Princess Dorothea of Saxony (7 January 1591 - 17 November 1617) reigned as

Princess-Abbess of Quedlinburg This is a list of the princess-abbesses of Quedlinburg Abbey.Johann Heinrich Fritsch: ''Geschichte des vormaligen Reichsstifts Quedlinburg'' pt 2, 1828, pp. 26–28online version)/ref>Hermann Lorenz: ''Quedlinburgische Geschichte. Band 1: Werd ...

from 1610 until her death.Johann Heinrich Fritsch: ''Geschichte des vormaligen Reichsstifts Quedlinburg'' pt 2, 1828, pp. 26–28
/ref> Dorothea was born in

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

Christian I, Elector of Saxony Christian I of Saxony (29 October 1560 – 25 September 1591) was Elector of Saxony from 1586 to 1591. He belonged to the Albertine branch of the House of Wettin. He was the sixth but second surviving son of Augustus, Elector of Saxony a ...

, and his wife, Princess

Sophie of Brandenburg Sophie of Brandenburg (6 June 1568 – 7 December 1622) was Electress of Saxony by marriage to Christian I, Elector of Saxony. She was regent from 1591 to 1601 during the minority of their son Christian II of Saxony, Christian II. Biograp ...

. Her

baptism Baptism (from ) is a Christians, Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by aspersion, sprinkling or affusion, pouring water on the head, or by immersion baptism, immersing in water eit ...

was notably held without the customary

exorcism Exorcism () is the religious or spiritual practice of evicting demons, jinns, or other malevolent spiritual entities from a person, or an area, that is believed to be possessed. Depending on the spiritual beliefs of the exorcist, this may be do ...

.Wolfgang Sommer: ''Die lutherischen Hofprediger in Dresden'', Franz Steiner Verlag Stuttgart, 2006, p. 108

Reign

On 18 April 1610, Dorothea was elected successor of Princess-Abbess Maria of Quedlinburg.

Vogt An , sometimes simply advocate, (German, ), or (French, ), was a type of medieval office holder, particularly important in the Holy Roman Empire, who was delegated some of the powers and functions of a major feudal lord, or for an institutio ...

and patron of the abbey-principality at the time was Dorothea's brother,

Christian II, Elector of Saxony Christian II (23 September 1583 – 23 June 1611) was Elector of Saxony from 1591 to 1611. Early life and background He was born in Dresden, the eldest son of Christian I, Elector of Saxony and Sophie of Brandenburg, the daughter of John G ...

Emperor Rudolf II Rudolf II (18 July 1552 – 20 January 1612) was Holy Roman Emperor (1576–1612), King of Hungary and Kingdom of Croatia (Habsburg), Croatia (as Rudolf I, 1572–1608), King of Bohemia (1575–1608/1611) and Archduke of Austria (1576–16 ...

confirmed her election on 19 July. Dorothea's relatively short reign was uneventful. She granted additional rights to the town of Quedlinburg and raised the income of preachers and teachers. The 26-year-old Princess-Abbess died suddenly in Dresden during a visit to her brother. She was buried in

Freiberg Freiberg () is a university and former mining town in Saxony, Germany, with around 41,000 inhabitants. The city lies in the foreland of the Ore Mountains, in the Saxon urbanization axis, which runs along the northern edge of the Elster and ...

. As she had not selected her coadjutrix, the chapter elected Duchess Dorothea Sophia of Saxe-Altenburg.

Reign

References

Further reading