Through skillful diplomacy and military successes in the Thirty Years' War, she advanced the fortunes of Hesse-Kassel and influenced the Peace of Westphalia that brought the conflict to an end.

Amalie Elisabeth was born between 2 and 3 o'clock in the afternoon of 28 January 1602[1] to Philip Louis II, Count of Hanau-Münzenberg and Countess Catharina Belgica of Nassau.

These included the Reformation-minded Wittelsbachs in Heidelberg, where she lived for a while with her aunt, Countess Louise Juliana of Nassau, and her husband Frederick IV, Elector Palatine.

[3] At the time she was engaged to Albrecht Jan Smiřický von Smiřice, one of the six Bohemian nobles at the Defenestration of Prague who threw the Emperor's representative from a window.

[3] In 1624 Louis V, who had established connections with the Catholic League, moved to enforce his claim, with Imperial General Tilly occupying Marburg and southern Hesse-Kassel.

Landgrave Maurice tried desperately to raise a force to expel Tilly and prevent the annexation, but he was opposed from within Hesse-Kassel by the Landgraviate’s estates, composed of representatives from the local towns and nobility.

Despite this success the Peace of Prague had decisively shifted the balance of the war in the Emperor’s favor, and military defeats soon left Hesse-Kassel itself under attack by Imperial armies.

As a result, after her ascension both Charles Louis, Prince Palatine, and William V’s half-brother Landgrave Frederick of Hesse-Eschwege asked to be given command of Hesse-Kassel’s armies.

Amalie Elisabeth rebuffed both advances, telling the Prince Palatine that he should not approach her while he had no lands, funds, or allies, and forcing Landgrave Frederick to accept her authority.

[5] Although she was determined to retain control over the army, she did allow its command to remain in the hands of her late husband’s top general, Peter Melander, Count of Holzappel.

[5] One of the Landgravine’s first actions as regent was to order the army and the inhabitants of the territories still under her control to swear an oath of loyalty to her young son William VI, further solidifying her power.

For example, in 1559 John Calvin wrote that “there were occasionally women so endowed, that the singular good qualities which shown forth in them, made it evident that they were raised up by divine authority.

[2] She also stressed her role as a widow and mother to reinforce her legitimacy, refusing any course of action which would violate her late husband’s intent or compromise her son’s inheritance.

[2] The situation within Hesse-Kassel was so desperate that Amalie Elisabeth’s councilors and the Hessian estates opened negotiations with George II at Marburg and urged the Landgravine to accept whatever terms were necessary to achieve peace.

As more princes were convinced by this argument, and as the French and Swedish continued to gain momentum, the Emperor decided to revoke George II’s authority over the negotiations and appointed the Elector of Mainz to conclude the treaty.

The Elector offered more generous terms, including no further territorial or political concessions to Hesse-Darmstadt and official recognition of the right of all Calvinist princes to practice their religion.

In the ensuing negotiations, Amalie Elisabeth used her gender to her advantage by portraying herself as an unfortunate widow faced with a desperate situation and in dire need of help from the French court.

The French eventually agreed to her demands, and in August 1639 they signed the Treaty of Dorsten, renewing the alliance and granting her a greater subsidy than her husband had received.

[5] Over the next decade of war, the alliance between France and Hesse-Kassel would remain firm, and Amalie Elisabeth would maintain amicable ties with the French court.

Melander, however, did not support rejoining the war against the Emperor and strongly objected to serving under the Swedish Field Marshal Johan Banér, who had been given overall command of the allied army.

[2] In January 1642, Hessian forces assisted the French army under the Comte de Guébriant in winning a decisive victory at the Battle of Kempen, strengthening the allied position along the Rhine.

[2] In addition to committing troops to the major campaigns of the war, Amalie Elisabeth also launched initiatives to increase the size of her children’s inheritance.

Amalie Elisabeth had a great deal of influence in Hanau-Münzenberg because it was the county of her birth, her husband had liberated it from Imperial siege in 1636, and its government owed money to Hesse-Kassel.

One claimant, Count Friedrich Casimir of Hanau-Lichtenberg, offered to allow the territory to revert to Hesse-Kassel if his line ever lacked a male heir in exchange for Amalie Elisabeth supporting his claim.

In April of that year, both Hessian houses signed an agreement in which Amalie Elisabeth received most of the disputed territory, including the valuable city of Marburg.

[2] In 1642, diplomats laid plans to host a general peace conference between the Emperor, the French and the Swedish in the Westphalian cities of Münster and Osnabrück, although the negotiations would not begin for several more years.

Her husband, the late Landgrave William V, had been a staunch opponent of the Habsburg emperors’ attempts at centralization and believed that every Imperial prince should enjoy the same rights.

[2] Amalie Elisabeth thus sought to achieve her husband’s goal of stripping the Emperor and the Electors of their power over the Empire by formalizing an aristocratic interpretation of the Imperial constitution.

[4] In total Amalie Elisabeth achieved many of her objectives and wielded significant influence on the Peace of Westphalia, despite being the ruler of a minor German state.

On the 5th of October, she held an extravagant abdication ceremony, attended by her advisors and the Hessian estates, at which William VI was officially granted control over the court.