Hedwig of Brandenburg, Duchess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
# Hedwig of Brandenburg, Duchess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel

Hedwig of Brandenburg (23 February 1540 – 21 October 1602), a member of the Hohenzollern dynasty, was Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Princess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel from 1568 to 1589, by her marriage with the Welf duke Julius.

## Life

Born at the City Palace in Cölln (today part of Berlin), Hedwig was a younger daughter of Elector Joachim II Hector of Brandenburg (1505–1571) from his second marriage with Hedwig Jagiellon (1513–1573), a daughter of King Sigismund I of Poland. Her elder sister Elizabeth Magdalena was married to Duke Francis Otto of Brunswick-Lüneburg in 1559; however, her husband died in the same year.

One year later, on 25 February 1560, Hedwig was married in Cölln on the Spree river to the Welf prince Julius of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1528–1589). The couple had met at the Küstrin court of Margrave John of Brandenburg, where Julius had fled from his wayward father, Duke Henry V

After Julius had reconciled with his father, who had agreed only reluctantly to the marriage of his son with a Protestant princess, the couple received the castles of Hessen and Schladen as residences. As Julius's elder brothers had been killed in the 1553 Battle of Sievershausen, Duke Henry V was alleged to have appeared at Hessen Castle and let himself into the room of his daughter-in-law, took her newborn son Henry Julius from the cradle and exclaimed: You'll now have to be my beloved son!

In 1568 Julius succeeded his father as ruling Prince of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. He turned out to be a capable ruler; nevertheless, he later came under the fraudulent influence of the alchemists Philipp Sömmering and Anne Marie Schombach (nicknamed Schlüter-Liese), whom he received at the Wolfenbüttel court in 1571, and gradually estranged from his wife.

Hedwig was described as a pious and humble, with preference for domestic activities. In 1598, the theologician Stephan Prätorius dedicated his book Der Witwen Trost ("The Widow's Consolation") to Hedwig.

## Issue

From her marriage to Julius, Hedwig had following children:

* Sophie Hedwig (1561–1631)

    married in 1577 Duke Ernest Louis of Pomerania-Wolgast (1545-1592)
* Henry Julius (1564–1613), Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, married:
   * in 1585, Princess Dorothea of Saxony (1563–1587)
   * in 1590, Princess Elizabeth of Denmark (1573–1625)
* Maria (1566–1626)

    married in 1582, Duke Francis II of Saxe-Lauenburg (1547-1619)
* Elisabeth (1567–1618), married
   * in 1583 to Count Adolf XI of Holstein-Schauenburg (d. 1601)
   * in 1604 to Duke Christopher of Brunswick-Harburg (d. 1606)
* Philip Sigismund (1568–1623), Bishop of Osnabrück and Verden
* Margaret (1571–1580)
* Joachim Charles (1573–1615)
* Sabine Catharina (1574–1590)
* Dorothea Augusta (1577–1625), Abbess of Gandersheim
* Julius Augustus (1578–1617), abbot of Michaelstein Abbey
* Hedwig (1580–1657)

    married in 1621 Duke Otto III of Brunswick-Harburg (1572-1641)
