Countess Amalie Elisabeth of Hanau-Münzenberg
| Amalie Elisabeth of Hanau-Münzenberg | |
|---|---|
Amalie Elisabeth of Hanau-Münzenberg
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| Spouse(s) | William V, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel |
| Noble family | House of Hanau |
| Father | Philip Louis II of Hanau-Münzenberg |
| Mother | Countess Catharina Belgica of Nassau |
| Born |
29 January 1602 Hanau |
| Died | 8 August 1651 (aged 49) Kassel |
Amalie Elisabeth of Hanau-Münzenberg (1602–1651) was Landgravine consort and Regent of Hesse-Kassel.
She was a daughter of Philip Louis II, Count of Hanau-Münzenberg and Countess Catharina Belgica of Nassau. She married in 1619 to landgrave William V, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel. She was Regent of Hesse-Kassel from 1637 until 1650 during the Thirty Years' War, as the guardian of her under age son William VI, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel.
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.
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