Christiane Henriette of Palatinate-Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld (16 November 1725, Ribeauvillé – 11 February 1816, Arolsen) was a Countess of Palatine of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld by birth and by marriage a Princess of Waldeck-Pyrmont.
She married on 19 August 1741 in Zweibrücken, Karl August, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont (1704–1763). After the death of her husband in 1763, she was Regent of the principality and guardian for her first-born son from 1764 to 1766.[1] In the years 1764 to 1778, the New Castle at Arolsen was built as her Wittum by Franz Friedrich Rothweil.
Christiane Henriette was considered highly educated in arts and sciences. She was a close friend of the anthropologist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach[2] Christiane collected a comprehensive library,[3] which by 1788 included about 6,000 volumes[4] and in her Arolsen Castle, she maintained an art and natural history collection.[5]
When she died, Christiane left behind a considerable debt,[6] which is why parts of her library and art collection had to be auctioned off in 1820.[7]
Christiane Henriette died in 1816 and was buried in the park of her New Castle at Arolsen.
Offspring
From her marriage with Karl August, Christiane Henriette had the following children:
Charles (1742–1756)
Friedrich (1743–1812), Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont
29. Countess Anna Maria of Solms-Sonnenwalde and Pouch
7. Princess Philippine Henriette of Hohenlohe-Langenburg
30. Wolfgang Georg I, Count of Castell-Remlingen
15. Countess Juliana Dorothea of Castell-Remlingen
31. Countess Sophie Juliana of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Pfedelbach
References
Joseph Heinrich Wolf: Das Haus Wittelsbach: Bayern's Geschichte aus Quellen, G. G. Zeh, 1847, p. 482
Kerstin Merkel, Heide Wunder: Deutsche Frauen der frühen Neuzeit, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2000, p. 211 ff.
Footnotes
^Society for History and Archaeology of Westphalia: Zeitschrift für vaterländische Geschichte und Altertumskunde, Volume 23, Society for History and Archaeology of Westphalia, 1863, p. 150
^Rudolf Gaedechens: Die Antiken des fürstlich Waldeckischen Museums zu Arolsen, Speyer, 1862, p. 15
^Birgit Kümmel: Arolsen: indessen will es glänzen, Bing, 1992, p. 124