235px , Show gate of Wülzburg Castle with the coats of arms of Sophie and her husband Sophie of Brunswick-Lüneburg (30 October 1563 – 14 January 1639) was a member of the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg and margravine of

Brandenburg-Ansbach The Principality or Margraviate of (Brandenburg) Ansbach ( or ) was a principality in the Holy Roman Empire centered on the Franconian city of Ansbach. The ruling Hohenzollern princes of the land were known as margraves, as their ancestors were ...

and Brandenburg-Kulmbach and Duchess of

Krnov Krnov (; , or ''Krnów'') is a town in Bruntál District in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 23,000 inhabitants. Administrative division Krnov consists of three municipal parts (in brackets population according to ...

by marriage.

Life

Sophie was the eldest child of Duke

William the Younger of Brunswick-Lüneburg William (4 July 1535 – 20 August 1592), called William the Younger ('), was Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Prince of Lüneburg from 1559 until his death. Until 1569 he ruled together with his brother, Henry III, Duke of Brunswick-Lünebu ...

(1535–1592) from his marriage to Dorothea of Denmark, a daughter of 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 ...

On 3 May 1579 she married Margrave George Frederick I of Brandenburg-Ansbach-Kulmach (1539–1603) 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 ...

. George Frederick was the last of the older line of Frankish

Hohenzollerns The House of Hohenzollern (, ; , ; ) is a formerly royal (and from 1871 to 1918, imperial) German dynasty whose members were variously princes, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzollern, Brandenburg, Prussia, the German Empire, and Romania. ...

and was simultaneously Margrave of the

Principality of Ansbach The Principality or Margraviate of (Brandenburg) Ansbach ( or ) was a principality in the Holy Roman Empire centered on the Franconian city of Ansbach. The ruling Hohenzollern princes of the land were known as margraves, as their ancestors were ...

and

Kulmbach Kulmbach () is the capital of the district of Kulmbach in Bavaria in Germany. The town, once a stronghold of the Principality of Bayreuth, is renowned for its University of Life Sciences, a branch of the University of Bayreuth, the massive Plasse ...

, Silesian duke of the

Duchy of Krnov The Duchy of Krnov (, , ) or Duchy of Jägerndorf () was one of the Duchies of Silesia, which in 1377 emerged from the Duchy of Troppau (Opava), itself a fief of the Bohemian Crown. Its capital was at Krnov in the present-day Czech Republic. H ...

and guardian administrator of the

Duchy of Prussia The Duchy of Prussia (, , ) or Ducal Prussia (; ) was a duchy in the region of Prussia established as a result of secularization of the Monastic Prussia, the territory that remained under the control of the State of the Teutonic Order until t ...

. As such, he was a powerful figure of his time. His first wife,

Elisabeth of Brandenburg-Küstrin Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Empress Elisabeth (disambiguation), lists various empresses named ''Elisabeth'' or ''Elizabeth'' * Princess Elizabeth ( ...

, had died in 1578, and like his first, George Frederick's second marriage remained childless, which is why his inheritance needed to be regulated by the

House Treaty of Gera The House Treaty of Gera was a house law of the House of Hohenzollern on the succession in Brandenburg and in the Franconian territories at the end of the sixteenth century binding rules. The Treaty and came about because Elector John George of ...

. Sophie's childlessness motivated her husband to increased interest in the policy of the wider House of Hohenzollern. After her husband died in 1604, Sophie returned to her birth family. She survived her husband by 36 years. Sophie often stayed in

Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...

with her sisters Clara, Countess of Schwarzburg, and Sibylle, Duchess of Brunswick-Dannenberg. She died in Nuremberg in 1639 and was buried in the St. Lorenz Church there. The

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 ...

portal of Wülzburg Castle shows George Frederick's coat of arms next to Sophie's.Daniel Burger: ''The rural fortresses of the Hohenzollerns in Franconia and Brandenburg in the Age of the Renaissance'', Beck's Publishing House, 2000, p. 132 , - , -

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sophie Of Brunswick-Luneburg 1563 births 1639 deaths Duchesses of Brunswick-Lüneburg House of Hohenzollern Consorts of Brandenburg New House of Lüneburg Daughters of dukes