Princess Therese Natalie of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel-Bevern (4 June 1728 in

Wolfenbüttel Wolfenbüttel (; ) is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, the administrative capital of Wolfenbüttel District Wolfenbüttel (; ) is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, the administrative capital of Wolfenbüttel (district), Wolfenbüttel Distri ...

– 26 June 1778 in

Gandersheim Abbey Gandersheim Abbey () 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 Count Liudolf of Saxony and his wife, Oda, progenitors of the Liudolfing or Ot ...

, in

Bad Gandersheim Bad Gandersheim (Eastphalian dialect, Eastphalian: ''Ganderssen'') is a town in southern Lower Saxony, Germany, located in the district of Northeim (district), Northeim. , it had a population of 9,492. Bad Gandersheim has many half-timbered hou ...

) was a German noblewoman. She was a member of the

House of Welf The House of Welf (also Guelf or Guelph) is a European dynasty that has included many German and British monarchs from the 11th to 20th century and Emperor Ivan VI of Russia in the 18th century. The originally Franconian family from the Meuse-Mo ...

and was princess-

abbess An abbess (Latin: ''abbatissa'') is the female superior of a community of nuns in an abbey. Description In the Catholic Church (both the Latin Church and Eastern Catholic), Eastern Orthodox, Coptic, Lutheran and Anglican abbeys, the mod ...

of the Imperial Free secular

Abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christians, Christian monks and nun ...

in Gandersheim.

Life

Therese Natalie was the sixth daughter of Duke Ferdinand Albert II of

Brunswick-Bevern Brunswick-Bevern was a secundogeniture of the Younger House of Brunswick, itself a branch of the House of Welf. Its first member was Ferdinand Albert I of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1636–1687), the fourth son of Duke Augustus the Younger, ruling ...

(1680-1735) and his wife Antoinette Amalie (1696-1762), a daughter of Duke Louis Rudolph of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and

Princess Christine Louise of Oettingen-Oettingen Christine Louise of Oettingen-Oettingen (20 March 1671 – 3 September 1747) was Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg. She was the maternal grandmother of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa, Emperor Peter II of Russia and also Charles I, Duke of ...

. Therese Natalie was a first cousin of Archduchess

Maria Theresa of Austria Maria Theresa (Maria Theresia Walburga Amalia Christina; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was the ruler of the Habsburg monarchy from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position in her own right. She was the sovereig ...

, Queen of

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

and

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

. She was a sister-in-law of King

Frederick II of Prussia Frederick II (; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was the monarch of Prussia from 1740 until his death in 1786. He was the last Hohenzollern monarch titled ''King in Prussia'', declaring himself '' King of Prussia'' after annexing Royal Prus ...

. Efforts to marry Princess Therese Natalie with an Archduke of

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

or a

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

prince failed because she was unwilling to convert to the

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 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

faith. In 1747, she became a collegiate lady in

Herford Abbey Herford Abbey () was the oldest women's religious house in the Duchy of Saxony. It was founded as a house of secular canonesses in 789, initially in Müdehorst (near the modern Bielefeld) by a nobleman called Waltger, who moved it in about 800 ont ...

. Around that time, it was decided that she would succeed Elisabeth of Saxe-Meiningen as abbess of

. In November 1750, she was appointed canoness at Gandersheim. Elisabeth died on Christmas Eve 1766, after 53 years in office. As promised, Therese Natalie was elected as her successor. She was enthroned on 3 December 1767. During her period in office, Therese Natalie often stayed at the court of her elder brother

Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...

in Brunswick. She died in Gandersheim on 26 June 1778 and was buried in the ducal

crypt A crypt (from Greek κρύπτη (kryptē) ''wikt:crypta#Latin, crypta'' "Burial vault (tomb), vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, Sarcophagus, sarcophagi, or Relic, religiou ...

below

Brunswick Cathedral Brunswick Cathedral (, lit. in ) is a large Lutheran church in the City of Braunschweig (Brunswick), Germany. The church is termed '' Dom'', in German a synecdoche - pars pro toto - used for cathedrals and collegiate churches alike, and much li ...

. She was succeeded as abbess by her niece

Auguste Dorothea of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel Augusta Dorothea of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel (2 October 1749 – 10 March 1810), was Princess Abbess of Gandersheim Abbey from 1778 until 1810. She was the last sovereign Princess Abbess of Gandersheim. Life Augusta Dorothea was the daughter o ...

, who would be the last princess-abbess of Gandersheim.

References

* Martin Hoernes and Hedwig Röckelein (eds.): ''Gandersheim und Essen. Vergleichende Untersuchungen zu sächsischen Frauenstiften'', in the series ''Essener Forschungen zum Frauenstift'', vol. 4, Essen, 2006 * C. Römer: ''Braunschweig-Bevern, Ein Fürstenhaus als europäische Dynastie 1667–1884'', Brunswick, 1997 * Kurt Kronenberg: ''Äbtissinnen des Reichstiftes Gandersheim'', 1981 * Hans Goetting: ''Germania Sacra'', New series, vol. 7: ''Die Bistümer der Kirchenprovinz Mainz, Das Bistum Hildesheim'', part 1: ''Das reichsunmittelbare Stift Gandersheim'', ed. by Max- Planck- Institute for History, Berlin and New York, 1973

External links

Dukes of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel-Bevern
Abbesses of Gandersheim New House of Brunswick Duchesses in Germany Lutheran abbesses 18th-century Lutheran nuns 1728 births 1778 deaths 18th-century German people Burials at Brunswick Cathedral Daughters of dukes {{Germany-duchess-stub