Anna Dorothea, Abbess of Quedlinburg
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Duchess Anna Dorothea of Saxe-Weimar (12 November 1657 - 24 June 1704) reigned as Princess-Abbess of Quedlinburg from 1684 until her death.

Born in Weimar
Weimar
Weimar is a city in Germany famous for its cultural heritage. It is located in the federal state of Thuringia , north of the Thüringer Wald, east of Erfurt, and southwest of Halle and Leipzig. Its current population is approximately 65,000. The oldest record of the city dates from the year 899...

, Duchess Anna Dorothea was the daughter of John Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, and Christine Elisabeth of Holstein-Sonderburg.

Her father decided she should pursue an ecclesiastical career when she was still a child. From 1681 until 1684, Anna Dorothea was provost of the Quedlinburg monasteries. Upon the death of Princess-Abbess Anna Sophia II
Anna Sophia II, Abbess of Quedlinburg
Landgravine Anna Sophia of Hesse-Darmstadt was a German noblewoman who reigned as Princess-Abbess of Quedlinburg under the name Anna Sophia II.- Early life :...

, Anna Dorothea was chosen to succeed her, though not without difficulties that required the intervention of the abbey-principality's guardian and fellow Wettin, John George III, Elector of Saxony
John George III, Elector of Saxony
Johann Georg III was Elector of Saxony from 1680 to 1691.-Early life:Johann Georg was the only son of the Elector Johann Georg II and Magdalene Sybille of Brandenburg-Bayreuth....

. The Elector consented to her election on 4 September 1684 and Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I confirmed it on 29 January 1685.

In 1698, Frederick Augustus I
Augustus II the Strong
Frederick Augustus I or Augustus II the Strong was Elector of Saxony and King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania ....

, who had succeeded to the Electorate of Saxony in 1694 and had been elected King of Poland in 1697, found himself in need of money as the election had cost him a fortune. The King of Poland therefore decided to sell his rights of guardianship of the abbey-principality to Elector Frederick III of Brandenburg
Frederick I of Prussia
Frederick I , of the Hohenzollern dynasty, was Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia in personal union . The latter function he upgraded to royalty, becoming the first King in Prussia . From 1707 he was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel...

. The change was not welcomed by the citizens of Quedlinburg nor by the Princess-Abbess, as it led to diminishing of her power and loss of many of the abbey-principality's possessions. The Princess-Abbess protested against the sale and refused to recognise the Elector of Brandenburg as the abbey-principality's new guardian until military occupation the same year forced her to do so. As many of her predecessors, she often came into conflicts with the Council of the City of Quedlinburg and her guardian.

Anna Dorothea suffered poor health in 1703 and went to Carlsbad
Karlovy Vary
Karlovy Vary is a spa city situated in western Bohemia, Czech Republic, on the confluence of the rivers Ohře and Teplá, approximately west of Prague . It is named after King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV, who founded the city in 1370...

to recover, but without success. She died the next year. She is buried in Weimar.
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