Magdalena Sibylla of Neidschutz

Magdalena Sibylla of Neidschutz

Magdalena Sibylla of Neidschutz (8 February 1675 – 14 April 1694), later Countess of Rochlitz, was a German noblewoman and the mistress of John George IV, Elector of Saxony. She was the first ever Official Mistress (Favoritin) of an Elector of Saxony.

Magdalena Sibylla, called "Billa", was the daughter of Ursula Margarethe of Haugwitz, who had at one time been the mistress of Elector Johann Georg III. By order of the Elector, Ursula married Colonel Rudolf of Neidschutz, who officially appears as the father of Billa, though there were rumors that Billa was in fact the child of Johann Georg. If this had been true, it would have made Billa half-sister of her lover, John Georg IV.

Billa became mistress of John George IV in late 1691. By order of his mother, he was forced to marry, in April 1692, in an attempt to break up the affair. Instead, immediately after he assumed the Electorate, he openly lived with Billa, and she became the first ever Official Mistress (Favoritin) of an Elector of Saxony. John George abandoned his wife in the official residence and moved into another palace with Billa.

On 20 February 1693, Leopold I gave her the title Reichsgräfin von Rochlitz.

She had an illegitimate daughter with John George IV:

• Frederica of Rochlitz (summer 1693 – after 1729): wife of Count Piotr Dunin.

She died in Dresden of smallpox, in the arms of John George IV, who himself became infected with the disease and died 23 days later.