Catherine of Brandenburg was born on 18 May 1602 to rich and famous noble family. Her father was John Sigismund of Hohenzollern, elector prince of Brandenburg and her mother was Duchess Anna of Prussia. In 1626, for political reasons, she married the famous Prince of Transylvania, Gabriel Bethlen (who reigned from 1613 to 1629). After his first wife, Suzana Károly, died, Bethlen used this marriage to strengthen his ties with the protestants of northern Germany. He gave his future bride a marriage gift of a splendid brooch with diamonds, rubies and emeralds, with a red translucent heart in its centre held by two white hands. To conclude the marriage agreement, Bethlen was obliged to give up his twelve concubines. He accepted this, thinking that as soon as the Princess of Hohenzollern arrived in Transylvania, “he would get his concubines back”.

At the time of the marriage, the groom was 46. The bride was 24. She had a striking beauty, with “fair complexion and prominent lower lip, a distinctive feature of the House of Austria.” The age difference was not gap between them; there seems to have also been a communication barrier, since Catherine spoke no Hungarian and her French was poor.

The princely wedding was held in Košice. The prince welcomed his future bride in the midst of an impressive crowd, riding his favourite horse. He was dressed “in a white costume edged with white silver threads, with marten fur at the collar, and wearing on his head a hat with a feather.” The celebrations lasted six days, filled with music, dancing and fireworks, and were attended by princes, barons and envoys sent from Wallachia and Moldova. During the banquet, a wonderful Romanian popular dance was played as well.

After the wedding, the bride and groom visited several cities in Transylvania, including Sibiu and Alba Iulia. Everywhere they were greeted with enthusiasm by the inhabitants, on streets adorned with fir trees and birch.

As a stylish lady and a lover of magnificence, luxury and ostentation, Catherine turned the Fortress of Alba Iulia a “temple of arts.” Luxury furniture was imported from east and west. The walls were covered with Gobelin tapestries from Nurnberg, Flanders, and Italy, or painted with frescoes of biblical scenes, to name but a few of the new decorative elements which were added to the princely halls and dormitories. Under the princess’ influence, masquerades and parties were organized more often at the princely palace in Alba Iulia, which is one of the reasons the nobility became fond of her.

In 1628-1629, the festivities at the Transylvanian princely household were coordinated by the Spanish duke, Diego of Estrada. He had arrived in Alba Iulia as dance teacher, accompanied by ten musicians, and was soon noticed and asked to initiate the princess into the secrets of Spanish dance. In his memoirs, printed in Madrid, which described the life at the princely household in Alba Iulia, Estrada suggests quite clearly that he had a love affair with the princess. Writing of a hunting party which took place while the prince was away as part of a delegation – a period when “feasts and pleasures” were unceasingly organized – the duke confesses (or boasts) of a moment of intimacy with the duchess, while they were separated from the main group. “I helped her dismount the horse in my arms, as she ordered, to eat the partridge that I brought […] she put the pieces of partridge in my mouth with her own hand.” Moreover, the Spaniard helped the princess remove her shoes, a gesture deemed profoundly erotic.

This was not the only love affair that the princess was suspected of during her marriage to the much older Gabriel Bethlen. She is thought to have had an affair with her princely court physician, Weickhardt Scultetus, a physicist and alchemist, who was eventually assassinated in 1630 and thrown in the Olt River by Catherine’s friends. She had a passionate affair with Stephen Csáki, Count of Cluj, one of the most prominent Catholic noblemen of Transylvania. “Csáki used to climb … not via the large, front stairs, but on hidden stairs, towards the chambers of the princess.” Her passion for this elegant and handsome man, who was about her age, made her not only betray her husband, but also reveal her feelings in the presence of her lover’s wife. It was said that while in a carriage, Csáki’s wife, “holding a prayer book in her hand and with tears running down her face, looked at her husband and Catherine cuddling.” Their affair came into the open after Gabriel Bethlen’s death in 1629.

The death of the prince, at the age of 49, triggered the outbreak of tensions, enmity and rivalries over the succession of power. Having no direct heirs, in his last will, Bethlen designated Catherine the heir of his “strong, autonomous and prestigious state in Europe.” She went on to rule the principality with the assistance of her brother in law, Stephen Bethlen, as governor. The Porte validated the Catherine’s appointment to the princely throne. Her ascension was on the condition of observing several provisions imposed by the Diet of Alba Iulia in 1626. Less than a year since taking the power, on 21 September 1630, Catherine was forced to abdicate in favour of Stephen Bethlen. In the meantime, she was supported and influenced by her lover, Stephen Csáki. She was removed due to immorality, the secret adoption of Catholicism, and lack of interest in the principality.

Dethroned, Catherine left Transylvania and settled in Lower Saxony. She married Francis Charles of Saxa-Lauerburg in 1639 and died on 27 August 1644. (C.I.P.)