Elisabeth of Brunswick
Encyclopedia
Elisabeth of Brunswick and Lunenburg (actually: Catherine Elisabeth, she had a younger sister named only Elisabeth; 1385 – after 1423) was Duchess consort of Sønderjylland and Schleswig
and Countess consort of Holstein-Rendsburg. She was the regent of some of the fiefs of her son during his minority 1404-1415.
She was a daughter of Magnus II Torquatus, Duke of Brunswick and Lunenburg
, Prince of Wolfenbüttel, and his consort Catherine of Anhalt-Bernburg
, daughter of Bernhard III, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg
. Elisabeth was the grandmother of Christian I of Denmark
and six times great-granddaughter of Henry II of England
.
Count of Schauenburg and Holstein-Rendsburg (ca. 1367-4 August 1404), who ruled in personal union
as Duke Gerhard II in Schleswig. She had three sons and two daughters:
and King Erik: her son Duke Henry was taken to Denmark, and her daughter Ingeborg was by Queen Margaret sent to Vadstena Abbey in Sweden. In the following years, Queen Margaret acquired large parts of Sønderjylland as security (Tønder
fief, Frisland
, episcopal manors in Svabsted
and Stubbe), by purchase (Trøjborg, Skinkelborg, Grødersby
); King Erik took over Haderslev
fief as security from the fiefholder Helene Ahlefeldt
, and Flensborg by the queen.
When Gottorp
was about to be taken over by the Danish crown, however, Elisabeth called her son Henry back from Denmark (1408) and had a declaration of hostility sent to King Erik 14 June 1410. This led to a number of feuds, instability and the pawning of several fiefs. Her own dower lands Als
, Ærø
and Sundeved
was taken by King Erik. Several foreign princes, among them her brother Duke Henry the Mild of Brunswick and Lunenburg (Wolfenbüttel)
, tried to intervene and mediate but without lasting peace. In 1415, her son Henry was declared of legal majority, the reign of Elisabeth ended and she is no longer mentioned much in the documents. In 1417, she was present in Rendsborg at the side of her son when King Erik took Slesvig and when Henry was forced to seek help from Hamburg
. In 1423, her sons formed a complaint that their mother had been assaulted by the royal soldiers despite the promise that she was to be left out of the conflict: her carriage had been attacked and her male staff had been mugged and captured. This is the last time she is mentioned.
Schleswig
Schleswig or South Jutland is a region covering the area about 60 km north and 70 km south of the border between Germany and Denmark; the territory has been divided between the two countries since 1920, with Northern Schleswig in Denmark and Southern Schleswig in Germany...
and Countess consort of Holstein-Rendsburg. She was the regent of some of the fiefs of her son during his minority 1404-1415.
She was a daughter of Magnus II Torquatus, Duke of Brunswick and Lunenburg
Magnus II, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
Magnus , called Magnus with the Necklace or Magnus II, was Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, ruling the Brunswick-Lüneburg principalities of Wolfenbüttel and, temporarily, Lüneburg....
, Prince of Wolfenbüttel, and his consort Catherine of Anhalt-Bernburg
Anhalt-Bernburg
Anhalt-Bernburg was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire and a duchy of the German Confederation ruled by the House of Ascania with its residence at Bernburg in present-day Saxony-Anhalt...
, daughter of Bernhard III, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg
Bernhard III, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg
Bernhard III, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg was a German prince of the House of Ascania and ruler of the principality of Anhalt-Bernburg....
. Elisabeth was the grandmother of Christian I of Denmark
Christian I of Denmark
Christian I was a Danish monarch, king of Denmark , Norway and Sweden , under the Kalmar Union. In Sweden his short tenure as monarch was preceded by regents, Jöns Bengtsson Oxenstierna and Erik Axelsson Tott and succeeded by regent Kettil Karlsson Vasa...
and six times great-granddaughter of Henry II of England
Henry II of England
Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...
.
Marriage and issue
Elisabeth was engaged in 1390 and married in 1395 to Gerhard VIGerhard VI of Holstein-Rendsburg
Gerhard VI was the Count of Holstein-Rendsburg from 1382.Gerhard VI was born around 1367, the son of Count Henry II from the Rendsburg line of the House of Schauenburg and Ingeburg of Mecklenburg. On 15 September 1386 he was rewarded with the Duchy of Schleswig by King Olav III of Denmark...
Count of Schauenburg and Holstein-Rendsburg (ca. 1367-4 August 1404), who ruled in personal union
Personal union
A personal union is the combination by which two or more different states have the same monarch while their boundaries, their laws and their interests remain distinct. It should not be confused with a federation which is internationally considered a single state...
as Duke Gerhard II in Schleswig. She had three sons and two daughters:
- Ingeborg of Schauenburg and Holstein-RendsburgIngeborg of HolsteinIngeborg of Holstein , was Abbess of Vadstena Abbey 1447-1452 and 1457-1465.She was the daughter of Gerhard VI of Holstein and Elisabeth of Brunswick. In 1408, she was placed in the convent by Queen Margaret I of Denmark by consent of the Pope. In 1447, she was appointed Abbess...
(1396–1465), Abbess at Vadstena AbbeyVadstena AbbeyVadstena Abbey was the motherhouse of the Bridgettine Order, situated on Lake Vättern, in the Diocese of Linköping, Sweden. The abbey started as one of the farms donated by the king, but the town of Vadstena grew up around it...
1447-1452 and 1457–1465 - Henry of Schauenburg and Holstein-Rendsburg (1397–1427), as Henry IV Count of Holstein-Rendsburg, as Henry III Duke of Schleswig since 1404
- Hedwig of Schauenburg and Holstein-RendsburgHelvig of SchauenburgHelvig of Schauenburg , also known as Hedwig of Schauenburg, was a duchess of Schleswig and a countess of Holstein from the family of Schauenburg, and ancestor of the Danish Royal houses of Oldenburg and Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg.She was a daughter of Count Gerhard VI of...
(aka Heilwig; 1398–1436), married (1) on 18 April 1417 with Prince Balthasar of Mecklenburg-Werle, who died of the plagueBubonic plaguePlague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...
in 1421, (2) in 1423 with Count Derrick of OldenburgDietrich of OldenburgDerrick or Dietrich of Oldenburg, Latin-based anglicization also Theoderic of Oldenburg , nicknamed Theoderic the Lucky or the Fortunate , was a feudal lord in northern Germany, holding the counties of Delmenhorst and Oldenburg...
. - Adolf of Schauenburg and Holstein-Rendsburg (1401–1459), as Adolf VIII Count of Holstein-Rendsburg, as Adolf I Duke of Schleswig with his brother Gerhard VII since 1427
- Gerhard of Schauenburg and Holstein-Rendsburg (1404–1433, EmmerichEmmerichEmmerich am Rhein; , meaning Emmerich at the Rhine is a city on the lower part of the River Rhine in the northwest of the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia...
), as Gerhard VII Count of Holstein-Rendsburg, as Gerhard III Duke of Schleswig with his brother Adolf since 1427, married in 1432 Agnes (divorced 1433), daughter of Margrave Bernard I of Baden-BadenBernard I, Margrave of Baden-BadenBernard I of Baden was Margrave of Baden-Baden from 1391 to 1431.-Life:He was the elder son of Rudolf VI and Matilde of Sponheim. He and his brother Rudolf VII concluded an inheritance contract in 1380, according to which the margraviate might be divided only among male descendants for two...
Biography
In 1404, Elisabeth was widowed while her son, the successor of her spouse, was still a minor. She thereby became regent. She was forced to the political act of handing the guardian regency over the County of Holstein to her former brother-in-law, Bishop Henry of Osnabrück, and the guardian regency of the Duchy of Sønderjylland, as well as the custody of her son, Duke Henry, to Queen Margaret I of DenmarkMargaret I of Denmark
Margaret I was Queen of Denmark, Norway and Sweden and founder of the Kalmar Union, which united the Scandinavian countries for over a century. Although she acted as queen regnant, the laws of contemporary Danish succession denied her formal queenship. Her title in Denmark was derived from her...
and King Erik: her son Duke Henry was taken to Denmark, and her daughter Ingeborg was by Queen Margaret sent to Vadstena Abbey in Sweden. In the following years, Queen Margaret acquired large parts of Sønderjylland as security (Tønder
Tønder
Tønder is a municipality in Region of Southern Denmark on the Jutland peninsula in south Denmark. The municipality covers an area of 1,278 km², and has a total population of 40,367...
fief, Frisland
Frisland
Frisland, also called Frischlant, Friesland, Freezeland, Frislandia, or Fixland, is a mythical island that appeared on virtually all of the maps of the North Atlantic from the 1560s through the 1660s...
, episcopal manors in Svabsted
Schwabstedt
Schwabstedt is a municipality in the district of Northern Frisia , in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.-History:In 1268 Bishop Bunde of Schleswig sold his castle Gottorp to Eric II, Duke of Schleswig and moved his residence to Schwabstedt....
and Stubbe), by purchase (Trøjborg, Skinkelborg, Grødersby
Grödersby
Grödersby is a municipality in the district of Schleswig-Flensburg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany....
); King Erik took over Haderslev
Haderslev
Haderslev is a town and municipality on the east coast of the Jutland peninsula in south Denmark. Also included is the island of Årø as well as several other smaller islands in the Little Belt. The municipality covers and has a population of 56,414 . Its mayor is Jens Christian Gjesing,...
fief as security from the fiefholder Helene Ahlefeldt
Ahlefeldt
Ahlefeldt is a Danish and German family of high nobility.The earliest known ancestor is one Benedict Ahlefeldt, , whose son and grandsons served king Atterdag Valdemar IV of Denmark and received significant pawn fiefs and properties in Denmark....
, and Flensborg by the queen.
When Gottorp
Gottorp
Gottorf Castle is a castle and estate in the city of Schleswig, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is the ancestral home of the Holstein-Gottorp branch of the House of Oldenburg...
was about to be taken over by the Danish crown, however, Elisabeth called her son Henry back from Denmark (1408) and had a declaration of hostility sent to King Erik 14 June 1410. This led to a number of feuds, instability and the pawning of several fiefs. Her own dower lands Als
Als
Als is a Danish island in the Baltic Sea. It lies east of the Jutland peninsula of Denmark at the town of Sønderborg, and north of the German coast at Schleswig. Covering an area of 321 km² , the island has a total population of 51,322 as of 1 January 2010...
, Ærø
Ærø
Ærø is one of the Danish Baltic Sea islands, and part of Region of Southern Denmark. The western portion of the island was the municipality of Ærøskøbing; the eastern portion of the island was the municipality of Marstal...
and Sundeved
Sundeved
Until January 1, 2007 Sundeved was a municipality in the former South Jutland County on the east coast of the Jutland peninsula in south Denmark. The municipality covered an area of 69 km², and had a total population of 5,298...
was taken by King Erik. Several foreign princes, among them her brother Duke Henry the Mild of Brunswick and Lunenburg (Wolfenbüttel)
Henry the Mild, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
Henry of Brunswick-Lüneburg , Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, called Henry the Mild, was prince of Lüneburg from 1388 to 1409 jointly with his brother Bernard I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, from 1400 to 1409 also of Wolfenbüttel, and from 1409 until his death sole prince of Lüneburg.Henry was the...
, tried to intervene and mediate but without lasting peace. In 1415, her son Henry was declared of legal majority, the reign of Elisabeth ended and she is no longer mentioned much in the documents. In 1417, she was present in Rendsborg at the side of her son when King Erik took Slesvig and when Henry was forced to seek help from Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
. In 1423, her sons formed a complaint that their mother had been assaulted by the royal soldiers despite the promise that she was to be left out of the conflict: her carriage had been attacked and her male staff had been mugged and captured. This is the last time she is mentioned.