Gertrud von Plettenberg

Gertrud von Plettenberg-Seckenrode (died 26 October 1608) was a German noblewoman, administrator of several castles of the Electorate of Cologne and royal mistress of Prince Ernest of Bavaria, Archbishop of Cologne.

[1] As her family was poor, but noble and well connected, she was given a position at the court of Ernest of Bavaria in Arnsberg, Hirschberg and Höllinghofen.

Gertrud and Ernest were lovers from 1595, and reportedly married secretly and morganatically in 1605.

There were rumors at her death that she had been poisoned by the Duchess of Cleves.

This article about a member of the German nobility is a stub.