575–1608/1611) and Archduke of Austria (1576–1608). He was a member of the Hous ...

confirmed her election on 19 July. Dorothea's relatively short reign was uneventful. She granted additional rights to the town of Quedlinburg and raised the income of preachers and teachers. The 26-year-old Princess-Abbess died suddenly in Dresden during a visit to her brother. She was buried in

Freiberg Freiberg is a university and former mining town in Saxony, Germany. It is a so-called ''Große Kreisstadt'' (large county town) and the administrative centre of Mittelsachsen district. Its historic town centre has been placed under heritage c ...

. As she had not selected her coadjutrix, the chapter elected Duchess Dorothea Sophia of Saxe-Altenburg. {{DEFAULTSORT:Dorothea, Abbess of Quedlinburg Abbesses of Quedlinburg House of Wettin 1591 births 1617 deaths Nobility from Dresden Lutheran abbesses Albertine branch Burials at Freiberg Cathedral Daughters of monarchs