Despite this setback, Sophie's influence did not diminish throughout her widowhood; on the contrary, she was unwilling to be sidelined from political affairs,[7] and she greatly strengthened her status through enormous and ever-expanding monetary leverage.

[11][12][13] She maintained a large lending business, earning interest, and extending loans to, among others her son Christian IV, her son-in-law King James VI & I, her grandson Duke Frederick Ulrich of Brunswick-Lüneburg, and several other principalities of the Holy Roman Empire.

[16] Sophie played a crucial role in shaping the foreign relations of Denmark, notably during the Thirty Years' War, influencing peace negotiations and ultimately contributing to the Treaty of Lübeck in 1629.

[30] In 1596, she arranged the marriage of her daughter Princess Augusta to John Adolf, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, which improved Denmark's connections to the north German Lutheran states.

[30] She was the main negotiator in the marriage arrangements between her son Christian, heir to the throne, and Princess Anne Catherine of Brandenburg, whom Sophie called a "pure pearl".

While sidelined in Denmark, Sophie concentrated on the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, where — as the children’s mother — she laid claim to a regency (Danish: formynderskab) on behalf of Christian, Ulrik, and Hans.

[37] Sophie acted energetically to defend her children’s claims, notably insisting that Ulrik and Hans should also be granted a share in governance and inheritance, effectively partitioning the duchies.

In August 1593, the Emperor did indeed issue an imperial decree requiring partition of the so-called “royal portion” (Danish: den kongelige del) and Rudolf II specifically also reaffirmed that Sophie’s should remain regent for Ulrik and Hans until such a division was completed.

Her father, Ulrich III of Mecklenburg, advised her extensively, sent experienced legal envoys to Denmark, and was appointed imperial commissioner in August 1593, bolstering Sophie’s efforts to partition the duchies.

[44][45] During her regency over the duchies (1588–1594), Dowager Queen Sophie primarily held court at Koldinghus Castle, while also frequently residing at Cismar Abbey, near Grömitz, when visiting Schleswig and Holstein.

In 1609, Sophie famously admonished Ulrik and Christian for neglecting their own affairs in favor of “merriment and drink” criticizing their lack of decisiveness and hinting at her frustration over repeatedly having to “settle [their] matters".

[63] Her extensive territories in southern Denmark also included the jurisdiction over a number of birks (judicial districts), where she held executive powers to appoint judges (Danish: birkedommer; viz.

[64] The Dowager Queen had notable political influence internationally as a consequence of her loans to several principalities of the Holy Roman Empire, whereby she "[financed] diplomacy and war", as described by historian Merry E.

[68] During the latter stages of the Danish participation in the Thirty Years' War, Dowager Queen Sophie played a diplomatic role by engaging in extensive correspondence with various parties involved.

The Dowager Queen had left no actual testament, but in a letter to her son King Christian, she had declared that her three living children should receive a sizeable pre-legacy, a non-distributable portion (Danish: forlods), the rest to be divided according to law,[75] with the exception of a few bequests, including to Sorø Academy.

The assets consisted of outstanding capital, interest, considerable cash, jewellery, coins and sizeable collateralized territories in Mecklenburg – her dowerlands of Lolland and Falster reverted to the Crown.

[48] As news of Sophie's demise spread across Northern Europe, several German principalities began dispatching envoys to Copenhagen to negotiate and settle inheritance claims.

During the process of recording all the valuables Sophie left behind, it became known that her daughter, Duchess Augusta, retained one of the two original handwritten inventories of the estate, from when she was handed the keys to Nykøbing Castle.

[89] During the spring of 1632, several representatives from Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Prussia, Holstein-Gottorp and Mecklenburg, began to arrive at the Danish Court to lodge inheritance demands on behalf of Elizabeth of Denmark's children.

This included Charles I, the Dukes of Holstein-Gottorp, Brunswick-Lüneburg, Mecklenburg-Güstrow, and Mecklenburg-Schwerin, but with some exceptions, such as her daughter, Hedwig of Denmark, Electress of Saxony, who received the outstanding Mecklenburg assets, totalling over 360.000 rigsdaler.

[74] In 1654, over 20 years after her death, William Frederick, Prince of Nassau-Dietz, the son of the aforementioned Countess of Nassau-Diez and Count Ernest Casimir I, launched an appeal to recover his mother’s share of Queen Sophia's inheritance.

[92] In the end, Christian IV emerged as the unsurpassed principal beneficiary of Sophie's disposable fortune, but he quickly squandered the inheritance on costly wars with Sweden, his eldest son's wedding and construction activities.

In 1588, Daniel Rodgers, an Anglo-Flemish diplomat employed for Lord Burghley, as a spy to report the characters of the Danish royal family, wrote of Queen Sophie; "She is a right virtous and godly princess, who with a motherly care and great wisdom, ruleth her children".

[98][99] When a canon of Lübeck, Hermann von Zesterfleth, visited Denmark in 1600, he noted that the dowager queen was able to extract large sums of revenue from her estate because of her highly efficient agricultural operations and management.

[100] When she died in 1631, observers described her as "a lady of great thrift and enterprise", and the secretary to the English Ambassador in Denmark, James Howell, remarked that she was the "richest Queen in Christendom".

[21] Because of her significant wealth and consequent influence, and undoubtedly exacerbated by earlier disputes with the Council of the Realm about the maturity and regency of Christian IV, she was viewed by some contemporary Danish nobles as being cynical, greedy and avaricious.

Later, predominantly male historians echoed these sentiments, dismissing Sophie as having an "economic sense that bordered on avarice,"[102] an "imperious character,"[103] and describing her as being in the grip of her emotions, with a bitter passion, a violent combativeness, and a fierce temperament.

[112] Her ability to conduct "able politicking" even influenced her daughter Anne, Queen of Scotland and England, as noted in Nadine Akkermann's 2013 book on court cultures in the early Middle Ages.

[114] She and her husband were markedly anti-Catholic and supported the teachings of Niels Hemmingsen, but their primary focus was on ensuring religious stability and conformity in Denmark rather than engaging in detailed theological debate.

She occupies a very special place in history as the driving force behind Anders Sørensen's ‘Hundred Song Book’ (Danish: Hundredvisebogen) from 1591, Europe's first ever printed collection of traditional ballads.