Hedwig of Hesse-Kassel | |
|---|---|
 Hedwig of Hesse-Kassel, Princess of Schaumburg, painting from 1612 by Johannes Rottenhammer | |
| Born | 30 June 1569 Kassel |
| Died | 7 July 1644 (aged 75) Hagen |
| Noble family | House of Hesse |
| Spouse(s) | Ernst of Schaumburg |
| Father | William IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel |
| Mother | Sabine of Württemberg |
Hedwig of Hesse-Kassel (born 30 June 1569 in Kassel; died: 7 July 1644 in Hagen) was a princess of Hesse-Kassel by birth and by marriage a Countess of Schaumburg.
Hedwig was a daughter of Landgrave William IV of Hesse-Kassel (1532–1592) from his marriage to Sabine (1549–1581), a daughter of Duke Christopher of Württemberg.
She married on 11 September 1597 at Wilhelmsburg Castle in Schmalkalden with Count Ernst of Schaumburg (1569–1622). When Hedwig was engaged in 1593, Hedwig's brother Maurice had made it a condition that Ernst would share the government of Schaumburg with his half-brother Adolph. In 1559, Schaumburg was divided by the Treaty of Minden, and Ernst received Lower Schaumburg, consisting of the districts Sachsenhagen, Hagenburg and Bokeloh.
Hedwig and Ernst initially lived at the available castle in Sachsenhagen, and extended it to a palace; Ernst later moved his seat of government to Bückeburg. Ernst died in 1627. Hedwig constructed a Princely Mausoleum in the St.-Martini Church in Stadthagen.
Their marriage remained childless. Hedwig received the city and district of Stadthagen as her wittum. She possessed a Hessian bond of 100000thaler without interest. She gave her nephew William V an annual pension and later bequeathed her bond and all her dower rights to the county of Schaumburg to his widow, Landgravine Amalie Elisabeth, whom she also appointed executrix of her last will and testament.
Hedwig died in 1644 and was buried in the Princely Mausoleum in the St.-Martini Church in Stadthagen, next to her husband. An epitaph above her grave reads: There is no other, holier decision of widowhood, than to pass down to the living that which was entrusted by the last will and to guard it, when it is realized.
The House of Hesse is a European dynasty, directly descended from the House of Brabant. They ruled the region of Hesse, one branch as prince-electors until 1866, and another branch as grand dukes until 1918.
William IV of Hesse-Kassel, also called William the Wise, was the first Landgrave of the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel. He was the founder of the oldest line, which survives to this day.
Rodenberg is a town in the district of Schaumburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the northwestern edge of the Deister hills, approx. 10 km east of Stadthagen, and 27 km west of Hanover.
Ernst of Schaumburg was the first Count of Schauenburg and Holstein-Pinneberg to earn the title of Prince in 1619. However, he died in 1622 without an heir. Schauenburg-Pinneberg had been a Lutheran region since his father Otto IV of Schaumburg had been won over to Martin Luther's teachings. After Ernst's death, a Catholic Count, Jobst Hermann, received a portion of Schauenburg but he also died without children, and Otto V, who was a Calvinist, succeeded Ernst.
Charlotte of Hesse-Kassel, was a German princess of the House of Hesse-Kassel and by marriage Electress Palatine during 1650–1657 as the first wife of Charles I Louis, although the validity of the divorce was disputed. Through her daughter Elisabeth Charlotte, Duchess of Orléans, she was the direct ancestress of House of Orléans and the Houses of Habsburg-Lorraine and Habsburg-Este.
The County of Schaumburg, until ca. 1485 known as Schauenburg, was a state of the Holy Roman Empire, located in the present German state of Lower Saxony. Its territory was more or less congruent with the present district Landkreis Schaumburg.
Frederick William I was, between 1847 and 1866, the last Prince-elector of Hesse-Kassel.
Juliane of Hesse-Philippsthal, was a countess of Schaumburg-Lippe, married in 1780 to Count Philip II, Count of Schaumburg-Lippe. She served as the regent of Schaumburg-Lippe during the minority of her son from 1787 to 1799.
Sabine of Württemberg was a princess of Württemberg by birth and by marriage, the first Landgravine of Hesse-Kassel.
Anna Maria of Hesse-Kassel was a princess of Hesse-Kassel by birth and by marriage Countess of Nassau-Saarbrücken.
Sophie of Hesse-Kassel was a princess of Hesse-Kassel by birth and by marriage Countess of Schaumburg-Lippe.
Magdalena of Lippe was a German noblewoman. She was a Countess of Lippe by birth. By her marriage to George I, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt she was the first Landgravine of Hesse-Darmstadt.
Countess Juliane of Nassau-Siegen, German: Juliana Gräfin von Nassau-Siegen, official titles: Gräfin zu Nassau, Katzenelnbogen, Vianden und Diez, Frau zu Beilstein, was a countess from the House of Nassau-Siegen, a cadet branch of the Ottonian Line of the House of Nassau, and through marriage landgravine of Hesse-Kassel.
Anna of Hesse was a princess of Hesse by birth and marriage Countess Palatine of Zweibrücken.
Countess Emilie of Reichenbach-Lessonitz née Ortlöpp was the mistress and later second wife of Elector William II of Hesse.
Louise Elisabeth of Courland was Landgravine of Hesse-Homburg by marriage to Frederick II, Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg.
Sophie or Sophia Hedwig of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel was a princess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel by birth and by marriage a Duchess of Pomerania-Wolgast.
Princess Charlotte Wilhelmine of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld was a German princess by birth and Countess of Hanau-Münzenberg by marriage.
The Mausoleum of Prince Ernst in Stadthagen, Lower Saxony, is a mausoleum erected by Ernst of Schaumburg and his widow Hedwig of Hesse-Kassel in the years 1620–1627. Its unusual architecture and the resurrection monument by Adrian de Vries make it a site of European rank. The crypt was used as burial place of the House of Schaumburg and the House of Schaumburg-Lippe until 1915.
The Hessian War, in its wider sense sometimes also called the Hessian Wars (Hessenkriege), was a drawn out conflict that took place between 1567 and 1648, sometimes pursued through diplomatic means, sometimes by military force, between branches of the princely House of Hesse, particularly between the Landgraviate of Hesse-Cassel and the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt. It was triggered by a division of inheritance following the death of the last landgrave of all Hesse, Philip I in 1567.
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