Christine Charlotte of Württemberg

Christine Charlotte of Württemberg

Christine Charlotte von Württemberg (born October 21, 1645 in Stuttgart ; † May 16, 1699 in Bruchhausen / Hoya ) was a born princess of Württemberg and ruled after the death of her husband, Prince Georg Christian of East Frisia , from 1665 for 25 Years as custodian of the county of East Friesland . She was considered extraordinarily beautiful, intelligent and eloquent, but also domineering, unyielding, unreasonable and wasteful. Her reign was characterized by conflicts within East Frisia. Overall, the historiography gives Christine Charlotte a bad report, which can be easily explained due to the conflicts with the estates.

Life

Christine Charlotte was a daughter of Duke Eberhard III of Württemberg . from his first marriage to Anna Katharin Dorothea von Salm-Kyrburg . At the age of 17 she married Georg Christian von Ostfriesland on May 10, 1662, who was raised to hereditary prince status in the same year . However, the marriage lasted only three years, since her husband suddenly died on June 6, 1665. The short marriage resulted in three children, two girls who died as young children, and finally, four months after Georg Christian's death, Christine Charlotte gave birth to a son, Christian Eberhard .

Since she was the mother of the future prince, she had the opportunity to rule the country as a guardian. She did this uncompromisingly and tried to transform East Frisia into an absolutist state , which had to lead to conflicts with the equally self-confident estates and several times brought East Frisia to the brink of civil war. Their efforts were not crowned with success, however, as the emperor confirmed the East Frisian Estates constitution and declared her son to be of legal age early.

Christine Charlotte also did not remain inactive in terms of foreign policy and on December 22, 1666 concluded a border treaty with the County of Oldenburg , the so-called Golden Line , which still separates East Friesland from Oldenburg Friesland to this day .

In March 1690, under pressure from the estates, she left the government to her son. She spent the last years of her life on her widow's residence in Berum . There she had a residence built in the baroque style that corresponded to her self-image as sovereign.

literature

• Joachim Fischer: Christine Charlotte. In: Sönke Lorenz , Dieter Mertens , Volker Press (eds.): Das Haus Württemberg. A biographical lexicon. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-17-013605-4 , pp. 160f.
• Gerhard Raff : Hie good Wirtemberg all the way. Volume 3: The House of Württemberg from Duke Wilhelm Ludwig to Duke Friedrich Carl. Hohenheim, Stuttgart / Leipzig 2002, ISBN 3-89850-084-5 / ISBN 978-3-943066-11-1 , pp. 70-133.

Web links

• Christine Charlotte , in: Biographical Lexicon for East Friesland (PDF; 76 kB)

predecessor	Office	successor
Georg Christian	Regent of the Principality of East Frisia 1665–1690	Christian Eberhard