Gisela Agnes of Rath
Gisela Agnes of Rath ( born October 9, 1669 Kleinwülknitz, † March 12, 1740 in Nienburg ) was since 1694 Countess of Nienburg since 1692 and by marriage Princess of Anhalt- Köthen, she reigned from 1704 to 1715 as guardian for her son.
Life
Gisela Agnes came from an old Lutheran gentry family. Her parents were Balthasar Wilhelm von Rath, Owner of the Manor at Kleinwülknitz, and Magdalene Dorothee von Wuthenau. Her grandfather was Wilhelm von Rath, commander of the troops Anhalt- Köthen in the Thirty Years' War under Prince Ludwig I of Anhalt- Köthen.
Even as a young prince who later became Prince Emanuel Lebrecht of Anhalt- Köthen (1671-1704) fell in love with Gisela Agnes. His mother, Princess Eleonore, at first tried to prevent this unstandesgemäße relationship by Gisela Agnes sent to her sister city of Hagen. Immediately after the commencement of the government brought Prince Emanuel Lebrecht but she returned and married her " quietly " on September 30, 1692nd
The secretly consummated morganatic marriage of the reformed princes with a Lutheran woman from the lower nobility triggered vehement protests from the Reformed Church and the royal house. Only in 1698 was the official recognition of all male descendants of the couple by the Princes of Anhalt; the imperial confirmation followed 1699th The entire royal, ducal line of Anhalt- Köthen later comes this " unstandesgemäßen " love match.
Reign
As far back as her husband had determined as regent in guardianship for her son Leopold of Anhalt- Köthen. Therefore, after the death of Emanuel Lebrecht 1704, she took over the regency of the country. She promoted the interests of their Lutheran coreligionists and donated Köthen first Lutheran church, St. Agnuskirche ( 1694-99 ), Johann Sebastian Bach should belong to only a few years later. Another foundation of the Princess was the nobles convent, later Gisela Agnes pin ( 1711). Formally, still under her reign, but financed by her son Leopold, a court orchestra was founded in 1714, mainly from members of the disbanded the year before Berlin court orchestra. First conductor was the opera composer Augustin Reinhard Stricker, who was three years later replaced in 1717 by Johann Sebastian Bach.
Already in 1694 had risen to the " Countess of Nienburg " Emperor Leopold I. Gisela Agnes, and in 1699 left her Emanuel Lebrecht City, Country and Castle Nienburg ( Saale) as personal property for life. With the accession of her son Leopold in 1715 they therefore withdrew to Nienburg, from where they remain actively represented the interests of their Lutheran coreligionists against the position taken by their sons Reformed Protestantism. Also to August Hermann Francke took on relationships, she even visited here on her widow's residence.
In Nienburg the wedding of her daughter Eleonore Wilhelmine with Duke Ernst August I of Saxony -Weimar was held on 24 January 1716. It is believed that Leopold on this occasion for the first time Bach met.
Gisela Agnes died in Nienburg on March 12, 1740 and buried in the royal crypt of the church of St. James in Köthen. Her enormous founders Portrait of Antoine Pesne (1713 ) decorates today the St. Agnuskirche in Köthen.