Henriette Amalia von Anhalt-Dessau
Biographical Text
In 1696, following the death of her husband Hendrik Casimir II (1657–1696), Henriette Amalia von Anhalt-Dessau became regent on behalf of her son Johan Willem Friso (1687–1711), and she held this post until he came of age in 1707. When the Dutch Stadtholder-King Willem III [William III of England, Scotland, and Ireland] died childless in 1702, Henriette Amalia succeeded in securing the succession for her son. As the States-General had been appointed executors for Willem III, Henriette Amalia was forced to lobby zealously to ensure that the official authorities of all seven provinces backed Johan Willem Friso.
When Johan Willem Friso died unexpectedly in 1711, Amalia failed to secure regency on behalf of her grandson, the future Stadtholder Willem IV, as the states of Frisia preferred her daughter-in-law Maria Louise von Hessen-Kassel for this role.
Although Henriette Amalia's agency was not successful in all respects, her correspondence is significantly more substantial than that of her two female predecessors, Sophia Hedwig von Braunschweig-Wolffenbüttel and Albertine Agnes van Oranje-Nassau, and it bears testament to her extensive diplomatic activities.
Bibliography
- Katharine Bechler, Schloss Oranienbaum. Architektur- und Kunstpolitik der Oranierinnen in der zweiten Hälfte des 17. Jahrhunderts (Halle, 2002), pp. 146–58.
- M. Bruggeman and A. P. van Nienes, eds, Archieven van de Friese stadhouders. Inventarissen van de archieven van de Friese stadhouders van Willem Lodewijk tot en met Willem V, 1584–1795 (Hilversum, 2002).
- Marijke Bruggeman, Nassau en de macht van Oranje. De strijd van de Friese Nassaus voor de erkenning van hun rechten, 1702–1747 (Hilversum, 2007).
- Robert Heck, Die Regenten der ehemaligen Diezischen Lande aus den Haüsern Diez und Nassau-Diez in Wort und Bild (Diez, 1912) pp. 61–6 and 76–87.
- N. Japikse, De geschiedenis van het huis van Oranje-Nassau (Den Haag, 1948), vol. 2, pp. 19–23.
- Peter Karstkarel and Hugo Kingmans, Oranje-Nassau & Friesland (Leeuwarden, 1994), pp. 62–7.
- Hélène de Muij-Fleurke and Bernard Woelderink, ‘Die Hochzeit von Heinrich Casimir II und Henriette Amalia im Jahre 1683 in Dessau und ihr festlicher Empfang in Friesland im Jahre 1684’, Oranienbaum. Huis van Oranje (2003), pp. 113–18.
- R. L. M. Mulder-Radetzky and B. H. de Vries, Geschiedenis van Oranjewoud. Van vorstelijk lustslot tot voorname buitenplaatsen (Alphen aan den Rijn, 1999), pp. 13–17.
- Johanna W. A. Naber, Onze vorstinnen uit het Huis van Oranje-Nassau in het stadhouderlijk tijdperk (Haarlem, 1911), vol. 2, pp. 12–20.
- M. D. Ozinga, Daniel Marot. De schepper van den Hollandschen Louis XIV-stijl (Amsterdam, 1938), pp. 21–2 and 103–24.
- J. Steur, ‘Amalia, prinses van Anhalt-Dessau, 1666–1726’, in E. van Beusekom, et al., ed., Moeders uit ons vorstenhuis (Amsterdam, 1938), pp. 125–9.
