Marie Luise von Degenfeld

Luise von Degenfeld (28 November 1634 – 18 March 1677) was a German noblewoman and the morganatic second wife of Charles I Louis, Elector Palatine. Early life Born as Baroness Maria Susanne Luise von Degenfeld in Strasbourg, she was the daughter of an impoverished Baron, Christoph-Martin von Degenfeld (1599–1653) and his wife, Maria Anna Adelmann von Adelmannsfelden (1610–1651). In 1650 she was appointed a lady-in-waiting at the Electoral Palace at Heidelberg to Charlotte of Hesse-Kassel, the consort of Charles I Louis, Elector Palatine. He was the son and heir of Frederick V, the "Winter King" of Bohemia, by Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of James I of England. Marriage Although the marriage of the Elector and Electress was notoriously unhappy, Charlotte openly protesting that it had been contracted against her will, Luise initially declined to become the Elector's mistress. On 6 January 1658, acting on his own sovereign authority, the Prince-Elector contracted a morganatic but arguably bigamous (cf. cuius regio, eius religio) second marriage with the young Baroness von Degenfeld at Schwetzingen Castle, then a hunting lodge, midway between Heidelberg and Mannheim, Germany. From 31 December 1667 the Prince-Elector and his court accorded Luise the title of "the Raugravine" (Raugrafin), and the corresponding titles of Raugrave/Raugravine without territorial suffix, to each of her children, distinguishing them from the children of his first, dynastic marriage (which the Electress always refused to acknowledge as legally terminated), the future Elector Palatine Charles II and the future Duchess of Orléans, Elisabeth Charlotte ("Liselotte"). Children Thirteen children were born to the Elector and the Raugravine between October 1658 and April 1675. The only one of her children to marry and have children was the Raugravine Caroline Elisabeth (1659–1696), who married an ardent suitor, Meinhard, 3rd Duc de Schomberg, 1st Duke of Leinster in 1683, receiving 20,000 florins from Elector Charles II. When the Edict of Nantes was revoked in France, the Schombergs emigrated to England rather than convert to Catholicism.