Henriette Catherine of Nassau
Encyclopedia
Henriette Catherine of Nassau (10 February 1637 – 3 November 1708) was a daughter of Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange
Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange
Frederick Henry, or Frederik Hendrik in Dutch , was the sovereign Prince of Orange and stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel from 1625 to 1647.-Early life:...

 and his wife Amalia of Solms-Braunfels
Amalia of Solms-Braunfels
Amalia of Solms-Braunfels , was a regent of Orange. She was the wife of Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange. She was the daughter of John Albert I of Solms-Braunfels and Agnes of Sayn-Wittgenstein.-Childhood:...

. Henriette was a member of the House of Orange-Nassau
House of Orange-Nassau
The House of Orange-Nassau , a branch of the European House of Nassau, has played a central role in the political life of the Netherlands — and at times in Europe — since William I of Orange organized the Dutch revolt against Spanish rule, which after the Eighty Years' War...

 (Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

).

Family

Henriette was born in The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...

 and was the seventh of nine children born to her parents. Some of her siblings died in childhood. Henriette and four other siblings lived to adulthood, her surviving siblings were: William II, Prince of Orange
William II, Prince of Orange
William II, Prince of Orange was sovereign Prince of Orange and stadtholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands from 14 March 1647 until his death three years later.-Biography:...

, Luise Henriette of Nassau, Albertine Agnes of Nassau
Albertine Agnes of Nassau
Albertine Agnes , was a regent of Friesland, Groningen and Drenthe. She was the fifth daughter of stadtholder Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange and Amalia of Solms-Braunfels.-Family:...

 and Maria of Nassau.
Henriette's paternal grandparents were William the Silent
William the Silent
William I, Prince of Orange , also widely known as William the Silent , or simply William of Orange , was the main leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish that set off the Eighty Years' War and resulted in the formal independence of the United Provinces in 1648. He was born in the House of...

 and his fourth wife Louise de Coligny
Louise de Coligny
Louise de Coligny was the daughter of Gaspard de Coligny and Charlotte de Laval and the fourth and last spouse of William the Silent.-Biography:...

. Henriette's grandfather, William was murdered on the orders of Philip II of Spain
Philip II of Spain
Philip II was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count....

 who believed that William had betrayed the Spanish king and the Roman Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

 religion.

Henriette's maternal grandparents were Johan Albrecht I of Solms-Braunfels and his wife Agnes of Sayn-Wittgenstein.

Marriage and issue

The Thirty Years War had left Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 in ruins but the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 under the reign of Henriette's father, Frederick father had made great progress since the assassination of William the Silent. Her father wanted to make peace with Germany and so married some of his daughters off to many German nobles. Frederick had Henriette married to John George II, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau
John George II, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau
John George II, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau was a German prince of the House of Ascania and ruler of the principality of Anhalt-Dessau...

 in Groningen on 9 September 1659. The couple were married for thirty-four years and had ten children:
  1. Amalie Ludovika (b. Berlin, 7 September 1660 - d. Dessau, 12 November 1660).
  2. Henriette Amalie (b. Cölln an der Spree, 4 January 1662 - d. Cölln an der Spree, 28 January 1662).
  3. Frederick Casimir, Hereditary Prince of Anhalt-Dessau (b. Cölln an der Spree, 8 November 1663 - d. Cölln an der Spree, 27 May 1665).
  4. Elisabeth Albertine (b. Cölln an der Spree, 1 May 1665 - d. Dessau, 5 October 1706), Abbess of Herford
    Herford
    Herford is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, located in the lowlands between the hill chains of the Wiehen Hills and the Teutoburg Forest. It is the capital of the district of Herford.- Geographic location :...

     (1680–1686); married on 30 March 1686 to Henry of Saxe-Weissenfels, Count of Barby
    Heinrich of Saxe-Weissenfels, Count of Barby
    Heinrich of Saxe-Weissenfels, Count of Barby , was a German prince of the House of Wettin and count of Barby....

    .
  5. Henriette Amalie
    Henriëtte Amalia van Anhalt-Dessau
    Henriëtte Amalia Maria van Anhalt-Dessau was the daughter of John George II, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau and Henriëtte Catharina of Nassau and the granddaughter of Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange....

     (b. Kleve, 26 August 1666 - d. Oranienstein an der Lahn, 18 April 1726), married on 26 November 1683 to Henry Casimir II, Prince of Nassau-Dietz.
  6. Louise Sophie (b. Dessau, 15 September 1667 - d. Dessau, 18 April 1678).
  7. Marie Eleonore (b. Dessau, 14 March 1671 - d. Dessau, 18 May 1756), married on 3 September 1687 to Prince Jerzy Radziwiłł, Duke of Olyka.
  8. Henriette Agnes (b. Dessau, 9 September 1674 - d. Dessau, 18 January 1729).
  9. Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau
    Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau
    Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau was a German prince of the House of Ascania and ruler of the principality of Anhalt-Dessau. He was also a Generalfeldmarschall in the Prussian army...

     (b. Dessau, 3 July 1676 - d. Dessau, 9 April 1747).
  10. Johanna Charlotte
    Princess Johanna Charlotte of Anhalt-Dessau
    Johanna Charlotte of Anhalt-Dessau was a princess of Anhalt-Dessau from the House of Ascania by birth and Margravine of Brandenburg-Schwedt by marriage...

     (Dessau, 6 April 1682 - d. Herford, 31 March 1750), Abbess of Herford
    Herford Abbey
    Herford Abbey was the oldest women's religious house in the Duchy of Saxony. It was founded as a house of secular canonesses in 789, initially in Müdehorst by a nobleman called Waltger, who moved it in about 800 onto the lands of his estate Herivurth which stood at the crossing of a number of...

     (1729–1750); married on 25 January 1699 to Philip William, Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt.


Henriette and John George were a great influence over the German court at agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...

, construction
Construction
In the fields of architecture and civil engineering, construction is a process that consists of the building or assembling of infrastructure. Far from being a single activity, large scale construction is a feat of human multitasking...

 of ports, levees, architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...

 and painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

. In 1660, John George gave his wife the town of Nischwitz were she build houses, a cemetery, made glass and brought it to fruition.

John George died in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

 1693. Their son, Leopold was still only a minor so Henriette resumed regency for his son until he came of age.

Henriette died in 1708.

It is speculated that Princess Catharina-Amalia of the Netherlands
Princess Catharina-Amalia of the Netherlands
The official origins of her given names:*Catharina has been speculated to be after Henriette Catherine of Nassau *Amalia is after Amalia of Solms-Braunfels *Beatrix is after her paternal grandmother, the Queen of the Netherlands...

 (granddaughter of Beatrix of the Netherlands
Beatrix of the Netherlands
Beatrix is the Queen regnant of the Kingdom of the Netherlands comprising the Netherlands, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, and Aruba. She is the first daughter of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld. She studied law at Leiden University...

) received the name Catharina after Henriette Catherine.

Ancestors

Henriette Catherine's ancestors in three generations
Henriette Catherine of Nassau Father:
Frederik Hendrik of Orange
Paternal Grandfather:
William the Silent
William the Silent
William I, Prince of Orange , also widely known as William the Silent , or simply William of Orange , was the main leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish that set off the Eighty Years' War and resulted in the formal independence of the United Provinces in 1648. He was born in the House of...

Paternal Great-grandfather:
William I, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg
William I, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg
William of Nassau was a count of Nassau-Dillenburg from the House of Nassau. He was called William the Rich....

Paternal Great-grandmother:
Juliana of Stolberg
Juliana of Stolberg
Juliana, Countess of Stolberg-Wernigerode was the mother of William the Silent, the leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish in the 16th century....

Paternal Grandmother:
Louise de Coligny
Louise de Coligny
Louise de Coligny was the daughter of Gaspard de Coligny and Charlotte de Laval and the fourth and last spouse of William the Silent.-Biography:...

Paternal Great-grandfather:
Gaspard de Coligny
Gaspard de Coligny
Gaspard de Coligny , Seigneur de Châtillon, was a French nobleman and admiral, best remembered as a disciplined Huguenot leader in the French Wars of Religion.-Ancestry:...

Paternal Great-grandmother:
Charlotte de Laval
Charlotte de Laval
Charlotte de Laval, Dame de Châtillon , was a French noblewoman from one of the most powerful families in Brittany. She was the first wife of Gaspard de Coligny, Seigneur de Châtillon, Admiral of France and a prominent Huguenot leader during the French Wars of Religion. She was the mother of Louise...

Mother:
Amalia of Solms-Braunfels
Amalia of Solms-Braunfels
Amalia of Solms-Braunfels , was a regent of Orange. She was the wife of Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange. She was the daughter of John Albert I of Solms-Braunfels and Agnes of Sayn-Wittgenstein.-Childhood:...

Maternal Grandfather:
John Albert I, Count of Solms-Braunfels
Solms-Braunfels
Solms-Braunfels was a County in what is today the federal Land of Hesse in Germany.Solms-Braunfels was a partition of Solms, and was raised to a Principality in 1742. Solms-Braunfels was partitioned between: itself and Solms-Ottenstein in 1325; itself and Solms-Lich in 1409; and itself,...

Maternal Great-grandfather:
Conrad, Count of Solms-Braunfels
Maternal Great-grandmother:
Elisabeth of Nassau-Dillenburg
Elisabeth of Nassau-Dillenburg
Countess Elisabeth of Nassau-Dillenburg was a daughter of William I, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg and Juliana of Stolberg and was one of the sisters of William the Silent....

Maternal Grandmother:
Agnes of Sayn-Wittgenstein
Maternal Great-grandfather:
Louis, Count of Sayn-Wittgenstein
Maternal Great-grandmother:
Elisabeth of Solms-Laubach

External links

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