Elizabeth of Bohemia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For other people named Elizabeth or Elisabeth of Bohemia, see Elisabeth of Bohemia. For the daughter of Charles I of England and Scotland, see Princess Elizabeth of England
| Elizabeth Stuart | |
|---|---|
| Electress Palatine; Queen of Bohemia | |
 |
|
| The widowed Elizabeth Stuart, 1642 | |
| Consort | Palatine: 14 February 1613 – 1623 Bohemia: 4 November 1619 – 8 November 1620 |
| Consort to | Frederick V, Elector Palatine |
| Issue | |
| Frederick Henry von der Pfalz Charles I Louis, Elector Palatine Elisabeth of Bohemia, Princess Palatine Prince Rupert of the Rhine Prince Maurice von Simmern Edward, Count Palatine of Simmern Sophia of Hanover |
|
| Royal house | House of Palatinate-Simmern House of Stuart |
| Father | James VI of Scotland, I of England |
| Mother | Anne of Denmark |
| Born | 19 August 1596 Falkland Palace, Fife |
| Died | 13 February 1662 (aged 65) England |
Elisabeth, Electress Palatine and Queen of Bohemia (born Princess Elizabeth Stuart of Scotland; 19 August 1596 – 13 February 1662) was the eldest daughter of James VI of Scots, I of England and Ireland and his Queen consort Anne of Denmark. She was thus sister to Charles I of England and Scotland and cousin to Frederick III of Denmark. With the demise of the Stuart dynasty in 1714, her direct descendants, the Hanoverian rulers, succeeded to the British throne.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
At the time of Elizabeth's birth at Falkland Palace, Fife, her father was still the King of Scots only. She was named in honour of the Queen of England, in an attempt by her father to flatter the old queen, whose kingdom he hoped to inherit. When the younger Elizabeth was six years old, in 1603, Elizabeth I died and James succeeded to the thrones of England and Ireland, making his daughter a much more attractive bride.
Part of the intent of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 was to put the nine year old Elizabeth onto the throne of England (and, presumably, Scotland) as a Catholic monarch, after assassinating her father and the Protestant English aristocracy. At the time of the plot she was staying at Coombe Abbey in Warwickshire, from where the conspirators planned to kidnap her.
On 14 February 1613, she married Frederick V, then Elector of the Palatinate, and took up her place in the court at Heidelberg. Frederick was the leader of the association of Protestant princes in the Holy Roman Empire known as the Evangelical Union, and Elizabeth was married to him in an effort to increase James's ties to these princes. In 1619, Frederick was offered and accepted the crown of Bohemia, but his rule was extremely brief, and thus Elizabeth became known as the "Winter Queen." She was also sometimes called "Queen of Hearts" because of her popularity.
Driven into exile, the couple took up residence in The Hague, and Frederick died in 1632. Elizabeth remained in Holland even after her son, Charles I Louis, regained his father's electorship in 1648. Following the Restoration of the English & Scottish monarchies, she travelled to London to visit her nephew, Charles II, and died while there. Her youngest daughter was known later as Sophia of Hanover; pursuant to the English Act of Settlement 1701, the Electress Sophia and her issue were made heirs to the English, Scottish and Irish thrones (later British throne), so that all monarchs of Great Britain from George I are descendants of Elizabeth.
[edit] Ancestors
| Elizabeth of Bohemia | Father: James I of England |
Paternal Grandfather: Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley |
Paternal Great-grandfather: Matthew Stuart, 4th Earl of Lennox |
| Paternal Great-grandmother: Margaret Douglas |
|||
| Paternal Grandmother: Mary I, Queen of Scots |
Paternal Great-grandfather: James V of Scotland |
||
| Paternal Great-grandmother: Marie de Guise |
|||
| Mother: Anne of Denmark |
Maternal Grandfather: Frederick II of Denmark |
Maternal Great-grandfather: Christian III of Denmark |
|
| Maternal Great-grandmother: Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg |
|||
| Maternal Grandmother: Sofie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin |
Maternal Great-grandfather: Ulrich III of Mecklenburg-Güstrow |
||
| Maternal Great-grandmother: Elizabeth of Denmark |
[edit] Children
- Frederick Henry von der Pfalz (1614-1629) - (Drowned)
- Charles I Louis, Elector Palatine (1617-1680), married Charlotte of Hesse-Kassel, had issue; Marie Luise von Degenfeld, had issue; Elisabeth Hollander von Bernau, had issue
- Elisabeth of Bohemia, Princess Palatine (1618-1680)
- Rupert, Duke of Cumberland (1619-1682), had one illegitimate daughter
- Maurice (1620-1654) - (Drowned)
- Louise Hollandine (18 April 1622-11 February 1709)
- Ludwig (21 August 1624-24 December 1624)
- Edward, Count Palatine of Simmern (1625-1663), married Anna Gonzaga, had issue
- Henrietta Maria (7 July 1626-18 September 1651); married Prince Sigismund of Siebenbuergen on 16 June 1651
- Johann Philip Frederick (26 September 1627-15 December 1650); also reported to have been born on 15 September 1629
- Charlotte (19 December 1628-14 January 1631)
- Sophia, Electress of Hanover (14 October 1630-8 June 1714), married Ernest Augustus, Elector of Hanover, had issue including King George I of Great Britain
- Gustavus Adolphus (14 January 1632-1641)
[edit] Legacy
Cape Elizabeth, a peninsula and today a town in the U.S. state of Maine was named in honor of Elizabeth. John Smith explored and mapped New England and gave names to places mainly based on the names used by Native Americans. When Smith presented his map to Charles I he suggested that the king should feel free to change the "barbarous names" for "English" ones. The king made many such changes, but only four survive today, one of which is Cape Elizabeth.[1]
[edit] Fiction
In WG Sebald's novel Vertigo (1990), a woman appears whom the narrator, travelling through Heidelberg by train in 1987, recognizes instantly "without a shadow of a doubt" as Elizabeth when she enters his carriage.
[edit] See also
[edit] Bibliography
- Jessica Gorst-Williams, Elizabeth, the Winter Queen (1977) ISBN 0-200-72472-X
- Josephine Ross, The Winter Queen: The Story of Elizabeth Stuart (1979) ISBN 0-312-88232-7, ISBN 0-297-77603-7
- Carola Oman, The Winter Queen: Elisabeth of Bohemia (2000) ISBN 1-84212-057-3
- Jane Stevenson, The Winter Queen: A Novel (2002) ISBN 0-618-14912-0, ISBN 0-618-38267-4
- Frances Yates, The Rosicrucian Enlightenment (1972) devotes its early chapters to describing her 1613 wedding and the reputation she and her husband had in Europe at the time
[edit] References
- ^ Stewart, George R. [1945] (1967). Names on the Land: A Historical Account of Place-Naming in the United States, Sentry edition (3rd), Houghton Mifflin, p. 38.
[edit] External links
|
Elizabeth of Bohemia
Born: 19 August 1596 Died: 13 February 1662 |
||
| British royalty | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Charles I of England |
Heir to the English, Scottish and Irish Thrones as heiress presumptive March 27, 1625-May 29, 1630 |
Succeeded by Charles II of England |
| Preceded by Louise Juliana of Nassau |
Electress Palatine 1613 – 1623 |
Succeeded by Elizabeth of Lorraine |
