The castle contained an art room with 155 paintings, at the time the second largest collection in Württemberg.

When her husband died, her 14-year-old son Eberhard III was still a minor and his uncle Louis Frederick, Duke of Württemberg-Montbéliard acted as regent.

After the Battle of Lutzen in late 1632, Julius Frederick joined the war on the Swedish side.

His goal was to drive enemy troops out of the country, as well as the Catholic former owners of secularized church properties.

He joined the Protestant Heilbronn League which suffered a crushing defeat at the Battle of Nördlingen on 6 September 1634.