Catherine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (1488 – 29 June 1563, Neuhaus upon Elbe) was a member of the

house of Welf The House of Welf (also Guelf or Guelph) is a European dynasty that has included many German and British monarchs from the 11th to 20th century and Emperor Ivan VI of Russia in the 18th century. The originally Franconian family from the Meuse-Mo ...

and a Princess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and by marriage Duchess of

Saxe-Lauenburg The Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg (, ), was a ''reichsfrei'' duchy that existed from 1296 to 1803 and again from 1814 to 1876 in the extreme southeast region of what is now Schleswig-Holstein. Its territorial centre was in the modern district of Herz ...

Life

Catherine was a daughter of the Duke Henry IV of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1463–1514) from his marriage to Catherine of Pomerania (1465–1526), daughter of the Duke Erich II of Pomerania. She married on 20 November 1509 in

Wolfenbüttel Wolfenbüttel (; ) is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, the administrative capital of Wolfenbüttel District Wolfenbüttel (; ) is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, the administrative capital of Wolfenbüttel (district), Wolfenbüttel Distri ...

Duke Magnus I of Saxe-Lauenburg (1470–1543). Her father summoned the Parliament in 1509 to collect a ''lady'' tax, because he found himself unable to pay the dowry alone. Only after long negotiations, did the Parliament grant three rounds of real estate tax, to generate for money for a dowry and jewels for the princess. Catherine was a strict Catholic with close ties to her relative in Brunswick kin. This induced

Gustav I of Sweden Gustav Eriksson Vasa (12 May 1496 – 29 September 1560), also known as Gustav I, was King of Sweden from 1523 until his death in 1560. He was previously self-recognised Protector of the Realm ('' Riksföreståndare'') from 1521, during the on ...

, to marry her daughter, in an attempt to prevent the Catholic German princes from supporting of King

Christian II of Denmark A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

. At the marriage of her eldest son, she entered into negotiations with his later mother-in-law Catherine of Mecklenburg, without the knowledge and to the detriment of the Wettin family head John Frederick of Saxony.Anne-Simone Knöfel: ''Dynasty, and Prestige: The marriage policy of the Wettin family'', Böhlau Verlag Cologne Weimar, 2009, p. 128

Offspring

From her marriage, Catherine had the following children: * Francis I (1510–1581), Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg : married in 1540 Sibylle of Saxony (1515–1592) * Dorothea (1511–1571) : married in 1525 King Christian III of Denmark and Norway (1503–1559) * Catherine (1513–1535) : married in 1531 King Gustav I Vasa of Sweden (1496–1560) * Clara (1518–1576) : married in 1547 Duke Francis of Braunschweig-Gifhorn (1508–1549) * Sophie of Saxe-Lauenburg (1521–1571) : married in 1537 Anthony I, Count of Oldenburg and Delmenhorst (1505–1573) * Ursula of Saxe-Lauenburg (1523–1577) : married in 1551 Duke Heinrich V of Mecklenburg (1479–1552)

Royal descendants

* The current reigning monarchs King Charles III of the United Kingdom, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, King Felipe VI of Spain, King Harald V of Norway,

King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands Willem-Alexander (; Willem-Alexander Claus George Ferdinand; born 27 April 1967) is King of the Netherlands since 30 April 2013. Willem-Alexander was born in Utrecht during the reign of his maternal grandmother, Queen Juliana, as the eldest ch ...

, King Frederik X of Denmark, King Philippe of Belgium and Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg are all her direct-line descendants.

References

* William Havemann: ''History of the territories of Brunswick and Lüneburg'', Volume 3, Dieterich, 1857, p. 138

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel, Catherine Of, Duchess Of Saxe-Lauenburg 1488 births 1563 deaths Duchesses in Germany Princesses in the Holy Roman Empire 16th-century German women Catherine Daughters of dukes Mothers of Saxon monarchs