Mary Magdalene of Limburg-Stirum

Countess Mary Magdalene of Limburg-Stirum (1632 – 27 December 1707), , official titles: gravin van Limburg en Bronkhorst, vrouwe van Stirum, Wisch en Borculo, erfbaandervrouw van het hertogdom Gelre en het graafschap Zutphen), was a countess from the House of Limburg-Stirum. In 1661 she succeeded her father as countess of Bronkhorst, lady of , , and , and hereditary lady banneret of the Duchy of Guelders and the County of Zutphen. Through her marriage to a count of Nassau-Siegen these possessions came into the possession of this cadet branch of the Ottonian Line of the House of Nassau.

Biography Mary Magdalene was born in 1632 ("Geschiedenis der Graven van Limburg Stirum sets the birth around 1632." The exact date and place of birth of Mary Magdalene are unknown.) As the only child of her father, Mary Magdalene was heiress to the County of Bronkhorst and the heerlijkheden of , , and .

Count Henry of Nassau-Siegen, the husband of Mary Magdalene. Print by Paulus Pontius after a painting by Joannes Meyssens. Rijksmuseum Amsterdam. Mary Magdalene married at in Terborg on 19/29 April 1646 ("On 9‑3‑1646 in Europäische Stammtafeln I, 117 en IV, 39.) On 19‑4‑1646 in Geschiedenis der Graven van Limburg Stirum volume III, 1, 9 with indication of the place «Terborg». On 29‑4‑1646 in the Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels XXXIII, 51. 9‑3‑1646 is the date of the signing of the marriage contract (see Menk (1967), p. 2). Although a notification was sent to the princes of Holstein inviting them to the ceremony on 15/25 April, must be admitted that it was postponed to 19/29 April (see the marriage registers of Terborg, and Menk (1967), p. 2). The archives of the princes of Wittgenstein in Laasphe (F., 320III) also contain a draft of a congratulatory letter to Count Henry of Nassau-Siegen on the occasion of his marriage on 19/29 April, announced on 16/26 March." Mary Magdalene's great-great-grandmother Countess Mary of Nassau-Siegen was a younger sister of Henry's great-grandfather Count William I 'the Rich' of Nassau-Siegen.

The will and testament of Count John VII 'the Middle' of 1621 bequeathed John Maurice and his younger brothers from their father's second marriage the district of Freudenberg, some villages in the Haingericht and a third part of the administration of the city of Siegen. After his older half-brother John 'the Younger' had accepted the homage of the city of Siegen for the entire county of Nassau-Siegen on 12 January 1624 and had voluntarily ceded the sovereignty over the Hilchenbach district with and some villages belonging to the and Netphen districts to his younger brother William on 13/23 January 1624, Henry and his brothers, with the exception of the oldest two brothers John Maurice and George Frederick, accepted only modest appanages.

Henry served the Dutch Republic as an officer in the Dutch States Army since 1632, in diplomatic missions and as governor of Hulst since 1645. He died in 1652 and was first buried in Terborg. he was reburied in the in Siegen.

After the death of Mary Magdalene's mother in 1649, her father remarried at Wisch Castle in Terborg on 13 January 1656 to Countess Sophie Margaret of Nassau-Siegen (Siegen Castle, 16 April 1610 – Wisch Castle, Terborg, 8/18 May 1665), an older sister of Mary Magdalene's husband. That marriage remained childless. After the death of her father in September 1661, Mary Magdalene succeeded him countess of Bronkhorst, lady of Wisch, Borculo, Lichtenvoorde and Wildenborch, and hereditary lady banneret of the Duchy of Guelders and the County of Zutphen. Thus, these properties came into the possession of the House of Nassau. Ernestine (Wisch Castle, Terborg, 15 November 1647 – Hulst, October 1652 – Nassauischer Hof, Siegen, 21 February 1732), married in The Hague on 5 October 1675Greg. to Duke Frederick Casimir of Courland (6 July 1650 – 22 January 1698). Frederick Henry (Wisch Castle, Terborg, 11 November 1651 ("See the parish registers of Terborg.) See State Archives Wiesbaden (170III), two notifications of birth dated Terborg 15‑11‑1651: «uff vergangenen Martini, welcher war den 11ten Novemb.»." William Maurice, Sophie Amalie and Frederick Henry were elevated to the rank and title of prince(ss) in 1664. ("See Dek (1962), p.) 92." Great-great-grandparents George of Limburg-Stirum(ca. 1500–1552)⚭ 1539Ermgard of Wisch(1520–1587)

Conrad of Tecklenburg-Schwerin(1501–1557)⚭ 1527Mechthild of Hesse(ca. 1490–1558)

Wirich V of Daun-Falkenstein(ca. 1473–1546)⚭ 1505Irmgard of Sayn(?–1551) Great-grandparents

Otto IV of Holstein-Schauenburg-Pinneberg(ca. 1517–1576)⚭ 1558Elisabeth Ursula of Brunswick-Lüneburg(1539–1586)

Gumprecht II of Neuenahr-Alpen(ca. 1503–1555)⚭ 1542Amöna of Daun-Falkenstein(ca. 1520–ca. 1582) Grandparents

Parents