Elisabeth Charlotte Melander (29 February 1640 – 17 March 1707), was Countess of

Holzappel Holzappel is a municipality in the Rhein-Lahn-Kreis, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, with a population in 2006 of 1100. It belongs to the association community of Diez. Holzappel was a county and state of the Holy Roman Empire from 1643 until 17 ...

from 1648 to 1707 and

Schaumburg Schaumburg is a district (''Landkreis'') of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by (clockwise from the north) the districts of Nienburg, Hanover and Hamelin-Pyrmont, and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (districts of Lippe and Minden-Lüb ...

from 1656 to 1707.

Early life and background

Elisabeth Charlotte was the only child of Peter Melander, Count of Holzappel and Agnes von Efferen. Peter Melander was an imperial

field marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, ordinarily senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army and as such few persons are appointed to it. It is considered as ...

who had become rich due to his position in the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of batt ...

and had been appointed Count of Holzappel in 1641. In 1643, he purchased the Lordship of Esterau along with the

bailiwick A bailiwick () is usually the area of jurisdiction of a bailiff, and once also applied to territories in which a privately appointed bailiff exercised the sheriff's functions under a royal or imperial writ. The bailiwick is probably modelled on th ...

of Isselbach from

John Louis of Nassau-Hadamar John Louis of Nassau-Hadamar, ( Dillenburg, 6 August 1590 – Hadamar, 10 March 1653) and also known in German as Johann Ludwig, was a German nobleman and member of the House of Nassau who is best known for his role as an aide to the head of the ...

, who was in considerable financial difficulty. Emperor Ferdinand III subsequently raised the small Lordship to the Imperial

County of Holzappel The County of Holzappel (German: ''Grafschaft Holzappel'') was an immediate state of the Holy Roman Empire, located in the present German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It was centered on the town of Holzappel. It was founded in 1643 by Pete ...

as a reward for the services Melander had performed while in the imperial army.

Countess of Holzappel

Melander died on 17 May 1648 in Augsburg, as a result of the wounds he had received in

Battle of Zusmarshausen The Battle of Zusmarshausen was fought on 17 May 1648 between Bavarian- Imperial forces under von Holzappel and an allied Franco-Swedish army under the command of Carl Gustaf Wrangel and Turenne in the modern Augsburg district of Bavaria, Ger ...

. The County of Holzappel was inherited by Elisabeth Charlotte as his only child, in spite of a suit by Melander's nephews. Peter Melander left a fortune that allowed his widow Agnes to purchase the

Castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

and

Lordship of Schaumburg Schaumburg Castle (German: ''Schloss Schaumburg'') is a schloss in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, south of Balduinstein near Limburg an der Lahn. It was owned by the former ruling family of Waldeck and Pyrmont, and it served as the retirement r ...

near

Balduinstein Balduinstein is a municipality in the district of Rhein-Lahn, in Rhineland-Palatinate, in western Germany. It belongs to the association community of Diez. References Municipalities in Rhineland-Palatinate Rhein-Lahn-Kreis {{Rhe ...

in 1656. When Agnes died later the same year, the Lordship of Schaumburg was also inherited by Elisabeth Charlotte and merged with Holzappel, thus forming the County of Holzappel-Schaumburg. In 1658, Elisabeth Charlotte married Count

Adolph Adolf (also spelt Adolph or Adolphe, Adolfo and when Latinised Adolphus) is a given name used in German-speaking countries, Scandinavia, the Netherlands and Flanders, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Latin America and to a lesser extent in vari ...

of Nassau-Dillenburg. After the marriage he took the title ''Count of Nassau-Schaumburg'' and founded the cadet line of the

House of Nassau The House of Nassau is a diversified aristocratic dynasty in Europe. It is named after the lordship associated with Nassau Castle, located in present-day Nassau, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The lords of Nassau were originally titled "Count ...

with this name.Meyers Konversationslexikon, vol. 14, pp. 411–412
In 1685, Elisabeth Charlotte changed the name of the county seat from ''Esten'' into ''Holzappel''. She allowed refugee

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

s and

Waldensians The Waldensians (also known as Waldenses (), Vallenses, Valdesi or Vaudois) are adherents of a church tradition that began as an ascetic movement within Western Christianity before the Reformation. Originally known as the "Poor Men of Lyon" in ...

to settle in the county, and in 1699 founded the Waldensian settlement

Charlottenberg Charlottenberg is a locality in Värmland County, Sweden, and the administrative centre of Eda Municipality. Situated some seven kilometres from the Norwegian border, the town has a population of around 3,000. Charlottenberg railway station is t ...

near Holzappel which was named after her.

Succession

As all her sons died in her lifetime, by a contract of 1 September 1690 concluded with

Victor Amadeus, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg Victor Amadeus of Anhalt-Bernburg (6 October 1634 in Harzgerode – 14 February 1718 in Bernburg), was a German prince of the House of Ascania and ruler of the principality of Anhalt-Bernburg. He was the sixth (but second surviving) son of Chr ...

, Elisabeth Charlotte left Holzappel to the youngest of her three daughters,

Charlotte of Nassau-Schaumburg Charlotte of Nassau-Dillenburg-Schaumburg of Anhalt-Bernburg-Hoym (1672–1700) was the wife of Lebrecht, Prince of Anhalt-Zeitz-Hoym, a German prince of the House of Ascania. Life Charlotte of Nassau-Dillenburg-Schaumburg was born on 25 Septemb ...

, who married Victor Amadeus' younger son Lebrecht of Anhalt-Dernburg in 1692. Thus, after the death of Elisabeth Charlotte in 1707, the county passed to a

cadet A cadet is an officer trainee or candidate. The term is frequently used to refer to those training to become an officer in the military, often a person who is a junior trainee. Its meaning may vary between countries which can include youths in ...

line of the princely house of

Anhalt-Bernburg Anhalt-Bernburg was a Princes of the Holy Roman Empire, principality of the Holy Roman Empire and a duchy of the German Confederation ruled by the House of Ascania with its residence at Bernburg in present-day Saxony-Anhalt. It emerged as a subdi ...

, the Princes of

Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym (originally Anhalt-Zeitz-Hoym) was a German principality and member of the Holy Roman Empire. The death of Prince Victor Amadeus of Anhalt-Bernburg in 1718 resulted in the partition of his land, with his second so ...

Issue

* Agnes (b. and d. 13 June 1659). * Wilhelm Ludwig (b. 8 February 1661 – d. 5 April 1661). * Ernestine Charlotte (b. 20 May 1662 – d. 21 February 1732), married firstly on 6 February 1678 to

William Maurice, Prince of Nassau-Siegen Prince William Maurice of Nassau-Siegen (18/28 January 1649 – 23 January 1691 Jul.), german: link=no, Wilhelm Moritz Fürst von Nassau-Siegen, official titles: ''Fürst zu Nassau, Graf zu Katzenelnbogen, Vianden, Diez, Limburg u ...

(d. 1691) and secondly to Friedrich Philipp von Geuder genannt von Rabensteiner (d. 1727). * Johanna Elisabeth (5 September 1663 – 9 February 1700), married on 16 June 1692 to

Frederick Adolphus, Count of Lippe-Detmold Frederick Adolphus of Lippe-Detmold (''Friedrich Adolf zur Lippe-Detmold''; 2 September 1667 – 18 July 1718) was a German nobleman and the Count of Lippe-Detmold from 1697 to 1718. Born in Detmold Palace, Frederick Adolphus was the eldest of si ...

(d. 1718). * Louise Henriette (b. 17 February 1665 – d. 17 April 1665). * Karl Heinrich (b. and d. 6 September 1670). *

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

(25 September 1673 – 31 January 1700), married on 12 April 1692 to

Lebrecht, Prince of Anhalt-Zeitz-Hoym Lebrecht, Prince of Anhalt-Zeitz-Hoym (Bernburg, 28 June 1669 – Bad Ems, 17 May 1727), was a German prince of the House of Ascania. The second son of Victor Amadeus, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg and Elizabeth of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, he marri ...

(d. 1727).

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Elisabeth Charlotteof Holzappel 1640 births 1707 deaths German countesses People from former German states in Rhineland-Palatinate