Anna Sophia II, Abbess of Quedlinburg

Princess Anna Sophia of Hesse- Darmstadt (* December 17, 1638 in Marburg, † December 13, 1683 in Quedlinburg ) was a poet and hymn since 1681 when Anna Sophia II abbess of the rich immediate and free secular Quedlinburg.

Life

Anna Sophia was a daughter of the Landgrave George II of Hesse- Darmstadt (1605-1661) and his wife Princess Sophie Eleonore (1609-1671), daughter of the Elector Johann Georg I of Saxony. Grown strictly Lutheran, Anna Sophia turned early to the religion. She learned Oriental languages ​​and was interested in poetry. Since the age of 16 Anna Sophia lived with her grandparents in Dresden.

In 1656, she was provost at the Abbey of Quedlinburg and began to compose hymns. In 1658 she published her first devotional book with 32 hymns, one of which found some input in Protestant hymnals. Among the best known the sacrament hymn "Oh mercy heard about all the graces! Heißet not goodness? Jesus has even invited to the table, he bereit't. "

In particular, by her sister Elisabeth Amalia Magdalena (1635-1709), who had married in 1653 the Elector Philipp Wilhelm of the Palatinate, and had become a Catholic, she was pressured to renounce the Lutheran doctrine, to convert to Catholicism and to escape from the pen. Although Anna Sophia resisted these temptations, but regretted in her estate that they " fall into error and Holzwege gone " is. Your choice for Koadjutorin 1677 was therefore also included critical.

In later years, Anna Sophia suffered from " chronic cough ". Still, she was not chosen in 1681 as Anna Sophia II to Princess-Abbess of Quedlinburg. Against the will of the patrons of the pin Johann Georg III. designated by the sick Saxony Abbess with her chapter Anna Dorothea von Holstein - Gottorp (1640-1713) to the successor, was elected in 1683 also for Koadjutorin. In the same year, the abbess succumbed to their suffering. Notwithstanding the Koadjutorin, the provost of the pin Anna Dorothea of Saxe- Weimar was chosen as the successor.