Maria of Jülich-Berg

Maria of Jülich-Berg (3 August 1491 – 29 August 1543) was born in Jülich, the daughter of Wilhelm IV, Duke of Jülich-Berg and Sibylle of Brandenburg.^[1]

Maria came from the line of German princesses that stretched back to Sybille of Brandenberg, Sophia of Saxony, and Adelaide of Teck. Such lineage, if not particularly impressive to the English, did at least recall one popular queen -- Philippa of Hainault, consort of Edward III, who had pleaded mercy for the burghers at Calais in 1347.^[2]

Maria was no Isabella of Castile; nor were the exciting ideas of the Renaissance in educating women, or at least princesses. Duchess Maria was a strict Catholic. She was not subject to the liberal reforming that of which her father and husband were connected with. Maria was strict and believed in a strict upbringing for her daughters. Perhaps one of the many reasons her daughter Anne's husband Henry VIII disliked her so much was the fact that Anne was not brought up as an educated noblewoman of the time in England. Anne did not possess the accomplishments that Henry VIII so longed for in a consort; music, literature, games, etc. Anne of Cleves was ill-equipped for the contentious, sophisticated world that lay outside her mother's lair.^[2]

Duchess Maria was unwilling when it came to the possibility of sending her daughter to England. It is quoted that in a later correspondence she loved her daughter so much that she 'loathe to suffer her to depart her'.^[2]

Maria became heiress to her father's estates of Jülich, Berg and Ravensberg after his death in 1511. In her marriage to John III, Duke of Cleves in 1509, Maria's estates and titles were eventually merged with the Duchy of Cleves. John, who inherited the Duchy of Cleves-Mark in 1521, then became the first ruler of the United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg, which would exist until 1666.^[1]

Marriage and Issue

She married John III, Duke of Cleves in 1509, by whom she had three daughters and a son. Sybille (1512–1554), William, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg (Wilhelm) (1516–1592), Amalia (1517–1586), and Anne (1515–1557) who was Queen consort of England from 6 January 1540 to 9 July 1540 to King Henry VIII.^[1]

Ancestry

References