Christiane of Saxe-Merseburg

Christiane of Saxe-Merseburg (1 June 1659 – 13 March 1679), was a German noblewoman member of the House of Wettin and by marriage Duchess of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg.

Christiane of Saxe-Merseburg
Christiane of Saxe-Merseburg, Duchess of Saxe-Eisenberg (probably in the allegorical representation of hunting goddess Diana), painted ca. 1678, now in the Kupferstichkabinett (Collection of Prints, Drawings and Photographs) of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (Dresden State Art Collections).
Born	1 June 1659 Merseburg
Died	13 March 1679 (aged 19) Eisenberg
Noble family	House of Wettin
Spouse(s)	Christian, Duke of Saxe-Eisenberg
Issue Christiane, Duchess of Schleswig-Holstein-Glücksburg
Father	Christian I, Duke of Saxe-Merseburg
Mother	Christiana of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg

Born in Merseburg, she was a child of Christian I, Duke of Saxe-Merseburg and his wife Christiana of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg.

Life

In Merseburg on 13 February 1677 Christiane married Duke Christian of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. Both belonged to the House of Wettin: she was a member of the Albertine line while her husband belonged to the Ernestine branch. The couple settled in Eisenberg at the Christianburg Castle.[1]

Two years later, on 4 March 1679, she gave birth to a daughter, named Christiane after her and later wife of Philip Ernst, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Glücksburg;[2] however, nine days later (13 March) she died of childbirth complications aged 19, probably from puerperal fever. She was buried in Merseburg Cathedral.[3] In her honour, her husband build the Castle church of St. Trinity (German: Schlosskirche St. Trinitatis) in the Christianburg Castle.

Notes

1. Technically, she never became Duchess of Saxe-Eisenberg, because her husband only officially received these land as a ruler in 1680, one year after her death.
2. Marek, Miroslav. "Genealogy of the House of Wettin". genealogy.euweb.cz. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
3. Saxe-Merseburg line in: Royaltyguide.nl Archived 2014-10-08 at the Wayback Machine [retrieved 27 September 2014].

References

• Publications about Christiane of Saxe-Merseburg in: VD 17 [retrieved 28 September 2014].