What is Elizabeth Of Bohemia?

For other people named Elizabeth or Elisabeth of Bohemia, see Elisabeth of Bohemia. For the daughter of Charles I of England, see Princess Elizabeth of England

Elizabeth Stuart
Electress Palatine; Queen of Bohemia
The widowed Elizabeth Stuart, 1642
The widowed Elizabeth Stuart, 1642
Consort	Palatine: 14 February 1613 – 1623 Bohemia: 4 November 1619 – 8 November 1620
Consort to	Frederick V, Elector Palatine
Among others... Issue
Frederick Henry von der Pfalz Charles I Louis, Elector Palatine Elisabeth of Bohemia, Princess Palatine Prince Rupert of the Rhine Prince Maurice von Simmern Edward, Count Palatine of Simmern Sophia of Hanover
Royal house	House of Palatinate-Simmern House of Stuart
Father	James VI of Scotland, I of England
Mother	Anne of Denmark
Born	19 August 1596 Falkland Palace, Fife
Died	13 January 1662 (aged 67) England

Elisabeth, Electress Palatine and Queen of Bohemia (born Princess Elizabeth Stuart of Scotland; 19 August 1596 – 13 February 1662) was the eldest daughter to James VI of Scotland and his Queen consort Anne of Denmark. She was thus sister to Charles I. With the demise of the Stuart dynasty in 1714, her direct descendants, the Hanoverian rulers, succeeded to the British throne.

Biography

At the time of Elizabeth's birth at Falkland Palace, Fife, her father was still the King of Scots only. She was named in honour of the Queen of England, in an attempt by her father to flatter the old queen, whose kingdom he hoped to inherit. When the younger Elizabeth was six years old, in 1603, her namesake died and James succeeded to the thrones of England and Scotland, making his daughter a much more attractive bride.

Part of the intent of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 was to put the nine year old Elizabeth onto the throne of England (and, presumably, Scotland) as a Catholic monarch, after assassinating her father and the Protestant English aristocracy. At the time of the plot she was staying at Coombe Abbey in Warwickshire, from where the conspirators planned to kidnap her.

On 14 February 1613, she married Frederick V, then Elector of the Palatinate, and took up her place in the court at Heidelberg. Frederick was the leader of the association of Protestant princes in the Holy Roman Empire known as the Evangelical Union, and Elizabeth was married to him in an effort to increase James's ties to these princes. In 1619, Frederick was offered and accepted the crown of Bohemia, but his rule was brief, and Elizabeth became known as the "Winter Queen". She was also sometimes called "Queen of Hearts" because of her popularity.

Driven into exile, the couple took up residence in The Hague, and Frederick died in 1632. Elizabeth remained in Holland even after her son, Charles I Louis, regained his father's electorship in 1648. Following the Restoration of the English & Scottish monarchies, she travelled to London to visit her nephew, Charles II, and died while there. Her daughter was known later as Sophia of Hanover; pursuant to the English Act of Settlement 1701, the Electress Sophia and her issue were made heirs to the English & Scottish thrones (later British throne), so that all monarchs of Great Britain from George I are descendants of Elizabeth.

Ancestors

Elizabeth's ancestors in three generations

Elizabeth of Bohemia	Father: James I of England	Paternal Grandfather: Henry Stuart, Duke of Albany	Paternal Great-grandfather: Matthew Stuart, 4th Earl of Lennox
			Paternal Great-grandmother: Margaret Douglas
		Paternal Grandmother: Mary I, Queen of Scots	Paternal Great-grandfather: James V of Scotland
			Paternal Great-grandmother: Marie de Guise
	Mother: Anne of Denmark	Maternal Grandfather: Frederick II of Denmark	Maternal Great-grandfather: Christian III of Denmark
			Maternal Great-grandmother: Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg
		Maternal Grandmother: Sofie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin	Maternal Great-grandfather: Ulrich III of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
			Maternal Great-grandmother: Elizabeth of Denmark

Children

1. Frederick Henry von der Pfalz (1614-1629) - (Drowned)
2. Charles I Louis, Elector Palatine (1617-1680)
3. Elisabeth of Bohemia, Princess Palatine (1618-1680)
4. Rupert, Duke of Cumberland (1619-1682)
5. Maurice (1620-1654) - (Drowned)
6. Louise Hollandine (18 April 1622-11 February 1709)
7. Ludwig (21 August 1624-24 December 1624)
8. Edward, Count Palatine of Simmern (1625-1663)
9. Henrietta Maria (7 July 1626-18 September 1651); married Prince Sigismund of Siebenbuergen on 16 June 1651
10. Johann Philip Frederick (26 September 1627-15 December 1650); also reported to have been born on 15 September 1629
11. Charlotte (19 December 1628-14 January 1631)
12. Sophia, Electress of Hanover (14 October 1630-8 June 1714)
13. Gustavus Adolphus (14 January 1632-1641)

See also

• Thirty Years' War

Fiction

In WG Sebald's novel Vertigo (1990), a woman appears whom the narrator, travelling through Heidelberg by train in 1987, recognizes instantly "without a shadow of a doubt" as Elizabeth when she enters his carriage.

Biblography

• Jessica Gorst-Williams, Elizabeth, the Winter Queen (1977) ISBN 0-200-72472-X
• Josephine Ross, The Winter Queen: The Story of Elizabeth Stuart (1979) ISBN 0-312-88232-7, ISBN 0-297-77603-7
• Carola Oman, The Winter Queen: Elisabeth of Bohemia (2000) ISBN 1-84212-057-3
• Jane Stevenson, The Winter Queen: A Novel (2002) ISBN 0-618-14912-0, ISBN 0-618-38267-4
• Frances Yates, The Rosicrucian Enlightenment (1972) devotes its early chapters to describing her 1613 wedding and the reputation she and her husband had in Europe at the time

External links

Elizabeth of Bohemia House of Stuart Born: 19 August 1596 Died: 13 February 1662
British royalty
Preceded by Charles I of England	Heir to the English, Scottish and Irish Thrones as heiress presumptive March 27 1625-May 29 1630	Succeeded by Charles II of England
Preceded by Louise Juliana of Nassau	Electress Palatine 1613 – 1623	Succeeded by Elizabeth of Lorraine