Christiane Henriette, Countess Palatine of Zweibrücken

Christiane Henriette, Countess Palatine of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld
Christiane Henriette, Countess Palatine of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld, Princess of Waldeck and Pyrmont
Spouse	Karl August, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont
Father	Christian III, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken
Mother	Caroline of Nassau-Saarbrücken
Born	16 November 1725(1725-11-16) Rappoltsweiler
Died	11 February 1816(1816-02-11) (aged 90) Arolsen

Christiane Henriette of Palatinate-Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld (16 November 1725, Rappoltsweiler – 11 February 1816, Arolsen) was a Countess of Palatine of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld by birth and by marriage a Princess of Waldeck-Pyrmont.

Life

Christiane Henriette was the daughter of the Count Palatine and Duke Christian III of Zweibrücken (1674–1735) from his marriage to Caroline (1704–1774), daughter of Count Ludwig Crato of Nassau-Saarbrücken. Christiane Henriette was the sister of the Duke Christian IV, the Great Landgravine and of Field Marshal Frederick Michael. She was also an aunt of the first Bavarian king Maximilian I.

She married on 19 August 1741 in Zweibrücken prince Karl August of Waldeck-Pyrmont (1704–1763). After the death of her husband, she was from 1764 to 1766 Regent of the principality and guardian for her in the for hir first-born son.^[1] In the years 1764 to 1778, the New Castle at Arolsen was built as her Wittum by Franz Friedrich Rothweil.

Christiane Henriette was considered highly educated in arts and sciences. She was a close friend of the anthropologist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach^[2] Christiane collected a comprehensive library,^[3] which by 1788 included about 6,000 volumes^[4] and in her Arolsen Castle, she maintained an art and natural history collection.^[5]

When she died, Christiane left behind a considerable debt,^[6] which is why parts of her library and art collection had to be auctioned off in 1820 had.^[7]

Christiane Henriette died in 1816 and was buried in the park of her New Castle at Arolsen.

Offspring

From her marriage with Karl August, Christiane Henriette had the following children:

• Charles (1742–1756)
• Friedrich (1743–1812), Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont
• Christian (1744–1798), Portuguese Field Marshal
• George I (1747–1813), Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont

married in 1784 princess Auguste of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen (1768-1849)

• Caroline Louise (1748–1782)

married in 1765 (divorced 1772) Peter von Biron, Duke of Courland (1724-1800)

• Louise (1751–1816)

married in 1775 Duke Frederick Augustus of Nassau-Usingen (1738-1816)

• Louis (1752–1793), Dutch General, killed in battle

References

• Joseph Heinrich Wolf: Das Haus Wittelsbach: Bayern's Geschichte aus Quellen, G. G. Zeh, 1847, p. 482
• Kerstin Merkel, Heide Wunder: Deutsche Frauen der frühen Neuzeit, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2000, p. 211 ff.

This article incorporates information from the German Wikipedia.

Footnotes

1. ^ Society for History and Archaeology of Westphalia: Zeitschrift für vaterländische Geschichte und Altertumskunde, Volume 23, Society for History and Archaeology of Westphalia, 1863, p. 150
2. ^ Rudolf Gaedechens: Die Antiken des fürstlich Waldeckischen Museums zu Arolsen, Speyer, 1862, p. 15
3. ^ Birgit Kümmel: Arolsen: indessen will es glänzen, Bing, 1992, p. 124
4. ^ http://fwhb.uni-kassel.de/fileadmin/user_upload/_temp_/Europa_im_Kleinen2.pdf (PDF, 587 kB)
5. ^ Birgit Kümmel: Arolsen: indessen will es glänzen, Bing, 1992, p. 130
6. ^ Allgemeiner anzeiger und nationalzeitung der Deutschen, p. 3309 Digitized
7. ^ http://dtm.bbaw.de/Waldeck/arolsen-hofbibliothek.htm#Christiane

Persondata
Name	Christiane Henriette, Countess Palatine of Zweibrücken
Alternative names	Gräfin Christiane Henriette von Pfalz-Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld (German)
Short description	Princess of Waldeck and Pyrmont
Date of birth	16 November 1725
Place of birth	Rappoltsweiler
Date of death	11 February 1816
Place of death	Arolsen