Elisabeth of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (23 February 1567 at Hessen Castle in

Hessen Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major historic cities are Da ...

– 24 October 1618 in

Otterndorf Otterndorf (; Northern Low Saxon: ''Oterndörp'') is a town on the coast of the North Sea in the federal state of Lower Saxony, Germany, and is part of the collective municipality () of Land Hadeln. The town, located in the administrative distric ...

) was a German noblewoman. She was princess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel by birth and by her first marriage Countess of Holstein-Schauenburg and then by her second marriage Duchess of Brunswick-Harburg.

Life

Elisabeth was a daughter of Duke

Julius of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel Julius may refer to: People * Julius (name), a masculine given name and surname (includes a list of people with the name) * Julius (nomen), the name of a Roman family (includes a list of Ancient Romans with the name) ** Julius Caesar (100– ...

(1528–1589) from his marriage with Hedwig (1540–1602), a daughter of Elector Joachim II of Brandenburg. In 1568,

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 ...

turned

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

, under pressure from Julius. However, the

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 ...

, Margaret of Chlum was still

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 ...

. Julius tried to have Elisabeth elected in her place. However, the Abbey's chapter refused to do so. In 1582, Julius abandoned this plan and started looking around for a suitable husband from Elisabeth. Elisabeth married for the first time on 6 May 1583 in Wolfenbütel to Count Adolph XIV of Holstein-Schauenburg (1547–1601), son of

Otto IV of Schaumburg Otto IV of Schaumburg (1517 – 21 December 1576) was a German nobleman. He was a ruling Count of Schauenburg and of Holstein-Pinneberg. He was a son of Jobst I and his wife Mary of Nassau-Siegen, a daughter of Count John V of Nassau-Si ...

. After Adolph's death, she remarried on 28 October 1604 at Harburg Castle to Duke

Christopher Christopher is the English language, English version of a Europe-wide name derived from the Greek language, Greek name Χριστόφορος (''Christophoros'' or ''Christoforos''). The constituent parts are Χριστός (''Christós''), "Jesus ...

of Brunswick-Harburg (1570–1606). He died two years later, after a fall in Harburg Castle. From 1609 to 1617, Elisabeth lived in

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...

, at the expense of the town of Harburg. In 1617, she returned to Harburg. She died a year later, in

. She was buried in

Harburg, Hamburg Harburg is a borough of the city of Hamburg, Germany. It is also the name of Harburg quarter in the borough, which used to be the capital of the Harburg district in Lower Saxony. The borough of Harburg lies on the southern banks of the river Elb ...

, next to her second husband.

Issue

From her first marriage, she had a son: * Julius (1585–1601) Her second marriage was childless.

References

* ("Historical association for Lower Saxony"): ''Archiv des Historischen Vereins fur Niedersachsen'', 1846, p. 36
Online
* ''Vaterländisches Archiv für hannoverisch-braunschweigische Geschichte'', Herold & Wahlstab, 1835, p. 40
Online
Elisabeth 16th-century German nobility 16th-century German women Duchesses in the Holy Roman Empire 1567 births 1618 deaths Elisabeth People from Harburg, Hamburg Daughters of dukes {{Germany-duchess-stub