Maria of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel (1521–1539)

Maria von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel (* 1521 ; † June 4, 1539 in Wolfenbüttel ) was a princess of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel and abbess of the imperial free secular imperial monastery of Gandersheim .

Life

Maria was a daughter of Duke Heinrich II of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel (1489–1568) from his first marriage to Maria (1496–1541), daughter of Count Heinrich von Württemberg .

Her father had the 3-year-old princess elected as coadjutor of the Gandersheim Monastery in 1524 with the approval of Abbess Gertrud von Regenstein . After Gertrud von Regenstein's death in 1531, Duke Heinrich had the abbey "inventoried" by a bailiff and installed an administrator and a commander in the monastery. The abbey economy was essentially dissolved, the livestock confiscated and the land leased. The previous dean Katharina von Hohnstein was denied access to the monastery. In 1532 Heinrich demanded the election of his installed daughter Maria as abbess, but Maria was neither confirmed by the Pope nor elected by the Chapter, and she also had to prevail against Katharina von Hohnstein, the coadjutor originally selected by the Pope, who also appeared as abbess.

Katharina von Hohnstein died in 1536, but the papal confirmation, which was only issued in 1538, was still delayed. Until 1539, Maria's father acted as administrator and guardian in the monastery. Maria never set foot in Gandersheim. She died shortly after she and her father first registered as the elected and confirmed abbess . Her younger sister Clara was chosen as her successor .

See also

• List of the abbesses of Gandersheim

literature

• Hans Goetting : The Diocese of Hildesheim. Volume 1: The imperial canonical monastery Gandersheim (= Germania sacra. The dioceses of the ecclesiastical province of Mainz. NF 7). de Gruyter, Berlin et al. 1973, ISBN 3-11-004219-3 , p. 120 ff.