Sidonie of Saxony
Sidonie (also Sidonia ) of Saxony (born March 8, 1518 in Meißen , † January 4, 1575 in Weißenfels ) was a Wettin princess and by marriage Duchess of Braunschweig-Lüneburg and Princess of Calenberg-Göttingen .
Life
family
Sidonie was a daughter of Duke Heinrich of Saxony (1473–1541) from his marriage to Katharina (1487–1561), daughter of Duke Magnus II of Mecklenburg . Her brothers were the Saxon electors Moritz and August , her sister Sibylle had been Duchess of Saxony-Lauenburg since 1540 and her sister Aemilia since 1533 Margravine of Brandenburg-Ansbach .
Sidonie married on May 17, 1545 the ten years younger Duke Erich II of Braunschweig-Lüneburg (1528–1584). The wedding ceremony was held in the Welfenschloss Münden without "pomp and expense" .
marriage
In the beginning, the couple was extremely affectionate. In order to be able to marry Sidonie, Erich had broken off an existing engagement with Agnes von Hessen . He had met Sidonie during the marriage negotiations at court in Kassel. Landgrave Philipp von Hessen prophesied: "There will be a lot of things going on in this marriage after the kissing month has ended."
Two years after the marriage, Duke Erich converted back to the Catholic faith after the Reformation had been introduced in his duchy in 1542 and he had come to government in 1547. In spite of all the influence of her husband, Sidonie stuck to her Lutheran faith. Money problems and the childlessness of the marriage soon led to an extremely unfortunate course of the relationship for the duke couple.
The clashes culminated in her suspicion that her husband was trying to poison her. A Genoese had turned to Sidonie's brother August in 1555 and told him that Duke Erich had ordered poison from him on the grounds that Erich “was a Christian and his wife was Lutheran, it was better for a woman to perish than 20,000 People". Erich turned to another woman with whom he lived at Calenberg Castle in 1563 . Sidonie was denied access to the castle, which was also justified by the fact that she threatened: "If she comes to the house, she will cut off the whore's nose and stab an eye."
Sorcery charge
From 1564 Sidonie was practically under house arrest and protested violently with her brother and the emperor. August sent councils who unsuccessfully sought compensation. Duke Erich fell seriously ill in 1564 and suspected poisoning. Because of this, four women were suspected of magic and burned as witches in Neustadt am Rübenberge . In 1570, through the mediation of the Emperor, the Elector of Saxony and the Duke Julius of Braunschweig , the financial disputes between the married couple were settled, in which Sidonie was also guaranteed Calenberg Castle, which Erich did not adhere to.
On 30 March 1572 Duke Erich invoked Landestrost Castle in Neustadt some of his councilors, nobles and deputies of the cities of Hanover and Hameln to submit them testimonies and evidence, accused the Sidonie of magic and the attack on the life of the Duke and from under The witchcraft interrogations of women suspected of torture were taken. Sidonie turned to Emperor Maximilian II and asked for a revision, to do this she secretly left Calenberg and traveled to Vienna. Emperor Maximilian then ordered that the investigation should be carried out at the imperial court, but passed the matter on to the dukes Julius and Wilhelm von Braunschweig.
On December 17, 1573, the matter was negotiated with great public interest in Halberstadt , with all the witnesses at the time revoking their statements against Sidonie and the Duchess was acquitted on all charges on January 1, 1574.
Weissenfels Monastery
From Vienna, Sidonie traveled to Dresden in October 1572 to see her brother and his wife. Instead of the Calenberg Castle and the silver she had withheld by Duke Erich, after several settlements she finally received compensation and a lifelong pension. Elector August left the Weissenfels Monastery to her with all income and interest, where Sidonie lived until her death.
Because of Sidonia's resistance, Duke Julius von Braunschweig was unable to amicably settle the investigation into the poisoning after the financial affairs were over. Sidonie wrote to Duke Julius in 1573: "because Duke Erich's arduous accusation is not about clothes, as one speaks, but about honor, which is the highest and best gem of particularly poor women in this world."
In her will, Sidonie had determined that she would be buried in Freiberg Cathedral and had left her negotiators at the trial in Halberstadt significant sums of money.
ancestors
| Pedigree Sidonie of Saxony | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great-great-grandparents |
Elector |
Duke |
Viktorin von Podiebrad (1403–1427) |
Smil von Sternberg († 1431) |
Duke |
Elector |
Wartislaw IX. (1400–1457) |
Duke |
| Great grandparents |
Elector Friedrich II. (1412–1464) |
King George of Podebrady (1420–1471) |
Duke Heinrich IV of Mecklenburg (1417–1477) |
Erich II von Pommern-Wolgast (1425–1474) |
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| Grandparents |
Duke Albrecht the Courageous (1443–1500) |
Duke Magnus II (1441–1503) |
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| parents |
Duke Heinrich the Pious (1473–1541) |
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Sidonie of Saxony |
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swell
- Martin Schemel: A Christian funeral sermon, about the corpse of the lucid high-born princess and Frawn, Frawen Sidonia, born Hertduchess of Saxony, and princess of Brunswick and Lüneburg, given at Freibergk in the Thumkirchen. By M. Martinum stool preachers at Weissenfels etc. Schwertel 1575.
literature
- Helga-Maria Kühn : "... I really like it, hyr". The last years of the Duchess Sidonia's life 1573–1575 in Weißenfels. In: Astrid Fick (ed.): The Weissenfelser St. Klaren Monastery. For the 700th anniversary. Weißenfels 2001, pp. 39-41.
- Joachim Lehrmann : witch hunt in Hanover-Calenberg and Calenberg-Göttingen. Lehrte 2005, ISBN 978-3-9803642-5-6 .
- Andrea Lilienthal: The princess and power. Welfish duchesses in the 16th century. Elisabeth, Sidonia, Sophia. Hahnsche Buchhandlung, Hanover 2007 (= sources and representations on the history of Lower Saxony, volume 127).
- Inge Mager : Elisabeth of Brandenburg - Sidonie of Saxony. Two women’s fates in the context of the Reformation of Calenberg-Göttingen. In: 450 years of the Reformation in the Calenberger Land. Laatzen 1992, pp. 23-32.
- Helga-Maria Kühn: An “undeceased widow”. Sidonia Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg, born Duchess of Saxony 1518–1575. Hahnsche Buchhandlung, Hannover 2009 (= Publications of the Historical Commission for Lower Saxony and Bremen, Volume 247).
- Johannes Merkel: The mistakes between Duke Erich II and his wife Sidonia . In: Journal of the Historical Association for Lower Saxony . Year 1899, pages 11 to 101 (PDF; 142 MB), accessed on April 28, 2016 Online version.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Christoph von Rommel: History of Hessen , Vol. 4, p. 200
- ^ Karl von Weber : Sidonie, Duchess of Braunschweig, born. Duchess of Saxony. † 1575 . In: From four centuries: communications from the main state archive in Dresden , Leipzig 1858, volume 2, p. 45.
- ↑ The name of his concubine is given as Katharina von Weldam , mother of his two surviving children. In: Johannes Merkel: The errors between Duke Erich II and his wife Sidonia . In: Journal of the Historical Association for Lower Saxony. Year 1899, page 19. (PDF), accessed on April 28, 2016 online version.
- ^ Karl von Weber: Sidonie, Duchess of Braunschweig, born. Duchess of Saxony. † 1575 . In: From four centuries: communications from the main state archive in Dresden , Leipzig 1858, volume 2, p. 46
- ^ Karl von Weber: From four centuries: Mittheilungen from the main state archive to ..., Volume 2, p. 63
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Sidonie of Saxony |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Sidonie von Calenberg-Göttingen; Sidonie von Kalenberg-Göttingen; Sidonie von Braunschweig-Calenberg; Sidonie von Braunschweig-Kalenberg; Sidonia of Saxony |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Duchess of Braunschweig-Calenberg |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 8, 1518 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Meissen |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 4, 1575 |
| Place of death | Weissenfels |