Dorothea Susanne of Simmern (15 November 1544 in

Simmern Simmern (; officially Simmern/Hunsrück) is a town of roughly 7,600 inhabitants (2013) in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, the district seat of the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis, and the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' Simmern-Rheinböllen. In the Rhinelan ...

– 8 April 1592 in

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouri ...

) was a princess of the

Electorate of the Palatinate The Electoral Palatinate (german: Kurpfalz) or the Palatinate (), officially the Electorate of the Palatinate (), was a state that was part of the Holy Roman Empire. The electorate had its origins under the rulership of the Counts Palatine of ...

and by marriage Duchess of

Saxe-Weimar Saxe-Weimar (german: Sachsen-Weimar) was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine branch of the Wettin dynasty in present-day Thuringia. The chief town and capital was Weimar. The Weimar branch was the most genealogically senior extant bra ...

Life

Dorothea Susanne was the daughter of elector palatine Frederick III (1515–1576) from his marriage to Princess Marie of

Brandenburg-Kulmbach The Principality of Bayreuth (german: Fürstentum Bayreuth) or Margraviate of Brandenburg-Bayreuth (''Markgraftum Brandenburg-Bayreuth'') was an immediate territory of the Holy Roman Empire, ruled by a Franconian branch of the Hohenzollern dynas ...

(1519–1567), daughter of Margrave Casimir of Brandenburg-Kulmbach. She married on 15 June 1560 in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

Duke John William, of Saxe-Weimar (1530–1573). After their marriage, the couple lived mostly in Weimar. After the death of her husband Elector

August of Saxony August of Saxony (7 September 1589, Dresden – 26 December 1615, Naumburg) from the Albertine line of the House of Wettin was Administrator of the diocese of Naumburg-Zeitz. Life August was the youngest son of the elector Christian I of ...

acted as guardian of her children. This policy was meant to isolate the children from their mother's political and religious influence. She was assigned a new residence outside Weimar, appropriately named ''New House''. The Red Castle in Weimar was built for her from 1574 to 1576. She used it as her widow seat after its completion. Its Renaissance portal is decorated with an alliance

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

of Dorothea Susanne and her husband. In 1581, the widowed Duchess turned to write to her brothers, Louis VI and John Casimir to induce the guardian of her eldest son, Elector

August August is the eighth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars, and the fifth of seven months to have a length of 31 days. Its zodiac sign is Leo and was originally named ''Sextilis'' in Latin because it was the 6th month in ...

in Dresden, to promote the marry her eldest son with a Württemberg princess. Dorothea Susanne died in 1592 and was buried in the church of St. Peter und Paul in Weimar; her motto was ''I Know That My Redeemer Lives''.Max Lobe: ''Devices: mottos and aphorisms'', BiblioBazaar, LLC, 2009, p. 172

Issue

From her marriage, Dorothea Susanne had the following children: *

Frederick William I, Duke of Saxe-Weimar Friedrich Wilhelm I (25 April 1562 in Weimar – 7 July 1602 in Weimar) was a duke of Saxe-Weimar. He was the eldest son of Johann Wilhelm, Duke of Saxe-Weimar and Dorothea Susanne of Simmern. Life At the time of the death of his father ...

(b. Weimar, 25 April 1562 - d. Weimar, 7 July 1602). : first married in 1583 Princess Sophia of Württemberg (1563-1590) : married secondly in countess palatine Anna Maria of Neuburg * Sibylle Marie (b. Weimar, 7 November 1563 - d. Altenburg, 20 February 1569). * stillborn son (Weimar, 9 October 1564). *

John II, Duke of Saxe-Weimar Johann II, Duke of Saxe-Weimar (''Johann Maria Wilhelm''; 22 May 1570 – 18 July 1605) was a Duke of Saxe-Weimar and Jena. Biography He was the second son of Johann Wilhelm, Duke of Saxe-Weimar and Dorothea Susanne of Simmern. His father die ...

(b. Weimar, 22 May 1570 - d. Weimar, 18 July 1605). : married in 1593 princess

Dorothea Maria of Anhalt Dorothea Maria of Anhalt (Dessau, 2 July 1574 – Weimar, 18 July 1617), was by birth a member of the House of Ascania and princess of Anhalt. After her marriage, she became Duchess of Saxe-Weimar. Dorothea Maria was the sixth daughter of Joachi ...

(1574-1614) *

Maria Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial * 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 * Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...

(b. Weimar, 7 October 1571 - d. Quedlinburg, 7 March 1610), Abbess of

Quedlinburg Quedlinburg () is a town situated just north of the Harz mountains, in the district of Harz in the west of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. As an influential and prosperous trading centre during the early Middle Ages, Quedlinburg became a center of in ...

(1601–1610).

References

* Christoph Heinrich Gottlob: ''Saxon History'', Volume 2, Weidmann, 1782, p. 146 ff.

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dorothea Susanne Of Simmern 1544 births 1592 deaths People from Simmern People from the Electoral Palatinate House of Palatinate-Simmern Princesses of the Palatinate House of Wittelsbach Duchesses of Saxe-Weimar 16th-century German people 16th-century German women Daughters of monarchs