|
|
Countess Louise Juliana von
Nassau (1576-1644)
Born 31 March 1576 Delft
Died 15 March 1644 Koenigsberg, Prussia
Buried Dom, Koenigsberg
Married 12 June 1593 Dillenburg
Friedrich IV, Elector von der Pfalz 1583-1592-1610,
son of Ludwig VI, Elector von der Pfalz 1576-1583
and Landgraefin Elisabeth von Hessen
Born 5 March 1574 Amberg
Died 9 September 1610 Heidelberg
|
Born nine months after her parents' marriage, she was the first of
the House of Orange-Nassau to be born in The Netherlands. When barely six
years old she lost her mother. Two years and two months later her father
was shot by an assassin. This scattered his many children; but Louise Juliana,
Elisabeth, Charlotte Brabantina and Emilia Antwerpiana remained in The
Netherlands with their step-mother, Louise de Coligny. After her half-brother
had re-established the fame and honour of their Protestant family, the
young countesses were eagerly sought after by Protestant princes. Only
just 17 years old, Louise Juliana was first to marry, on the 12th June
1593 in Dillenburg, with the 19-year-old Elector Palatine, Friedrich IV.
After her marriage they moved to Heidelberg, and with her came her youngest
sister, Emilia Antwerpiana. After a frugal youth she now encountered the
luxury of Heidelberg. She also had to adjust to a husband who delighted
in showing off his wealth and drinking-splurges with cronies while on the
hunt, so that she would not know when or in what state he would come home.
Yet the pious Louise Juliana never complained but dedicated herself to
her family. However, she had a fairly happy marriage but which lasted only
seventeen years as her husband died at just 36 years of age. This made
her regent for about a year until her son, Friedrich V, was declared of
age. For the final touches of Friedrich V's education, she sent him to
her sister, Elisabeth, Duchesse de Bouillon, in Sedan. At the same court
was also the future Elector of Brandenburg who married her daughter Elisabeth
Charlotte in 1616. The Electorate Palatinate was regarded a sufficiently
important nation for her son to marry Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of King
James I of England. Leaving the young and very happy couple alone as much
as possible, she left the palace in Heidelberg. After the birth of several
grandchildren, her son, Friedrich V, was invited to become King of Bohemia.
Even though she warned him against accepting such a hazardous position,
he accepted. As this venture lasted such a short time, her son has gone
into the annals of history as "the Winter King", the glory having lasted
just the one winter. After this he was forced to leave, losing the Palatinate
which was devastated by the imperial army, and ending his life a refugee
in The Netherlands. The Electorate was given to the Duke of Bavaria. Louise
Juliana, with two of her grandchildren, first fled to Wurttemberg. However,
the Duke requested her to move on from fear of the Emperor. She then went
to Berlin and to her daughter, the Electress of Brandenburg. After an exile
of thirteen years, she received the news of her son's death without having
seen him for all this time. As well, the Swedish army had liberated part
of The Palatinate. However, this did not last for very long as soon the
Emperor regained both the city and Castle Heidelberg. The castle, however,
went up in fire. In 1638, the Elector of Brandenburg moved the whole family
to Prussia, specifically to the city of Konigsberg (now Kaliningrad in
Russia). Here, depressed about the plunder and pillage his own territories
endured, this Elector died in 1640. Louise Juliana herself died four years
later in the same city. Four years later again, after the Peace Treaty
of Munster, her grandson returned to Heidelberg as Elector.
Source: Leo van de Pas |
|
|
