Children of the House of Cleves: Anna and Her SiblingsChildren of the House of Cleves describes and analyses the lives of Sybylla, Anna, Wilhelm and Amalia, the children of Johann III, Duke of Cleves. Though their parents were staunch Catholics, Wilhelm of Jülich‐Cleves‐Berg was a Lutheran – when it suited him. He challenged the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, over the strategically important Duchy of Guelders. He believed that France would support him, but Francis I left him defenceless and Guelders became part of the Habsburg Netherlands. Sybylla became the Electress consort by marriage to electoral Prince Johann Friedrich of Saxony. He would be captured during the Schmalkaldic War, and Sybylla defended the city of Wittenberg under siege during his absence. Both she and her husband were passionate supporters of the Reformation. Amalia was considered as a possible bride for Henry VIII before he chose her sister Anna. She was a great lover of music and poetry, with her own poems recorded in a song book. These four children had an illustrious lineage – descended from both the kings of England and France and closely related to Louis XII and the dukes of Burgundy. Their various trials and triumphs illuminate the convulsions of sixteenth‐century continental and Tudor politics and the spiritual and civic revolution that was the Reformation. It began in the German states, and these four lives were intimately involved in it. Based upon primary documentary sources, Children of the House of Cleves explains what motivated or caused some of the largest wars in continental Europe in the run‐up to the Thirty Years War in Germany, a time of massive religious and political strife. |
Contents
Saxony Asserts Itself in the 1540s | |
Changes for the Von der Mark Siblings | |
Growth and Changes for the United Duchies | |
The United Duchies and the Holy Roman Empire in the 1560s | |
Karl Friedrich the Pride of the United Duchies | |
Karl Friedrich in Rome | |
Mass Flux in the United Duchies 15751579 | |
Descent into Madness | |
The Thirty Years | |
The Great Tudor Dieoff | |
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Common terms and phrases
Adolf Amalia ambassador Anna of Cleves Anna’s Anne army arrived Austria Bavaria Berg born brother Burgundy Castle Catholic Charles V’s child Church Cleves-Mark Cologne court cousin daughter death died diet ducal Duchess Maria Duchy of Jülich Duke Karl Duke of Cleves Duke Wilhelm Düsseldorf Elector of Saxony Elizabeth Ernst father Ferdinand France Frauenzimmer Friedrich of Saxony Gebhard German Ghogreff Guelders Habsburg Harst heir Henry VIII Holy Roman Emperor Holy Roman Empire husband illegitimate Imperial Jakoba January Johann Friedrich Johann Wilhelm John Frederick Juana of Castile Jülich Jülich-Berg Jülich-Cleves-Berg Karl Friedrich King Lady Landgrave Lorraine Low Countries Luther Lutheran Maria Eleonore Maria of Jülich-Berg Maria von Habsburg Mark marriage married Mary Maximilian Moritz Münster Olisleger palace Pighius Pope princes Protestant Queen Regensburg roughly Schmalkaldic League sent Sibylle sister Sybylla of Cleves territory Torgau treaty troops United Duchies VIII of England wedding wife Wilhelm of Cleves William Wittenberg