Christine of Hesse
{{short description|16th-century German noblewoman}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}}
{{infobox royalty
| name = Christine of Hesse
| succession = Duchess consort of Holstein-Gottorp
|reign=17 December 1564 – 1 October 1586
|reign-type=Tenure
| image = Christine von Hessen painting.jpg
| house = House of Hesse
| father = Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse
| mother = Christine of Saxony
| spouse = Adolf, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp
| issue = Frederick II, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp
Sophia, Duchess of Mecklenburg
Philip, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp
Christine, Queen of Sweden
Elisabeth
Johann Adolf, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp
Anna, Countess of East Frisia
Bishop John Frederick
| birth_date = 29 June 1543
| birth_place = Kassel
| death_date = {{death date and age|1604|5|13|1543|6|29|df=yes}}
| death_place = Kiel
}}
Christine of Hesse (29 June 1543 – 13 May 1604) was Duchess consort of Holstein-Gottorp as the spouse of Duke Adolf of Holstein-Gottorp. She exerted some political influence as a widow after 1586.
Biography
Christine was born in Kassel as a daughter of Landgrave Philip I of Hesse and his spouse Christine of Saxony. She was given a strict Protestant upbringing by her aunt Elizabeth, Dowager Duchess of Saxony.
Christine received a proposal from King Eric XIV of Sweden, but this did not come about. Her wedding celebration resulted in a scandal, when the guests at the wedding reception consumed too much alcohol. In 1565, the Gottorf Castle was destroyed by fire, which cost her her personal possessions.
As duchess, Christine supported churches and schools and scholarships to poor students in theology. She was interested in medicine, and also manufactured her own medicines.
As a widow after 1586, Christine defended the rights of her son Philip against the council.
Christine composed the psalm-book Geistliche Psalmen und Lieder (1590).
Family and children
On 17 December 1564 Christine was married to Duke Adolf of Holstein-Gottorp and had the following children:
- Frederick II (21 April 1568 – 15 June 1587).
- Sophia (1 June 1569 – 14 November 1634), married on 17 February 1588 to John VII, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.
- Philip (10 August 1570 – 18 October 1590).
- Christina (13 April 1573 – 8 December 1625), married on 27 August 1592 to King Charles IX of Sweden.
- John Adolph (27 February 1575 – 31 March 1616).
- Anna (27 February 1575 – 24 April 1610), married 28 January 1598 to Count Enno III of Ostfriesland.
- Christian, died young in 1577.
- Agnes (20 December 1578 – 1627).
- John Frederick, prince-bishop of Bremen, Lübeck and Verden, (1 September 1579 – 3 September 1634).
Through her daughters Sophia and Anna, she is an ancestor of British Monarch Charles III.
Ancestors
{{ahnentafel
|collapsed=yes |align=center
|boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;
|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;
|boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;
|boxstyle_5=background-color: #9fe;
| 1= 1. Christine of Hesse
| 2= 2. Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse
| 3= 3. Christine of Saxony
| 4= 4. William II, Landgrave of Hesse
| 5= 5. Anna of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
| 6= 6. George, Duke of Saxony
| 7= 7. Barbara Jagiellon
| 8= 8. Louis II, Landgrave of Hesse
| 9= 9. Matilda of Württemberg-Urach
| 10= 10. Magnus II, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Güstrow
| 11= 11. Sophie of Pomerania-Wolgast
| 12= 12. Albert III, Duke of Saxony
| 13= 13. Sidonie of Poděbrady
| 14= 14. Casimir IV Jagiellon
| 15= 15. Elisabeth of Austria
| 16= 16. Louis I, Landgrave of Hesse
| 17= 17. Anna of Saxony
| 18= 18. Ludwig I, Count of Württemberg-Urach
| 19= 19. Mechthild of the Palatinate
| 20= 20. Henry IV, Duke of Mecklenburg
| 21= 21. Dorothea of Brandenburg
| 22= 22. Eric II, Duke of Pomerania
| 23= 23. Sophia of Pomerania-Stolp
| 24= 24. Frederick II, Elector of Saxony
| 25= 25. Margarete of Austria
| 26= 26. George of Poděbrady
| 27= 27. Kunigunde of Sternberg
| 28= 28. Władysław II Jagiełło
| 29= 29. Sophia of Halshany
| 30= 30. Albert II of Germany
| 31= 31. Elizabeth of Luxembourg
}}
External links
- {{Commons-inline}}
- {{in lang|de}} [http://mdz.bib-bvb.de/digbib/lexika/adb/images/adb004/@ebt-link?target=idmatch(entityref,adb0040220) Article in the ABD]
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{{S-hou|House of Hesse|29 June|1543|13 May|1604}}
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{{S-new|title}}
{{S-ttl|title=Duchess consort of Holstein-Gottorp|years=1564–1586}}
{{S-aft|rows=2|after=Augusta of Denmark}}
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{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Christine of Hesse}}
Category:16th-century German women writers
Category:16th-century German writers
Category:17th-century German nobility
Category:17th-century philanthropists
Category:17th-century German women
Category:Duchesses of Holstein-Gottorp
Category:German Protestant hymnwriters
Category:German philanthropists
Category:German women philanthropists
Category:House of Holstein-Gottorp
Category:Daughters of monarchs