Albertine Agnes of Nassau
Encyclopedia
Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange
Frederick Henry, or Frederik Hendrik in Dutch , was the sovereign Prince of Orange and stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel from 1625 to 1647.-Early life:...
and Amalia of Solms-Braunfels
Amalia of Solms-Braunfels
Amalia of Solms-Braunfels , was a regent of Orange. She was the wife of Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange. She was the daughter of John Albert I of Solms-Braunfels and Agnes of Sayn-Wittgenstein.-Childhood:...
.
Family
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
and was the sixth of nine children born to her parents. Some of her siblings died in childhood. Albertine and four other siblings lived to adulthood, her surviving siblings were: William II, Prince of Orange
William II, Prince of Orange
William II, Prince of Orange was sovereign Prince of Orange and stadtholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands from 14 March 1647 until his death three years later.-Biography:...
, Luise Henriette of Nassau, Henriette Catherine of Nassau
Henriette Catherine of Nassau
Henriette Catherine of Nassau was a daughter of Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange and his wife Amalia of Solms-Braunfels. Henriette was a member of the House of Orange-Nassau .- Family :...
and Mary of Nassau.
Albertine's paternal grandparents were William the Silent
William the Silent
William I, Prince of Orange , also widely known as William the Silent , or simply William of Orange , was the main leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish that set off the Eighty Years' War and resulted in the formal independence of the United Provinces in 1648. He was born in the House of...
and his fourth wife Louise de Coligny
Louise de Coligny
Louise de Coligny was the daughter of Gaspard de Coligny and Charlotte de Laval and the fourth and last spouse of William the Silent.-Biography:...
. Her grandfather, William was murdered on the orders of Philip II of Spain
Philip II of Spain
Philip II was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count....
who believed that William had betrayed the Spanish king and the Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
religion.
Her maternal grandparents were Johan Albrecht I of Solms-Braunfels and his wife Agnes of Sayn-Wittgenstein.
In 1652 she married her second-cousin, William Frederick, Prince of Nassau-Dietz.
They had three children:
- Amalia of Nassau-Dietz, married to John William III, Duke of Saxe-EisenachJohn William III, Duke of Saxe-EisenachJohann Wilhelm, Duke of Saxe-Eisenach , was a duke of Saxe-Eisenach.He was the third son of Johann Georg I, Duke of Saxe-Eisenach and Johannetta of Sayn-Wittgenstein...
- Henry Casimir II, Count of Nassau-Dietz, married to Henriëtte Amalia of Anhalt-Dessau
- Wilhelmina Sophia Hedwig (1664–1667)
Regency
After the death of her husband in 1664, she became regent for her son in FrieslandFriesland
Friesland is a province in the north of the Netherlands and part of the ancient region of Frisia.Until the end of 1996, the province bore Friesland as its official name. In 1997 this Dutch name lost its official status to the Frisian Fryslân...
, Groningen
Groningen (province)
Groningen [] is the northeasternmost province of the Netherlands. In the east it borders the German state of Niedersachsen , in the south Drenthe, in the west Friesland and in the north the Wadden Sea...
and Drenthe
Drenthe
Drenthe is a province of the Netherlands, located in the north-east of the country. The capital city is Assen. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to the west, Groningen to the north, and Germany to the east.-History:Drenthe, unlike many other parts of the Netherlands, has been a...
. When both England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and the bishop of Münster declared war on the Netherlands. Because most of the money for defence had been used for the fleet, the army had been neglected. When Groningen was under siege, Albertine Agnes hastened to the city to give moral support. The forces of their enemies retreated, but six years later the Netherlands were attacked from the south, by the French under Louis XIV and from the north by the bishop of Münster and archbishop of Cologne. She organised defence and kept moral high.
In 1676 Albertine Agnes bought a country seat in Oranjewoud
Oranjewoud
Oranjewoud is a small village in Heerenveen in the province Friesland of the Netherlands and has around the 1062 citizens . It is known for Oranjewoud Palace. The village had one museum called Belvédère.-History:...
and called it Oranjewoud Palace; it was here that she died in 1696.
It is through her that the Dutch queen Beatrix
Beatrix of the Netherlands
Beatrix is the Queen regnant of the Kingdom of the Netherlands comprising the Netherlands, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, and Aruba. She is the first daughter of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld. She studied law at Leiden University...
is descended from William the Silent
William the Silent
William I, Prince of Orange , also widely known as William the Silent , or simply William of Orange , was the main leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish that set off the Eighty Years' War and resulted in the formal independence of the United Provinces in 1648. He was born in the House of...
.
Ancestors
| Albertine Agnes of Nassau | Father: Frederik Hendrik of Orange |
Paternal Grandfather: William the Silent William the Silent William I, Prince of Orange , also widely known as William the Silent , or simply William of Orange , was the main leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish that set off the Eighty Years' War and resulted in the formal independence of the United Provinces in 1648. He was born in the House of... |
Paternal Great-grandfather: William I, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg William I, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg William of Nassau was a count of Nassau-Dillenburg from the House of Nassau. He was called William the Rich.... |
| Paternal Great-grandmother: Juliana of Stolberg Juliana of Stolberg Juliana, Countess of Stolberg-Wernigerode was the mother of William the Silent, the leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish in the 16th century.... |
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| Paternal Grandmother: Louise de Coligny Louise de Coligny Louise de Coligny was the daughter of Gaspard de Coligny and Charlotte de Laval and the fourth and last spouse of William the Silent.-Biography:... |
Paternal Great-grandfather: Gaspard de Coligny Gaspard de Coligny Gaspard de Coligny , Seigneur de Châtillon, was a French nobleman and admiral, best remembered as a disciplined Huguenot leader in the French Wars of Religion.-Ancestry:... |
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| Paternal Great-grandmother: Charlotte de Laval Charlotte de Laval Charlotte de Laval, Dame de Châtillon , was a French noblewoman from one of the most powerful families in Brittany. She was the first wife of Gaspard de Coligny, Seigneur de Châtillon, Admiral of France and a prominent Huguenot leader during the French Wars of Religion. She was the mother of Louise... |
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| Mother: Amalia of Solms-Braunfels Amalia of Solms-Braunfels Amalia of Solms-Braunfels , was a regent of Orange. She was the wife of Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange. She was the daughter of John Albert I of Solms-Braunfels and Agnes of Sayn-Wittgenstein.-Childhood:... |
Maternal Grandfather: John Albert I, Count of Solms-Braunfels Solms-Braunfels Solms-Braunfels was a County in what is today the federal Land of Hesse in Germany.Solms-Braunfels was a partition of Solms, and was raised to a Principality in 1742. Solms-Braunfels was partitioned between: itself and Solms-Ottenstein in 1325; itself and Solms-Lich in 1409; and itself,... |
Maternal Great-grandfather: Conrad, Count of Solms-Braunfels |
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| Maternal Great-grandmother: Elisabeth of Nassau-Dillenburg Elisabeth of Nassau-Dillenburg Countess Elisabeth of Nassau-Dillenburg was a daughter of William I, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg and Juliana of Stolberg and was one of the sisters of William the Silent.... |
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| Maternal Grandmother: Agnes of Sayn-Wittgenstein |
Maternal Great-grandfather: Louis, Count of Sayn-Wittgenstein |
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| Maternal Great-grandmother: Elisabeth of Solms-Laubach |