Elisabeth of Saxony
{{Short description|Saxon princess}}
{{No footnotes|date=May 2024}}
{{ infobox nobility
| name = Elisabeth of Saxony
| image = Lucas Cranach the Younger - Portrait of Princess Elisabeth of Saxony - Google Art Project.jpg
| caption =
| noble family = House of Wettin
| father = August, Elector of Saxony
| mother = Anna of Denmark
| spouse = John Casimir of the Palatinate-Simmern
| issue = Countess Palatine Dorothea of Simmern
| issue-link = #Marriage and issue
| birth_date = {{birth_date|1552|10|18|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Wolkenstein Castle in Wolkenstein
| death_date = {{death date and age|1590|4|2|1552|10|18|df=yes}}
| death_place = Heidelberg
}}
Elisabeth of Saxony (18 October 1552, at Wolkenstein Castle in Wolkenstein – 2 April 1590, in Heidelberg) was a Saxon princess, and Countess Palatine of Simmern by marriage to John Casimir of the Palatinate-Simmern.
Life
Elisabeth was a daughter of the Elector August of Saxony (1526–1586) from his marriage to Anna (1532–1585), daughter of King Christian III of Denmark.
She married on 4 June 1570 in Heidelberg during the Diet of Speyer with Count Palatine John Casimir of Simmern (1543–1592). August opposed the policies of John Casimir, who was a Calvinist and friendly to France. With this marriage, August hoped to woo John Casimir over to the Lutheran side. However, he did not succeed. The Catholics in Germany regarded the marriage as a provocation against the Habsburg dynasty and an attempt to form a united Protestant front.
The Calvinist Johann Casimir tried to break the religious opposition of his Lutheran wife. In October 1585, she was arrested and accused of adultery and a murder plot against her husband. Even her brother, Elector Christian I, was convinced of her guilt. She converted to Calvinism while in captivity, and died shortly afterwards.
Marriage and issue
From her marriage with John Casimir, Elizabeth had the following children:
- Unnamed son (1573)
- Marie (1576–1577)
- Elisabeth (1578–1580)
- Dorothea (1581–1631), married in 1595 Prince John George I of Anhalt-Dessau (1598–1618)
- Unnamed daughter (1584)
- Unnamed daughter (1585)
Ancestors
{{ahnentafel
|collapsed=yes |align=center
|boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;
|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;
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|boxstyle_5=background-color: #9fe;
| 1= 1. Elisabeth of Saxony
| 2= 2. August, Elector of Saxony (1526–1586)
| 3= 3. Anne of Denmark, Electress of Saxony (1532–1585)
| 4= 4. Henry IV, Duke of Saxony (1473–1541)
| 5= 5. Catherine of Mecklenburg (1487–1561)
| 6= 6. King Christian III of Denmark (1503–1559)
| 7= 7. Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg (1511–1571)
| 8= 8. Albert III, Duke of Saxony (1443–1500)
| 9= 9. Sidonie of Poděbrady (1449–1510)
| 10= 10. Magnus II, Duke of Mecklenburg (1441–1503)
| 11= 11. Sophie of Pomerania, Duchess of Mecklenburg (1460–1504)
| 12= 12. King Frederick I of Denmark (1471–1533)
| 13= 13. Anna of Brandenburg (1487–1514)
| 14= 14. Magnus I, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg (1470–1543)
| 15= 15. Catherine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Duchess of Saxe-Lauenburg (1488–1563)
}}
Royal descendants
- The current reigning monarchs King Charles III of the United Kingdom, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, King Juan Carlos I of Spain, King Harald V of Norway, Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, King Albert II of Belgium and Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg are all her direct-line descendants.
References
- {{De-ADB|6|7|8|Elisabeth (Pfalzgräfin bei Rhein)|August von Kluckhohn|ADB:Elisabeth (Pfalzgräfin bei Rhein)}}
- {{De-ADB|14|307|314|Johann Casimir, Pfalzgraf bei Rhein|Friedrich von Bezold|ADB:Johann Casimir (Pfalzgraf bei Rhein)}}
- Karl von Weber: [https://books.google.com/books?id=2lwAAAAAcAAJ&dq=Elisabeth+Sachsen+Johann+Kasimir+Simmern&pg=PA215 Archiv für die sächsische Geschichte, p. 215]
- Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften: Die letzten Jahre der Pfalzgräfin Elisabeth, Proceedings of the III Cl., 1873, 1879
- {{cite book |first=Hans-Joachim |last=Böttcher |title=Elisabeth von Sachsen und Johann Kasimir von der Pfalz: Ein Ehe- und Religionskonflikt |trans-title=Elisabeth of Saxony and John Casimir of the Palatinate: A Marital and Religious Conflict |publisher=Dresdner Buchverlag |location=Dresden |date=2018 |isbn=9783946906063 |language=de}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:House of Palatinate-Simmern
Category:16th-century German nobility
Category:16th-century German women
Category:Burials at the Church of the Holy Spirit, Heidelberg