User:Jack1755/Sandbox7

Eleonore d'Olbreuse, Duchess of Braunschweig-Lüneburg

Éléonore d'Olbreuse (January 3, 1639 – February 5, 1722) was Duchess of Celle as the wife of Duke George William. Born the scion of a Huegenot aristocratic family, Éléonore bore her husband one daughter, Sophia Dorothea, who married her first cousin George Louis, Elector of Hanover and, later, King of Great Britain and Ireland.

Life

The daughter of Alexandre II d'Esmier d'Olbreuse and Jacquette Poussard du Bas-Vandré, Éléonore was born on 3 January, 1639, at Château d'Olbreuse, Poitou. Of a long line of Protestant aristocrats,

Éléonore d'Esmier d'Olbreuse was born at the castle of Olbreuse in Deux-Sèvres near Niort, France into a Huguenot family of lower nobility. Her parents were Alexandre II d'Esmier d'Olbreuse and Jacquette Poussard du Bas-Vandré. She went to the royal court in Paris as a lady-in-waiting in the service of Marie de la Tour d'Auvergne, Duchess of Thouars, whose son had married Emily of Hesse-Kassel, daughter of William V of Hesse-Kassel, in 1648.

In the winter of 1664 Éléonore accompanied the Duchess of Thouars who visited her son in Kassel. There the beautiful Éléonore met the unmarried George William, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, who immediately fell in love with her.

Éléonore became his mistress and received the title Lady of Harburg. In 1666 their only child, Sophie Dorothea, was born. In 1674 the child was legitimised and Éléonore became the Duchess of Wilhelmsburg. Two years later the couple could finally marry. It was a happy marriage.

Their daughter was married in 1682 to George Louis, the son of her father's brother Ernest Augustus, Elector of Hanover for dynastical reasons. The marriage was a disaster. Finally Sophie Dorothea was imprisoned by her husband in the Castle of Ahlden for the rest of her life. During the last years of her life, Éléonore cared for her daughter and tried to obtain her release, without success.

Éléonore d'Esmier d'Olbreuse died 5 February 1722, nearly blind, in Celle Castle, Celle. She mentioned 342 persons in her will. She was buried in the Stadtkirche St. Marien (town church of St. Mary) in Celle.

Ancestors

Ancestors of Jack1755/Sandbox7

16. François Desmier Seigneur d'Olbreuse 8. Louis Desmier d'Olbreuse 17. Hélène Dorin de Ligné 4. Alexandre Desmier Seigneur d'Olbreuse 18. Jacques de Mathefelon Seigneur d'Orfeuille 9. Jeanne de Mathefelon 19. Luce du Courret 2. Alexandre Desmier Seigneur d'Olbreuse 10. Mathieu Baudoin Seigneur du Peux 5. Marie Baudoin du Peux 11. Jacquette Tarquois 1. Éléonore Marie Desmier d'Olbreuse 24. René Poussard Seigneur du Bas-Vandré et de Saint-Marc 12. Jean Poussard Seigneur de Bas-Vandré et de Saint-Marc 25. Jacqueline de Barbezières 6. Joachim Poussard Seigneur du Bas-Vandré 26. Simon II de La Jaille 13. Anne de La Jaille 27. Simone de Mauléon 3. Jacquette Poussard 14. Lancelot Gaillard de Saint-Dizant 7. Suzanne Gaillard de Saint-Dizant 15. Jacquette de L'Isle

References

Bibliography

• Duggan, Josephine (2010). Sophia of Hanover: From Winter Princess to Heiress of Great Britain 1630 - 1714.
• Glozier, Matthew; Onnekink, David (2007). War, Religion and Service: Huguenot Soldiering, 1685-1713. Ashgate.

Category:Huguenots Category:Mistresses of German royalty Category:People from Niort Category:French nobility Category:German nobility Category:1639 births Category:1722 deaths