Dorothea of Lorraine
| Dorothea of Lorraine | |
|---|---|
| Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg | |
 |
|
| Born |
24 May 1545 Château de Deneuvre, Deneuvre, Lorraine |
| Died | 2 June 1621 (aged 76) Nancy, Lorraine |
| Spouse |
Eric II, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg Marc de Rye, Marquis de Varambon |
| House | Lorraine |
| Father | Francis I, Duke of Lorraine |
| Mother | Christina of Denmark |
Dorothea of Lorraine (24 May 1545 – 2 June 1621), was by birth a member of the House of Lorraine and by marriage to Eric II, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg-Calenburg.
Born at the Château de Deneuvre, she was the third child and second daughter of Francis I, Duke of Lorraine and Christina of Denmark. Her paternal grandparents were Antoine, Duke of Lorraine and Renée of Bourbon-Montpensier and her maternal grandparents were Christian II of Denmark and Isabella of Austria.
Dorothea was named after her maternal aunt and she was born crippled or lame, which was attributed to the stress of her mother during the pregnancy (her father died one month after her birth, on 12 June 1545). During the visit of her maternal aunt and uncle in 1551, she and her sister were described:
Dorothea was described as having a certain charm and gaiety which made her brother and his family devoted to her. She helped her brother design the terraced gardens, adorned with fountains and orangeries, in the precincts of the ducal palace: he named bell in the new clock-tower of Nancy from 1577 after her. She attended the wedding between the King of France and Louise of Lorraine in Reims in 1573.
On 26 November 1575 at Nancy, she married Eric II, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, an old friend of her family and a recent widower from an unfortunate marriage with Sidonie of Saxony. In 1578, she joined Eric on his war expedition to support Juan d'Austria in Namur. The same year, Eric was employed by Philip of Spain in his attempt to conquer Portugal. Dorothea lived at the Spanish court, and became a personal friend of the King. He made instructions that certain amounts of her spouse's salary be given to her rather than to him, granted her personal gifts, a patent for working certain gold-mines, and the succession of her spouse to Tortona, the dower estate of her mother in Italy, upon her mother's death.
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