Princess Dorothea of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg (28 September 1636 – 6 August 1689), was Duchess consort of Brunswick-Lüneburg by marriage to Christian Louis, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, and Electress of Brandenburg by marriage to

Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg Frederick William (; 16 February 1620 – 29 April 1688) was Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia, thus ruler of Brandenburg-Prussia, from 1640 until his death in 1688. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he is popularly known as "th ...

, the "Great Elector".

Biography

Dorothea was born in

Glücksburg Glücksburg (; ) is a small town northeast of Flensburg in the district of Schleswig-Flensburg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is Germany's northernmost town. It is situated on the south side of the Flensburg Fjord, Flensborg Fjord, an inlet ...

and raised in

Glücksburg Castle Glücksburg Castle (German: Schloss Glücksburg, Danish language, Danish: ''Lyksborg Slot'') is one of the most significant Renaissance castles in Northern Europe. The castle was the headquarters of the ducal lines of the house of Glücksburg an ...

. She could claim royal blood through her descent from her great-grandfather King

Christian III of Denmark Christian III (12 August 1503 – 1 January 1559) reigned as King of Denmark from 1534 and King of Norway from 1537 until his death in 1559. During his reign, Christian formed close ties between the church and the crown. He established ...

, but her parents were of lower rank:

Philip, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg Philip of Schleswig-Holstein-Glücksburg (15 March 1584 – 27 September 1663) was the first Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Glücksburg after the death of his father in 1622. He was the son of John II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg and Duches ...

, and Sophia Hedwig of

Saxe-Lauenburg The Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg (, ), was a ''reichsfrei'' duchy that existed from 1296 to 1803 and again from 1814 to 1876 in the extreme southeast region of what is now Schleswig-Holstein. Its territorial centre was in the modern district of Herz ...

. She was the sister of

Auguste of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg Auguste may refer to: People Surname * Arsène Auguste (1951–1993), Haitian footballer * Donna Auguste (born 1958), African-American businesswoman * Georges Auguste (born 1933), Haitian painter * Henri Auguste (1759–1816), Parisian gol ...

, the duchess of Augustenborg (named after her) by marriage.

Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg

In 1653, Dorothea married Christian Louis, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, brother-in-law of King

Frederick III of Denmark Frederick III (; 18 March 1609 – 9 February 1670) was King of Denmark and Norway from 1648 until his death in 1670. He also governed under the name Frederick II as diocesan administrator (colloquially referred to as prince-bishop) of the ...

. They lived at

Celle Castle Celle Castle () or, less commonly, Celle Palace, in the German town of Celle in Lower Saxony, was one of the residences of the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg. This quadrangular building is the largest castle in the southern Lüneburg Heath reg ...

. Her husband was considered hot-tempered and a drunkard. The marriage was childless. In 1665, her first spouse died, and she moved to

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''. ...

as a widow's seat while her brother-in-law George William followed him as the reigning Duke of Luneburg in Celle.

Electress of Brandenburg

On 14 June 1668, she married again, at age 31, this time

Frederick William The name Frederick William usually refers to several monarchs and princes of the Hohenzollern dynasty: * Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg (1620–1688) * Frederick William, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1675–1713) * Frederick William I of ...

, Elector of Brandenburg, a widower himself, with whom she had seven children. Out of love for her second husband, she switched from the

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 ...

to the

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 ...

denomination. Asked by the (lutheran) Prussian Estates about her religious convictions, she gave them a detailed "Confession of Faith" in early 1669, which began with the sentence: "I do not believe what the Pope orders, not even in all the parts that Luther, Zwingli, Beza and Calvin write (...)." She courageously advocated religious tolerance: "(I) leave (...) everyone the freedom of conscience (...)." Dorothea was a self-confident, brave and enterprising woman. She accompanied her husband on all his campaigns, slept on the battlefields and, as an equal, had a great influence on his politics. He discussed all his plans for the state with her. In that respect she resembled his first wife

Luise Henriette of Nassau Louise Henriette of Nassau (, ; 7 December 1627 – 18 June 1667) was a Countess of Nassau, granddaughter of William I, Prince of Orange, "William the Silent", and an Electress of Brandenburg. Biography Louise Henriëtte was born in The ...

. In order to ensure the financial support of her four sons, while his son by his first marriage,

Frederick I of Prussia Frederick I (; 11 July 1657 – 25 February 1713), of the Hohenzollern dynasty, was (as Frederick III) List of margraves and electors of Brandenburg, Elector of Brandenburg (1688–1713) and Duke of Prussia in personal union (Brandenburg–Pr ...

, was to inherit the throne, she purchased the fief of

Brandenburg-Schwedt Brandenburg-Schwedt was a secundogeniture of the Hohenzollern margraves of Brandenburg, established by Prince Philip William who took his residence at Schwedt Castle in 1689. By appanage, they administered the manors of Schwedt and Vierraden on t ...

in 1670 and enlarged it by the fief of Wildenbruch in 1680. She also had both castles, Schwedt and Wildenbruch, rebuilt after she made efforts to revitalize these large estates economically. ZLB-Berliner Ansichten-Januar

In 1670, she also received an area outside the gates of the then cities of

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

and

Cölln Cölln () was the Twin cities, twin city of Old Berlin (Alt-Berlin) from the 13th century to the 18th century. Cölln was located on the Fischerinsel, Fisher Island section of Spree Island, opposite Altberlin on the western bank of the River ...

as a gift from her husband. From 1674, a new suburb was planned there, later named after her: ''

Dorotheenstadt is a historic zone or neighbourhood (''Stadtviertel'') of central Berlin, Germany, which forms part of the locality (''Ortsteil'') of Mitte within the borough (''Bezirk'') also called Mitte. It contains several famous Berlin landmarks: the Bran ...

''. She had the site parceled out, leased and made substantial profits from the building plots. Dorothea is said to have planted the first tree for the new avenue called ''

Unter den Linden Unter den Linden (, "under the Tilia, linden trees") is a boulevard in the central Mitte (locality), Mitte district of Berlin, Germany. Running from the Berlin Palace to the Brandenburg Gate, it is named after the Tilia, linden trees (known ...

'' in 1680, an avenue lined with linden trees within her settlement, which had become a kind of artificial island by digging a small canal that complemented the baroque city fortifications (the Berlin Fortress). The tree-lined promenade would later become the magnificent boulevard of Berlin. After the

Edict of Potsdam The Edict of Potsdam () was a proclamation issued by Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia, in Potsdam on 29 October 1685, as a response to the revocation of the Edict of Nantes by the Edict of Fontainebleau. It encouraged ...

Huguenots The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

, among others, settled in Dorotheenstadt. She founded a shipyard and a paper mill. In 1673, the Elector acquired the small Caputh Palace near Potsdam for her, where she had a rural manor house expanded and furnished into her pleasure palace. Today it is a museum of the

Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg The Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg (; SPSG) was founded by a treaty of 23 August 1994 between the German federal states of Berlin and Brandenburg as a public foundation following German reunification. The treaty came ...

, whose exhibition provides information about the life and work of Dorothea. While she herself liked to reside in this small palace, she built a very representative palace complex in Schwedt for her sons. Caputh, Schloss.jpg, Caputh Palace Schwedter Schloss 1938.jpg,

Schwedt Schwedt (or Schwedt/Oder; ) is a town in Brandenburg, in northeastern Germany. With the official status of a ''Große Kreisstadt, Große kreisangehörige Stadt'' (major district town), it is the largest town of the Uckermark (district), Uckermark ...

Palace Jezioro Grodziskie i Zamek w Swobnicy aerial 2023.jpg, Wildenbruch Castle In 1676, she became the commander of her own regiment, and in 1678 and 1692 equipped two fleets for the

Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...

state. In 1684,

Fort Dorothea Akwidaa is a small town and fishing village in Ahanta West district, Western Region of Ghana. It is one of the southernmost places in Ghana. The part of town near the Gulf of Guinea, known as Akiwidaa Old Town, suffers from flooding and eros ...

was named after her, the second fort in the Brandenburg Gold Coast colony in south-western modern-day Ghana, after Fort Fredericksburg, that her husband had acquired. The suspicion that Dorothea worked towards a division of Brandenburg-Prussia in order to secure an income for her sons or even to cobble together states of their own for them; this is regarded as refuted by historical scholarship, but spoiled her reputation for a long time. This negative perception is based on the fact that some publicists do not base their critical judgments on Dorothea on the primary sources, but on the centuries-old legends that are mainly based on publications after her death, especially by

Karl Ludwig von Pöllnitz Karl Ludwig Freiherr von Pöllnitz (25 February 1692 – 23 June 1775) was a German adventurer and writer from Issum. Life His father, Wilhelm Ludwig Freiherr von Pöllnitz (d. 1693), was in the military service of the elector of Brandenb ...

. Posthumously, the impression was wrongly given that she wanted to make an agreement with France, accepted a division of the country and thus called into question the rise of Prussia to become a great power. There is no question, however, that the Elector's eldest son and successor

harbored at least corresponding fears about his stepmother.Heinrich Jobst Graf von Wintzingerode: ''Die märkische Amazone Kurfürstin Dorothea von Brandenburg'' (The Brandenburg Amazon Electress Dorothea of Brandenburg), Göttingen 2012, ISBN 978-3-932313-48-6, p. 41 She survived her husband by a year and died in the spa town of Karlsbad in the then

Kingdom of Bohemia The Kingdom of Bohemia (), sometimes referenced in English literature as the Czech Kingdom, was a History of the Czech lands in the High Middle Ages, medieval and History of the Czech lands, early modern monarchy in Central Europe. It was the pr ...

. She is buried in

Berlin Cathedral Berlin Cathedral (), also known as the Evangelical Supreme Parish and Collegiate Church, is a monumental Protestant Church in Germany, German Protestant church and dynastic tomb (House of Hohenzollern) at the Lustgarten on the Museum Island ...

Issue

From her second marriage, Dorothea had the following children: # Philip William (1669–1711), # Marie Amalie (1670–1739) married: ## Charles of Mecklenburg-Güstrow, son of

Gustav Adolph, Duke of Mecklenburg-Güstrow Gustav Adolph, Duke of Mecklenburg Güstrow(26 February 1633 – 6 October 1695) was the last ruler of Mecklenburg-Güstrow from 1636 until his death and last Lutheran Administrator of the Prince-Bishopric of Ratzeburg from 1636 to 1648.Jonathan ...

## Maurice William, Duke of Saxe-Zeitz, son of

Maurice, Duke of Saxe-Zeitz Maurice of Saxe-Zeitz (28 March 1619 – 4 December 1681) was a duke of Saxe-Zeitz and member of the House of Wettin. Born in Dresden, he was the youngest surviving son of John George I, Elector of Saxony, and his second wife Magdalene Sibylle ...

# Albert Frederick (1672–1731), # Charles Philip (1673–1695), # Elisabeth Sofie (1674–1748), who married Christian Ernst of Brandenburg-Bayreuth (6 August 1644 – 20 May 1712) on 30 March 1703. # Dorothea (1675–1676), # Christian Ludwig (1677–1734), recipient of Bach's

Brandenburg Concertos The ''Brandenburg Concertos'' ( BWV 1046–1051) by Johann Sebastian Bach are a collection of six instrumental works presented by Bach to Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt, in 1721 (though probably composed earlier). The origi ...

Ancestry

References