Éléonore Desmier d'Olbreuse
Eleonore d' Olbreuse, full French name Éléonore Desmier d' Olbreuse, ( born January 3, 1639 Castle of Olbreuse near La Rochelle; † February 5, 1722 in Celle ) was a daughter of Alexander II Desmier, Marquis d' Olbreuse, and Jacquette was born Poussard de Vandré, and received in 1665 the title of wife and Harburg 1674 Countess of Harburg and William castle and was also Duchess of Brunswick- Lüneburg- Celle since 1676.
Life
Eleanor came from a Huguenot family of the landed aristocracy of Poitou. In 1661 she came to the court in Paris, as maid of honor of Marie de La Tour d' Auvergne, Duchess of Thouars, whose son Henri Charles 1648 married Emilie von Hessen- Kassel. In the winter of 1664 Emilie visited their relatives in Kassel, where she was accompanied by Eleonore. This has been prized for its beauty by many men.
In Kassel met Eleonore Georg Wilhelm of Brunswick. It was first raised his mistress and "Woman of Harburg ". As part of the so-called " bride exchange ," Georg Wilhelm had declared the marriage waiver and transfer the succession to his brother Ernst August, as he had married the first engaged to Sophie Georg Wilhelm of the Palatinate. Therefore, it was only a morganatic marriage, possible. Eleanor, however, wanted full recognition as equal Duchess. George William bequeathed his entire personal fortune and pledged to befitting to provide for their impoverished father. 1666 gave birth to Eleanor, the only child of the connection, Sophie Dorothea. This was in 1674 legitimized by an act of grace of the Emperor Leopold I and Eleonore was named " Countess of Harburg and William Castle ." For this, the Allodialherrschaft Harburg Castle Wilhelm was created especially for them. Two years later in 1676 the official marriage to Georg Wilhelm took place. This second marriage was George William 's younger brother Ernst August pointedly away.
The marriage was almost bourgeois and was very happy. After three miscarriages Eleonore could get any more children. Since she had no official duties in the first years of marriage, she could care more than other women of her class to her daughter, who was very similar to her.
Eleonore founded a reformed church in Celle and entertained them from their own resources. Her older sister Angélique († 1688), married in 1678 Henry V of Reuss- Untergreiz. The younger sister Marie was wife of Olivier Beaulieu- Marconnay (1660-1751) from the Huguenot family Beaulieu- Marconnay, who was honored with the kurhannoverischen Erb - court office of the chief huntsman master.
After Georg Wilhelm's brother Ernst August 1679, the Principality of Calenberg had fallen, Eleanor's daughter Sophie Dorothea was in 1682 with Ernst August's son Georg Ludwig married to unite all Lüneburg countries. The disastrous course of this marriage, divorce and the imprisonment of her daughter in Ahlden experienced Eleonore yet.
After the death of her husband in 1705 she moved into the Lüneburg castle as a widow seat. Her daughter Sophie Dorothea asked in vain for the last time her ex- husband that he be dismissed from Ahlden and permit it completely withdrawn to live with her mother.
Your final years spent Eleonore so, to take care of her daughter and unsuccessfully to obtain their release, and they never gave up. They even turned to King Louis XIV, who had actually she once sold along with their Huguenot family from France, but has been involved as a brother- in-law of Sophie Dorothea's family. This was not averse to accept her and her daughter, but the condition to convert to Catholicism, could not and would not meet Eleanor.
Eleanor was buried in the royal crypt in St. Mary's Church in Celle.