Eleanor of Saxe-Eisenach

Eleanor was born on April 13, 1662 and was the eldest child in the family of the Duke of Saxe-Eisenach Johann George I and Johannet Sain-Wittgenstein . On November 4, 1681, in Eisenach, Eleanor was married to Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, Johann Friedrich ; the princess became his second wife. March 1, 1683 the first child of the couple was born - the daughter of Wilhelmina Carolina ^[1] ; then in 1685 the son Friedrich Augustus was born, who died in infancy. Shortly after the birth in 1686, the youngest son of William Friedrich Eleanor was widowed.

Power in Brandenburg-Ansbach passed to Christian Albrecht , the youngest son of Johann Friedrich from his first marriage, on behalf of which the regent ruled. Eleanor’s relationship with his stepson did not develop from the very beginning, and therefore Eleanor and her children first moved to Crailsheim , where she lived in cramped conditions, and then returned alone to her native Eisen ^{[2] [3]} . Eleanor’s children were sent to Berlin, where they were raised with the Kurdish prince of Brandenburg, Frederick William I. In November 1691, Eleanor arrived in Berlin to resolve the issue of his second marriage ^[4] .

On April 17, 1692, Eleanor married the elector of Saxony Johann George IV ^{[5] [6]} and moved with her children to Dresden , where the Saxon court was located ^[5] . The marriage was concluded at the insistence of the head of the Hohenzollern house Frederick III , who thus wanted to consolidate the alliance with Saxony ^{[k 1] [7]} . The marriage was unsuccessful ^[3] : Johann George IV from his youth was a lover , with whom he continued his relationship after the wedding with Eleanor ^[2] ; In addition, Eleanor suffered two miscarriages, in August 1692 ^[5] and February 1693 ^[8] , and a false pregnancy in December 1693 ^[9] . In March 1693, rumors circulated at the court that Eleanor was not the legitimate wife of Johann Georg, since at the time of marriage to her he was already married ^[10] ; even a document was found confirming the conclusion of a marriage contract between the elector of Saxony and Magdalena Sibilla, but Johann Georg himself stated that he did not consider this contract as an official marriage and that he was only called to legitimize his offspring ^[8] . However, throughout the marriage, Johann Georg desperately longed to legitimize relations with his mistress and tried to get rid of his wife and her children; fearing for her life and the lives of Carolina and Wilhelm Friedrich, Eleanor left the courtyard and settled in Prece ^[11] .

In 1694, Johann George IV died, as the courtiers believed, with smallpox from Magdalena Sibylla ^{[12] [11]} ; the elector of Saxony was his brother, Frederick Augustus . He allowed Eleanor and her children to remain in Saxony, and here she spent another two years, until her death in September 1696 ^{[12] [13] [11]} . Eleanor was buried in Freiberg Cathedral .

The children of Eleanor were about to return to Ansbach to the court of their older half-brother George Frederick II ^[6] , who became Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach after the death of Christian Albrecht in 1692. Georg Friedrich, as well as his predecessor, was a minor, and therefore in the principality ruled the regent, who was little interested in raising the girl. Wilhelm Friedrich remained in Ansbach and in 1703 after the death of his brother inherited Margrave; Carolina went to Berlin Charlottenburg under the guardianship of future King and Queen of Prussia Friedrich, Elector of Brandenburg , and his wife Sophia Charlotte , who was friendly with Eleanor ^{[14] [3] [11]} .

All the children of Eleanor were born in their first marriage.

• Wilhelmina Charlotte Carolina (March 1, 1683 - December 1, 1737) - was married to the King of Great Britain and Ireland and Elector of Hanover George II ^{[1] [15]} . Nine children were born in the marriage: five daughters and four sons ^[16] .
• Frederick Augustus (January 3-30, 1685)
• Wilhelm Friedrich (January 8, 1686 - January 7, 1723) - Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach; He was married to his cousin by father Christian Charlotte of Württemberg-Vinental , daughter of the Duke of Frederick Karl Württemberg-Vinental and Eleanor Juliana Brandenburg-Ansbach . In a marriage two sons and a daughter were born; in addition, Wilhelm Frederick had two illegitimate sons.

• Arkell, Ruby Lillian Percival. Caroline of Ansbach . - Oxford University Press, 1939. - 338 p.
• Beatty, Michael A. The English Royal Family of America, from Jamestown to the American Revolution . - McFarland, 2003 .-- P. 133-138. - 261 p. - ISBN 0786415584 , 9780786415588.
• Hichens, Mark. Wives of the Kings of England: From Hanover to Windsor . - Peter Owen, 2006 .-- 182 p. - ISBN 0720612713 , 9780720612714.
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