Father William the Silent House House of Orange-Nassau Name Countess of | Religion Calvinist Mother Anna of Saxony | |
 | ||
Born 10 April 1569
Cologne ( 1569-04-10 ) Issue Maria Belgica of Portugal
Manuel Antonio of Portugal
Emilia Louise of Portugal
Christopher William Louis of Portugal
Anna Louise of Portugal
Juliana Catherine of Portugal
Mauritia Eleonora, Princess of Nassau-Siegen
Sabina Delphica of Portugal Died March 16, 1629, Geneva, Switzerland Spouse Manuel, Hereditary Prince of Portugal (m. 1597) Children Mauritia Eleonora of Portugal, Anna Louise of Portugal Parents William the Silent, Anna of Saxony Similar People William the Silent, Anna of Saxony, Countess Maria of Nassau, Charlotte of Bourbon, Louise de Coligny | ||
Countess Emilia of Nassau (10 April 1569 – 16 March 1629) was the third and youngest daughter of William the Silent and his second wife Anna of Saxony.
Contents
Biography
Emilia was born in Cologne. She is named after Amalia of Neuenahr who was in charge of her mother's household at the time of her birth. Emilia's mother had an affair with the father of painter Peter Paul Rubens. Due to this infidelity Emilia and her siblings, Anna and Maurice, were taken out of their mother's care and went to live with their uncle John VI, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg at Dillenburg. Emilia later went to live in Delft with her father and, in Friesland, with her sister, Anna.
After her father's death she acted as hostess at the court of her brother, Maurice. It was on one of those occasions that she met Dom Manuel de Portugal, (son of pretender to the Portuguese throne, António, Prior of Crato). She secretly wed him in 1597. Maurice was firmly opposed to the marriage, because the Nassaus were Calvinists and Dom Manuel was a Catholic. Maurice put Emilia under house arrest; Dom Manuel had to flee to Wesel. When Maurice found he could not convince her to divorce her husband, he banished her from court for ten years. They eventually made peace and she and Dom Manuel were at Maurice's deathbed.
Emilia and her husband had ten children. The last years of their lives, they lived separately when her husband decided — due to financial concerns — to live in Brussels at the court of Isabella of Spain, archenemy of the House of Orange. Emilia went to Geneva with her daughters, where she died three years later, at the age of 59.