Dorothea Susanne of Simmern

Dorothea Susanne of Simmern
Duchess of Saxony and Saxe-Weimar; Landgravine of Thuringia
Tenure	November 1566 - 1572 1572 - 2 March 1573
Spouse	John William, Duke of Saxe-Weimar
Issue
Frederick William I, Duke of Saxe-Weimar John II, Duke of Saxe-Weimar Maria, Abbess of Quedlinburg
House	House of Wittelsbach
Father	Frederick III, Elector Palatine
Mother	Marie of Brandenburg-Kulmbach
Born	15 November 1544(1544-11-15) Simmern
Died	8 April 1592(1592-04-08) (aged 47) Weimar
Religion	Lutheranism

Dorothea Susanne of Simmern (15 November 1544, Simmern – 8 April 1592, Weimar) was a princess of the Electoral Palatinate and by marriage Duchess of Saxe-Weimar.

Life

Dorothea Susanne was the daughter of elector palatine Frederick III (1515–1576) from his marriage to Marie (1519–1567), daughter of Margrave Casimir of Brandenburg-Kulmbach.

The Red Castle in Weimar, built in 1574-1576 as a window seat for Dorothea Susanne

She married on 15 June 1560 in Heidelberg Duke John William, of Saxe-Weimar (1530–1573). After their marriage, the couple lived mostly in Weimar. After the death of her husband Elector August, of Saxony acted as guardian of her children. This policy was meant to isolate the children from their mother's political and religious influence. She was assigned a new residence ouside Weimar, appropriately named New House.^[1] The Red Castle in Weimar was built for her from 1574 to 1576. She used it as her widow seat after its completion^[2] Its Renaissance portal is decorated with an alliance coat of arms of Dorothea Susanne and her husband.

In 1581, the widowed Duchess turned to wrote to her brothers, Louis VI and John Casimir to induce the guardian of her eldest son, Elector August in Dresden, to promote the marry her eldest son with a Württemberg princess.^[3]

Dorothea Susanne died in 1592 and was buried in the church of St Peter and Paul in Weimar;^[4] her motto wasI Know That My Redeemer Lives.^[5]

Offspring

From her marriage, Dorothea Susanne had the following children:

• Frederick William I, Duke of Saxe-Weimar (b. Weimar, 25 April 1562 - d. Weimar, 7 July 1602).

first married in 1583 Princess Sophia of Württemberg (1563-1590)

married secondly in countess palatine Anna Maria of Neuburg

• Sibylle Marie (b. Weimar, 7 November 1563 - d. Altenburg, 20 February 1569).
• stillborn son (Weimar, 9 October 1564).
• John II, Duke of Saxe-Weimar (b. Weimar, 22 May 1570 - d. Weimar, 18 July 1605).

married in 1593 princess Dorothea Maria of Anhalt (1574-1614)

• Maria (b. Weimar, 7 October 1571 - d. Quedlinburg, 7 March 1610), Abbess of Quedlinburg (1601–1610).

References

• Christoph Heinrich Gottlob: Saxon History, Volume 2, Weidmann, 1782, p. 146 ff.

Footnotes

1. ^ State Museums of Berlin: Restored Works of Art in the German Democratic Republic, Association of Artists of the GDR, 1979, p. 180
2. ^ http://www.dr-bernhard-peter.de/Heraldik/Galerien/galerie1101.htm
3. ^ Anne-Simone Knöfel: Dynasty and Prestige: The marriage policy of the Wettin family, Böhlau Verlag, Köln Weimar, 2009, p. 438 ff
4. ^ http://www.royaltyguide.nl/families/wittelsbach/pfalzsimmern1.htm
5. ^ Max Lobe: Devices: mottos and aphorisms, BiblioBazaar, LLC, 2009, p. 172

Persondata
Name	Dorothea Susanne von der Pfalz
Alternative names
Short description	Duchess of Saxe-Weimar
Date of birth	15 November 1544
Place of birth	Simmern / Hunsrück
Date of death	8 April 1592
Place of death	Weimar