Johanna Elisabeth of Baden-Durlach

Johanna Elisabeth von Baden-Durlach (born October 3, 1680 in Durlach , † July 2, 1757 in Stetten Castle in Stetten in the Remstal) was duchess of Württemberg by marriage .

Johanna Elisabeth of Baden-Durlach

Life

Johanna von Baden-Durlach was born in Karlsburg as the third child of Friedrich VII. Magnus , Margrave of Baden-Durlach (1647–1709) and his wife Augusta Maria von Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf (1649–1728).

In 1697 she was married to Duke Eberhard Ludwig von Württemberg (1676–1733) as part of a Baden-Durlach-Württemberg double wedding . His parents were Duke Wilhelm Ludwig von Württemberg (1647–1677) and Magdalena Sibylla von Hessen (1652–1712). The marriage bound the two leading Lutheran dynasties in southern Germany to one another. Augusta Maria von Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf was the aunt of Magdalene Sibylle von Hessen. Due to the small age difference, both had temporarily grown up together as children.

Since the Margraves of Baden-Durlach were without a handsome castle due to the previous War of the Palatinate Succession, the first princely wedding between Johanna Elisabeth and Eberhard Ludwig was celebrated in the Badischer Hof in Basel and the wedding of Eberhard Ludwig's sister Magdalena Wilhelmine in Stuttgart two months later (1677–1742) with the Hereditary Prince and later Margrave Karl III. Wilhelm von Baden-Durlach (1679–1738).

After Hereditary Prince Friedrich Ludwig (1698–1731) was born in the first year of marriage , the spouses lived largely separately. Due to his military career, Eberhard Ludwig initially rarely stayed in Stuttgart. He took part in the Battle of Höchstädt in 1704 and was later appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Rhine Army. In 1707 he became field marshal of the Swabian troops in the War of the Spanish Succession . It was important for him to command a large standing army and to lead an absolutist state with a glamorous court following the French model .

In her marriage Johanna Elisabeth continued to adhere to the pietistic ideas of roles and morals in which she had been brought up and stayed in the Old Castle in Stuttgart.

Eberhard Ludwig was the first Duke of Württemberg to live openly with a mistress , Wilhelmine von Grävenitz (1686–1744) from Mecklenburg . Their morganatic marriage in 1707 was considered a scandal. Johanna Elisabeth complained to Emperor Karl VI. , whereupon the bigamistic marriage had to be dissolved again and Wilhelmine von Graevenitz was sent into exile in Switzerland, where her Eberhard Ludwig followed.

He did not return until 1710, after Wilhelmine von Grävenitz was also able to return to Württemberg through a marriage of convenience with Landhofmeister Count von Würben. They stayed largely in Ludwigsburg . In 1718 the residence was officially relocated to Ludwigsburg. Meanwhile Johanna Elisabeth stayed behind in the old castle in Stuttgart. But she refused to file for divorce. The marriage was not broken up. Due to the early death of the Hereditary Prince Friedrich Ludwig in 1731, rule in Württemberg threatened to pass to a Catholic branch line. Due to this danger, Duke Eberhard Ludwig severed his connection to Wilhelmine von Graevenitz and hoped to get a successor from his legitimate and long-ignored wife Johanna Elisabeth. However, the advanced age of the couple and the imminent death of the duke on October 31, 1733 thwarted these efforts.

Johanna Elisabeth outlived her husband by more than 20 years. She moved into Kirchheim Castle as a widow's residence and died in 1757 during a well treatment in Stetten in the Rems Valley. She was buried in the Ludwigsburg Castle Church.

ancestors

Friedrich V Margrave of Baden-Durlach (1594–1659)

Friedrich VI. Margrave of Baden-Durlach (1617–1677)

Barbara of Württemberg (1593–1627)

Friedrich VII. Magnus Margrave of Baden-Durlach (1647–1709)

Johann Kasimir von Pfalz-Zweibrücken-Kleeburg (1589–1652)

Christine Magdalena of Pfalz-Zweibrücken-Kleeburg (1616–1662)

Katharina Wasa of Sweden (1584–1638)

Johanna Elisabeth of Baden-Durlach

Johann Adolf of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf , (1575–1616)

Friedrich III. of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf (1597–1659)

Augusta of Denmark (1580-1639)

Augusta Maria of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf (1649–1728)

Johann Georg I Elector of Saxony (1585–1656)

Maria Elisabeth of Saxony (1610–1684)

Magdalena Sibylle of Prussia (1586–1659)

progeny

• Friedrich Ludwig , (1698-1731); married since 1716 to Henriette Marie von Brandenburg-Schwedt (1702–1782)

Poem by Johanna Elisabeth

" About the Teutsche Sprach"
When a language is adorned with foreign words,
it seems like a woman who has colored her face;
if you look at it properly, it is completely rotten,
if your delicate skin is only finally damaged.
The German language is the same as the other languages,
and no matter how rich in words and sounds,
let us speak our language in our language. "

literature

• Hansmartin Decker-Hauff : Women in the Württemberg house . Edited by Wilfried Setzler u. a. DRW, Leinfelden-Echterdingen 1997, ISBN 3-87181-390-7 , p. 125 ff. (The Baden-Württemberg cross wedding).
• Michel Huberty: L'Allemagne Dynastique. Giraud, Le-Perreux-sur-Marne 1976.
• Sybille Oßwald-Bargende: A princely house affair. Insights into the gender relationship in court society using the example of the marriage rupture between Johanna Elisabetha and Eberhard Ludwig von Württemberg. In: Ulrike Weckel u. a. (Ed.): Order, politics and sociability of the sexes in the 18th century (= The 18th century. Supplementa. Volume 6). Wallstein , Göttingen 1998, ISBN 3-89244-304-1 , pp. 65-88.
• Gerhard Raff : Hie good Wirtemberg all the way. Volume 4: The House of Württemberg from Duke Eberhard Ludwig to Duke Carl Alexander. With the Stuttgart and Winnental lines. Landhege, Schwaigern 2015, ISBN 978-3-943066-39-5 , pp. 95-136.
• Dieter Stievermann: Johanna Elisabeth. In: Sönke Lorenz , Dieter Mertens , Volker Press (eds.): Das Haus Württemberg. A biographical lexicon. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-17-013605-4 , p. 172.

Web links

• Illustration and short biography