Agnes of Hesse

Agnes of Hesse (31 May 1527, Marburg – 4 November 1555, Weimar) was a princess of Hesse by birth and by marriage Electress of Saxony.

Life

Agnes was a daughter of Landgrave Philip of Hesse and his first wife Christine of Saxony. She married on 9 January 1541 the Duke and later Elector Maurice of Saxony. From this marriage, she had two children: Anna of Saxony (born: 23 December 1544; died 18 December 1577) and Albert (born: 28 November 1545; died: 12 April 1546). The marriage between the two was not arranged by their parent, but was initiated by Maurice and Agnes themselves, which at the time was highly unusual. Their surviving letters document the continuing friendship and mutual trust between the spouses. Agnes was also informed about the political plans of her husband. After her mother Christine 's death in 1549, she took up the education of her younger siblings. Elector Maurice died on 9 July 1553 from his injuries in the battle of Sievershausen.

On 26 May 1555, Agnes married her second husband, Duke John Frederick II of Saxony. She was already of poor health at the time, and died six months later from a miscarriage. In the choir of St. Peter and Paul Church in Weimar, however, an unknown author states her death was due to poisoning. We can only speculate about the actual cause of her death. The fact the Agnes of Hesse had married into a rival family, is consistent with the murder theory: members of the Albertine branch of the House of Wettin may have suspected her of revealing state secrets to the rival Ernestine branch.^[1]

References

• Political correspondence of the Duke and Elector Maurice of Saxony, 6 vols, Berlin 1902-2006

This article incorporates information from the German Wikipedia.

Footnotes

1. ^ Thüringische Landeszeitung of 28 April 2009, page 2, "Wurde die Kurfürstin ermordet?", article by Karl Braun, reporting on a thematic guided tour of Weimar with Dieter Kunkel (the theme was Crimes and serious tales) on 25 April 2009 in the St. Peter and Paul church in Weimar