1510-1558
Regent And Evangelist

Early Marriage. The life of Elisabeth of Braunschweig, author of four books and many hymns, as well as the ruler of a small German state, demonstrates the ways in which religious, political, and family concerns could all intersect. She was born in 1510 as the third child of Archduke Joachim I of Brandenburg and his wife Elisabeth. When she was fifteen her father arranged for her to be married to the widowed Duke Erich I of Braunschweig-Calenberg, who was forty years her senior. Despite the age difference, the spouses appear to have gotten along, and Elisabeth bore four children—three daughters and a son—over the next fifteen years. In 1540 Erich died, naming Elisabeth as the regent for his young son, also named Erich.

A Volatile Situation. Relations among the rulers of the many states of the Holy Roman Empire...