Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate (19 November 1597 – 26 April 1660) was an Electress consort of Brandenburg as the wife of

George William, Elector of Brandenburg George William (german: Georg Wilhelm; 13 November 1595 – 1 December 1640), of the Hohenzollern dynasty, was Margrave and Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia from 1619 until his death. His reign was marked by ineffective governance durin ...

and

Duke of Prussia The monarchs of Prussia were members of the House of Hohenzollern who were the hereditary rulers of the former German state of Prussia from its founding in 1525 as the Duchy of Prussia. The Duchy had evolved out of the Teutonic Order, a Roman C ...

, and the mother of Frederick William of Brandenburg, the "Great Elector".

Biography

Elizabeth Charlotte was the daughter of

Frederick IV, Elector Palatine Frederick IV, Elector Palatine of the Rhine (german: Kurfürst Friedrich IV. von der Pfalz; 5 March 1574 – 19 September 1610), only surviving son of Louis VI, Elector Palatine and Elisabeth of Hesse, called "Frederick the Righteous" (german: ...

, and

Louise Juliana of Orange-Nassau Louise Juliana of Orange-Nassau (31 March 1576 in Delft – 15 March 1644 in Königsberg) was a countess consort of the Palatinate by marriage to Frederick IV, Elector Palatine, and took part in the regency government of her son between 1610 and ...

. Her brother

Frederick Frederick may refer to: People * Frederick (given name), the name Nobility Anhalt-Harzgerode *Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode (1613–1670) Austria * Frederick I, Duke of Austria (Babenberg), Duke of Austria from 1195 to 1198 * Frederick ...

became famous as the Elector-Palatine and "Winter King" of

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

. In 1616 Elizabeth Charlotte married George William, with whom she had three children. The marriage was arranged to unite two Protestant dynasties. In 1618, her brother's deposition from the throne of Bohemia caused the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of batt ...

. Her spouse was described as ambivalent and passive, but Charlotte ensured protection for her sibling when Brandenburg sided against

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

in the affairs of Bohemia and the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 unt ...

. At court, she favoured the

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 ...

party against the pro-Austrian party. She influenced her son to sympathize with the Protestant cause, and he came to have a great affection for his mother, closer than what was usually common during that age. She spent her last years at Crossen, where she died.

Issue

* Louise Charlotte (1617–1676), married

Jacob Kettler Jacob Kettler (german: link=no, Jakob von Kettler) (Latvian: Hercogs Jēkabs Ketlers) (28 October 1610 – 1 January 1682) was one of the greatest Baltic German Dukes of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia (1642–1682). He was intelligent, sp ...

, Duke of

Courland Courland (; lv, Kurzeme; liv, Kurāmō; German and Scandinavian languages: ''Kurland''; la, Curonia/; russian: Курляндия; Estonian: ''Kuramaa''; lt, Kuršas; pl, Kurlandia) is one of the Historical Latvian Lands in western Latvia ...

* Frederick William (1620–1688), the "Great Elector" * Hedwig Sophia (1623–1683), married

William VI, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel Wilhelm VI, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (23 May 1629 – 16 July 1663), known as William the Just, was Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel from 1637 to 1663. Life Born in Kassel, he was the son of William V (whom he succeeded) and his wife Amalie Elisabeth ...

(or Hesse-Cassel)

Ancestry

References

* Ernst Daniel Martin Kirchner: Die Kurfürstinnen und Königinnen auf dem Throne der Hohenzollern, 2. Teil: Die letzten acht Kurfürstinnen, Berlin 1867, S. 182-220 (mit Portrait Elisabeth Charlottes von der Pfalz). * Erdmannsdörfer: Elisabeth Charlotte von der Pfalz. In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Band 6, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877, S. 15 f. , - , - Elizabeth Charlotte Elizabeth Charlotte Elizabeth Charlotte 1597 births 1660 deaths Consorts of Brandenburg Elizabeth Charlotte Prussian royal consorts Electresses of Brandenburg Elizabeth Charlotte 17th-century German women 17th-century German people Burials at Berlin Cathedral {{Germany-duchess-stub