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Anna of Denmark, Anna of Saxony, Coburg Taler, Dorothea of Denmark, Duke August of Saxony, Duke Johann Casimir of Saxe-Coburg, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Emperor Ferdinand I, King Christian III of Denmark and Norway, Margaret of of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Wilhelm the Younger
Margaret of Brunswick-Lüneburg (April 6, 1573 – August 7, 1643), was a German noblewoman member of the House of Welf and by marriage Duchess of Saxe-Coburg.
Born in Celle, she was the ninth of fifteen children born from the marriage of Wilhelm the Younger, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Princess Dorothea of Denmark, the youngest child of King Christian III of Denmark-Norway and Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg.
Life
Margaret’s future husband, Johann Casimir of Saxe-Coburg was born at Grimmenstein Castle in Gotha on June 12, 1564 as the middle of three sons of Duke Johann Friedrich II, Duke of Saxony and his wife Countess Palatine Elisabeth of Simmern-Sponheim. Because of the Holy Roman Empire’s sanctions (Reichsexekution) against Gotha, his father, Duke Johann Friedrich II of Saxony, lost his dominions and freedom on April 15, 1567.
Later, Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor used the two surviving sons of Johann Friedrich II against their uncle Johann Wilhelm; in 1572 the Division of Erfurt was made. The duchy of Saxony was divided into three parts. The older son, Johann Casimir, received Coburg, and the younger, Johann Ernst, received Eisenach. Johann Wilhelm retained only the smaller part, the limited region of Weimar, but he added to his duchy the districts of Altenburg, Gotha and Meiningen.
Between 1578 and 1581 Johann Casimir studied at the University of Leipzig. On May 6, 1584 he became engaged, without the consent of his father, with his cousin Anna of Saxony, the daughter of Elector August of Saxony and Princess Anna of Denmark a daughter of King Christian III of Denmark and Norway and his wife Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg.
The marriage between Johann Casimir and Anna of Saxony finally took place in Dresden on January 16, 1586, and she received 30,000 Thalers as a dowry, as well as the city of Römhild as her Wittum (Dower land). The cheerful and high-spirited Duchess soon produced magnificent festivities in her new court.
However, the marriage soon failed: John Casimir preferred hunting to marital life. By the end of September 1593, the Duchess was caught in adultery by her husband. John Casimir immediately ordered the arrest of Anna and her lover, Ulrich of Lichtenstein.
Despite the letters which Anna wrote to her husband and her relatives asking for mercy, on December 12, the Schöppenstuhl (High Court Chamber) in Jena formally annulled her marriage and sentenced both lovers to beheading by sword. For Duchess Anna and her lover Ulrich of Lichtenstein the death sentence was commuted, suddenly, to life imprisonment.
Ulrich of Lichtenstein died in prison twenty years later, on December 8, 1633, just three days after being granted his freedom.
Only after the death of the Elector Augustus of Saxony on February 11, 1586 was Duke John Casimir at the age of 22 years able to undertake with his brother John Ernest the government of his principality.
In Coburg on September 16, 1599, Margaret married Johann Casimir, Duke of Saxe-Coburg as his second wife. Margaret and Johann Casimir’s first wife, Anna of Saxony, were first cousins.
For the wedding of Margaret of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Duke Johann Casimir of Saxe-Coburg most of the wedding guests stayed before and during the marriage festivities at Heldburg Castle. Gilded state coaches, which belonged to the dowry of her mother Dorothea, were used for the occasion; they are one of the oldest still functioning coaches in the world and currently displayed at the Veste Coburg.
Johann Casimir celebrated his marriage with the famous Coburg Taler: on the obverse showed a kissing couple with the inscription WIE KVSSEN SICH DIE ZWEY SO FEIN (A well kiss between two), while on the reverse, showed a nun with the inscription: WER KVST MICH – ARMES NVNNELIN (who kiss you now, poor nun?). This nun was Anna of Saxony, his first wife, whom he repudiated and imprisoned for adultery.
Johan Casimir and Margaret had a happy marriage, but they had no children. After Johann Casimir’s death in 1633 Saxe-Coburg was inherited by his brother Johann Ernst. Margaret returned to her homeland, Celle, where she died ten years later, aged 70. She was buried in the Stadtkirche, Celle.