Agnes Hedwig of Anhalt


Agnes Hedwig of Anhalt was a Princess of Anhalt by birth, an Abbess of Gernrode, and by marriage Electress of Saxony and later Duchess of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg.

Early life

She was a daughter of Prince Joachim Ernest of Anhalt and his second wife, Duchess Eleonore of Württemberg. From 1581 to 1586, she was abbess of the Imperial Abbey of St. Cyriac in Gernrode.

Biography

On 3 January 1586, she married Elector Augustus of Saxony, becoming his second wife at the age of 12. On their wedding night, she is said to have asked for the release of Caspar Peucer. Elector Augustus died a few weeks later, on 11 February 1586. She received Lichtenburg Castle as her wittum but never lived there.
Two years later, on 14 February 1588, she married Duke John II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg and became his second wife. She died in 1616, six years before her husband.

Issue

From her second marriage, Agnes Hedwig had nine children of which only four lived to mature adulthood:
  1. Eleonore
  2. Anna Sabine, married on 1 January 1618 to Duke Julius Frederick of Württemberg-Weiltingen
  3. Johann Georg, died in adolescence
  4. Duke Joachim Ernst I of Schleswig-Holstein-Sønderborg-Plön
  5. Dorothea Sibylle, died in infancy
  6. Dorothea Marie, died in infancy
  7. Bernhard, died in infancy
  8. Agnes Magdalene, died in early childhood
  9. Eleonore Sofie, married on 28 February 1625 to Prince Christian II of Anhalt-Bernburg