Marie Eleonore of Cleves

Duchess consort of Prussia

Duchess Marie Eleonore

Duchess consort of Prussia
Tenure| 14 October 1573 - 1 June 1608

Born| (1550-06-16)16 June 1550
Cleves
Died| 1 June 1608(1608-06-01) (aged 57)
Königsberg
Spouse|

Albert Frederick, Duke of Prussia

(m. 1573)​

Issue| Anna, Duchess of Prussia, Electress of Brandenburg
Marie, Margravine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth
Albert Frederick of Prussia
Sophie, Duchess of Courland and Semigallia
Eleonore, Electress of Brandenburg
Wilhelm Frederick of Prussia
Magdalene Sibylle, Electress of Saxony
House| La Marck
Father| William, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg
Mother| Archduchess Maria of Austria

Duchess Marie Eleonore of Cleves (16 June 1550 – 1 June 1608) was the Duchess of Prussia by marriage to Albert Frederick, Duke of Prussia. She was the eldest child of William, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg and Maria of Austria.

## Life

[edit]

She was the maternal granddaughter of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor and Anna of Bohemia and Hungary, and sister of John William, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg.

Marie and her mother

While her father was a Roman Catholic, Marie Eleonore displayed firm Lutheran sympathies early on. Her father was afraid that she would influence her younger sisters with her religious views, and therefore wished to have her married to someone of her own religious convictions as soon as possible in order to remove her from his domains, and thus considered grooms for his daughter that he would not otherwise have considered.[1] Albert Frederick, Duke of Prussia, the son of Albert of Prussia, was thus accepted as a suitor, despite showing mental disorders.[2] The wedding was conducted in 1573, and Marie Eleonore departed to Lutheran Prussia.

In 1577, her mentally ill spouse was placed under the regency of his cousin George Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, which made the position of Marie Eleonore more difficult at the Ducal court of Königsberg.[3] In 1591, she returned with her daughters to Jülich, where she remained until 1592. She arranged the marriage of her daughters to German princes to avoid them being married by the Regency Council to Polish suitors, and by the marriage alliances she arranged, she ensured that the Duchy of Jülich would pass to Brandenburg after the death of her brother.[4]

## Issue

[edit]

* Anna of Prussia (3 July 1576 – 30 August 1625); married John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg.
* Duchess Marie of Prussia (23 January 1579 – 21 February 1649); married Christian, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth.
* Duke Albert Frederick of Prussia (1 June 1580 – 8 October 1580).
* Duchess Sofie of Prussia (31 March 1582 – 4 December 1610); married Wilhelm Kettler of Courland.
* Duchess Eleonore of Prussia (22 August 1583 – 31 March/9 April 1607); married Joachim Frederick, Elector of Brandenburg.
* Duke Wilhelm Frederick of Prussia (23 June 1585 – 18 January 1586).
* Duchess Magdalene Sibylle of Prussia (31 December 1586 – 22 February 1659); married John George I, Elector of Saxony.

## Ancestors

[edit]

Ancestors of Marie Eleonore of Cleves

|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | 16\. John I, Duke of Cleves (1419–1481)

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| 8\. John II, Duke of Cleves (1458–1521)|

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| 17\. Elizabeth of Nevers (1439–1483)

| 4\. John III, Duke of Cleves (1490–1538/9)|

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| 18\. Henry III, Landgrave of Hesse-Marburg (1440–1483)

| 9\. Matilda of Hesse (1473–1524)|

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| 19\. Anna of Katzenelnbogen (1443–1494)

| 2\. William, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg (1516–1592)|

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| 20\. Gerhard VII, Duke of Jülich-Berg (c.1416–1475)

| 10\. William IV, Duke of Jülich-Berg (1455–1511)|

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| 21\. Sophie of Saxe-Lauenburg (before 1428–1473)

| 5\. Maria of Jülich-Berg (1491–1543)|

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| 22\. Albert III Achilles, Elector of Brandenburg (1414–1486)

| 11\. Sibylle of Brandenburg (1467–1524)|

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| 23\. Anna of Saxony (1437–1512)

| 1\. Marie Eleonore of Cleves|
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| 24\. Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (1459–1519)

| 12\. Philip I of Castile (1478–1506)|

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| 25\. Mary of Burgundy (1457–1482)

| 6\. Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor (1503–1564)|

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| 26\. Ferdinand II of Aragon (1452–1516)

| 13\. Joanna of Castile (1479–1555)|

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| 27\. Isabella I of Castile (1451–1504)

| 3\. Maria of Austria (1531–1581)|

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| 28\. Casimir IV Jagiellon (1427–1492)

| 14\. Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary (1456–1516)|

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| 29\. Elisabeth of Austria (1436–1505)

| 7\. Anna of Bohemia and Hungary (1503–1547)|

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| 30\. Gaston de Foix, Count of Candale (1448–1500)

| 15\. Anne of Foix-Candale (1484–1506)|

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| 31\. Catherine of Foix, Countess of Candale (c.1455–bef 1494)

|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |

## References

[edit]

1. ^ R. Scheller, Die Frau am preuß. Herzogshof (1550–1625), 1966 (L, P); Land im Mittelpunkt d. Mächte, Die Herzogtümer Jülich-Kleve-Berg, 1984 (zugleich Ausst.kat. Kleve 1984, Düsseldorf 1985, dort bes. H. Preuß, Pol. Heiraten in Jülich-Kleve-Berg, S. 133-46, P).
2. ^ R. Scheller, Die Frau am preuß. Herzogshof (1550–1625), 1966 (L, P); Land im Mittelpunkt d. Mächte, Die Herzogtümer Jülich-Kleve-Berg, 1984 (zugleich Ausst.kat. Kleve 1984, Düsseldorf 1985, dort bes. H. Preuß, Pol. Heiraten in Jülich-Kleve-Berg, S. 133-46, P).
3. ^ R. Scheller, Die Frau am preuß. Herzogshof (1550–1625), 1966 (L, P); Land im Mittelpunkt d. Mächte, Die Herzogtümer Jülich-Kleve-Berg, 1984 (zugleich Ausst.kat. Kleve 1984, Düsseldorf 1985, dort bes. H. Preuß, Pol. Heiraten in Jülich-Kleve-Berg, S. 133-46, P).
4. ^ R. Scheller, Die Frau am preuß. Herzogshof (1550–1625), 1966 (L, P); Land im Mittelpunkt d. Mächte, Die Herzogtümer Jülich-Kleve-Berg, 1984 (zugleich Ausst.kat. Kleve 1984, Düsseldorf 1985, dort bes. H. Preuß, Pol. Heiraten in Jülich-Kleve-Berg, S. 133-46, P).

Marie Eleonore of Cleves

House of La Marck

Born: 16 June 1550 Died: 1 June 1608

Vacant

Title last held by

Anna Maria of Brunswick-Lüneburg |  Duchess consort of Prussia
1573–1608  | Succeeded by

Duchess Anna of Prussia

* v
* t
* e

Prussian royal consorts

Duchesses|

* Dorothea of Denmark
* Anna Maria of Brunswick-Calenberg-Göttingen
* Marie Eleonore of Cleves
* Anna of Prussia1
* Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate1
* Louise Henriette of Nassau1
* Dorothea Sophie of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg1
* Sophia Charlotte of Hanover1

Queens|

* Sophia Charlotte of Hanover1
* Sophia Louise of Mecklenburg-Schwerin1
* Sophia Dorothea of Hanover1
* Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel-Bevern1
* Frederica Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt1
* Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz1
* Elisabeth Ludovika of Bavaria
* Augusta of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach2
* Victoria of the United Kingdom2
* Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein2

1also Electress of Brandenburg; 2also German Empress

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF
* WorldCat

National|

* Germany
* Poland

People|

* Deutsche Biographie

Other|

* IdRef

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