Duchess consort of Holstein-Gottorp
Princess Augusta of Denmark
(8 April 1580 – 5 February 1639) was the
Duchess
of
Holstein-Gottorp
as the wife of Duke
John Adolf
. She was the third daughter of King
Frederick II of Denmark
and
Sophia of Mecklenburg-Gustrow
. She was politically influential during the reign of her son, Duke
Frederick III
.
Life
[
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]
In August 1594 there were negotiations for Augusta to marry
Maurice, Prince of Orange
, involving her sister the
Queen of Scotland
, but the plan was abandoned.
[1]
Earlier in Augusta's life, another match for her had been considered. Between 1589 and 1590 there had been plans for a marriage between Princess Augusta and
William IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel
's eldest son
Maurice
. It was
Duke Adolf of Gottorp's
widow,
Duchess Christine
, Landgrave William's sister, who was particularly interested in this party. The
Gottorp
councillor Casper Hoyer,
stable master
in
Eiderstedt
, was sent to Danish Chancellor
Niels Kaas
repeatedly to negotiate with him on the matter. Both Niels Kaas and
Dowager Queen Sophie
also stood up rather favourably for the match, but the negotiations still do not seem to have gone beyond the first initial steps.
[2]
Duchess consort of Holstein-Gottorp
[
edit
]
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
.
In September 1603 she sent one of her ladies-in-waiting to the court of her sister
Anne of Denmark
to learn English manners and customs. The lady met
Arbella Stuart
and
Henry Wotton
and visited
Basing House
,
Woodstock Palace
, and
Oxford
.
[3]
Widowhood
[
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]
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.
Issue
[
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]
Her marriage to John Adolf produced eight children, four boys and four girls. Her last child, a son, did not survive infancy.
- Frederick III of Holstein-Gottorp
(22 December 1597 – 10 August 1659).
- Elisabeth Sofie (12 October 1599 – 25 November 1627), married on 5 March 1621 to Duke
Augustus of Saxe-Lauenburg
.
- Adolf (15 September 1600 – 19 September 1631).
- Dorothea Augusta of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp
(12 May 1602 – 13 March 1682), married in 1633 to
Joachim Ernest, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Plon
, son of
John II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg
.
- Hedwig (23 December 1603 – 22 March 1657), married on 15 July 1620 to
Augustus, Count Palatine of Sulzbach
.
- Anna (19 December 1605 – 20 March 1623).
- John
(18 March 1606 – 21 February 1655).
- Christian (born and died 1 December 1609).
Ancestry
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]
Ancestors of Augusta of Denmark
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References
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]
- ^
Calendar State Papers Scotland
, vol. 11 (Edinburgh, 1936), p. 404.
- ^
Laursen, Laurs (1916).
Danmark-Norges traktater, 1523-1750, med dertil hørende aktstykker
[
Treaties of Denmark-Norway, 1523-1750, with related records
]. Vol. III [1589-1625]. Copenhagen: G.E.C. Gad. p. 71.
- ^
Edmund Lodge,
Illustrations of British History
, vol. 3 (London, 1838), p. 27: Sarah Jayne Steen,
Letters of Arbella Stuart
(Oxford, 1994), pp. 183?4.
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