Barbara Christine von Bernhold

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Barbara Christine von Bernhold ( January 1690 in Wiesbaden ; † December 27, 1756 in Kassel ), from 1742 imperial countess , was mistress and confidante of Landgrave Karl (1654–1730) of Hessen-Kassel and confidante, advisor and grand stewardess of his son and successor William VIII (1682-1760).

origin

She was the second of four daughters of the Hessian officer Johann Ludwig von Bernhold zu Eschau and his wife Anna Lucrezia, nee. by Stain. Her father died in 1692 as a Hessian lieutenant colonel in defense of Rheinfels Castle, which was besieged by 28,000 French soldiers .

Life

As a half orphan , Barbara Christine entered the service of the later Landgrave Eleonore (1686–1753), wife of (from 1725) Landgrave Leopold II (1684–1749) of Hesse-Rotenburg at a very young age . She apparently met Landgrave Karl at the court in Rotenburg .

After the death in 1711 of his wife Amalia von Kurland (1653–1711), with whom Landgrave Karl had lived for 38 years, Barbara Christine von Bernhold became his lover and confidante. Karl gave her on May 21, 1721, the entitlement to the feud Ellingerode and gave her on September 2, 1721, built by him in 1689 hunting lodge Veckerhagen with the corresponding domain .

After the death of Charles on March 23, 1730 she was still in possession of their received from him property . She had gained so much trust from Karl's sons that she became the first lady at court when it became clear that Dorothea Wilhelmine von Sachsen-Zeitz (1691–1743), with whom the later Landgrave Wilhelm VIII was married since 1717, was due to increasing mental confusion - she has not appeared in public since 1725 - could not carry out her duties. She became Wilhelm's counselor and Grand Chamberlain and was made Countess by Emperor Karl VII in 1742 in order to exercise her influence on Wilhelm in favor of the Emperor. She maintained an apartment in the Kassel Oberneustadt, which had been laid out by Paul du Ry from 1685 as a baroque extension of the city for the settlement of Huguenot immigrants .

Barbara Christine von Bernhold died on December 27, 1756 after a long illness. Her property in Veckerhagen fell back to Landgrave Friedrich II of Hessen-Kassel in 1770 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gabriele Baumbach: The beauty and ancestral gallery of Johann Heinrich Tischbeins the Elder. Ä. in Wilhelmsthal Castle ; in: Gabriele Baumbach and Corduka Bischoff (eds.): Woman and portrait 1600–1750; Baroque culture of representation at European royal courts. Kassel University Press, Kassel, 2003, ISBN 3-933146-95-X ; P. 217

literature

personal data
SURNAME Bernhold, Barbara Christine von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Mistress, imperial countess, grand stewardess
DATE OF BIRTH January 1690
PLACE OF BIRTH Wiesbaden
DATE OF DEATH December 27, 1756
Place of death kassel