Christine of Hesse-Kassel (19 October 1578 – 19 August 1658) was a German noblewoman member of the

House of Hesse The House of Hesse is a European dynasty, directly descended from the House of Reginar, House of Brabant. They ruled the region of Hesse, one branch as prince-electors until 1866, and another branch as grand dukes until 1918.Burke's Peerage, Bur ...

and by marriage Duchess of

Saxe-Eisenach Saxe-Eisenach () was an Ernestine duchy ruled by the Saxon House of Wettin. The state intermittently existed at three different times in the Thuringian region of the Holy Roman Empire. The chief town and capital of all three duchies was Eisenach ...

and

Saxe-Coburg Saxe-Coburg () was a duchy held by the Ernestine branch of the Wettin dynasty in today's Bavaria, Germany. History Ernestine Line When Henry IV, Count of Henneberg – Schleusingen, died in 1347, the possessions of the House of Henneberg ...

. Born in

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...

, she was the tenth of eleven children born from the marriage of

William IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel William IV of Hesse-Kassel (24 June 153225 August 1592), also called ''William the Wise'', was the first Landgrave of the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel). He was the founder of the oldest line, which survives to this day. Life L ...

and his wife Duchess Sabine of Württemberg. She was probably named after both her paternal

grandmother Grandparents, individually known as grandmother and grandfather, or Grandma and Grandpa, are the parents of a person's father or mother – paternal or maternal. Every sexually reproducing living organism who is not a genetic chimera has a maxi ...

and aunt (by marriage Duchess consort of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp).

Life

Rotenburg an der Fulda Rotenburg an der Fulda (, ; officially ''Rotenburg a.d. Fulda'') is a town in Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in northeastern Hesse, in central Germany, situated, as the name says, on the river Fulda (river), Fulda. Geography Location The town ...

on 14 May 1598, Christine married John Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Eisenach as his second wife. On the occasion of the marriage Jacob Thysius wrote a special ''

Epithalamium An epithalamium (; Latin form of Greek ἐπιθαλάμιον ''epithalamion'' from ἐπί ''epi'' "upon," and θάλαμος ''thalamos'' "nuptial chamber") is a poem written specifically for the bride on the way to her marital chamber. This fo ...

''. Since her father had died in 1592, was her older brother

Maurice, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel Maurice of Hesse-Kassel (; 25 May 1572 – 15 March 1632), also called Maurice the Learned or Moritz, was the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel) in the Holy Roman Empire from 1592 to 1627. Life Maurice was born in Kassel as the son o ...

, who took care of her ''trousseau''. The dowry was retained until her ''Wittum'' (widow's seat) was negotiated. In the marriage contract was stipulated, in addition to her paternal, maternal and fraternal inheritance, an income from her future husband. Christine was described as a learned and pious woman, who being married to a

Calvinist Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...

prince was forced to renounce her

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

faith against her will. Her union was happy, but remained childless. She survived her husband by 20 years and during her long widowhood dedicated herself to pious foundations. Christine was extremely well versed in mathematics, history, astronomy, astrology and ''Nativitätstellerei''. Because of her progressive deafness, in her last years she used an

ear trumpet An ear trumpet is a tubular or funnel-shaped device which collects sound waves and leads them into the ear. They are used as hearing aids, resulting in a strengthening of the sound energy impact to the eardrum and thus improved hearing for a deaf ...

. Christine died in

Eisenach Eisenach () is a Town#Germany, town in Thuringia, Germany with 42,000 inhabitants, west of Erfurt, southeast of Kassel and northeast of Frankfurt. It is the main urban centre of western Thuringia, and bordering northeastern Hesse, Hessian re ...

, aged 79. She was buried in the ''Georgenkirche'', Eisenach; in her will, she left 6,000 guilders for the purpose of scholarship and alleviation of poverty.

Notes

References

*Emil Rückert
''Altensteins u. Liebensteins Vorzeit'' p. 71.
*Christoph von Rommel
''Geschichte von Hessen'' p. 313.
*Johann Christian Friedrich Harless
''Die Verdienste der Frauen um Naturwissenschaft, Gesundheits- und Heilkunde ...'' p. 157.
*Johann Samuel Ersch
''Allgemeine Encyclopädie der Wissenschaften und Künste in alphabetischer ...'' p. 244.
, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Christine of Hesse-Kassel (1578-1658) House of Hesse House of Wettin 1578 births 1658 deaths 17th-century German people Duchesses of Saxe-Eisenach Daughters of monarchs Duchesses of Saxe-Coburg Duchesses in the Holy Roman Empire