A woman who defied social and cultural norms, gave up the religion of her family and her people, abdicated her throne, moved to Rome (one of only three women buried in the Vatican), and became a patron of philosophers, mathematicians, artists, and musicians (including Stradella, Pasquini, Carissimi, and Corelli).
Meet Queen Christina of Sweden!
This week’s Early Music Monday post comes from Kassel, Germany! Landgrave Moritz of Hesse-Kassel was patron to Heinrich Schütz and John Dowland (among others), built the first permanent theater in Germany, and liked to stir up religious controversy.
Maurice of Hesse-Kassel (German: Moritz) (25 May 1572 – 15 March 1632), also called Maurice the Learned,[1] was the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel) in the Holy Roman Empire from 1592 to 1627.
Maurice was born in Kassel as the son of William IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, and of his wife Sabine of Württemberg.
Although Maurice had been raised in the Lutheran faith, he converted to Calvinism in 1605. On the principle Cuius regio eius religio, Maurice's subjects were also required to convert to Calvinism. Maurice's conversion was controversial since the Peace of Augsburg had only settled religious matters betweens Roman Catholics and Lutherans and had not considered Calvinists. Maurice tried to introduce Calvinism to the lands which he had inherited from the extinct Hesse-Marburg branch of his family. Such a change of faith was contrary to the inheritance rules, and resulted in an ongoing conflict with the Hesse-Darmstadt branch. It also brought him into conflict with the Holy Roman Emperor, Matthias.
Maurice of Hesse-Kassel ( German: Moritz) (25 May 1572 - 15 March 1632), also called Maurice the Learned, was the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel) in the Holy Roman Empire from 1592 to 1627. Maurice was born in Kassel as the son of William IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, and of his wife Sabine of Württemberg.