Christina of Saxony (1505–1549)

Christine von Sachsen, Landgravess von Hessen, painting by Just vom Hoff

Epitaph in the Martinskirche in Kassel

Christina von Sachsen (* December 25, 1505 , † April 15, 1549 in Kassel ) was a princess of Saxony and by marriage Landgravine of Hesse .

Life

Christina was a daughter of Duke George of Saxony (1471–1539) from his marriage to Barbara (1478–1534), daughter of King Casimir IV of Poland .

She married Landgrave Philip I of Hesse on December 11, 1523 in Dresden . The marriage, a typical princely marriage, entered into for political reasons, was intended to strengthen the family ties between Saxony and Hesse. Philip wrote about his wife that he had “ little love or heat, how much she sust from, but she was sust unfriendly, hesitant, and smelled bad too. ”

In 1540 Philipp married his 17-year-old lover Margarethe von der Saale, if his marriage with Christine continued . In addition to Melanchthon and Luther , Christina also consented to this marriage, and Philipp had three more children with her afterwards. Philip had allowed his wife to always regard her as his dutifully wedded supreme wife and to live with her, to recognize the children of the marriage as his legal children and sole heirs of the country and to provide the descendants with his new wife only with goods.

After Philip's capture in the Schmalkaldic War , Christine, who was never to see her husband again, ran government business in Hesse from 1547 together with her eldest son Wilhelm. However, Philip never appointed his wife to be regent in the event of his death, for fear that she might leave his offspring from his marriage to Margarethe von der Saale without care. Instead, he named a Regency Council, consisting of Chancellor Heinrich Lersner and Councilors Rudolf Schenk zu Schweinsberg , Wilhelm von Schachten and Simon Bing .

Christine and her husband are buried under an impressive epitaph in the Martinskirche in Kassel.

progeny

• Agnes (1527-1555)

⚭ 1. 1541 Elector Moritz of Saxony (1521–1553)

⚭ 2. 1555 Duke Johann Friedrich II. Of Saxe-Gotha (1529–1595)

• Anna (1529–1591)

⚭ 1544 Count Palatine Wolfgang von Zweibrücken (1526–1569)

• Wilhelm IV. (1532–1592), Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel

⚭ 1566 Princess Sabine of Württemberg (1549–1581)

• Philipp Ludwig (1534–1535)
• Barbara (1536–1597)

⚭ 1. 1555 Duke George I of Württemberg-Mömpelgard (1498–1558)

⚭ 2. 1568 Count Daniel von Waldeck-Wildungen (1530–1577)

• Ludwig IV (1537–1604), Landgrave of Hesse-Marburg

⚭ 1. 1563 Princess Hedwig of Württemberg (1547–1590)

⚭ 2. 1591 Countess Marie von Mansfeld (1567–?)

• Elisabeth (1539–1582)

⚭ 1560 Elector Ludwig VI. of the Palatinate (1539–1583)

• Philip II (1541–1583), Landgrave of Hesse-Rheinfels

⚭ 1569 Countess Palatine Elisabeth von Simmern (1549–1609)

• Christine (1543-1604)

⚭ 1564 Duke Adolf von Holstein-Gottorf (1526–1586)

• Georg I (1547–1596), Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt

⚭ 1. 1572 Countess Magdalena zur Lippe (1552–1587)

⚭ 2. 1589 Princess Eleonore of Württemberg (1552–1618)

literature

• Andrea Baresel-Brand: Funerary monuments of northern European royal houses in the Renaissance era ... p. 289 ff.
• Christian Röth: History of Hesse p. 176
• Pauline Puppel: The Regent p. 304

Web links

• Hessen, Christine Landgräfin von. Hessian biography. (As of January 13, 2020). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).