Anna of Saxony (1544–1577)
Anna of Saxony (* December 23, 1544 in Dresden , † December 18, 1577 ibid) was the daughter of Elector Moritz von Sachsen and Agnes von Hessen and the second wife of Wilhelm von Oranien .
In 1561 Anna married the Prince of Orange from Nassau-Dillenburg , the wealthiest and most influential noblewoman in the Netherlands, and moved with him to Breda Castle. The connection between Anna and Wilhelm developed into the "princely marriage tragedy of the 16th century" (Hans Kruse).
After the couple had to flee to Dillenburg from the Netherlands to Dillenburg from persecution by the Duke of Alba and his blood councilor in 1567 and Anna began an affair with Jan Rubens , the father of the painter Peter Paul Rubens , the marriage finally broke up after several previous crises.
Anna spent the years from 1571 to 1575 under house arrest at the castles of Siegen and Beilstein because of her adultery with Jan Rubens, from whom she also had a child, increasingly marked by mental and physical illness.
When Wilhelm von Oranien divorced Anna in 1575 and remarried, her uncle, Elector August, brought his former foster child Anna back to Saxony. In 1577 she died in Dresden, locked in two rooms of the castle, seriously ill mentally and physically, of internal bleeding.
Current interest
Since the beginning of the 21st century there has been a strong resurgence of interest in Anna von Sachsen, not only - naturally - in the Nassau Annals , in which two essays based on the analysis of extensive source material on individual aspects of her life and marriage were published in 2005 and 2007 .
Four biographies have been published since 2008, two in Germany, one in the USA by the historian Ingrun Mann and one in Amsterdam by the Dutch historian Femke Deen.
Representatives of the Saxon nobility intervened in the discussions about a re-evaluation of the princess. Elmira von Sachsen, wife of Albert von Sachsen (1934–2012), who died in 2012 , drew the conclusion, probably not shared by many historians, from the findings of the biography written by Hans-Joachim Böttcher in 2013, "that Anna - had she been born a boy - ( ...) reaching for the German imperial, at least the royal crown ”would have been possible and“ the history of Saxony and Germany, perhaps even Europe, would then have been different. ”
The magazine “BUNTE” also thought it recognized the current relevance of Anna von Sachsen, but with a completely different insight-guiding interest than the course of European history: In 2016, the paper explained to its readers in the series “Royals Worldwide” the “passionate sex affair” “By Anna with Jan Rubens and their cruel consequences. The Saxon princess was stylized as an early protagonist of female sexual self-determination.
Ingrun Mann, however, warned in the biography Anna of Saxony. The Scarlet Lady of Orange is about to make Anna von Sachsen an icon ("poster-child") of the women's movement. On the one hand, she was brave and strong and openly questioned the sexual double standards prevailing at the time. On the other hand, she treated people of the lower class with repulsive arrogance and beat her servants and maidservants bloody.
Similar to Ingrun Mann, Femke Deen also sees Anna von Sachsen as “an intelligent and courageous woman” who, however, did not manage to deal with the “limits, norms and conventions” that applied to women at the time.
childhood
Anna von Sachsen's childhood years were characterized by indescribable luxury. The castles in Dresden and Moritzburg were among the wealthiest residences in Europe and an army of servants looked after little Anna. At the age of 6 she already had her own court . That she was the only child of her parents must have reinforced her privileged position in her own sense.
Ingrun Mann, a historian teaching at the University of Arizona, sees the lavish splendor of these childhood experiences, when Anna probably believed that she also belonged to the sphere of the demigods decorating the walls, a key to understanding her later life:
"That was an unhealthy, but stubborn, conviction that stuck with Anna for most of her life - even when things were worst for her and her modesty would have been better suited to face."
The first stroke of fate came when Anna's father died in the battle of Sievershausen in 1553 . Anna's mother married Johann Friedrich II of Saxony in 1555 . His residence in Weimar did not display quite the splendor that Anna was used to before. But an unusually friendly stepfather.
Six months later, in November 1555, their mother Agnes also died. The orphan, who was badly hit by this , was brought back to his court in Dresden by her father's brother, Elector August von Sachsen . There, at the age of 11, she came into the care of her foster mother Anna of Denmark , who had married August in 1548.
Anna of Denmark was a woman of irrepressible energy and drive, but also of great severity, towards others as well as against herself. She left 25,000 letters, revolutionized agriculture and was known and sought after all over Europe as a medicine and medicine expert - a talent of the century.
The characters who clashed with aunt and foster daughter couldn't have been more different. The reasons for the conflicts that flare up are seen differently in literature, sometimes one sees Anna as a child who was "difficult to bring up" and "eccentric", sometimes the strict Lutheran upbringing that encountered a traumatized and fragile child is cited. However, there are no indications in the sources that Anna was treated with a particular "cruelty".
Home education included Bible studies, reading, writing, and arithmetic, as well as various handicrafts. Music and dance, with which she was later confronted at the court of William of Orange, were probably not one of them. However, Anna probably had access to the extensive libraries of her foster parents, which August also included works such as Amadis von Gaul's chivalric novels, which would later play a role. And for all the strictly morally strict upbringing, there were enough amusements in court life such as excursions and theater performances.
Anna, however, was unable to submit to the regent and perhaps even benefit from her, but instead took the path of bitter hostility - as so often in her later life.
The search for a groom
Anna was a wealthy heiress and came from one of the most powerful royal houses in the empire. Only high-ranking applicants were considered possible spouses.
In 1556 a first marriage project with Erik , son of the Swedish King Gustav Wasa , failed, but probably more for political reasons on the part of the Swedes. The talks, which Anna's uncle August led in particular, were initially unsuccessful with some other candidates.
Anna's chances were limited by the fact that people at the European courts knew her “great mind”, but were also informed about her stubbornness and her temper. In addition, she had a poor appearance and a disability (possibly a deformed shoulder or hip). She is "an awkward body".
Their low attractiveness led to problems in the search for a groom, since it was difficult to create a suitable portrait on its own, as it was then presented to the candidates in question for advertising. Sometimes the elector found her to be “too pretty and smooth” in a painting, sometimes the picture was uglier than the person portrayed. The artist so scolded was after all Lucas Cranach the Younger .
William of Orange
Then William of Orange appeared on the scene.
Wilhelm had an extraordinarily happy marriage with his first wife Anna von Egmont . Marriage connections in the high nobility were principally concluded for reasons of securing and expanding power and prestige and were comparable to contracts between “states”, since the marriage could also establish mutual inheritance claims up to and including sovereign rights over the entire territory.
As letters from both spouses show, however, a loving and respectful relationship had developed between Oranien and Anna von Egmont. Anna von Egmont's early death on March 24, 1558 was next to the death of his mother Juliana von Stolberg 22 years later one of the most shocking events in the life of William of Orange.
What were the motives of the future spouses, the Prince of Orange and the Saxon princess?
According to all historians, the quite ample dowry from Anna of Saxony played a not inconsiderable role for William of Orange. What was decisive, however, was the prospect of a connection with the two influential principalities of Saxony and Hesse.
Anna herself must have had certain doubts after the first meeting with Wilhelm, but also fell in love so much that she wrote:
"He's a black traitor, but I don't have a vein in my body that doesn't love him dearly."
He was also a good match for a princess who “could even have married a king”, as she later complained bitterly. As lord of Orange (the county of Orange in the south of France ) he was a sovereign prince and one of the wealthiest aristocrats in the rich Netherlands.
When the plans became known, there was fierce opposition from almost all quarters. The reason: Although Wilhelm grew up Lutheran at first, he was raised Catholic after he moved to the Netherlands at the age of 12. Anna's uncle, Elector August von Sachsen, and her grandfather, Landgrave Philipp von Hessen, did not want the then 16-year-old princess to fall into the hands of the " papists ". And on the other hand, the advisers of Philip II declared that Catholics were forbidden to marry " heretics ".
Another problem was the fact that Wilhelm already had a son from his marriage to Anna von Egmont who was entitled to inherit from children with Anna von Sachsen.
Nevertheless, after long negotiations, Wilhelm achieved his goal with great determination and tactical skill. In doing so, he did not shy away from explaining to both the Lutheran and the Catholic side his ties to their respective denominations. He assured the bride that she would practice her Lutheran religion undisturbed (which was also observed).
To this day, critics see “opportunism” in this, while more sympathetic historians want to recognize a “brilliant diplomatic game” or Wilhelm's often proven aversion to denominational dogmatism.
100,000 thalers
On June 2, 1561, the marriage contract was concluded in Torgau . Anna's dowry was 100,000 thalers . That was an unusual sum even for the nobility. For comparison: The annual income of Wilhelm was estimated at around 200,000 guilders, i.e. twice the dowry.
The 100,000 thalers have been cited in publications such as that of Hans-Joachim Böttcher (“huge dowry”) as a particularly strong motivation for Wilhelm.
However, considerable consideration had to be provided for this sum. Anna herself waived all claims in Saxony that neither her husband nor her children could assert.
In the event of his death, Wilhelm had to guarantee Anna an annual cash income of 12,500 thalers from his estates in the Netherlands. As a guarantor for this he had to name his brothers, whereas Johann VI. von Nassau-Dillenburg initially offered fierce resistance, as he feared that it would be difficult to raise the burden on his county. But Saxony insisted. In addition, Anna was to receive the Nassau counties of Diez or Hadamar together with part of her income as a widow's residence.
The wedding
The wedding between Wilhelm of Orange and Anna of Saxony took place on August 24, 1561 in Leipzig . The festivities lasted a week and overshadowed everything that had been seen in the middle of the empire. 5500 guests were entertained with food and drink, games, theater, fireworks, music and competitions. Only Wilhelm himself had "arrived with an escort of over 1000 horses".
Even before the wedding, Wilhelm had to promise again in a small group that he would allow his wife to practice the Lutheran religion.
A traditional conversation between the Electress of Saxony and Wilhelm gives an indication of future problems. Anna's foster mother asked Wilhelm to encourage his wife “to fear God and to live a Christian life”. Orange is said to have replied
“That he did not want to trouble the princess with such melancholy things, but that instead of the holy scriptures she wanted to read the Amadis of Gaul and the like entertaining books that dealt de amore, and instead of knitting and sewing a Galliard wanted to learn to dance and the like Kourtoisie more like those customary and decent in the country. "
On September 1, 1561, Wilhelm von Oranien and his young wife started their journey to the Netherlands via Dillenburg .
Breda
The marriage seemed fortunate at first and was fruitful with five children, three of whom reached adulthood.
The prince tried to help Anna find herself at Breda Castle and involve her in the activities of court life. That was precisely what was important to him because he believed he had discovered a "tendency to melancholy" in his wife.
Increasingly, however, Wilhelm was kept away from home by political commitments, as tensions between the Netherlands and the Spanish king increased. Philip II was about to rob the provinces in the northwest of his empire of their independence and to introduce the Inquisition . Spanish elite troops have already been sent to the Netherlands and Protestants have been publicly executed.
Anna, on the other hand, had just lost her first child and felt neglected by the prince. This may have resumed his extramarital contact with Barbara von Live.
The first discrepancies between the married couple became unmistakable, whereupon Anna was repeatedly admonished by her relatives in Saxony and Hesse to behave well towards her husband. Anna gave in at first. In a letter dated June 18, 1563, she thanked the Electress for warning her to beware of anger and cursing. Her “childlike, heartfelt gentleman” (Wilhelm) “loves her too much” to speak seriously with her. In June 1565 she wrote that she would rather "be dead" than bring shame on her relatives.
Anna's letters soon revealed that she suffered from loneliness. She felt that she was not treated according to her rank by the Dutch nobility. Her Saxon ladies-in-waiting, who were only obliged for six months anyway, had left her quickly, sometimes after four weeks, because they could not cope with "a number of the customs of the Netherlands", "especially not wanting to be kissed". Anna often asked her relatives from Saxony and Hesse to visit her with “pleading bitches”. In the meantime they only sent their councils, which above all had admonitions to them.
The dispute continued to escalate. Worse still, “the shouting” about “indignation and misunderstanding” between the married couple became public and was the talk of the day in the courts of the empire.
The disagreements went so far that Anna violently insulted and cursed her husband and "his gender" (Nassau) in front of high-ranking guests. She now went on the offensive towards her relatives and began to complain in early 1565 about her husband who treated her badly. On a short trip to Spa , she even claimed to fellow travelers that her husband wanted to poison her.
The marital problems seriously damaged Wilhelm's reputation in the Reich, but also affected him privately. He slept badly and guests noticed that he looked worn out. Wilhelm began to toy with the idea of "sending her back home".
At the end of 1565, the marriage was so shattered that even the prince's mortal enemy, Cardinal Granvelle , learned in detail how "bad and well-known his domestic suffering" was.
An exchange of letters between the Hessian landgrave and Anna at the beginning of 1566 shows that Anna began to get into debt, to move her jewelry and to have poor company. There were already clear signs of depression. She locks herself in her darkened room during the day, does not come to meals and has “heavy thoughts” in her head, possibly the first sign of suicide.
Wilhelm's life was in acute danger because of his advocacy for the independence of the Netherlands and for religious tolerance. On April 23, 1567 he fled Breda with Anna and an entourage of over 100 people with the goal of Dillenburg . His close allies, Egmont (about whom Goethe wrote his famous drama) and Hoorn , who remained in Brussels, did not escape the infamous blood court of Duke Alba and were publicly beheaded three quarters of a year after their capture.
Dillenburg
At the end of May 1567, the couple and their entourage reached Dillenburg Castle . Now both were refugees. Wilhelm was even worse off as he lost all of his belongings, which were confiscated by Philip II in the Netherlands. His eldest son from his first marriage was captured by Philip and taken to a monastery in Spain.
Wilhelm immediately started organizing the resistance in the Netherlands, while Anna could not cope with her new role. She had wanted to get away from the Netherlands, from the "unchristian, godless and unfaithful people" there, but she didn't like it at all in Dillenburg. Were excessive claims the cause or an “unfriendly attitude” of Wilhelm's relatives towards her? Was it an unbearable boredom in the Westerwald province, as Anna often portrayed it?
Dillenburg Castle was neither Breda nor Dresden, but at the time it was still a large building complex in which up to 300 people lived. In addition, the Nassau-Dillenburg dynasty played an important role in imperial politics, both in its position towards the Habsburgs and, since the Reformation, in the network of Protestant princes of the empire.
In the castle everything was done to make life as pleasant as possible for the guests who came with 150–200 people and stayed for years, which also resulted in high costs. The prince received the most beautiful rooms with Anna and her personal servants. They moved into "the prince's room" and "the royal prince's room".
But after just a few weeks the quarrels about Anna began, not with Wilhelm, with whom she had another good time and also had two other children, but especially between the princess and Wilhelm's mother Juliane von Stolberg and her sister-in-law Elisabeth zu Leuchtenberg, the wife of the ruling Count Johann VI.
During this time, alcohol problems also increased. “She already takes a glass of wine in the morning”, it was reported, “a larger amount in the afternoon and a sleeping drink in the evening before lying down. On June 8, 1567 Wilhelm was given two liters of wine, Anna three liters at the table. ”Anna complained that she was kept short with wine and beer (“ often refused to give her a drink of little wine or beer ”).
As early as August 1567, her displeasure with Dillenburg and the Westerwald was so great that she threatened “to harm herself out of anger and unwillingness”. But many potential ways out were cut off. It was no longer possible to go to Breda and she could not visit her relatives in Hesse and Saxony either, because she had "no invitation" from them. Her big plan now was to move to the city of Cologne on the Rhine, which is heavily frequented by Dutch refugees , in order to "recapture at least a piece of the lost paradise".
The final factor that she was allowed to move to Cologne with an entourage of 60–70 people on October 20, 1568, when Wilhelm was in the Netherlands, was possibly an infectious disease that occurred in Dillenburg. She was given 150 guilders as travel money, probably the last money that the heavily indebted county could "and wanted" to raise at short notice. In the following year she was allowed to bring her children.
For the 23-year-old woman, moving away from her husband's family to Cologne on her own initiative was a courageous, but also momentous, decision. She hoped for a metropolitan flair and a potential circle of acquaintances of "150 Dutch noblewomen with whom she could talk, because she had no desire to lie in Dillenburg as a six-week-old."
Her biographer Hans-Joachim Böttcher justified the move to Cologne, using a modern term, saying that Anna now wanted to lead “a self-determined life” - but she also wanted to do this in a representative way and had no financial means to do so.
The departure of Dillenburg also meant the early end of her marriage to William of Orange.
Why did the marriage with William of Orange fail?
The causes of the failure of the marriage between Anna of Saxony and Wilhelm von Oranien are judged differently and controversially by the literature up to the present day, whereby depending on the point of view of the authors personal or structural aspects come to the fore.
- The historian Felix Rachfahl judged Anna very harshly in his monumental, 3-volume biography of Wilhelm von Oranien and the Dutch uprising (1906–1924): “In the misshapen body lived a misshapen soul, petty, malicious, every trace of the high and Noble bar. "(Vol. II / 1, p. 350).
- The director of the Siegen City Archives, Hans Kruse (1882–1941), who for years researched the most extensive archive material in Dresden, Marburg, Wiesbaden and The Hague and whose results are also used in large parts for the latest work without always adopting his judgments, came across In Wilhelm von Oranien and Anna von Sachsen (1934) the conclusion that “17 year old Anna could not lead such a life, such a household” in the castle of Breda with a staff of 256 people and a huge budget. She was overwhelmed, especially since - as several authors point out - her Saxon dialect and her ignorance of French made her life even more difficult (p. 37).
- Kruse sees “her personal faults and characteristics”, her “irritability, vulnerability and quarrels with pathological self-esteem and arrogance” also against the background of a hereditary burden that is given “by multiple relatives marriages” (p. 145) in her ancestors. In this way, he identifies two couples who were their great-grandparents or great-great-grandparents on their maternal and paternal side (p. 145).
- Based on the thesis of a serious illness of the Saxon princess, the local researcher Hans-Jürgen Pletz-Krehahn believes in his essay The Hitherto Unknown Illness of Anna of Saxony (1981) to have recognized the symptoms that Anna suffered from Graves' disease .
- In Am Hofe Wilhelms von Oranien (1990) the GDR historian Klaus Vetter starts from problems in the personal relationship of the spouse on an emotional level. Anna, the “educated and strong-willed young woman”, reacted with “disappointment and bitterness” to Wilhelm's extramarital escapades (p. 70).
- The historian Olaf Mörke sees in Wilhelm von Oranien (2007) the reasons for the failed marriage in clashing, different cultural backgrounds, in difficult-to-fulfill “role expectations”, in a “cage of noble conventions”, “incompatible ideas” and in “emotional neglect a young woman who grew up in a secure Lutheran milieu "who was exposed to religious and cultural strangeness in the Catholic Dutch aristocracy (p. 116). In contrast to Wilhelm, Anna was not aware that her marriage was not a purely private matter, but had political-public aspects (p. 118).
- Felix Rachfahl's one-sided, pejorative accusation of guilt reappears in reverse in the text Anna von Sachsen distributed by Maike Vogt-Lüerssen via “Book on Demand” . Wife of William of Orange (2008). Here it is the "glory and power-hungry", "malicious", incapable of love (except for "himself") who pursued his "machinations" with "web of lies" and "intrigues" and whom the "intelligent", " pretty ”,“ blonde ”and“ sensitive ”Anna fell victim because he initially knew how to hide his“ bad character traits ”from her, as was customary for him“ if it served his purpose and his advancement ”.
- For the local researcher Hans-Joachim Böttcher , who published the last German-language biography Anna Princess of Saxony (1544–1577) in 2013 , both spouses had "difficult characters". He describes Anna as often "uncontrolled", "arrogant" (p. 100) and "irritable" (p. 109). He, too, assumes that language differences played a major role in the fact that Anna was unable to find her way around the court of Breda, where French and Dutch were spoken. Above all, he believes with psychological empathy that the death of her first child after just a few days caused “a severe mental breakdown” (p. 105) and that this event “presumably resulted in deeper emotional damage, which was a lack of attachment (p. 105) Wilhelm, for his part, often left his young wife alone because of his political and social commitment and had shown “no understanding at all” for the increasingly “nervous” and “anxious” behavior of his wife (p. 109–110 ).
- The US historian Ingrun Mann puts in the latest published biography Anna of Saxony. The Scarlet Lady of Orange (2016) again focuses on Anna's personality, who was a strong woman, who defied gender conventions in an early example of "woman aberration" (p. 2), but trapped in hers "Circular logic" had a fatal tendency to make wrong decisions (p. 190).
- Ingrun Mann also sees a problem in the fact that Anna had no talents that would have enabled her to be Wilhelm's partner, to manage his household and lands during his long absence and to turn a blind eye to extramarital escapades. An immature, impulsive and naive teenager has come across a self-confident, resolute man of the world, a glamorous “grand seigneur” (pp. 60–61).
- Her physical handicap made a significant contribution to Anna's problems. Even if one does not know exactly what ailments she had, it can be assumed that she could only watch the dances that are important for court life. Her husband, on the other hand, was considered one of the best dancers in Europe (pp. 130–131).
- Ingrun Mann also includes aspects of marriage psychology in her analysis. She portrays Wilhelm and Anna as a young couple who have grown over their heads with their common problems and to whom no one wanted or could rush to help (p. 137).
Cologne. Meeting with Rubens. Turning away from Wilhelm.
Anna initially lived rent-free in a house in Cologne that belonged to her husband's former Pfennigmeister (tax administrator), a Johann Mohren. (During her later stay in the autumn of 1570, she then lived in the Rinkenhof with the Rubens family.) In April 1569 she also gave birth to another girl, Emilia .
Anna lived in Cologne “exactly and sparingly”, but maintained her own court of 43 people, including “a lot of bad and useless servants”, as a representative of the elector on site in Cologne assessed the situation. Even in Dresden you don't have that many people at court. There were also regular guests who were also fed.
Wilhelm sent her again money from his autumn campaign in 1568, which came from the Saint-Trond monastery , which his troops had attacked and kidnapped the abbot there. But something like that could not be repeated in the long run, especially since the campaign later failed catastrophically.
There were worries about Anna's way of life, which had reached Cardinal Granvelle, who commented with relish that the princess was probably using a woman's gifts "as God had given her".
After a short time Anna ran out of cash. She set about selling her precious jewelry and valuable clothing to pawnbrokers, above all to the Cologne merchant Peter Regk. For valuables valued at 16,000-17,000 thalers, he only gave 4,000 thalers, and according to his own statement, this only applies to the princess, "solemnly and diligently asking, sympathizing and coveting in her high needs". Anna hoped it would all set off again from her relatives. But that did not happen and the most valuable utensils found their way to the “Grempelmarkt”.
During this time Wilhelm asked his wife several times to come back to him:
"Il n'y a chose au monde qui donne plus de consolation que de se voir consoler par sa femme (there is no greater consolation in the world than to be comforted by one's wife)"
Wilhelm was now no longer “the most distinguished and richest Dutch nobleman”, but “a hunted refugee who did not find himself in Dillenburg before Alba's attacks or the stalking of his soldiers who had been cheated of their wages and the increasingly energetic demands of his creditors felt more secure ”. Once he even had to borrow pants from his brother Johann.
And the already poor financial situation of the county of Nassau-Dillenburg was strained because of the expenses for the war in the Netherlands. Nevertheless, Count Johann also offered to come back to Dillenburg. She would be given her own stately home with its income and an entourage with 10-12 people.
The princess made use of the offers insofar as she sent her girl Emilia, who was born on April 10, 1570, to her mother-in-law Juliane for care shortly after the birth (she kept the other two children with her), but refused to accept it herself come, which Johann commented with the words that everything was "too little and despicable" for her.
Anna explained that she did not want to be "upset" again in Dillenburg, that she was the reason "for the ruin of her master". And in general she did not have to expect from Wilhelm and his what was due to her “from god and right because”, the house of Nassau was her “harm and ruin” and again addressed to Wilhelm: “I have nothing good to expect from you ", So she wrote in a harsh tone on April 6, 1570. Her other letters between October 1569 and April 1570 were also increasingly" disparaging and condescending ".
Nothing was able to change her mind, neither Wilhelm's urgent references to his situation as a persecuted person, whose life outside Dillenburg is in acute danger, nor his references to her marital obligation to stand by him, and certainly not his multiple requests for friendship and emotional support.
Anna now trusted other people, namely legal advisers whom she had chosen herself. With them, she essentially pursued three strategies in order to improve her desperate financial situation and to be able to lead a life that, in her eyes, was appropriate in the long term.
On the one hand, after petitions were unsuccessful, she filed a lawsuit against King Philip II , with the aim of reimbursing her for the goods to which she was entitled in the Netherlands. However, these efforts were unsuccessful. On the contrary, her Alba also incited the Brussels “Fiscus” (Court of Auditors) on the neck.
Her uncle and foster father, Elector August von Sachsen, as well as her uncle, the ruling Landgrave Wilhelm von Hessen , both of whom wrote to her over and over again, did not send her any money, but at least wrote a few letters in her mind and instructed her councilors, including the Kaiser for to present them, likewise inconclusive.
Finally she tried to get her Wittum (her widow's pension) from the Nassau-Dillenburg house ahead of time , either the contractually agreed payments or the counties of Hadamar or Diez . Here, too, she was unsuccessful, since Dillenburg had no money and her Wittum was only due after her husband's death. Her argument, however, was that her husband could no longer take care of her now. Either way, no one who had any influence was interested in sustainably supporting her financially as long as she resided in Cologne with her own court suite.
The first of her lawyers, Dr. Johann Betz from Mechelen, a former confidante of her husband, hired her in April 1570. He gave his mandate back in June 1570, without having achieved any results, but had already used 200 gold crowns, for which Anna again 80 "Gulden Knop" (golden buttons, some with diamonds). He had received 500 more guilders from the Elector of Saxony.
The second adviser was Jan Rubens (1530–1587). He had been a lay judge (councilor, judge) in Antwerp . As a representative of the Dutch estates, he was actually an ally of Wilhelm and, like him, had fled from persecution by Alba's “ blood councilor ”. One of his later-born sons was the famous painter Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640).
Anna and Rubens
In the summer of 1570 Anna's financial situation became so untenable that she had to give up her own residence in Cologne and moved to Siegen Castle. At that time Siegen was the second residence of the County of Nassau-Dillenburg.
From May 1570 to January 1571 the married couple Anna and Wilhelm met again briefly, among others in Heidelberg, Siegen and Dillenburg. Anna herself also stayed in Kassel, Marburg, Gießen and Frankfurt, often accompanied by Jan Rubens, whom she had hired in May 1570 and who also visited her on site in Siegen. Rubens continued to take care of the sale of her treasures.
There was actually a plan to set up a residence for Anna and Wilhelm in Erfurt. Hesse, Saxony and Nassau wanted to finance this together. But it did not get to that.
The relationship between Anna and Rubens had become so close that Anna's two children lived with the Rubens family in Cologne in the fall of 1570 - without their mother. And the frequent presence of Anna and Rubens was becoming increasingly apparent.
"Your intimate [here: close] traffic could not go unnoticed in the numerous surroundings of Anna, with the lively traffic that took place between Dillenburg and Cologne and between Siegen and Dillenburg - not even for Wilhelm and his brother Johann."
To enter into such a close relationship and probably also a sexual relationship with the judge from Antwerp was a high-risk game for both the married 40-year-old citizen Jan Rubens and the 25-year-old Princess of Orange, according to the US historian Ingrun Mann .
"Anna must have realized that she was about to embark on a dangerous journey that could spell ruin and and societal disgrace [but] Anna proceeded to gamble her life and honor away by giving into her feelings."
Hans Kruse suspects that there was already a suspicion at the turn of the year 1570/71 and that the correspondence between Anna and Rubens was checked. At the beginning of March 1571 Jan Rubens was arrested at the gates of Siegen and brought to Dillenburg a few days later.
The charge was adultery. According to the laws of the time, it bore the death penalty - for both.
Anna was initially left in the dark. Worried she wrote in one of her letters, which like many others was intercepted and is now stored in the Royal Archives in The Hague:
"Ruebens, I can not be pleasantly surprised that I have no word on all the letters I send you that this is the fire. (...) I am very worried about the unhappiness of you guys (...). your good friend Anna von Sachsen. "
After a "sharp interrogation", Rubens admitted in detail that he had had a sexual relationship with the princess that lasted for months. Anna also confessed after some resistance; she had been promised to spare Rubens. He went to prison, Anna was placed under house arrest after she had agreed to dissolve the marriage.
Debate About Adultery - Fact or "Nassau Conspiracy"?
In recent years two publications have asked whether adultery had actually taken place.
The German-Australian author Maike Vogt-Lüerssen and the Saxon homeland researcher Hans-Joachim Böttcher construct a large-scale Nassau conspiracy against Anna.
Both claim in unison that William of Orange had to marry a Calvinist woman, in the person of Charlotte von Bourbon-Montpensier , who had already been ready in the person of Charlotte von Bourbon-Montpensier , in order to advance with his plans for uprising in the Netherlands . Therefore, together with his brother Johann, he hatched a "treacherous plan" that ruined Anna and Rubens and made another marriage possible for Wilhelm.
Ms. Vogt-Lüerssen relies on her assumptions about the bad character of Wilhelm von Oranien, who "did not shrink from any lie or betrayal" and who "countless lies have been proven" (p. 74). Other people who made statements about Anna's casual dealings with men were accused by Anna of having been “bribed” to “tell lies about her” (p. 77). Anna was a victim of Nassau power politics, but a woman who “fights tirelessly” (p. 76) for her and Rubens' honor and whose behavior was determined by “pure charity” (p. 73).
Böttcher also states that the Anna and Jan couple were unable to be alone for half a year because of the presence of Anna's servants. But that was precisely what the Dillenburg councilor, Dr. In a memorandum to the Hessian landgrave dated March 6, 1572, Schwarz accused Anna and Rubens of "searching for and writing the conscious works so roughly that their servants and several distinguished people had seen them themselves several times". After all, people at the courts of the empire talked about it down to the last detail ("particulariteten"), only the "offended" himself (Wilhelm) had not yet known it.
Böttcher concedes that one could “assume” that there was a “ quack ” (p. 198).
The last published, major biography Anna of Saxony (2016) by the American historian Ingrun Mann assumes in a source-saturated argument that a “full-blown sexual relationship” had developed between Anna and Rubens.
Ms. Vogt-Lüerssen's statement that Rubens had a “very happy marriage” and therefore had no interest in sleeping with the Saxon princess is met with a series of emotional and psychological clues as to why the 14-year-old “was ambitious” Advokat “was able to take pleasure in the young, neglected princess.
Ultimately, the question is whether a confession that was obtained during a "sharp interrogation", which could also include inflicting pain, contains the truth - as was assumed at the time - or whether - what Vogt-Lüerssen and Böttcher assume - the Interrogated just said what the prosecutors wanted to hear. Rubens, however, as a judge who, according to his own testimony in Antwerp, had passed death sentences even in such cases, had to be clear that a confession would mean his execution under normal circumstances.
During a further detailed interrogation, this time not in "sharp" form, Rubens added many more details to his testimony. Anna herself fluctuated constantly between outbursts of anger and confession of guilt. On March 22, 1571 she wrote to Rubens:
"A! a! rueben, rueben how has your tongue been so liberal to publicize yours and mine. I have not listened to you like this, I may think and defend myself that it has been God's will. "
Jan Rubens was imprisoned in Dillenburg until his pardon in May 1573, was allowed to read and write extensively, and survived the time to some extent and "still physically in good shape", as he told his wife Maria Pypelinckx.
From prison he wrote Maria several letters full of remorse and feelings of guilt, even wishing for death and signed: "Your unworthy husband." Maria criticized him for this formulation, who expressly forgave him for his "misstep" against her. If Jan's confession had only been forced, this correspondence , which was often described as particularly impressive and which dragged on for years, would hardly have been possible.
In 1573 Jan Rubens was allowed to leave prison and continue to live with his family as a religious refugee in Siegen in Nassau, but not leave the city. He lived with his family in the so-called Brambach House, just 100 m below the castle. Anna had been brought to Beilstein six months before, otherwise they could have waved to each other. Jan and Maria's son Peter Paul Rubens was also born in Siegen .
Wins
Anna remained under house arrest in Siegen Castle with her own staff until October 1, 1572, where she gave birth to her child Christine on August 22, 1571 , who was not recognized by Wilhelm. Christine was awarded a proper upbringing by the Nassau family, a stay in a respected monastery and a high annuity. She married a Nassau burgrave and lived in Langendernbach in the so-called courtyard house for over 30 years .
Anna had her own rooms at Siegen Castle for herself and her servants as well as the necessary food and wine, which Count Johann paid for. The Elector of Saxony and the Landgrave of Hesse regularly received money for them (both had committed to paying 3,000 thalers).
She conducted correspondence every day. She wrote regularly to Johann and Wilhelm. She expressed an urgent wish to get away from Siegen and the Westerwald and move to Duisburg or Cologne (where she could have been close to Rubens after his release), but this was strictly rejected by everyone involved. Above all, however, she wanted Rubens to be released, since it had been a matter of "a transgression caused by me".
She built a particularly good relationship with her brother-in-law, Count Johann, and his respected counselor, Dr. Jakob Schwarz (1527–1582). Johann once referred to her as her “only savior in this world”. Dr. For Anna, Schwarz was a well-meaning advisor and always tried to mediate. The man in poor health even traveled to the Hessian landgrave in Kassel in December 1571 to present him with a petition from Anna. He had to wait 10 days before even being admitted.
Unfortunately, these relationships also broke up after a short time. Anna referred to Johann as “dat menchin”, to which she gave something like “whether a furtzs”. Dr. Schwarz accused her of misusing documents and called him a "treason, wicked and rascal".
Anna's health continued to deteriorate. Alcohol consumption must have increased. It is reported that she drank with men until they could no longer stand up. Once she almost fell into an open fire when she was completely drunk. She liked to drink with Pastor Bernhardi until late in the evening and aroused suspicions about further relationships with the Lutheran clergyman, who had been transferred to Siegen as a punishment for being drunk and who now immediately aroused the displeasure of his employer again because he supported the Calvinist Dutch called "illegal".
For the first time there are reports of Anna's violence against her staff. She had beaten her servant Jacques Charlier to such an extent that he was bleeding from his nose and mouth, and threatened to kill him along with his wife, whom she described as a "fat whore", and his children. According to Anna, she also hit her maid Ursel in such a way that she carried "the signs" of it with her for a while. Other personnel, threatened by her with the executioner, fled to Dillenburg. Her court master, Frau von Risor, left her for good.
During Anna's frequent outbursts of anger, dishes and dishes flew through the area, accompanied by violent, obscene curses. Her maid also reported of suicide attempts and that Anna heard sharp objects with which she wanted to hit Count Johann in the neck.
You can also see the first delusions when Anna claimed, for example, that Wilhelm had shot at her bedroom from outside. Her last remaining maid, Dorothea Burkmann, wanted to get away from her mistress, for fear of Anna's idioms, her servants wanted to "suck her blood" and the landgrave was "so thirsty for her blood". Ms. Burkmann was also afraid of the stories of the princess, who raved about love affairs and about young servants and monks that exist in Cologne. Another time she wants to live "like a nun" again.
When Anna's several escape attempts failed, for which she wanted to harness Dorothea Burkmann and her husband, among others, she hit them with fists and logs. Therefore Ms. Burkmann, who had already worked for Anna's parents and whose reports were confirmed by other witnesses, no longer wanted to serve her mistress.
On the eve of Beilstein
Anna of Saxony finally bid farewell to her husband Wilhelm of Orange in a letter dated May 12, 1572 with bitter words when she realized that he was no longer willing to take her back and also no longer answered her letters:
"Elas, Elas, how am I supposed to complain in the Ewigkeyt that I have ever followed the advice of the Elector of Saxony, and that I have ever entrusted myself to EL, because that is the reason that I lost my life, Seel, Honor and good. "
At this time the Prince of Orange was preparing to go back to the Netherlands to resume fighting with Alba's forces. On July 9, 1572 he reached the Rhine and would never see Anna, Dillenburg or Siegen again.
During these years the situation of not only the Prince of Orange, but also his brothers, the County of Nassau-Dillenburg and the entire Dutch struggle for freedom was desperate and almost hopeless. Several intensely prepared military actions failed miserably because the Spanish elite troops were clearly superior to the soldiers of Wilhelm and his allies. Wilhelm's brother Adolf had already died in 1568, his brothers Ludwig and Heinrich were to be killed in the battle of the Mooker Heide in 1574. His last remaining brother, the ruling Count Johann VI. was exposed - mainly due to the support of the Dutch fight against Spain - to an extremely high level of indebtedness in his county, which over the years assumed existence-threatening proportions and demanded many sacrifices from him, his advisors and his subjects. For this reason, too, the will to deal with the problems of the Saxon princess in her own household was no longer there.
A change awaited Anna now. Wilhelm wrote to Elector August of Saxony and clarified him for the first time about the allegations against Anna. Nevertheless he had forgiven Anna as a Christian. All that matters is to find a place to stay for them. After an extensive and extremely lengthy correspondence between Nassau, Saxony and Hesse, the Nassau residence Schloss Beilstein , depending on your point of view, became an “airy, healthy orth” (Dillenburg advice Dr. Schwarz) or a more remote “Nassau outpost” (US historian Ingrun Mann) as Anna's future whereabouts are determined. Here they want to make 5–6 rooms available to her, and she can live with her entire entourage, “Hofmeister, Hofmeisterin and maidservant in it tamquam in libera custodia” (Dr. Schwarz). A total of around 12-14 people had been thought of for her staff, which, however, was difficult to recruit due to the princess's handling of her staff. The castle windows are barred and the exits are walled up except for one - to prevent attempts to escape.
The castle was inspected by a delegation and found fit. However, Anna would rather die than go to Beilstein and grabbed a knife that could be wrested from her. When it came out that she had written a (intercepted) letter full of accusations against Wilhelm and Nassau officials to Duke Alba, with whom her husband was in a life-and-death battle, the Nassau-Saxon-Hessian delegation had enough and Anna had to consent to the move to Beilstein, which took place on October 1, 1572.
Beilstein
The three long years in Beilstein from 1572 to 1575 were to be a hard time for Anna. She was in a small town with around 150 inhabitants, was trapped with "violence" in a castle on the edge of the Westerwald ("in dis westerwaldt") that she hated and had to finally realize that her world, which she knew, was the Princely courts, the banquet, the homage to a high-ranking Saxon princess, had gone under.
The start was already bad. Jan Rubens was again a big topic. Anna talked herself repeatedly in a rage, screamed and moaned, got entangled in contradictions, scolded Rubens a “talkative villain” who had “lied” and wished the rope to hang around his neck. For the first time, she was threatened to have her walled in.
Finally, Jan Rubens was summoned to Beilstein on October 2, 1572 and again presented a detailed confession to the ambassadors.
Magnus von Rosenfeldt, known as “Heyer”, who had served the Landgrave of Hesse in Kassel, “not a particularly well-educated man” came as the Hofmeister (a kind of administrative manager) provided by Saxony, Hesse and Nassau with strict information on the supervision of Anna Hans Kruse. For this purpose, Nassau provided a staff of around 12-14 servants and maids, also mostly very simple people, including several "women" who slept in the room with her. While that was common, it was also about control. The noble women Anna had promised to dine with did not appear, however. One of the court master's rules of conduct was to make sure that the knives disappeared immediately after the meal.
In spite of everything, it would have been possible to lead a halfway bearable life. Anna had been able to take 11 boxes of her belongings with her, had her servants and there was wine with the food (which, however, was too rough for her). She had her child with her, was able to hear sermons from a preacher (which she refused, however), to go for a walk in the castle park with company and to hope for better times.
But the few documents that exist from the three years in Beilstein show Anna as a seriously ill woman who was heavily dependent on alcohol and at risk of suicide, who often seemed mentally confused and lost control of herself. There was no professional help for such a person at the time.
Things were pretty rough in Beilstein, as one would have expected in the Westerwald. And when Anna's complaints from Dillenburg and Kassel were initially friendly answers and attempts were made to bring about improvements (Landgrave Wilhelm sent her one of his cooks, for example), her criticism increasingly fizzled out, yes, it met with displeasure. The Landgrave of Hesse said that it could have been much worse for her and then she would have to "bite a hard nut" and not "cause another sharp path" - prophetic predictions.
It was always about the food. Sick, half-raw chickens would come on the table. At the beginning, she got barrels with pickled game meat from Kassel to improve, but these deliveries also seemed to stop after a year. It was so bad with her food, Anna said in a letter, that she had to buy cheese herself and a woman from Beilstein had given her a few apples out of pity. She would have received the answer from Dillenburg once:
"If I don't want to eat what you put in front of you, I like to leave it up, what I don't eat, I don't have to be queidt at the back."
The complaints about the food were probably exaggerated. They even got her fish and crab and the two bakers who were employed at the castle drove to Dillenburg to do their shopping.
On February 5, 1575, the Hessian councilor Jörg von Scholley answered her and advised her urgently to “follow the people and the time”. In particular, she could be happy that the Nassau people took care of them and that they were raising their children at their own expense. Johann would also take her back to Dillenburg Castle because he could no longer afford her entertainment in Beilstein. In Dillenburg she also has more company and the "Fama" is more likely to be forgotten. Anna wanted to go to Cologne or Frankfurt.
Then Scholley gave her another dire warning. She should "not come into conflict" with the Nassauers. If the Elector of Saxony (her uncle) got his hands on her, he would “wall up” her so that she “would never see the sun and the moon”.
Even so, Anna had to endure a lot. There was a “poisonous atmosphere of gossip and abuse” at Beilstein Castle. The Nassau official Gottfried, himself an illegitimate child of Wilhelm's father, called to her when she stood at the window:
“Princess, you are a whore, yeah! yeah! "
In March 1575 it was announced that William of Orange wanted to remarry, 4 years after the final separation from Anna and at the age of 42. A remarriage under the circumstances that the wife was still alive was not possible according to the laws valid in Nassau and Saxony, and so there was criticism from all sides, not only from Saxony and Hesse, but initially also from Count Johann and Wilhelm's mother Juliane which later gave way.
However, Wilhelm had already tended to the Calvinist denomination since 1572/73 and a committee of Reformed clergy in the Netherlands had the divorce declared valid. Just one day later, on June 12, 1575, he married Charlotte de Bourbon, a nun who had fled a convent near Paris and who had also converted to Calvinism. The marriage should be "exemplary and loving" (Böttcher).
The marriage led to serious diplomatic resentments between Saxony and Hesse on the one hand and Nassau, the Palatinate and even France on the other. Brandenburg was also included. Everyone wanted nothing to do with it and everyone wanted to advise against it. The matter was even supposed to be brought before the Reichstag in Regensburg in October 1575.
This did not happen, but Elector August of Saxony not only demanded the dowry back from Anna, but also one of the Nassau counties of Diez or Hadamar as her widow's pension. He accused William of Orange of living in bigamy and of having committed adultery on his part. Anna herself should be taken out of Nassau immediately and placed in Hesse. The Landgrave of Hesse rejected the latter.
Elector August then decided on November 15, 1575 to bring Anna back to Saxony. Not only was this Anna's greatest nightmare, but it should also be her death sentence.
On December 2, 1575, Count Johann VI. the offer to take Anna back to Dillenburg Castle. But the princes of Dresden and Kassel no longer wanted that. It could have saved Anna's life.
Her health had deteriorated drastically again in the past few months. She seemed more and more confused, for example had her maids keep packing and unpacking the suitcases because she wanted to go to Frankfurt. Her whole body was trembling and her mouth was foaming. She drank more alcohol than before, mostly high-sugar wine. In order to regain her strength, she ingested huge amounts of olive oil, which made her feel even worse, according to the sources.
The negotiations between August, the Elector of Saxony and Wilhelm, the Landgrave of Hesse, for the transfer of Anna took on sometimes adventurous forms. Serious consideration was given to kidnapping Rubens. The “Kölnische Schöffe” was given free time and it was easy to get hold of him so that the Nassauers didn't make him chat.
Finally, on December 12, 1575, a delegation of Saxon and Hessian ambassadors appeared at Anna's house in Beilstein. Negotiations with her dragged on for six days, during which time she also seized the knife to threaten the ambassador and also with suicide. Ultimately, her maids had to seize her by force and put her in "a Brabant traveling carriage with eight carriage horses", which Count Johann had made available to her as a last service at her request. On December 19, 1575, the sad caravan set out.
Time
The Saxon and Hessian ambassadors drove through several stops with Anna, initially to Zeitz , where she arrived in mid-January 1576. There she was told that she should be brought to Rochlitz , a Saxon secondary residence. In response to fierce opposition, Anna stayed in Zeitz, where she spent another year. Exactly where it was housed is not clear from the sources. It can be assumed that she lived in Moritzburg Castle (in the "back room"), where bailiff Wolff Bose and his wife were supposed to take care of them.
Anna now only had two maids and a kitchen boy with her, but was looked after by the castle kitchen according to princely standards. On February 27th, the lunch table consisted of the following dishes: “A soup, beef, loyalty fish, roast meat, a grove and roast veal, veal, green salmon, a millet, sour pork claws, cheese, cake and fruit.” On the same day, the evening meal served: "A salad, fried fish, roasted meat, a kaphan and rind roast, veal with eggs and parsley, an apple roll, a henn in a brue, cheese and fruit."
However, dealing with Anna increasingly developed in such a way that no one could be won over. Wolff Bose complained: "Anna gets drunk every day, and if you don't give her as much wine as she wants, she gets mad and utters such honorable, angry, sullen words that it hurts his heart . When he comes to speak well, she run into the room in front of him, lock herself and bark through the doors like an evil chain dog. "She said to him," she wanted his heart, his wife and his children, in his body In fact, Anna attacked the officer with knives in each hand, which he could only with difficulty wrest from her. His wife had fled to the attic. Hans Kruse judges that Anna has now become a "publicly dangerous maniac".
After these incidents, the elector ordered Anna's transfer to Dresden.
Last year in Dresden and burial in Meißen
Anna arrived in Dresden on December 22, 1576. She was assigned two rooms in the castle, the windows of which were barred and the door tightly locked so that only a hatch remained. So the princess, who not even 15 years ago “was escorted from her home with lavish parties”, lived another year.
There are only a few documents left about this time. Priests said she was often bedridden and may have suffered from persistent bleeding from the uterus. She hardly eats anymore, only eats bread, wine and beer, and is extremely confused, speaks rude against her daughter and insults the clergy. She refused the Lord's Supper with the words: "The sin of her enemies is a thousand times greater than hers."
A joint report submitted on December 11, 1577 by several Saxon councilors and court chaplains was still looking for remedies “against melancholy or mania” and advised to consult appropriate doctors. It was too late, however. Anna von Sachsen died on December 18, 1577 at the age of 33.
A few days later, the princess was buried in the Meissen Cathedral with a loud bell ringing and with the participation of the nobility and citizens . The regent family themselves apparently did not take part in the ceremony. The grave is still today (without its own grave slab) directly to the right of the entrance to the prince chapel of the Meissen Cathedral.
In his letter of condolence to Elector August von Sachsen, Landgrave Wilhelm von Hessen wrote, referring to Anna's life story, the early loss of father and mother and her marriage,
"That we may call her the most elite and blissful of other princely children ever born"
progeny
- NN, a girl (born October 31, 1562, † a few days later)
- Anna (1563–1588) - 1587 married to Count Wilhelm Ludwig von Nassau-Dillenburg (1560–1620), son of Johann VI. from Nassau-Dillenburg
- Moritz (8 December 1564 - March 1566)
- Moritz (1567–1625), governor of the Netherlands
- Emilia (1569–1629) - 1597 married to Emanuel (I) of Portugal (1568–1638)
- Christine , called von Diez (* August 22, 1571; † around Christmas 1637 in Benfeld ), with Jan Rubens .
Used literature
Anna of Saxony
- Hellmut Kretzschmar: Anna. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1953, ISBN 3-428-00182-6 , p. 302 ( digitized version ).
- Hans-Jürgen Pletz-Krehahn: The fate of Anna of Saxony. In: Heimatjahrbuch für das Land an der Dill 1981. S. 188–191.
- Hans-Jürgen Pletz-Krehahn: Anna of Saxony's previously unknown illness - a contribution to the history of medicine . In: Heimatjahrbuch für das Land an der Dill 1981. pp. 207–212.
- Martin Spies: The portraits of Anna of Saxony. In: Nassauische Annalen , 116, 2005, pp. 237–248.
- Maike Vogt-Lüerssen : Anna of Saxony. Book on Demand, 2008.
- Hans-Joachim Böttcher : Princess Anna of Saxony 1544-1577. A life tragedy. Dresdner Buchverlag, 2013. ISBN 978-3-941757-39-4 .
- Ingrun Mann: Anna of Saxony. The Scarlet Lady of Orange . Winged Hussar Publishing, Point Pleasant, New Jersey 2016. ISBN 978-0-9963657-2-7 .
- Femke Deen: Anna van Saksen. Dead bruid van Willem van Oranje . Atlas Contact, Amsterdam 2018. ISBN 978-90-450-2472-1 .
Anna and Wilhelm
- Hans Kruse: Wilhelm of Orange and Anna of Saxony. A princely marriage tragedy of the 16th century. In: Nassauische Annalen , 54, 1934, pp. 1–134.
- Ulrich Schuppener: The wedding song for the wedding of William of Orange with Anna of Saxony and its prehistory. In: Nassauische Annalen , 118, 2007, pp. 209-276.
William of Orange
- Felix Rachfahl : William of Orange and the Dutch uprising (3 vols, here vol. 2) . Halle ad Saale 1907. Passim.
- Carl Dönges: Wilhelm the Schweiger and Nassau-Dillenburg . Published by Moritz Weidenbach, Dillenburg 1909. Passim.
- Henriette de Beaufort: William of Orange. CH Beck, Munich 1956. Passim.
- Helmut Cellarius: Wilhelm von Orange's propaganda activity in Dillenburg in 1568 in the service of the Dutch uprising. In: Nassauische Annalen 1968, pp. 120–148.
- Helmut Cellarius: Orange kidnapping. In: Heimatjahrbuch für den Dillkreis 1984. pp. 146–148.
- Klaus Vetter : Wilhelm of Orange. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1987. Passim.
- Klaus Vetter: At the court of William of Orange. Edition Leipzig 1990. Passim.
- Olaf Mörke : Wilhelm von Oranien (1533-1584). Prince and "father" of the republic . Verlag W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2007, Passim.
Jan Rubens
- August Spieß: An episode from the life of PP Rubens' parents . In: Nassauische Annalen , 12, 1873, pp. 265–285.
- Rosine De Dijn : love, burden and passion. Women in the Life of Rubens. DVA, Stuttgart and Munich 2002. (Title deals with the topic in relation to Jan and Peter Paul Rubens.)
- Ilse-Marie Barton: Maria Rubens. In: Siegerland Volume 54 Issue 5–6 / 1977. Pp. 190-191.
Nassau-Dillenburg county
- Rolf Glawischnig: Netherlands, Calvinism and Imperial Counts 1559-1584. Nassau-Dillenburg under Count Johann VI. Elwertsche Verlagbuchhandlung, Marburg 1973.
Others
- Johan Huizinga : Autumn of the Middle Ages. Alfred Kröner Verlag, Stuttgart 1987.
- Reformation - denomination - conversion. Nobility and religion between the Rheingau and Siegerland in the 16th and 17th centuries. Conference proceedings. Nassau Annals 2017.
Web links
- Ingrun Mann: The Scarlet Lady of Orange . Accessible only in parts.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Böttcher, foreword p. 9
- ↑ Anna of Saxony († 1577). Walled in alive after sex affair. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
- ^ Mann, p. 2
- ↑ "Dat ze, hoe hoog born ook, nu eenmaal te maken had met borders, norms en conventies." Interview with Femke Deen. In: de Volkskrant, October 9, 2018 .
- ^ Mann, p. 9
- ↑ Kruse, p. 13
- ↑ Mann, p. 35
- ↑ Mann, pp. 40-41
- ↑ Kruse, pp. 12-13; Dönges, p. 129; Vetter, p. 51
- ^ So Hans Kruse, p. 13
- ^ Spies, p. 238
- ↑ The excerpt from the painting Venus with Cupid placed by Maike Vogt-Lüerssen on the title of her print-on-demand book Anna von Sachsen does not show Anna of Saxony as a naked, beautiful and seductively smiling Circe, especially since the artist Heinrich Bollandt , the the work has recently been assigned, she has never seen. Ms. Vogt-Lüerssen attributes the fact that art historians do not want to recognize who, in the author’s opinion, discovered the true portrait of the subject, to the “arbitrariness” of the scholars of this subject, not to her own.
- ↑ Vetter 1987, pp. 26-28
- ↑ Vetter 1987, p. 51
- ↑ Kruse, p. 18
- ↑ Kruse, p. 16
- ↑ Vetter 1987, pp. 51-52; Kruse, pp. 15, 22; Mörke, p. 74
- ↑ Beaufort, p. 51
- ↑ Mörke, p. 74
- ↑ Mörke, p. 71. Talers and guilders had roughly the same value.
- ↑ Böttcher, p. 62
- ↑ Mann, pp. 90-91
- ↑ Glawischnig, p. 64.
- ↑ Dönges, p. 130
- ↑ Vetter 1990, p. 64
- ↑ Kruse, p. 22
- ↑ Kruse, p. 23. Amadis von Gallien, which was published with many sequels, dealt with the romantic love of a knight for a king's daughter, whose hand he acquired after many adventures. The Amadis novels caused a real intoxication ("esprit de vertige") among the nobility: Huizinga, p. 83.
- ↑ Another daughter of Anna, Christine , was not recognized by Wilhelm because she came from the affair with Jan Rubens.
- ^ Mann, p. 123
- ^ Mann, p. 126
- ↑ Kruse, p. 29
- ↑ ibid.
- ↑ Rachfahl II.1, p. 384
- ↑ Beaufort, pp. 129-130
- ↑ Kruse, p. 37
- ↑ Kruse, p. 36
- ^ Letter from the Landgrave of Hesse to Anna, quoted in n. Kruse, p. 33
- ↑ Kruse, p. 38; Vetter 1990, p. 69
- ^ Mann, p. 140
- ↑ Mann, p. 138
- ↑ Kruse, p. 38
- ↑ Vetter 1990, p. 69
- ↑ Kruse, p. 39; Vetter 1990, p. 68
- ↑ Cellarius, Propaganda
- ↑ Dönges, p. 55
- ↑ Böttcher, p. 151
- ↑ Mörke, p. 21
- ^ Reformation - Denomination - Conversion. Pp. 62, 91-96, 246.
- ↑ Dönges, p. 54
- ↑ As the rooms were called centuries later; Dönges, p. 49.
- ↑ Kruse, p. 46; Dönges, pp. 134-35
- ↑ Dönges, p. 134
- ↑ Dönges, p. 133
- ^ Mann, p. 166
- ↑ Dönges, p. 134
- ↑ Kruse, p. 46
- ↑ Dönges, p. 134
- ↑ Böttcher, p. 153
- ↑ Kruse, p. 47
- ↑ Kruse, p. 51
- ↑ Cellarius, Entführung, p. 147
- ^ Mann, p. 178
- ↑ Kruse, pp. 53-54
- ↑ Kruse, p. 54
- ↑ Kruse, p. 55
- ↑ Vetter 1987, p. 103
- ↑ Vetter 1987, p. 103
- ↑ Kruse, p. 53
- ↑ Kruse, p. 53; Böttcher, p. 170
- ↑ Kruse, p. 57
- ↑ Böttcher, p. 179
- ↑ Mann, pp. 177-178
- ↑ The detailed correspondence between Ana and Wilhelm between October 1569 and April 1570 is currently documented most extensively and easily accessible in the English-language biography of Ingrun Mann on pp. 177–180.
- ↑ Kruse, pp. 56-58
- ↑ Kruse, pp. 57-58
- ↑ Kruse, pp. 57-58
- ↑ Kruse, p. 56
- ↑ Böttcher, p. 168
- ↑ Under Wilhelm's father Siegen was still the first seat of the county, Johann VI. but moved his government business primarily to Dillenburg.
- ↑ Kruse, 73
- ↑ Kruse, 74
- ↑ Kruse, p. 75
- ↑ Mann, pp. 189-190. "It must have been clear to Anna that she was embarking on a dangerous journey that could lead to her ruin and expulsion from society [but] Anna continued to risk her life and honor for her feelings."
- ↑ Kruse, pp. 76-77
- ↑ Kruse, p. 77
- ↑ Kruse, p. 77
- ↑ Vogt-Lüerssen, pp. 68-70; Böttcher, pp. 193-194
- ↑ Böttcher, p. 195
- ↑ Kruse, pp. 94-95
- ^ Mann, p. 189
- ↑ Vogt-Lüerssen, p. 72
- ^ Mann, p. 182
- ^ Mann, p. 201
- ↑ Kruse, p. 79
- ↑ Pletz-Krehahn 1981, p. 199
- ↑ Spieß, pp. 268-269, De Dijn, p. 64, Mann, pp. 209-211; Barton, pp. 190-191.
- ↑ Kruse, p. 85
- ↑ Kruse, p. 84
- ↑ Kruse, pp. 86-87
- ↑ "the male"
- ↑ Pletz-Krehan 1981, p. 190
- ↑ Kruse, p. 93
- ↑ Kruse, p. 90; Pletz-Krehahn 1981, p. 189
- ↑ Glawischnig, pp. 90−91. Bernhardi was later expelled from the country.
- ↑ Dönges, pp. 143-144; Kruse, pp. 91-92; Pletz-Krehahn 1981, p. 190. The “offense” of Jacques was that while serving, with two heavy bowls loaded with them, he did not bend his knee in front of Anna.
- ↑ Kruse, p. 90
- ↑ Kruse, p. 105
- ↑ Kruse, p. 90
- ↑ Kruse, p. 93
- ↑ Kruse, p. 105
- ↑ According to the French hélas! (say elas) = oh, oh woe.
- ↑ Politeness formula "Your lover"
- ↑ Kruse, p. 94
- ↑ Glawischnig, pp. 81−113.
- ↑ as in "free custody"
- ↑ Kruse, p. 101
- ↑ Kruse, p. 103
- ↑ "Do you itch in your throat, if you want to call Ime that Ime sollches ballde will be rifled" (Kruse, p. 110).
- ↑ Kruse, p. 110
- ↑ Kruse, pp. 110-112
- ↑ Kruse, p. 117
- ↑ Kruse, p. 116
- ↑ Kruse, p. 117
- ↑ Kruse, p. 120
- ↑ Kruse, p. 120
- ↑ Kruse, p. 129
- ↑ Kruse, p. 120
- ↑ Kruse, p. 120; Pletz-Krehahn 1981, pp. 190-191
- ↑ Kruse, p. 120. According to Anna's own statements, this must have happened to her almost every day since Gottfried's arrival in Beilstein. The violent exchanges with Gottfried von Nassau and his maids were the most humiliating experience of their life up to then. The prehistory was that Anna, during her time in Dillenburg, clearly showed Gottfried, who was then serving as castle administrator, of her higher rank.
- ^ Mann, p. 246
- ↑ Kruse, p. 130; this almost literally taken over from Böttcher, p. 266, without citing the source.
- ↑ Kruse, pp. 131-132
- ↑ Kruse, p. 129
- ↑ Kruse, p. 130
- ↑ Kruse, p. 132
- ↑ Kruse, p. 134
- ↑ Kruse, p. 174
- ↑ Kruse, p. 134
- ↑ Kruse, p. 134
- ↑ Kruse, p. 134
- ↑ It is unclear how the access "of the women who were assigned to her" (Kruse, p. 135) was regulated.
- ↑ Kruse, p. 136
- ↑ Kruse, p. 136, Pletz-Krehan, p. 212
- ↑ Kruse, p. 136
- ↑ Kruse, p. 138
- ↑ Quoted from Kruse, p. 138.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Anna of Saxony |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Wife of Prince William of Orange |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 23, 1544 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Dresden |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 18, 1577 |
| Place of death | Dresden |