Sophie Marie of Hesse-Darmstadt (7 May 1661 – 22 August 1712) was a member of the

House of Hesse The House of Hesse is a European dynasty, directly descended from the House of Reginar, House of Brabant. They ruled the region of Hesse, one branch as prince-electors until 1866, and another branch as grand dukes until 1918.Burke's Peerage, Bur ...

and by marriage Duchess of

Saxe-Eisenberg The Duchy of Saxe-Eisenberg was one of the Saxon Duchies held by the Ernestine line of the House of Wettin. History Established in 1680 for Christian, fifth son of Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha, the Duchy consisted of Eisenberg and the towns ...

Life

Sophie Marie was born in

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the ...

, a daughter of Count Louis VI of Hesse-Darmstadt (1630–1678) from his marriage to Maria Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp (1634–1665), a daughter of Duke Frederick III of Holstein-Gottorp. On 9 February 1681 in Darmstadt, she married Duke Christian of Saxe-Eisenberg. At the time, he was a widower and father of a daughter. He had become the first Duke of Saxe-Eisenberg when

Saxe-Gotha Saxe-Gotha () was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine duchies, Ernestine branch of the House of Wettin, Wettin dynasty in the former Landgraviate of Thuringia. The ducal residence was erected at Gotha (town), Gotha. History The duch ...

had been divided by Christian and his six brothers the year before. They had no children and Christian died without leaving an heir. A dispute erupted among the remaining brothers and their descendants about he inheritance of Saxe-Eisenberg. The Duchess was described as a very hard-working housewife, with a particular fondness for spinning. Disguised as an ordinary woman, she supplied local merchants with wool and yarn. She died in

Gotha Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine Wettins from 1640 until the ...

Notes

References

Johann Georg Theodor Grässe Johann Georg Theodor Grässe (also Graesse; 31 January 1814 – 27 August 1885) was a German bibliographer and literary historian. He worked in Dresden at the Münzkabinett The Münzkabinett (English: Numismatic Cabinet) is part of the Staatlich ...

: ''The lore of the Kingdom of Saxony'', Volume 2, Dresden 1874, p. 323-325. , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Hesse-Darmstadt, Sophie Marie Of Sophie Marie 1661 births 1712 deaths Daughters of monarchs Duchesses in the Holy Roman Empire