Christiane Eberhardine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth (19 December 1671 – 4 September 1727) was

Electress An Electress (, ) was the consort of a Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire, one of the Empire's greatest princes. The Golden Bull of 1356 established by Emperor Charles IV settled the number of Electors at seven. However, three of these were ...

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a ...

from 1694 to 1727 (her death) and Queen Consort of the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, after 1791, as the Commonwealth of Poland, was a bi-confederal state, sometimes called a federation, of Crown of the Kingdom of ...

from 1697 to 1727 by marriage to

Augustus II the Strong Augustus II; german: August der Starke; lt, Augustas II; in Saxony also known as Frederick Augustus I – Friedrich August I (12 May 16701 February 1733), most commonly known as Augustus the Strong, was Elector of Saxony from 1694 as well as K ...

. Not once throughout the whole of her thirty-year queenship did she set foot in Poland, instead living in Saxony in self-imposed

exile Exile is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons and peoples suf ...

. Born a German

margravine Margrave was originally the medieval title for the military commander assigned to maintain the defence of one of the border provinces of the Holy Roman Empire or of a kingdom. That position became hereditary in certain feudal families in the Emp ...

, she was called ''Sachsens Betsäule'', "Saxony's pillar of prayer", by her

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

subjects for her refusal to convert to

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. Despite the allegiance of Christiane Eberhardine and her mother-in-law, Anna Sophie of Denmark, to

Lutheranism Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

, her husband and son, later

Augustus III Augustus III ( pl, August III Sas, lt, Augustas III; 17 October 1696 5 October 1763) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1733 until 1763, as well as Elector of Saxony in the Holy Roman Empire where he was known as Frederick Aug ...

, both became Catholics, ensuring Catholic succession in the Albertine lands after a century-and-a-half.

Biography

Early life

She was the firstborn child of

Christian Ernst, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth Christian Ernst of Brandenburg-Bayreuth (6 August 1644 in Bayreuth – 20 May 1712 in Erlangen) was a member of the House of Hohenzollern and Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth. He was the only son of Erdmann August, Hereditary Margrave (''E ...

, and his second wife, Princess Sophie Luise of Württemberg, daughter of

Eberhard III, Duke of Württemberg Eberhard III, Duke of Württemberg (16 December 1614, in Stuttgart – 2 July 1674, in Stuttgart) ruled as Duke of Württemberg from 1628 until his death in 1674. Eberhard III became the heir under guardianship in 1628 during the Thirty Years' Wa ...

. She was named for her father, Christian, and her mother's father, Eberhard. As the daughter of the Margrave of

Brandenburg-Bayreuth The Principality of Bayreuth (german: Fürstentum Bayreuth) or Margraviate of Brandenburg-Bayreuth (''Markgraftum Brandenburg-Bayreuth'') was an immediate territory of the Holy Roman Empire, ruled by a Franconian branch of the Hohenzollern dynas ...

, she was

by birth. She had five younger siblings, only two of whom survived infancy. She remained close to her relatives in Bayreuth and continued to visit them after her marriage.

Marriage and issues

She married Frederick Augustus, Duke of Saxony, the younger brother of the elector, John George IV, on 20 January 1693 at age 21. The marriage was purely political and highly unhappy. Augustus considered her boring, while she was shocked and hurt by his constant infidelity.Clarissa Campbell Orr: Queenship in Europe 1660–1815: The Role of the Consort. Cambridge University Press (2004) Three years later, on 17 October 1696, their son Frederick Augustus was born in Dresden. This was the only pregnancy in their entire 34-year-long marriage. He was brought up by his paternal grandmother, Anna Sophie of Denmark. Because Christiane Eberhardine and her mother-in-law got on well, she visited her son frequently. Christiane Eberhardine's husband converted to

to become king of Poland, but she remained faithful to her

beliefs and was not present at her husband's

coronation A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the presentation of o ...

, and was never crowned

queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

of Poland. Her Protestant countrymen named her "The Pillar of Saxony."

Queen and Electress

Christiane Eberhardine became electress when Augustus succeeded his brother as elector in 1694. In the carnival procession with which Augustus celebrated his elevation, and where the members of his court drove through Dresden dressed as gods and goddesses, the mistress of her husband,

Maria Aurora von Königsmarck Countess Maria Aurora von Königsmarck (sv: ''Aurora Königsmarck'') (28 August 166216 February 1728) was a Swedish and German noblewoman of Brandenburg extraction and mistress of Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland. Life ...

, participated in the procession, driving the wagon of Apollo dressed as the goddess Aurora, while she participated in a minor role as one of the Vestal Virgins escorting the goddess Vesta. In 1696, Christiane Eberhardine gave birth to her only child, the heir to the throne, after the only pregnancy during her entire marriage. In 1697, Augustus converted to Catholicism and was elected King of Poland. Apparently, he had discussed neither his conversion nor his candidacy with her. His conversion caused a scandal in Saxony, and he was forced to guarantee the religious freedom of Saxony. According to the contemporary norms, Christiane Eberhardine, now queen, was expected to follow him to Poland and support him by hosting his court as queen by his side and be crowned with him in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula, Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland un ...

, and from the summer of 1697 until the coronation on 15 September 1697, Augustus tried to negotiate for her to come. However, Christiane Eberhardine refused to attend the coronation and to set foot in Poland despite the fact that her father also united with Augustus in persuading her. According to the

Pacta Conventa ''Pacta conventa'' (Latin for "articles of agreement") was a contractual agreement, from 1573 to 1764 entered into between the "Polish nation" (i.e., the szlachta (nobility) of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth) and a newly elected king upon ...

, which Augustus had signed after his election, he was obliged to persuade her to convert, which she refused. In March 1698, Augustus invited her to come to Danzig, where there was a large Protestant minority and where her father was to meet her. He promised her the freedom to remain a Protestant, bring with her a Protestant clergyman and practice her own faith, as long as the clergyman did not appear in public dressed in office and she did not visit Protestant churches in public. Augustus further guaranteed that their son would not convert by entrusting him to the care of his Protestant mother, Dowager Electress Anna Sophie. Christiane Eberhardine did not agree with the terms and refused to follow her father to Danzig and therefrom to Warsaw. On April 1698, her spouse and father signed a document in Warsaw, promising freedom of religion for her in Danzig and Thorn, though not publicly. Her father then returned with the document to Dresden and tried to convince her to come to Poland. Despite repeated attempts and demands from her husband and father, Christiane Eberhardine refused to go to Poland, and she never did during the entire reign of Augustus, nor was she ever crowned queen. During his reign, Augustus traveled between Poland and Saxony, and during his visits in Saxony, Christiane Eberhardine appeared at his side at official functions, such as when he returned to Saxony after his election in Dresden in August 1699, when they appeared at the theater. Often, however, they did not meet for years at a time, such as for example in 1700–1703 and 1714–1717, when he spent all his time in Poland. Augustus visited her at Pretzsch every year he traveled to Dresden. Queen Christiane Eberhardine lived separated from her spouse with her own court in Hartenfels Castle in

Torgau Torgau () is a town on the banks of the Elbe in northwestern Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district Nordsachsen. Outside Germany, the town is best known as where on 25 April 1945, the United States and Soviet Armies forces fi ...

in winters and in her castle at Pretzsch an der Elbe in the summers, which was close to the residence of her mother-in-law, who also had the custody of her son, whom she often visited, as she and her mother-in-law was on friendly terms. She made trips to her relatives in Bayreuth and the spa at Ems and regularly visited Dresden during the carnival season and Christmas. Christiane Eberhardine continued to participate in representational court life in Dresden whenever her presence was required, the biggest festivities being the state visit of the King of Denmark in 1709 and the wedding of her son in 1719. In her voluntary exile she concentrated on cultural activities and took interest in the faith of orphaned children. At her court, she took many relatives as courtiers to educate them, among them Charlotte of Braunschweig, who married the Russian heir to the throne, Sophie Magdalene who married the Crown Prince of Denmark and Sophie Caroline who married the Prince of Ostfriesland. She was also active in the field of

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics anal ...

; in 1697 she took over operation of the glass factory in Pretzsch, founded by Constantin Fremel. She enjoyed to play cards and billiards, which is noted to have amassed great debts by 1711. She founded an orangery and during the last year of her life she was in the midst of planning a Protestant convent for female nobles. Queen Christiane Eberhardine, as did her mother-in-law, enjoyed immense popularity in Saxony as a symbol of Protestant faith and protection against Catholic Poland, which the Protestants feared would enforce a counter reformation. In this role, Protestant preachers liked to portray her as a miserable Protestant martyr, isolated as a virtual prisoner in her lonely castle, a portrait even more accentuated after her son had been taken from Saxony and converted to Catholicism. Christiane Eberhardine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth died at the age of 55 and was buried on 6 September in the parish church of Pretzsch. Neither her husband nor her son were present at the funeral. In commemoration of her death,

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...

composed the cantata ''

Laß, Fürstin, laß noch einen Strahl, BWV 198 ''Laß, Fürstin, laß noch einen Strahl'' (Let, Princess, let still one more glance) is a secular cantata composed as a funeral ode by Johann Sebastian Bach, first performed on 17 October 1727. In Wolfgang Schmieder's catalogue of Bach's works ...

'', to a text of

Johann Christoph Gottsched Johann Christoph Gottsched (2 February 1700 – 12 December 1766) was a German philosopher, author and critic of the Enlightenment. Biography Early life He was born at Juditten (Mendeleyevo) near Königsberg (Kaliningrad), Brandenburg-Pr ...

, first performed on 15 October 1727 in the Paulinerkirche, the church of the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December ...

Ancestry

References

Sources

*Watanabe-O'Kelly, Helen. "Enlightenment, Emancipation, and the Queen Consort." ''Enlightenment and Emancipation''. Ed. Susan Manning and Peter France. Lewisburg, Pa.: Bucknell UP, 2006. 119–25. Print.