Jump to content

Amalie of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Amalie of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld
Amalie in Polish dress, around 1780, by Heinrich Carl Brandt
Queen consort of Saxony
Tenure20 December 1806 – 5 May 1827
Duchess consort of Warsaw
Tenure9 June 1807 – 22 May 1815
Electress consort of Saxony
Tenure29 January 1769 – 20 December 1806
Born(1752-05-10)10 May 1752
Mannheim
Died15 November 1828(1828-11-15) (aged 76)
Burial
Spouse
(m. 1769; died 1827)
IssuePrincess Maria Augusta of Saxony
Names
Maria Amalie Auguste
HouseHouse of Wittelsbach
House of Wettin
FatherFrederick Michael of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld
MotherCountess Palatine Maria Franziska of Sulzbach

Amalie of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld-Bischweiler (Maria Amalie Auguste; 10 May 1752 – 15 November 1828) was the last Electress and first Queen of Saxony and Duchess of Warsaw.

Biography

[edit]

Amalie was born in Mannheim, the daughter of Count Palatine Frederick Michael of Palatinate-Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld-Bischweiler and his wife, Countess Palatine Maria Franziska of Pfalz-Sulzbach. She was the sister of Maximilian Joseph, later first King of Bavaria.

On 29 January 1769 she married the Saxon Elector Frederick Augustus III. In 1806, the Electress and her husband were proclaimed the first King and Queen of Saxony. The following year, Napoleon I made them Duke and Duchess of Warsaw, a newly created principality in Poland.

Amalie bore four children, three of whom were stillborn. Only one daughter, Princess Maria Augusta, attained adulthood, but remained unmarried. From 1804, at the death of her sister-in-law Carolina of Parma, she and her other sister-in-law, Maria Theresa of Austria, shared the responsibility of raising the former's children, something they are said to have done very strictly.[1]

Amalie died on 15 November 1828 at the age of 76, and was buried in the Hofkirche in Dresden.

Issue

[edit]
  1. unnamed child (born/died 1771)
  2. unnamed child (born/died 1775)
  3. Maria Augusta Nepomucena Antonia Francisca Xaveria Aloysia (born Dresden 21 June 1782 - died Dresden 14 March 1863)
  4. unnamed child (born/died 1797)

Ancestry

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Justin C. Vovk: In Destiny's Hands: Five Tragic Rulers, Children of Maria Theresa (2010)
  2. ^ Genealogie ascendante jusqu'au quatrieme degre inclusivement de tous les Rois et Princes de maisons souveraines de l'Europe actuellement vivans [Genealogy up to the fourth degree inclusive of all the Kings and Princes of sovereign houses of Europe currently living] (in French). Bourdeaux: Frederic Guillaume Birnstiel. 1768. p. 94.
Amalie of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld
Born: 10 May 1752 Died: 15 November 1828
German royalty
Preceded by Electress of Saxony
29 January 1769 – 20 December 1806
Electorate abolished
Kingdom created Queen consort of Saxony
20 December 1806 – 5 May 1827
Succeeded by
Duchy created Duchess of Warsaw
9 June 1807 – January 1813
Duchy abolished