Sophie Christiane of Wolfstein

Sophie Christiane of Wolfstein
Spouse(s) Christian Heinrich, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth-Kulmbach
Noble family Wolfstein
Father Count Albert Frederick of Wolfstein
Mother Sophia Louise of Castell-Remlingen
Born (1667-10-24)24 October 1667
Sulzbürg (near Mühlhausen)
Died 23 August 1737(1737-08-23) (aged 69)
Fredensborg Palace
Buried Roskilde Cathedral

Sophie Christiane of Wolfstein (24 October 1667 23 August 1737) was a Countess of Wolfstein and Margravine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth-Kulmbach by marriage.

Life

Sophie Christiane was a daughter of Count Albrecht Frederick of Wolfstein (1644–1693) from his marriage to Sophia Louise (1645–1717), daughter of Count Georg Wolfgang of Castell-Remlingen. Sophie Christiane's maternal uncle was married to an aunt of Count Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf and Sophie Christiane was consequently raised strictly religiously in the a Pietist manner.

On 14 August 1687 she married Margrave Christian Heinrich, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth-Kulmbach (1661–1708), at Obersulzbürg castle. The margrave's court at Bayreuth felt that his spouse was "not befitting" (i.e. not of high enough birth to marry a member of a ruling family).

After the birth of their first child, the family moved into the castle at Schönberg, where Sophie Christiane, who was described as "admirable"[1] took care of raising her children. She composed a prayer book, the so-called Schönberger Gesangbuch, containing the prayers used in the daily "prayer meeting".[2] In 1703, Christian Heinrich and King Frederick I of Prussia concluded the Treaty of Schönberg, in which Christian Heinrich ceded Brandenburg-Ansbach to Prussia in exchange for the Weferlingen district near Magdeburg. The family then moved to Weferlingen Castle.

After her husband's death, her son-in-law, King Christian VI of Denmark, invited her to Denmark, which became a Pietist refuge.[3]

Sophie Christiane died in 1667 and was buried in Roskilde Cathedral.

Issue

Sophie Christiane from her marriage had 14 children:

married in 1709 (divorced in 1724) Duchess Dorothea of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck (1685–1761)
married in 1711 Count Charles Louis of Hohenlohe-Weikersheim (1674–1756)
married in 1721 King Christian VI of Denmark and Norway (1699–1746)
married in 1731 duchess Christine Sophie of Brunswick-Bevern (1717–1779)
married in 1723 Prince George Albert of East Frisia (1690–1734)
married in 1732 (divorced in 1764) Princess Victoria Charlotte of Anhalt-Zeitz-Hoym (1715–1792)
Sophie Christiane of Wolfstein
House of Wolfstein
Born: 24 October 1667 Died: 23 August 1737
German nobility
Vacant
Title last held by
Sophie Marie of Solms-Baruth-Wildenfels
Margravine consort of Brandenburg-Bayreuth-Kulmbach
14 August 1687 – 5 April 1708
Vacant
Title next held by
Dorothea of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck

References

Footnotes

  1. Archiv für Geschichte von Oberfranken, vol. 5-6, 1851, p. 27 Digitized
  2. Barbara Becker-Cantarino: Daphnis: Zeitschrift fur Mittlere Deutsche Literatur und Kultur der Fruhen Neuzeit, vol. 31, Rodopi, 2004, p. 598
  3. August Tholuck: Geschichte des Rationalismus, Wiegandt und Grieben, 1865, S. 70
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