Countess Elisabeth of Nassau (Elisabeth Flandrika) (Middelburg, 26 April 1577 – Sedan, 3 September 1642) was the second daughter of prince William of Orange and his third spouse Charlotte of Bourbon, and Duchess of Bouillon by marriage to Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne.[1] She was the regent of Sedan during the absence of her spouse; between 1623 and 1626 during the minority of her son; and from 1632 during the absence of her son.[2]
After her father was murdered in 1584, there was a shortage of money for Elisabeth, her siblings and her stepmother Louise de Coligny, and they lived on state support in the Hague.
In 1594 Louise took Elisabeth with her to France, where they met with several Protestant nobles. One of them, Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, of the Duchy of Bouillon and the Principality of Sedan, sent her a proposal of marriage that she accepted. The couple had nine children.
Henri tried to keep his Duchy Sedan Protestant, but had to deal with hostility emanating from his catholic French neighbors. Elisabeth acted as regent during the absence of her spouse.
When she was widowed in 1623 she became regent for their son Frédéric Maurice de la Tour until he came of age in 1626. When her son was appointed governor of Maastricht in 1632, she acted has his regent in Sedan. A fervent Calvinist, she made Sedan a center of French huguenots and kept a strict and Spartan court.
She kept in close contact with her stepmother and five sisters, two of whom also acted as regents at some point, and they referred to themselves as "states women" in their correspondence.
She died shortly before Sedan was taken by French-Catholic troops, and Claude Serrau commented that "God loved Madame de Bouillon" for allowing her to die before Sedan was taken by the Catholics.[3]
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