Hedwig of Brandenburg, Duchess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel

Hedwig of Brandenburg, Duchess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
Hedwig of Brandenburg, Duchess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, detail of a family portrait
Spouse(s)	Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
Noble family	House of Hohenzollern
Father	Joachim II, Elector of Brandenburg
Mother	Hedwig Jagiellon
Born	23 February 1540 Cölln
Died	21 October 1602 (aged 62) Wolfenbüttel

Hedwig of Brandenburg (23 February 1540 in Cölln – 21 October 1602 in Wolfenbüttel) was Margravine of Brandenburg by birth and by marriage Duchess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.

Life

Hedwig was a daughter of the Elector of Brandenburg Joachim II (1505–1571) and his second wife, Hedwig (1513–1573), the daughter of king Sigismund I of Poland.

She married on 25 February 1560 inCölln on the Spree to Duke Julius of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (1528–1589). The couple had met at the court of Margrave John at Küstrin, where Julius had fled from his wayward father.

After Julius had reconciled with his father, Henry II, who had agreed only reluctantly to the marriage of his son with a Protestant, the couple received castles in Hessen and Schladen a residence. After Julius's older brothers had fallen in the Battle of Sievershausen, Henry II was alleged to have appeared at Hessen Castle and let himself into the room of his daughter-in-law, exclaimed: You'll now have to be my beloved son!.^[1]

Julius later came under the fraudulent influence of Philipp Sömmering and Anne Marie Schulfermanns (nicknamed Schlüter-Liese) and estranged from his wife.^[2]

Hedwig was described as a pious and humble, with preference for domestic activities. In 1598, the theologician Stephan Prätorius dedicated his book Der Witwen Trost ("the widow's consolation") to Hedwig.

Issue

From her marriage to Julius, Hedwig had following children:

• Sophie Hedwig (1561–1631)

married in 1577 Duke Ernest Louis of Pomerania-Wolgast (1545-1592)

• Henry Julius (1564–1613), Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, married:
  1. in 1585 to Princess Dorothea of Saxony (1563–1587)
  2. in 1590 to Princess Elizabeth of Denmark (1573–1625)
• Maria (1566–1626)

married in 1582 Duke Francis II of Saxe-Lauenburg (1547-1619)

• Elisabeth (1567–1618), married
  1. in 1583 to Count Adolf XI of Holstein-Schauenburg (d. 1601)
  2. in 1604 to Duke Christopher of Brunswick-Harburg (d. 1606)
• Philip Sigismund (1568–1623), Bishop of Osnabrück and Verden
• Margaret (1571–1580)
• Joachim Charles (1573–1615)
• Sabine Catharina (1574–1590)
• Dorothea Augusta (1577–1625), Abbess of Gandersheim
• Julius Augustus (1578–1617), abbot of Michaelstein Abbey
• Hedwig (1580–1657)

married in 1621 Duke Otto III of Brunswick-Harburg (1572-1641)

References

• Inge Mager: Die Konkordienformel im Fürstentum Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1993, p. 22 ff

Footnotes

1. O. von Heinemann: Das Königreich Hannover und das Herzogthum Braunschweig, 1858, p. 254
2. Carl Eduard Vehse: Geschichte der deutschen Höfe seit der Reformation, part 5, Hoffman and Campe, 1854, p. 281

External links

Media related to Hedwig of Brandenburg at Wikimedia Commons