Anna Sophia II, Abbess of Quedlinburg

Landgravine Anna Sophia of Hesse-Darmstadt (17 December 1638 – 13 December 1683) was a German noblewoman who reigned as a Princess-Abbess of Quedlinburg under the name Anna Sophia II.

Early life

Anna Sophia was a daughter of George II, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt and his wife, Duchess Sophia Eleonore of Saxony. She was raised as a Lutheran, received a good education and grew up to be strictly religious.

As writer In 1655, at the age of 17, Anna Sophia entered the Quedlinburg Abbey. Her hymn Rede, liebster Jesu, rede was translated as Speak, O Lord, Thy Servant Heareth.

As nun and abbess Anna Sophia had a lapse of faith after her elder sister Landgravine Elisabeth Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt converted to Roman Catholicism. She thought of leaving Quedlinburg to follow her sister's example but ultimately changed her mind.

In her later years, Anna Sophia suffered from a "chronic cough". Nevertheless, she was elected to succeed Anna Sophia I as princess-abbess of Quedlinburg in 1681 under the name Anna Sophia II. The sick abbess selected Duchess Anna Dorothea of Saxe-Weimar as her coadjutor in 1683.

Death Anna Sophia II succumbed to her illness (likely tuberculosis) later that year, on 13 December 1683, aged 44, after only two years of reign, and was succeeded by Anna Dorothea.