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Catherine of Mecklenburg

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Duchess consort of Saxony

Catherine of Mecklenburg
Portrait by Lucas Cranach the Elder
Duchess consort of Saxony Margravine consort of Meissen
Tenure	1539–1541
Born	1487
Died	6 June 1561 (aged 73–74) Torgau
Burial	Freiberg
Spouse	Henry the Pious
Issue	Sybille, Duchess of Saxe-Lauenburg Emilie, Margravine of Brandenburg-Ansbach Sidonie, Duchess of Brunswick-Kalenberg Maurice, Elector of Saxony Prince Severinus Augustus, Elector of Saxony
House	House of Mecklenburg
Father	Magnus II, Duke of Mecklenburg
Mother	Sophie of Pomerania-Stettin

Catherine of Mecklenburg (1487 – 6 June 1561, Torgau), was a Duchess of Saxony by marriage to Henry IV, Duke of Saxony. She was the daughter of the Duke Magnus II of Mecklenburg and Sophie of Pomerania-Stettin.

Life[edit]

She married on 6 July 1512 in Freiberg Duke Henry the Pious of Saxony.

Catherine sympathized early with Martin Luther's teachings, while her husband suppressed the Reformation until 1536 for fear of his brother, the reigning Duke George the Bearded. Later, the Freiberg area became Lutheran.

When duke George tried bear down on Catherine, she told the envoy: You could do me a big favor by leaving Freiberg right now. In 1539, after the death of Duke George, the couple moved to Dresden and brought the Reformation there. Duke Henry died on 18 August 1541; Catherine outlived him by 20 years. She spent her days in Wolkenstein castle. In 1560, she published a book on etiquette for ladies, which is culturally and historically very interesting.

Issue[edit]

She had six children with Henry the Pious:

• Sibylle (1515–1592) married in 1540 Duke Francis I of Saxe-Lauenburg (1510–1581)

• Emilie (1516–1591) married in 1533 Margrave George the Pious of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1484–1534)

• Sidonie (1518–1575) married in 1545 Duke Eric II of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1528–1584)

• Maurice (1521–1553), Elector of Saxony; married in 1541 Agnes of Hesse (1527–1555)

• Severinus (1522–1533)
• Augustus (1526–1586), Elector of Saxony married in 1548 Anne of Denmark and Norway (1532–1585)

Ancestry[edit]

References[edit]

• Elizabeth Werl (1977), "Catherine, Duchess of Saxony, born Duchess of Mecklenburg", Neue Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 11, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 325–326
• Franz Otto Stichart: Gallery of the Saxon princesses. Biographical sketches of all the ancestress of the royal house of Saxony, Fleischer, Leipzig, 1857, p. 229-247 (Google Book Search).
• Theodor Distel: News on the Duchess Catherine of Saxony and her people In: New archive for Saxon history (NASG), Volume 15, 1894, ISSN 0944-8195, p. 326 ff. (digitized).
• John Meyer: Female characters and women's sway in the House of Wettin, Weller, Bautzen, 1912.
• Sabine Ulbricht: princesses in the Saxon History (1382-1622), Sax, Beucha/Markham, 2010, ISBN 3-86729-053-9, p. 99-125.

See also[edit]

• Portraits of Henry IV of Saxony and Catherine of Mecklenburg