Anna of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

Anna, Princess of Mecklenburg [- Schwerin ] (* September 14, 1485 in Plau am See, † May 12 1525 in Roedelheim ) was Landgrave of Hesse.

She was a daughter of Magnus II, Duke of Mecklenburg (1441-1503), and Sophia, Princess of Pomerania [ Stettin ] (around 1460-1504 ). It belongs to the 13th generation of the Princely House of Mecklenburg.

Biography

" The historian has granted the Landgrave of Hesse in history a prominent place " - said the historian Hans Glagau ruled 1899 Anna. Countess Anna of Hesse, née Duchess of Mecklenburg, worthy of a historical-critical biography.

Anna was married in 1500 as the second wife of Landgrave Wilhelm II of Hesse ( 1469-1509 ). Because of the early death of the Upper Hessian regent, William III. (1471-1500), and the insanity of the Regent of Lower Hesse, Wilhelm I (1466-1515), this year was quite Hesse, including the county Katzenelenbogen been united under William II. But Wilhelm II became ill in 1504 - probably from syphilis - and was incapable of governing in the following years.

He transferred in his first Testament ( 1506) five councils the guardianship of his children Elizabeth and Philip ( 1504-1567 ), about his older brother, William I., and his wife Anna of Brunswick, as well as his own wife.

However, in his second testament ( 1508) he appointed Anna to supreme guardian ( next to his uncle, the Archbishop Hermann of Cologne, who died in September 1508) and gave her two counselors to the side. But Anna's claim to the regency was not recognized by the Hessian of the stalls still entitled to inherit since 1373 by Erbverbrüderung Dukes of Saxony. In July 1509 came between Anna and the Hessian Estates, which were supported by the Saxon dukes, a confrontation on the spit, the former site of the Hesse Landtag. The second testament was there any recognition.

In 1514 it came to the ground: Anna won with the support of many nobles and cities the rule and not rule beyond 1519, where her son Philip was declared by Emperor Maximilian of legal age - without ever having been officially recognized as regent.

Over the last few years of her life, just like on their first very little known: in 1519 she married a second time, the 23 -year-old Count Otto of Solms - Laubach, who died three years later.

Progeny

Anna married on October 20, 1500 in Kassel, the Landgrave Wilhelm II of Hesse ( 1469-1509 ) with whom she had the following children:

  • Wilhelm ( * / † 1500)
  • Elisabeth (1502-1557)
  • Magdalena (1503-1504)
  • Philip I (1504-1567)

On September 7, 1519 she went with Count Otto of Solms - Laubach ( 1496-1522 ) a second marriage, which sprang three children:

  • Maria (1520-1522)
  • Friedrich Magnus (1521-1561)
  • Anna (1522-1594)

Importance

Church History Anna of Hesse is interesting, as it makes the time immediately before the introduction of the Reformation by Philip in 1527. Her husband had arranged in his will the Reformation all monasteries in Hesse. Anna tried at some places to the reformation of monasteries, but only Philip continued his father's disposal to, albeit in his own way So it appears church historically extremely important to investigate what character Anna gave the church politics and the Church in Hesse - taking into account the sectarian -related consequences over Hesse addition. She herself was a strong supporter the monasteries and Catholicism a, so it also came with her son to a rift.

In a broader perspective, the topic of importance, because it takes one in the history of Hesse previously only partially explored period, the late Middle Ages, shortly before the Reformation, on the basis of an outstanding female figure, the regent in the view. The chaotic conditions in Hesse during the years 1509-1514 were caused by the fact that the items seized power and the actual regent banished to her jointure after casting.

Not least, the political sensitivity of the disputes between the different stakeholders ( the stands, Anna / Philip, the prescribed councils, the emperor, the princes of Saxony and others) is worth considering in this context.

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