Clara of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (16 November 1532 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 ...

– 23 November 1595 at

Herzberg Castle Herzberg Castle () is a German ''schloss'' in Herzberg am Harz in the district of Landkreis Göttingen, Göttingen in the state of Lower Saxony. The present-day, quadrangular building has its origins in the 11th century as a medieval ''castle''. ...

), was a princess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel by birth. She was

abbess An abbess (Latin: ''abbatissa'') is the female superior of a community of nuns in an abbey. Description In the Catholic Church (both the Latin Church and Eastern Catholic), Eastern Orthodox, Coptic, Lutheran and Anglican abbeys, the mod ...

of the secular

Gandersheim Abbey Gandersheim Abbey () is a former house of secular canonesses ( Frauenstift) in the present town of Bad Gandersheim in Lower Saxony, Germany. It was founded in 852 by Count Liudolf of Saxony and his wife, Oda, progenitors of the Liudolfing or Ot ...

and later Duchess of

Brunswick-Grubenhagen The Principality of Grubenhagen was a subdivision of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg, ruled by the Grubenhagen line of the House of Welf from 1291. It is also known as Brunswick-Grubenhagen. The principality fell to the Brunswick Principality of L ...

by marriage.

Life

Clara was the youngest daughter of the Duke

Henry II of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel Henry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Henry (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters * Henry (surname) * Henry, a stage name of François-Louis Henry (1786–1855), French baritone Arts and entertainment ...

(1489–1568) from his first marriage with Maria (1496–1541), daughter of the Earl Henry of Württemberg.

Abbess of Gandersheim

At the urging of her father, Clara was elected

after the death of her sister

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, ...

. Since Clara was only 6 years old at the time, officials acting for her father administered the abbey in her name. It is unknown if the Pope ever confirmed Clara as abbess. In any case, she never took up the position. In 1542, troops of the

Schmalkaldic League The Schmalkaldic League (; ; or ) was a military alliance of Lutheranism, Lutheran Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, principalities and cities within the Holy Roman Empire during the mid-16th century. It received its name from the town of Schm ...

occupied Gandersheim and forced the Abbey to convert to

Lutheranism 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 ...

. The Chapter, however, practiced passive resistance and remained

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. In 1543, the abbey suffered from

iconoclasm Iconoclasm ()From . ''Iconoclasm'' may also be considered as a back-formation from ''iconoclast'' (Greek: εἰκοκλάστης). The corresponding Greek word for iconoclasm is εἰκονοκλασία, ''eikonoklasia''. is the social belie ...

. In 1547, Clara's father declared her resignation from the office of abbess, returning to the lay state.

Duchess of Brunswick-Grubenhagen

Clara married on 1 July 1560 in

with her cousin Duke Philip II of Brunswick-Grubenhagen (1533–1596). As dowry, her father gave her and half the jurisdiction and castle of Westerhof. The marriage remained childless. After their marriage, the couple moved to Katlenburg Castle and converted it to a

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

château. Clara was responsible for the installation of numerous pharmacies and distilleries. She also designed the interior of the newly built church in Rotenkirchen. When Clara's brother

Julius Julius may refer to: People * Julius (name), a masculine given name and surname (includes a list of people with the name) * Julius (nomen), the name of a Roman family (includes a list of Ancient Romans with the name) ** Julius Caesar (100– ...

inherited Wolfenbüttel in 1568, he also took possession of Westerhof. Clara sued him before the

Aulic Council The Aulic Council (; ; literally "Court Council of the Empire", sometimes abbreviated in academic writing as "RHR") was one of the two supreme courts of the Holy Roman Empire, the other being the ''Reichskammergericht'' (Imperial Chamber Court). ...

, but in 1580, Philip confirmed Juilius's ownership. Clara then sued Julius over the inheritance of her sister Margaret. The Aulic Council created an imperial commission to look into the matter. Julius, however, rejected the commission and filed a complaint at the

Diet of Augsburg The diets of Augsburg were the meetings of the Imperial Diet of the Holy Roman Empire held in the German city of Augsburg. Both an Imperial City and the residence of the Augsburg prince-bishops, the town had hosted the Estates in many such se ...

of 1582 about the illegal practices of his sister. Clara and her court moved from Katlenburg Castle to

. She died in 1595, after a long illness. The court preacher and superintendent Andreas Georg Leopold delivered her

funeral sermon A Christian funeral sermon is a formal religious oration or address given at a funeral ceremony, or sometimes a short time after, which may combine elements of eulogy with biographical comments and expository preaching. To qualify as a sermon, it sh ...

, which was also published in printed form.Georg Max: ''Geschichte des Fürstenthums Grubenhagen'', Schmorl & Seefeld, 1863 S. 269 Clara was buried in the Aegidius Church in

Osterode am Harz Osterode am Harz (, ), often simply called Osterode (Eastphalian dialect, Eastphalian: ''Ostroe''), is a town in south-eastern Lower Saxony in central Germany on the south-western edge of the Harz mountains. It was the seat of government of the ...

References

* Hans Goetting: ''Das Bistum Hildesheim'', Walter de Gruyter, 1973, p. 121 ff * Johann Samuel Ersch: ''Allgemeine encyclopädie der wissenschaften und künste'', J. f. Gleditsch, 1847, part 3, vol. 23, p. 43 ff

External links

* https://archive.today/20130102054202/http://www.calsky.com/lexikon/de/txt/s/st/stift_gandersheim.php
Clara von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel, Clara of Secular abbesses German abbesses

Clara Clara may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Clara'' (2018 film), a Canadian sci-fi drama * ''Clara'' (2019 film), a Ukrainian animated fantasy film * ''Clara'' (TV series), a German TV series * Clara the Cow, mascot of the Greek TV show '' P ...

1532 births 1595 deaths Duchesses of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel Abbesses of Gandersheim Daughters of dukes