Countess Anna Charlotte Dorothea von Medem (3 February 1761 – 20 August 1821) was born a Gräfin (Countess) of the nobleBaltic GermanMedem family and later became Duchess of Courland. Popularly known as Dorothea of Courland after her marriage to Peter von Biron, the last Duke of Courland, she hosted an aristocraticsalon in Berlin and performed various diplomatic duties on behalf of her estranged husband. She would spend the rest of her life in her estate in Löbichgau, where she would invite and host many important political and cultural figures of the time and make many acquaintances, ranging from Goethe over Napoleon I of France to Talleyrand, the latter of whom she was reportedly very close.
On 6 November 1779, eighteen-year-old Dorothea became the third wife of the 55-year-old, childless Duke Peter von Biron, son of the famous Ernst Johann von Biron. The couple had six children, two of whom died in infancy. The four surviving children were all daughters; however, the youngest one, Dorothea, was probably not fathered by; although recognized by the Duke.
Dorothea was welcomed into the highest social circles thanks to her new status as duchess as well as her beauty. Because her husband was preoccupied with political difficulties at home involving his overlord the King of Poland and the Courland nobility, he frequently sent her on diplomatic missions to Warsaw, lasting months at a time, and to Berlin, Karlovy Vary, and Saint Petersburg for shorter periods. During these long absences Dorothea became alienated from her husband and had numerous love affairs with other men, including Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt, Talleyrand, and the Polish nobleman, Count Alexander Benedykt Batowski, who allegedly fathered her fourth daughter, born in 1793. After the year she gave birth to her daughter, also named Dorothea (whom her husband nevertheless acknowledged as his own), the Duchess moved permanently to the Palais Kurland in Berlin, where she held an aristocratic salon.
Upon her youngest daughter Dorothea's marriage to Talleyrand's nephew, Edmond de Talleyrand-Périgord, in 1809, the duchess moved to Paris, having an intense relationship with Talleyrand and influenced him to turn against Napoleon. In 1814 she traveled to the Congress of Vienna to confront him about his alleged love affair with her daughter Dorothea. A few years after her death at Löbichau in 1821, the Duchess' body was moved from her place of death to the family vault at Sagan where her husband was buried in 1800.
Philip Ziegler: Die Herzogin von Dino, Talleyrands letzte Vertraute. München 1965
Clemens Brühl: Die Sagan. Berlin 1941
Sabine und Klaus Hofmann: Zwischen Metternich und Talleyrand. Der Musenhof der Herzogin von Kurland im Schloss zu Löbichau. Museum Burg Posterstein, 2004
↑ Cecilia af Klercker (1936). Hedvig Elisabeth Charlottas dagbok VII 1800–1806 (The diaries of Hedvig Elizabeth Charlotte VIII 1800–1806) (in Swedish). P.A. Norstedt & Söners förlag Stockholm. pp.270–271. 362103.
Jelgava is a state city in central Latvia. It is located about 41 kilometres southwest of Riga. It is the largest town in the region of Zemgale (Semigalia). Jelgava was the capital of the united Duchy of Courland and Semigallia (1578–1795) and was the administrative center of the Courland Governorate (1795–1918).
Peter von Biron was the last duke of Courland and Semigallia from 1769 to 1795, when it was annexed by the Russian Empire.
Katharina Friederike Wilhelmine Benigna, Princess of Courland, Duchess of Sagan ; died 29 November 1839 in Vienna, Austrian Empire) was a German noble from the ruling family of Courland and Semigallia and a Duchess of Sagan. Wilhelmine is mainly known for her relationship with Klemens Metternich, a statesman of the Austrian Empire.
Dorothea von Biron, Princess of Courland, Duchess of Dino, Duchess of Talleyrand and Duchess of Sagan, known as Dorothée de Courlande or Dorothée de Dino, was a Baltic German noblewoman, and the ruling Duchess of Sagan between 1845 and 1862. Her mother was Dorothea von Medem, Duchess of Courland, and although her mother's husband, Duke Peter von Biron, acknowledged her as his own, her true father may have been the Polish statesman Count Aleksander Batowski. For a long time, she accompanied the French statesman Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord; she was the separated wife of his nephew, Edmond de Talleyrand-Périgord.
Edmond de Talleyrand-Périgord, 2nd Duke of Talleyrand, 2nd Duke of Dino, was a French general of the Napoleonic Wars.
Elisabeth "Elisa" Charlotte Constanzia von der Recke was a Baltic German writer and poet.
Charles Guillaume Frédéric Boson de Talleyrand-Périgord, prince of Sagan, duke of Sagan and duke of Talleyrand was a famous French dandy, and the grandson of Dorothea von Biron.
Luise Pauline Maria Biron, Princess of Courland, Duchess of Sagan was the Duchess Regnant of Sagan between 1838 and 1845. She was Princess consort of Hohenzollern-Hechingen by marriage to Friedrich Hermann Otto, Prince of Hohenzollern-Hechingen.
Jaunauce Manor is a manor house in Jaunauce parish in Saldus municipality in the historical region of Courland, in western Latvia.
The Duchy of Żagań or Duchy of Sagan was one of the duchies of Silesia ruled by the Silesian Piasts. Its capital was Żagań in Lower Silesia, the territory stretched to the town of Nowogród Bobrzański in the north and reached the Lusatian Neisse at Przewóz in the west, including two villages beyond the river.
Henri Louis de Rohan, Prince of Guéméné, was a French courtier and the penultimate Grand Chamberlain of France.
Elisabeth Sophie of Brandenburg, was a Duchess consort of Courland by marriage to Duke Frederick Casimir Kettler of Courland, a Margravine consort of Brandenburg-Bayreuth by marriage to Christian Ernst, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, and a Duchess consort of Saxe-Meiningen by marriage to Ernst Ludwig I, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen. She was joint regent in Courland during the minority of her son Frederick William, Duke of Courland from 1698 until 1701.
Princess Maria Amalia of Courland was a Landgravine of Hesse-Kassel by her marriage to Charles I, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel. She was a daughter of Jacob Kettler, Duke of Courland and Semigallia and Margravine Louise Charlotte of Brandenburg. Her eldest son was King Frederick I of Sweden. One of her daughters was the most recent common ancestor of all the currently reigning monarchs of Europe from 1939 to 1941 and 1943 to 2022.
Louise Elisabeth of Courland was Landgravine of Hesse-Homburg by marriage to Frederick II, Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg.
Friedrich Gabriel Sulzer was a German physician from Gotha, Thuringia.
Count Christoph Johann Friedrich von Medem was a nobleman from Courland and courtier in the courts of Prussian kings Frederick the Great, Frederick William II and Emperor of Russia Paul I. His sisters were poet Elisa von der Recke and last Duchess of Courland, Dorothea von Medem.
Napoléon-Louis de Talleyrand-Périgord, duc de Valençay, 3rd duc de Talleyrand-Périgord was a French aristocrat, soldier and politician.
The House of Biron is the name of the Baltic German aristocratic family which was the ruling family of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia. The family also enjoyed privileges and influence during the times of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and in the Russian Empire.
The von Vladimiroff family are a cadet branch of the von Biron family, the last rulers of the Duchy of Courland and Semigalia. The family was founded by Neo-Aleksandr I von Valdimiroff, the issue of Yevdokiya Yusupova and Peter von Biron, although the pair officially had no children. As Peter von Biron's first child, many view Neo-Aleksandr I von Vladimiroff and the family as the rightful inheritors of his estate. The faction are the last known pretenders to the Duchy of Courland and Semigalia.
Johanna Katharina von Biron, Princess of Courland and Duchess of Acerenza was a German princess from the ruling family of Courland and Semigallia and a Duchess of Acerenza as the third daughter of Peter von Biron and Dorothea von Medem and the wife of Prince Francis Pignatelli Belmonte, Duke of Acerenza, she was mainly known for a scandalous relationship with Arnoldi, a musician from Italy.
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