Magdalena of Waldeck-Wildungen

Countess Magdalene of Waldeck-Wildungen (1558 – 9 September 1599), , was a countess from the House of Waldeck and through marriage successively Countess of Hanau-Münzenberg and Countess of Nassau-Siegen.

Biography Magdalene was born in 1558 as the youngest daughter of Count Philip IV of Waldeck-Wildungen and his third wife Countess Jutta of Isenburg-Grenzau. The exact date and place of Magdalene's birth are unknown.

Magdalene married at on 5 February 1576 to Count Philip Louis I of Hanau-Münzenberg (21 November 1553 – Hanau, 4 February 1580 Philip Louis succeeded his father in 1561 and was first under the regency of his uncle Count John VI the Elder of Nassau-Siegen (Philip III of Hanau-Münzenberg and John VI the Elder of Nassau-Siegen were both sons of Countess Juliane of Stolberg-Wernigerode Philip Louis died "Donnerstag nach Purificationis Mariæ, zwischen 4 und 5 Uhr Nachmittag durch eine Ohnmacht, welche ihre Gnaden ganz unversehentlich über Tisch und dem Spielen ankommen" ("Thursday after Purificationis Mariæ, between 4 and 5 o'clock in the afternoon by a fainting which His Grace completely unexpectedly suffered at the table and at the games").

Count John VII the Middle of Nassau-Siegen, Magdalene's second husband. Studio of Jan Antonisz. van Ravesteyn. Rijksmuseum Amsterdam. Magdalena remarried at Dillenburg Castle on 9 December 1581 to Count John VII the Middle of Nassau-Siegen (, 7 June 1561 – Siegen Castle, 27 September 1623 ), the second son of Count John VI the Elder of Nassau-Siegen and his first wife Landgravine Elisabeth of Leuchtenberg. Through his marriage to Magdalene, John the Middle strengthened relations within the Wetterauer Grafenverein and thus contributed to the strengthening of the House of Nassau. John the Middle was a cousin of Magdalena's first husband. Magdalena's great-grandmother Countess Joanne of Nassau-Siegen, was an older sister of Count John V of Nassau-Siegen, the great-grandfather of John the Middle. Magdalene's great-great-grandmother Countess Jutta of Eppstein-Münzenberg was a granddaughter of Count Adolf I of Nassau-Siegen, the elder brother of Count Engelbert I of Nassau-Siegen, the grandfather of Count John V. on 9 September 1599, where she stayed for the funeral of her nephew Count John Philip of Nassau-Idstein. She was buried in the in the in Dillenburg on 13 September 1599.

John the Middle remarried at Rotenburg Castle on 27 August 1603 to Duchess Margaret of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg (Haus Sandberg am Alsensund near Sonderburg, ), the youngest daughter of Duke John II the Younger of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg and his first wife Duchess Elisabeth of Brunswick-Grubenhagen.

When his father died on 8 October 1606, John the Middle succeeded his father together with his brothers William Louis, George, Ernest Casimir and John Louis. On 30 March 1607 the brothers divided their possessions. John acquired Siegen, Freudenberg, Netphen, Hilchenbach, and the Haingericht. on 5/15 November 1623. At a time hitherto unknown, Magdalene was interred there with her husband John the Middle. Magdalene and John were transferred to the in Siegen. Count Philip Louis II (Hanau, 18 November 1576 – Hanau, 19 August 1612), succeeded his father as Count of Hanau-Münzenberg in 1580. Married in Dillenburg on 23 October/2 November 1596 to Countess Catherine Belgica of Nassau (Antwerp, 31 July 1578 – The Hague, 12/22 April 1648), daughter of Prince William I the Silent of Orange and Duchess Charlotte of Bourbon-Montpensier. Juliane (13 October 1577 – 2 December 1577), buried in the choir of the in Hanau. William (26 August 1578 – 4 June 1579), also buried in the choir of St. Mary's Church in Hanau. Count Albrecht (12 November 1579 – Strasbourg, 19 December 1635), succeeded his father as Count of Hanau-Schwarzenfels in 1580. Married on 16 August 1604 to Countess Ehrengard of Isenburg-Birstein (1 October 1577 – Frankfurt, 21 September 1637).

Second marriage From the marriage of Magdalene was also frequently pregnant during her second marriage with John VII the Middle of Nassau-Siegen, giving birth to 12 more children in just 15 years: John Ernest (Siegen Castle, 21 October 1582Jul. – Udine, 16/17 September 1617Jul.), was, among other things, a general in the Venetian army, involved in the Uskok War. Count John VIII the Younger (Dillenburg Castle, 29 September 1583Jul. – near Oudenaarde, 27 July 1638 to Count Christian of Waldeck-Wildungen (Eisenberg Castle, 24/25 December 1585 – , 31 December 1637). Adolf (Dillenburg Castle, 8 August 1586 – Xanten, 7 November 1608), was a captain in the Dutch States Army. Juliane (Dillenburg Castle, 3 September 1587 – Eschwege, 15 February 1643 – Orsoy, 7/17 July 1642 ("See Menk (1967), p.) 57. The author establishes that the death took place in Orsoy (Lower Rhine) on Thursday 7/17 July 1642, between one and two o'clock in the afternoon, and bases himself on the documents found in the Royal House Archive of the Netherlands (IV, 1444): a notification addressed to the widow from Orsoy on 7/17 July 1642 («heute den 7/17 disses …») and an death announcement from a priest from Kampen («Donnerstag, den 7/17 juli 1642 zwischen 1 u. 2 Uhr nachmittags zu Orsoy …»)." (Dillenburg Castle, 2 March 1594Jul. – The Hague, December 1636), married at near Mülheim an der Ruhr on 19 June 1619 ("According to Dek (1970) and Europäische Stammtafeln, the marriage took place on 14-6, but in the State Archives Wiesbaden 170III we find a letter from Jakob Schickhard, addressed to John the Middle, Count of Nassau-Siegen, which recounts in full detail the ceremony celebrated in Broich on 19-6 and then the couple's departure for Vianen.) This letter is dated Siegen 30 June 1619. See also Royal House Archive of the Netherlands IV/1345. The contract was signed in Siegen on 18-3-1619 (Royal House Archive of the Netherlands 4/1346 I)." the Prussian Field Marshal Fürst Leopold I of Anhalt-Dessau (der Alte Dessauer), the French Field Marshal Maurice of Saxony, the Austrian chancellor Klemens von Metternich, the Romanian writer Carmen Sylva, the Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen, the German chancellor Max von Baden, and the German fighter pilot from World War I Manfred von Richthofen (The Red Baron).

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Literature