Primary Contributors:
Ineke Huysman, Huygens ING
Anna von Sachsen, by Abraham de Bruyn. 1565–8. Engraving, 18.5 by 11.2 cm. (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, inv. no. RP-P-1894-A-18585)
Anna von Sachsen (1544–1577)
The only child of of Maurice (1521–1553), elector of Saxony and Agnes of Hesse (1527–1555), Anna was born in Dresden in 1544. Following the death of her parents, she was placed under the guardianship of her grandfather Philip of Hesse and her uncle Augustus of Saxony. Despite being raised a Lutheran, the husband finally selected for her—William of Orange (1533–1584)—was a practising Catholic. Negotiations for the match were protracted and Philip II, in particular, raised objections. The ceremony was conducted on 12 August 1561 but, despite the birth of five children, the marriage was not happy. William found Anna difficult and demanding, and their relationship deteriorated when William left to fight the duke of Alva, leaving Anna with his family in Dillenburg.
In October 1568, Anna departed for Cologne with her court. She did not have sufficient funds to sustain independence and, when she found herself in debt, William and his family refused to help. William asked his wife repeatedly to return to Dillenburg, but she refused. Following confirmation in 1571 of her pregnancy with a child that could not be William’s, her legal advisor (and ultimately the father of the painter and diplomat Paul Peter Rubens) Jan Rubens (1530–1587) was arrested and William arranged the annulment of the marriage. The following year Anna was sent to Beilstein Castle, where she was kept in solitary confinement that was relieved only for visits from a Lutheran preacher. In 1575 Anna was transferred to Dresden, where she was forced to live in a windowless room and her food was delivered through a panel in the door. Anna suffered both mentally and physically during her imprisonment. She died in 1577 at the age of just thirty-two and was buried in Meissen.
Partners and Additional Contributors
The metadata for this catalogue in EMLO was provided by the Huygens ING under the direction of researcher Dr Ineke Huysman. Huygens ING has digitized the documents in cooperation with the Royal Collections The Netherlands in The Hague, where most of the original letters are conserved (Archief A11b Anna, prinses van Saksen-Meissen (1544-1577), echtgenote van Willem I, prins van Oranje).
This calendar of Anna’s correspondence has been prepared for publication as a part of a collaboration with EMLO and the associated Women’s Early Modern Letters Online [WEMLO] resource. Thanks are due to Professor James Daybell and Dr Kim McLean-Fiander, and to Dr Nadine Akkerman. Dr Huysman extends her thanks to Femke Deen for the contribution of her metadata and to Annashireen Eslamimoghaddam for her collation work, while EMLO would like to thank its editorial team, funded by the Cultures of Knowledge project, for assistance in preparing this metadata for upload to the union catalogue.
Key Bibliographic Source(s)
F. Deen, Anna van Saksen. Verstoten bruid van Willem van Oranje (Amsterdam, 2018).
I. Mann, Anna of Saxony. The Scarlet Lady of Orange (New Jersey, 2016).
H. J. Böttcher, Anna Prinzessin von Sachsen 1544–1577: Eine Lebenstragödie (Dresden, 2013).
Contents
Currently the catalogue contains metadata of 185 letters written in French and German that date between 1560 and 1575. Of these letters, 132 are from Anna, and 53 are addressed to her.
Letter of Anna von Sachsen to Johan VI of Nassau-Dillenburg, 22 April 1571. (Royal Collections, Archief Anna van Saksen, A11b; reproduced with kind permission from the Royal Collections The Netherlands)
Further resources
Bibliography
K. W. Böttiger, ‘Wilhelms von Oranien Ehe mit Anna von Sachsen’, Historisches Taschenbuch, 7 (1836), pp. 82–174.
S. Broomhall and J. van Gent, eds, Gender, power and identity in the early modern House of Orange-Nassau (Abingdon, 2016).
J. Couchman and Ann Crabb, eds, Women’s letters across Europe, 1400–1700: form and persuasion (Ashgate, 2005).
G. Groen van Prinsterer, ed., Archives ou correspondance inédite de la Maison d’Orange-Nassau, Première série, 8 vols (Leiden, 1835–1847; part I has been corrected and reprinted, Leiden, 1841).
Hans Kruse, ‘Wilhelm von Oranien und Anna von Sachsen. Eine fürstliche Ehetragödie des 16. Jahrhunderts’, Nassauische Annalen, 54 (1934), pp. 1–134.
Additional resources
For further biographical information, see the the entries in Wikipedia and the Online Dictionary of Dutch Women.
Women’s Early Modern Letters Online [WEMLO] project page.
WEMLO network and resources hub.
The Wives of the Stadtholders: an exhibition (EMLO, September 2016).