Margravine Dorothea Charlotte of Brandenburg-Ansbach

Dorothea Charlotte of Brandenburg-Ansbach (28 November 1661 – 15 November 1705) was a German noblewoman, and by her marriage to Ernest Louis, Landgravine consort of Hesse-Darmstadt. The marriage took place on 1 December 1687.

Life Born into the Brandenburg-Ansbach line of the House of Hohenzollern, Dorothea Charlotte was the seventh child and elder daughter of Albert II, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach and Countess Sophia Margaret of Oettingen-Oettingen, daughter of Joachim Ernest of Oettingen-Oettingen (1612-1659) and Countess Anna Sibilla von Solms-Sonnenwalde.

On 1 December 1687 she married Ernest Louis, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt, as his first wife. At the time of their marriage, he was still under the guardianship of his mother, Elisabeth Dorothea of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg until 1688, when Ernst Louis came of age.

Dorothea Charlotte was a pietist and exerted some influence upon the affairs of state in favour of the pietists in the first years of her marriage. In cooperation with Philipp Jakob Spener, whose patron she became, she promoted pietism at the court and the local University. After her death, Ernest Louis turned against pietism.

Issue Ernst Louis and Dorothea Charlotte had five surviving children, two sons and three daughters. Their children were: Dorothea Sophie (1689–1723) married in 1710 Count John Frederick of Hohenlohe-Öhringen (1683–1765) Louis VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (1691–1768) married in 1717 Countess Charlotte of Hanau-Lichtenberg (1700–1726) Charles William (1693–1707) Francis Ernest (1695–1717) Friederike Charlotte married in 1720 Landgrave Maximilian of Hesse-Kassel (1689–1753)

Death Landgravine Dorothea Charlotte died in 1705, at the age of 44. She was buried hext to her husband in the Stadtkirche in Darmstadt.

Ancestry