Anne Catherine of Brandenburg - Life

Life

Anne Catherine was born in Halle (Saale) and raised in Wolmirstedt. Her parents were Joachim Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg and his first wife Catherine of Brandenburg-Küstrin. Christian met her on his journey in Germany in 1595 and decided to marry her. In 1596, Anne Catherine and her parents were present at his coronation, and the next year, the marriage was arranged.

Anne Catherine became Queen of Denmark on 27 November 1597 when she was married to Christian IV. The wedding took place in the castle of Haderslevhus in South Jutland the year after the coronation of Christian IV. She was crowned queen in 1598. Together they had six children, among them Christian, the Prince-Elect, who died a year before his father, and Frederik III who introduced absolute monarchy in Denmark. Her son, Ulrik, was murdered in 1633. Their two daughters, Sophia and Elisabeth, and the elder son, Frederick, died at a very young age.

Anne Catherine was the first wife of Christian IV, but not much is known about her. She does not seem to have had much political influence. She often accompanied the King on his travels. In her time, she was praised for her modesty and deep religious feelings. There is no mention as to whether the marriage was happy or not, but her spouse took mistresses at the end of their marriage, notably with Kirsten Madsdatter. The building of the Rosenborg Castle began while she was queen, but the extent of her influence on the building and its interior is not known. Despite her good relationship with the Lutheran archbishop, she called upon a Calvinist vicar to give her the last sacrament on her death bed.

She died in Copenhagen and was buried in the Roskilde Cathedral.

Read more about this topic:  Anne Catherine Of Brandenburg

Famous quotes containing the word life:

    The East is the hearthside of America. Like any home, therefore, it has the defects of its virtues. Because it is a long-lived-in house, it bursts its seams, is inconvenient, needs constant refurbishing. And some of the family resources have been spent. To attain the privacy that grown-up people find so desirable, Easterners live a harder life than people elsewhere. Today it is we and not the frontiersman who must be rugged to survive.
    Phyllis McGinley (1905–1978)

    I like sometimes to take rank hold on life and spend my day more as the animals do. Perhaps I have owed to this employment and to hunting, when quite young, my closest acquaintance with Nature. They early introduce us to and detain us in scenery with which otherwise, at that age, we should have little acquaintance.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    You are told a lot about your education, but some beautiful, sacred memory, preserved since childhood, is perhaps the best education of all. If a man carries many such memories into life with him, he is saved for the rest of his days. And even if only one good memory is left in our hearts, it may also be the instrument of our salvation one day.
    Feodor Dostoyevsky (1821–1881)