Augusta of Denmark | |
---|---|
Duchess consort of Holstein-Gottorp | |
Born |
Koldinghus |
8 April 1580
Died | 5 February 1639 Husum Castle |
(aged 58)
Spouse | John Adolf, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp |
House | Oldenburg |
Father | Frederick II of Denmark |
Mother | Sophia of Mecklenburg-Güstrow |
Princess Augusta of Denmark (8 April 1580 – 5 February 1639) was the third daughter of King Frederick II of Denmark and Sophia of Mecklenburg-Güstrow, and Duchess of Holstein-Gottorp as the wife of Duke John Adolf. She was politically influential during the reign of her son, Duke Frederick III.
She was married on 30 August 1596 in Copenhagen to her parents' cousin Duke John Adolf of Holstein-Gottorp (1575–1616) and had eight children. The marriage was tense as the spouses disagreed on religious matters. When in 1610 John Adolf fired the Lutheran vicar Jacob Fabricius the Elder, general provost for Holstein and Schleswig ducal share, and replaced him with a Calvinist, Philipp Caesar, as the official vicar of the ducal court in 1614, Augusta refused to attend service and went by foot to the Lutheran church in Schleswig.
As widow, she fired the Calvinist court vicar and reinstated Jacob Fabricius in 1616. She was politically influential during the reign of her son. She governed Husum castle as her dowry and there promoted arts and culture, music and gardening and schools. She supported and recommended the persecuted writer Anna Ovena Hoyer, when she fled from Holstein-Gottorp to the Swedish queen, Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg in 1632. In 1631 she came in conflict with her ruling brother Christian IV of Denmark over the inheritance of their wealthy mother.