Countess Amalie Elisabeth of Hanau-Münzenberg

Amalie Elisabeth of Hanau-Münzenberg
Landgravine of Hesse-Kassel
Amalie Elisabeth of Hanau-Münzenberg
Born	(1602-01-29)29 January 1602 Hanau, County of Hanau-Münzenberg
Died	8 August 1651(1651-08-08) (aged 49) Kassel
Spouse	William V, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel
House	House of Hanau
Father	Philip Louis II of Hanau-Münzenberg
Mother	Countess Catharina Belgica of Nassau

Amalie Elisabeth of Hanau-Münzenberg (1602–1651) was Landgravine consort and Regent of Hesse-Kassel. She married the future William V, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel in 1619. Upon her husband's death in 1637, she became regent for their son William VI. Through skillful diplomacy and military successes in the Thirty Years' War, she advanced the fortunes of Hesse-Kassel and handed over an enlarged landgraviate to her son upon his majority in 1650. However, her health was ruined by the war, and she died in 1651.

Childhood

Amalie Elisabeth was born in 1602 to Philip Louis II, Count of Hanau-Münzenberg and Countess Catharina Belgica of Nassau. Her mother was a daughter of William the Silent, who had led the war of independence of the Netherlands against the Habsburgs in the 16th century. Through her mother's numerous siblings, Amalie Elisabeth was related to many of the noble houses of Europe. These included the Reformation-minded Wittelsbachs in Heidelberg, where she lived for a while with her aunt, Countess Louise Juliana of Nassau (1576-1644), who was married to Frederick IV, Elector Palatine. After the early death of her father in 1612, she returned to Hanau. She later stayed for a long time with her relatives in the Netherlands.

In 1617 Albrecht Jan Smiřický von Smiřice (1594-1618) appeared at the court in Hanau, to ask Amalie Elisabeth to marry him. As this had not been previously discussed, and the status and rank of the Bohemian aristocratic title was not clear in Hanau, this caused some confusion. Albrecht Johann Smiřický was after all Protestant, and one of the richest landowners of Bohemia. So they became engaged. Albrecht Johann Smiřický was later one of the six Bohemian nobles at the second defenestration of Prague who threw the Emperor's representative from a window, which was the beginning of the Thirty Years' War. He was then one of the possible candidates for the Bohemian crown. Albrecht Johann Smiřický died, however, before the Winter King Frederick V was defeated. There was a quarrel between Amalie Elisabeth and his heirs over his inheritance, which came to an end when the Habsburgs confiscated it in 1621.

Landgravine

Amalie Elisabeth married in 1619 the later Landgrave William V of Hesse-Kassel. After his father Maurice abdicated, William in 1627 became ruler of Hesse-Kassel.

In the Thirty Years' War, William fought on the Protestant side. After Imperial and Spanish troops' success against Sweden in the 1634 Battle of Nördlingen, he lost his most powerful ally. He was still one of three rulers who refused to accept the Peace of Prague in 1635, and he now allied with the French. In the further course of the war he liberated the city of Hanau on 13 June 1636 from a siege by Imperial troops. Later, however, he was defeated by the Emperor's troops and had to withdraw to his possessions in Frisia. During this flight, William and Amalie Elisabeth had to leave their little daughters Amelia, Charlotte and Elisabeth behind in Kassel. Amalie Elisabeth only saw her daughters again three years later. William V had by this point already died in Leer (in Frisia) at the age of only 36. His will named his wife as regent for his still underage son, William VI. The most important instrument of power he left his wife was a well-led army, which had been able to flee to Frisia.

Regency

Engraving of Countess Amalie Elisabeth

William V's successor in Hesse-Kassel was his 8-year-old son, Landgrave William VI. Until he reached adulthood 1650, Amalie Elisabeth ran the government in his place. She proved to be a skilled and energetic regent. Despite the sorry state of affairs in 1637, she managed to not only preserve the Landgraviate for her son, but also to consolidate it. She first had the troops located in Frisia swear fealty to the new Landgrave, and also received recognition of her regency by the government in Kassel, despite the rival claim by George II of Hesse-Darmstadt (1626-1661).

Death

Her efforts during the war and the burdens they brought with them left a lasting impression on Amalie Elisabeth. She had her first bout of ill health in 1648. On September 20, 1650, her son Landgraf Wilhelm VI was granted official control of the court.

Amalie Elisabeth's last year was overshadowed by the marriage of her daughter Charlotte to Elector Karl Ludwig of the Palatinate. She returned from a trip to see her daughter in Heidelberg completely exhausted. Four weeks later, Amalie Elisabeth died in Kassel on August 8, 1651, and was buried in the Martinskirche cemetery in Kassel on September 30, 1651.

Noteworthy

Bust in the Walhalla by Christian Friedrich Tieck

• She is grandmother to the famous Liselotte of the Palatinate.
• Her first biography was likely written by Christian Gottfried Körner and appeared as an appendix to the Representation of the Thirty Years War by Friedrich Schiller.
• Amalie Elisabeth was one of only four women accepted into Walhalla during King Ludwig I's lifetime. (There are twelve women present today.) Her bust was carved by Christian Friedrich Tieck.

Issue

• Agnes (1620–1621)
• Moritz (1621–1621)
• Elisabeth (1623–1624)
• Wilhelm (1625–1626), Hereditary Prince of Hesse-Kassel
• Emilie (1626–1693), married in 1648 to Henri Charles de La Trémoille (1620–1672)
• William VI, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (1629–1663), married in 1649 to Margravine Hedwig Sophie of Brandenburg (1623–1683)
• Charlotte of Hesse-Kassel (1627–1686), married 1650–1657 (div.) to Charles I Louis of the Palatinate (1617–1680)
• Philipp (1630–1638)
• Adolf (1631–1632)
• Karl (1633–1635)
• Elisabeth (1634–1688), Princess-Abbess of Herford
• Luise (1636–1638)

Sources

• Tryntje Helfferich, The Iron Princess: Amalia Elizabeth and the Thirty Years' War (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2013).