Sophie of Winzenburg

Sophie of Winzenburg
Spouse(s)	Albert the Bear
Father	Herman I, Count of Winzenburg
Mother	Countess of Everstein
Born	1105 Winzenburg, near Hanover
Died	6 or 7 July 1160 Brandenburg an der Havel
Buried	Ballenstedt

Sophie of Winzenburg (1105 in Winzenburg, near Hanover – 6 or 7 July 1160 in Brandenburg an der Havel) was the first Margravine of Brandenburg.

Sophie was a daughter of Count Herman I of Winzenburg and his first wife, who was a Countess of Everstein. She donated an oxgang of farmland near Wellen to the monastery at Leitzkau and later another oxgang near Wolmirsleben. In 1158, she accompanied her husband on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

Her sister, Beatrix, was abbess of Quedlinburg Abbey. Sophie and Beatrix both died in 1160. Some sources suggest that Sophie died on 25 March, other name 6 or 7 July. She was buried in the church of the monastery in Ballenstedt.

The present state of research is that the identity of her father has not been conclusively proven. She may have belonged to another noble house in which the name Sophie was used.

700 years after her death, a bracteate depicting Sophie and her husband was found in Aschersleben. Her portrait is stylized, as was usual in that period. The fact that Albert depicted his wife beside him on coins, is a sign of his extraordinary love for Sophie.

In 1125, she married Albert the Bear. She bore him a dozen children. Of these children, Bernhard lived the longest, viz. until 1212.

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