Elisabeth of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (23 February 1567 at Hessen Castle in

Hessen Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are ...

– 24 October 1618 in

Otterndorf Otterndorf () is a town on the coast of the North Sea in the federal state of Lower Saxony, Germany, and is part of the collective municipality (''Samtgemeinde'') of Land Hadeln. The town, located in the administrative district (''Landkreis'') of ...

) was a German noblewoman. She was princess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel by birth and by her first marriage Countess of

Holstein-Schauenburg The County of Holstein-Pinneberg (), also known as the County of Schauenburg and Holstein-Pinneberg (), was a small territory which existed from 1290 until 1640, centred around Pinneberg in modern-day Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Rise and fall ...

and then by her second marriage Duchess of Brunswick-Harburg.

Life

Elisabeth was a daughter of Duke

Julius of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel The gens Julia (''gēns Iūlia'', ) was one of the most prominent patrician (ancient Rome), patrician families in ancient Rome. Members of the gens attained the highest dignities of the state in the earliest times of the Roman Republic, Republic ...

(1528-1589) from his marriage with

Hedwig Hedwig may refer to: People and fictional characters * Hedwig (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Grzegorz Hedwig (born 1988), Polish slalom canoeist * Johann Hedwig, (1730–1799), German botanist * Romanus Adol ...

(1540-1602), a daughter of Elector

Joachim II Joachim II may refer to: * Joachim II Hector, Elector of Brandenburg (1505–1571) * Patriarch Joachim II of Constantinople Joachim II (1802 – 5 August 1878) was Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople The ecumenical patriarch ( el, Ο� ...

of Brandenburg. In 1568,

Gandersheim Abbey Gandersheim Abbey (german: Stift Gandersheim) 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 Duke Liudolf of Saxony, progenitor of the Liudolfing or ...

turned

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

, under pressure from Julius. However, the

abbess An abbess (Latin: ''abbatissa''), also known as a mother superior, is the female superior of a community of Catholic nuns in an abbey. Description In the Catholic Church (both the Latin Church and Eastern Catholic), Eastern Orthodox, Coptic ...

Margaret of Chlum Margaret is a female first name, derived via French () and Latin () from grc, μαργαρίτης () meaning "pearl". The Greek is borrowed from Persian. Margaret has been an English name since the 11th century, and remained popular througho ...

was still

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 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

. Julius tried to have Elisabeth elected in her place. However, the Abbey's chapter refused to do so. In 1582, Julius abandoned this plan and started looking around for a suitable husband from Elisabeth. Elisabeth married for the first time on 6 May 1583 in Wolfenbütel to Count Adolph XIV of Holstein-Schauenburg (1547-1601), son of

Otto IV of Schaumburg Otto IV of Schaumburg (1517 – 21 December 1576) was a German nobleman. He was a ruling Count of Schauenburg and of Holstein-Pinneberg. He was a son of Jobst I and his wife Mary of Nassau-Siegen, a daughter of Count John V of Nassau-Sie ...

. After Adolph's death, she remarried on 28 October 1604 at Harburg Castle to Duke

Christopher Christopher is the English language, English version of a Europe-wide name derived from the Greek language, Greek name Χριστόφορος (''Christophoros'' or ''Christoforos''). The constituent parts are Χριστός (''Christós''), "Jesus ...

of Brunswick-Harburg (1570-1606). He died two years later, after a fall in Harburg Castle. From 1609 to 1617, Elisabeth lived in

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the Germany, German States of Germany, state Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie H ...

, at the expense of the town of

Harburg Harburg may refer to: Places in Germany * Harburg (district), Lower Saxony * Harburg, Bavaria * Harburg, Hamburg, a borough of Hamburg ** Harburg (quarter), the former Hanoveran city of Harburg upon Elbe, now a quarter of Hamburg * Harburg-Wilhe ...

. In 1617, she returned to Harburg. She died a year later, in

. She was buried in

Harburg, Hamburg Harburg is a borough of the city of Hamburg, Germany. It is also the name of Harburg quarter in the borough, which used to be the capital of the Harburg district in Lower Saxony. The borough of Harburg lies on the southern banks of the river Elbe ...

, next to her second husband.

Issue

From her first marriage, she had a son: * Julius (1585–1601) Her second marriage was childless.

References

* ("Historical association for Lower Saxony"): ''Archiv des Historischen Vereins fur Niedersachsen'', 1846, p. 36
Online
* ''Vaterländisches Archiv für hannoverisch-braunschweigische Geschichte'', Herold & Wahlstab, 1835, p. 40
Online

Elisabeth Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist Ships * HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships * ''Elisabeth'' (sc ...

16th-century German people German duchesses 1567 births 1618 deaths

People from Harburg, Hamburg Daughters of monarchs {{Germany-duchess-stub