Elisabeth Marie of Oels (11 May 1625 – 17 March 1686) was the last member of the
House of Poděbrady
A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...
and a
regent
In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...
of the
Duchy of Oels.
Life
Elizabeth Marie was the only child of Duke
Charles Frederick I of Münsterberg-Oels (1593–1647) from his first marriage with Anna Sophia (1598–1641), daughter of Duke
Frederick William I of Saxe-Weimar.
On 1 May 1647 Mary Elizabeth married at Oels Duke
Silvius Nimrod of Württemberg-Juliusburg. Her father died later that month, on the 31st. He had been the last male member of the
House of Poděbrady
A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...
and he had hoped he could pass the duchy to his daughter. Already in 1638, he had declared Oels to be a "women fief". Emperor
Ferdinand III, however, raised objections. In 1648, a compromise was reached: the Moravian dominion of
Jevišovice was ceded to the emperor and the emperor invested Sylvius Nimrod with the Duchies of Oels and Bernstadt. The Poděbrady family retained the Moravian dominion of
Šternberk; the Duchy of Münsterberg was declared vacant and fell back to the Emperor. The Emperor combined the coats of arms of Elizabeth Marie and Silvius Nimrod.
In 1652, Elizabeth Marie and Silvius Nimrod founded the Ducal Württemberg-Oelsian
Order of the Skull.
After Silvius Nimrod died in 1664, Elizabeth Marie and Dukes
Christian of Brieg and
August of Legnica acted jointly as regent for her four minor sons. When the older sons reached adulthood, they divided the duchy in 1672 and the following year Elisabeth Marie laid down the guardianship of her youngest son.
Issue
From her marriage, Elizabeth Marie had the following children:
* Charles Ferdinand (1650–1669)
* Anna Sophia (1650–1669)
*
Silvius II Frederick (1651–1697), Duke of Württemberg-Oels
: married in 1672 Eleonore Charlotte of Württemberg-Montbéliard (1656–1743)
*
Christian Ulrich I (1652–1704), Duke of Württemberg-
Bernstadt, married
: firstly, in 1672, Anna Elisabeth of Anhalt-Bernburg (1647–1680)
: secondly, in 1683, Sybille Marie of Saxe-Merseburg (1667–1693)
: thirdly 1695 Sophie Wilhelmine of East Frisia (1659–1698)
: fourthly 1700 Sophie of Mecklenburg-Güstrow (1662–1738)
*
Julius Siegmund (1653–1684), Duke of Württemberg-Juliusburg
:married in 1677 Anna Sophia of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1647–1726)
* Kunigunde Juliana (1655–1655)
* Sylvius (1660–1660)
References
Karl Friedrich Pauli: ''Allgemeine preussische staats-geschichte, samt aller dazu gehörigen ...'' p. 559 ffZeitschrift des Vereins für Geschichte und Alterthum Schlesiens p. 170 ff
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elisabeth Marie of Oels
Habsburg Bohemian nobility
1625 births
1686 deaths
People from Oleśnica
Silesian nobility
17th-century German people
Podiebrad family
Mothers of monarchs of Württemberg