Anne of Denmark, Electress of Saxony

For the Queen Consort of James VI and I, king of Scotland, England and Ireland, see Anne of Denmark

Anne of Denmark
Portrait of Anne of Denmark, by Lucas Cranach the Younger
Electress of Saxony
Tenure	9 July 1553 – 1 October 1585
Born	22 November 1532 Haderslev
Died	1 October 1585 (aged 52) Dresden
Spouse	Augustus, Elector of Saxony
Issue among others...	Christian I, Elector of Saxony Elisabeth, Countess Palatine of Simmern Dorothea, Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg Anna, Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Eisenach
House	Oldenburg
Father	Christian III of Denmark
Mother	Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg
Religion	Lutheran

Anne of Denmark or Anna (22 November 1532, Haderslev – 1 October 1585, Dresden^[1]) was Electress of Saxony and Margravine of Meissen. She was a member of the House of Oldenburg.

Life

Anne was the eldest child of King Christian III of Denmark and his wife Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg. Anne learned needlework from her mother as well as herbs, home care, and agriculture. In 1548, she married Augustus I of Saxony ( "Father of August"). She went on to have fifteen children; eleven of them would die young. The couple took up residence at Weissenfels. Before each birth she brought out her shrouds, so they'd be at hand in case of an emergency. She washed and churned herself, doctored her husband and also tried to gain influence on state affairs when court officials did not like the idea of "female domination" at the Saxon court. Elector August was furious, angry that he even changed his religious affiliation to his own form of Lutheranism.

Chancellor Craco died under torture, the Philippist doctor Caspar Peucer went to jail, and others went into exile. To celebrate this event a medal was made, with an inscription "To commemorate the victory of orthodoxy over reason". Anne, very pleased with this development because it was close to even the orthodoxy and took the ancient right of the princesses. She remained irreconcilable, even when her daughter Elizabeth married John Casimir of the Palatinate-Simmern, Anne urged her daughter to stay away from her husband, which led to a severe marital crisis. John Casimir finally forbade the correspondence of his wife with her mother. When Elizabeth gave birth to a stillborn child, she said to her mother, it was better that her child was dead than a Calvinist.

Annaburg was named in her honour. She set up two labs and put together an art book with recipes. Anna was in correspondence with famous doctors and trained young girls in traditional herbal medicine. Anna managed refugees, pregnant and sick. She founded the Anne's Church .In 1869, the so-called Anne Memorial by Robert Henze was built. Today it stands next to the ceremonial hall of the Anne Old Cemetery in Dresden.

Anne died in 1585 in Dresden of Plague.

Children

1. John Henry (b. Weissenfels, 5 May 1550 – d. Weissenfels, 12 November 1550).
2. Eleonore (b. Wolkenstein, 2 May 1551 – d. Wolkenstein, 24 April 1553).
3. Elisabeth (b. Wolkenstein, 18 October 1552 – d. imprisoned in Heidelberg, 2 April 1590), married on 4 June 1570 to Count Palatine Johann Casimir of Simmern; they were separated in 1589.
4. Alexander (b. Dresden, 21 February 1554 – d. Dresden, 8 October 1565), Hereditary Elector of Saxony.
5. Magnus (b. Dresden, 24 September 1555 – d. Dresden, 6 November 1558).
6. Joachim (b. Dresden, 3 May 1557 – d. Dresden, 21 November 1557).
7. Hector (b. Dresden, 7 October 1558 – d. Dresden, 4 April 1560).
8. Christian I (b. Dresden, 29 October 1560 – d. Dresden, 25 September 1591), successor of his father in the Electorship.
9. Marie (b. Torgau, 8 March 1562 – d. Torgau, 6 January 1566).
10. Dorothea (b. Dresden, 4 October 1563 – d. Wolfenbüttel, 13 February 1587), married on 26 September 1585 to Duke Heinrich Julius of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.
11. Amalie (b. Dresden, 28 January 1565 – d. Dresden, 2 July 1565).
12. Anna (b. Dresden, 16 November 1567 – d. imprisoned in Veste Coburg, 27 January 1613), married on 16 January 1586 to Duke John Casimir, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Eisenach; they divorced in 1593.
13. Augustus (b. Dresden, 23 October 1569 – d. Dresden, 12 February 1570).
14. Adolf (b. Stolpen, 8 August 1571 – d. Dresden, 12 March 1572).
15. Frederick (b. Annaberg, 18 June 1575 – d. Annaberg, 24 January 1577).

Ancestry

Ancestors of Anne of Denmark, Electress of Saxony

16. Theodoric, Count of Oldenburg               8. Christian I of Denmark                       17. Helvig of Schauenburg               4. Frederick I of Denmark                             18. John, Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach               9. Dorothea of Brandenburg                       19. Barbara of Saxe-Wittenberg               2. Christian III of Denmark                                   20. Albrecht III, Elector of Brandenburg               10. John Cicero, Elector of Brandenburg                       21. Margaret of Baden               5. Anna of Brandenburg                             22. William III of Saxony and Thuringia, Duke of Luxembourg               11. Margaret of Thuringia                       23. Anne, Duchess of Luxembourg               1. Anna of Denmark                                         24. Bernhard II, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg               12. John V, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg                       25. Adelheid of Pomerania               6. Magnus I, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg                             26. Frederick II, Elector of Brandenburg               13. Dorothea of Brandenburg                       27. Katharina of Saxony               3. Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg                                   28. William IV, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg               14. Henry IV, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg                       29. Elisabeth of Stolberg-Wernigerode               7. Catherine of Brunswick                             30. Eric II, Duke of Pomerania               15. Catherine of Pomerania-Wolgast                       31. Sophia of Pomerania-Stargard

Literature

• August Richard Victor: The Elector of Saxony, Chancellor Nicholas Krell. Kuntze, Dresden 1859th
• Carl von Weber: Anna, Duchess of Saxony Churchill. Tauchniz, Leipzig, 1865.
• Otto Posse: The House of Wettin. Giesecke & Devrient, Leipzig, 1897.
• Konrad Sturmhoefel: Princess Anna of Saxony. A political and sittengeschichtliches picture of life from the XVI. Century. Haberland, Leipzig 1905.
• Otto Eduard Schmidt: Saxon raids. Grunow, Leipzig, 1913.
• Thomas Klein: The battle for the 2nd Reformation in Saxony 1586-91. In: Mitteldt. Research. Vol 25, Cologne / Graz 1962nd
• Dr. Hellmut robbers Gardening and landscape design. In: The Union. 4. June 1994.
• Reinhard Delau: From the history of Ostragehege (3): rise and fall of the Ostra chamber estate. In: SZ 1 November 1995.
• Heath Inhetveen: Agrarpionierinnen. Women as bearers of the agricultural progress. In: Hermann Heidrich (ed.): Ms worlds. Work, life, politics and prospects in the country. Verl Franconian Open-air Museum, Bath Windsheim 1999, ISBN 3-926834-41-2.
• Katrin Keller: Princess Anna of Saxony. Of possibilities and limits of a "mother country". ) In: *Jan Hirschbiegel, Werner Paravicini (ed.: The Women's Room. The woman at the court in late medieval and early modern. Thorbecke, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-7995-4511-5 (Residence Bd 11).
• Ursula Schlude: The Hofhalterin. Princess Anna of Saxony 1532 - 1585. WDR television series "Women of the Renaissance", WDR 2000, 15 min.
• Ursula Schlude, Heath Inhetveen, Albrecht High: From the shops of the Princess. In: Research (Magazine of the DFG), 2 (2005), p. 22–24

References

External links

• Media related to Anne of Denmark, Electress of Saxony at Wikimedia Commons