Christine of Saxony

Who was Christine of Saxony?

Christine of Saxony was a German noble, landgravine of Hesse. She was the regent of Hesse in 1547-1549.

She was the daughter of George, Duke of Saxony "the Bearded", Duke of Saxony and Barbara Jagiellon. Her paternal grandparents were Albert, Duke of Saxony and Sidonie of Bohemia. Her maternal grandparents were Casimir IV Jagiellon, king of Poland and Elisabeth of Austria.

On 11 December 1523 in Kassel, she married Landgrave Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, called "the Magnanimous". They had 10 children. The marriage was arranged to forge an alliance between Hesse and Saxony and was unhappy; Philip claimed to be disgusted by her and only shared her bed by duty.

Whilst married to Christine, Philip practised bigamy and had another nine children with his other wife, Margarethe von der Saale; in 1540, Christine gave her consent to her husband's bigamy with his lover because of her view upon him as her sovereign. Saale, however, was never seen at court. During Philip's absence and captivity in 1547-49, Christine was regent jointly with her son.