Elisabeth of Cleves, Countess of Schwarzburg-Blankenburg

Elisabeth of Cleves (1420-1488) was a German noblewoman, of the House of La Marck, and through marriage Countess of Schwarzburg-Blankenburg. She was a daughter of Adolph I, Duke of Cleves and Marie of Burgundy, Duchess of Cleves. She married Count Henry XXVI of Schwarzburg-Blankenburg, on July 15, 1434. This union strengthened dynastic ties between the ducal house of Cleves and the comital house of Schwarzburg.

Early life Elisabeth was born in 1420, one of the children of Adolph I, Duke of Cleves and Marie of Burgundy. She belonged to the House of La Marck, which ruled the Duchy of Cleves in the Lower Rhine region of the Holy Rome Empire.

Marriage On 5 July 1434, Elizabeth married Henry XXVI, Count of Schwarzburg.

Children Together, they had eleven children: Günther XXXVI (July 8, 1439 – Rudolstadt, December 30, 1503); Henry XXVII (November 13, 1440 – December 14, 1496), Archbishop of Bremen; Catherine (February 2, 1442 – November 9, 1484), married Busso VII of Mansfeld and Sigmund I of Gleichen-Tonna; Günther XXXVII (June 8, 1443); Henry XXVIII (January 8, 1447 – Bremen, 1481), Canon in Cologne and Mainz; Günther XXXVIII (Rudolstadt, 1450 – Bremen, November 29, 1484) married Catherine of Querfurt and Anna of Gleichen; Henry XXIX (August 10, 1452 – March 31, 1499), Canon at Hildesheim; Günther XXXIX (May 30, 1455 – Arnstadt, August 8, 1521), married Amalia of Mansfeld; Heinrich XXX (December 31, 1456 – Arnstadt, June 12, 1522), Canon in Strasbourg and Jechasburg; Maria (June 16, 1458); Mary (November 4, 1459 – December 1459).