# Anna Sophia of Brandenburg

Anna Sophia of Brandenburg (18 March 1598 – 19 December 1659) was a duchess, through her marriage to Frederick Ulrich of Brunswick-Lüneburg, of Braunschweig and Lüneburg, and princess of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel. She was born a German princess as the daughter of John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg, and Anna, Duchess of Prussia, the daughter of Albert Frederick, Duke of Prussia.

## Life

Anna Sophia was born on 18 March 1598 in Cölln as the eldest daughter of Johann Sigismund and Anna of Prussia. Anna Sophia's maternal grandparents were Marie Eleonore of Cleves and Albert Frederick of Prussia, while her paternal grandparents were Joachim Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg and his first wife Catherine of Brandenburg-Küstrin.
The relationship between her parents was said to be occasionally volatile; her father was prone to drunken rages and her mother reportedly threw plates and glasses at her spouse during arguments. Although Anna was described as intellectually superior to her spouse, she was also considered temperamental and strong-willed.
After the death of Anna Sophia's childless great-uncle, John William, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg in 1609, his inheritance was claimed by the heirs of his two sisters. This was Anna of Prussia, Anna Sophia's mother, and Anna of Cleves (1552–1632), married to Philipp Ludwig, Count Palatine of Neuburg, whose son and heir was Wolfgang Wilhelm, Count Palatine of Neuburg. Anna Sophia and her prospective groom were therefore second cousins.
Negotiations for a marriage between Anna Sophia and Wolfgang Wilhelm of Pfalz-Neuburg were begun, as a marriage between the two could have sorted out the disputes over the Jülich-Cleves succession. At that time it was under the joint rule of both Wolfgang Wilhelm and Johann Sigismund as a result of the Treaty of Dortmund.
Wolfgang Wilhelm demanded an end to the joint rule and that the lands would be given as Anna Sophia's dowry and thereafter ruled solely by Wolfgang Wilhelm. As this demand seemed somewhat immodest, a heated exchange of words arose between Wolfgang Wilhelm and Johann Sigismund, as a result of which Wolfgang Wilhelm left "after suffering a serious insult, threatening revenge with no uncertain terms." Wolfgang Wilhem instead converted to Catholicism, married Magdelene of Bavaria, and allied himself with the Habsburgs. This led to the War of the Jülich Succession.

## Marriage

In 1614, Anna Sophia was married to Frederick Ulrich, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg. Seven years older than Anna Sophia, Friedrich much "devoted to the pleasures of the table" was an alcoholic, who was so was so uninterested in ruling that he would sign any paper of government put before him without reading it. The marriage would turn out to be unhappy and childless.
Between 1616 and 1622, owing to his diminished capability as a ruler, he was deposed by his mother (Anna Sophia's mother-in-law), Elizabeth of Denmark, with the help of Frederick Julius' maternal uncle, King Christian IV of Denmark. Anna Sophia and her mother-in-law did not got along.
In 1620, Anna Sophia sheltered her sister Maria Eleonora in Braunschweig and supported her marriage to Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden. Their brother George William did not approve of his sister's marriage because it would jeopardize Brandenburg's status as neutral and antagonizing their Polish neighbours and drag them into the Thirty Years' War.
Anna Sophia´s relationship to Frederick Ulrich having broken down completely, Anna Sophia began a love affair in 1622 with a relative of her husband who lived at the Brunswick court, army officer Francis Albert of Saxen-Lauenburg. The relationship was kept secret for a while, until in 1623, after he had been defeated in a battle at Plesse, his belongings were looted by Anna Sophia's brother-in-law, Christian of Halberstadt. Christian found several letters from Anna Sophia to her lover talking about her hatred for her husband, her husband's family, and her support for the Catholic side of the conflict in the Thirty Years' War.
Anna Sophia, under pretense of a family visit, left Brunswick and returned to her family in Berlin. Well in safety in her native land, she wrote to Emperor Ferdinand II that her husband had deprived her of "his marital affections and heart", and Georg Wilhelm wrote to his brother-in-law that he should agree to the separation. Instead, Frederick Ulrich had his wife excluded from church prayers and confiscated her assets. However, Anna Sophia did not comply with a summons to Wolfenbüttel before a consistory, and also refused to consent to a divorce and Fredrick Ulric's remarriage. Fredrick died before the divorce was completed. Anna Sophia would later manage to gain control of her dower lands Schöningen, Hessen, Jerxheim, and Calvörde.

### Activities during the Thirty Years' War

In order to protect her estates from looting during the wars, Anna Sophia kept up a correspondence with Ferdinand II as well as the imperial commanders Wallenstein and Johan t'Serclaes, Count of Tilly. She also negotiated prisoner of war exchanges on behalf of Brandenburg.

## Later life

In 1625 Anna Sophia's mother, Anna of Prussia, died. This was followed by the betrothal of Anna Sophia's youngest sister, Catherine, to the Transylvanian prince Gabriel Bethlen. After the proxy marriage, the bride set off for Transylvania, accompanied by Anna Sophia. An in-person marriage ceremony was performed in Kosice in modern-day Slovakia.
In 1634, Frederick Julius died as a result of a double fracture of the femur and was buried in St. Mary's Church in Wolfenbüttel. While visiting Anna Sophia in 1649, her sister Catherine died in the court of Anna Sophia in Schöningen.
Anna Sophia, widowed, retired to Schöningen, where she founded a renowned school, the Anna-Sophianeum.

## Death

Beginning in early 1650, Anna Sophia's health and mental capacities began to deteriorate. From 1655, she lived permanently in Berlin under close supervision and in confinement, with her mood alternating between "melancholy, violence and normality".
She died in December 1659 and was buried in the Hohenzollern crypt in Berlin Cathedral.