Elsa Elisabeth Brahe

Elsa Elisabeth Brahe (29 January 1632 – 24 February 1689), was a Swedish countess and duchess, married to Adolph John I, Count Palatine of Kleeburg, Duke of Stegeborg, the brother of king Charles X of Sweden.

She was the daughter of count Nils Brahe and Anna Margareta Bielke (1603-1643). She married in her first marriage to count Erik Axelsson Oxenstierna, Lord High Chancellor of Sweden in 1654-1656 and the son of Axel Oxenstierna. In 1661, she married secondly to Adolph John I, Count Palatine of Kleeburg, Duke of Stegeborg, the paternal uncle of king Charles XI of Sweden. He was the childless widower of her cousin, Elsa Beata Brahe, daughter of her uncle Per Brahe the Younger.

The marriage was politically motivated. Adolph John wished to establish support by her connections in the Swedish nobility for his ambition to participate in the regency government of Charles XI. After the regent, Hedvig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp, advised him against a dynastic marriage with Holstein-Gottorp, he proposed to Elsa Elisabeth after the Riksdag of 1660, reportedly against the will of the regent and others, who tried to convince Elsa Elisabeth to decline the match.

At the Swedish court, Elsa Elisabeth became involved in a dispute of rank with her sister-in-law, Countess Palatine Maria Eufrosyne of Zweibrücken, already on the year of her marriage. Märta Allertz acted as a mediator in this dispute without success. When the matter was resolved by the regent in favor of Maria Eufrosyne, as born a princess rather than in favor of Elsa Elisabeth, who was a princess by marriage, Adolph John and Elsa Elisabeth withdraw from court and settled at Stegeborg Castle.

At Stegeborg, the Ducal couple held a grand representational court life in order to secure support among the nobility for Adolph John's political ambition. However, the attempts were not successful. Adolph John I was regarded with suspicion by the nobility, and as a person described as proud, dominant and obsessed by rank, and while his first consort was described as a more mild character, Elsa Elisabeth was described as his equal in character and personality. After the great reduction of Charles XI in 1682-86, the ducal couple was no longer able to host a representational social life in accordance with their rank, and reacted by isolating themselves entirely from the outside world. They were said to have abused their children. This became the object of a formal investigation in 1686, and culminated in a scandal with to attempts of their children to escape from parental authority in 1687 and 1688, the last of the attempts successful.

Issue in her first marriage to Erik Axelsson Oxenstierna:

1. Christina Eriksdotter Oxenstierna (1651-1711), married to count Gabriel Oxenstierna af Croneborg.
2. Axel Eriksson Oxenstierna (1652-1676), rector illustris at Uppsala University.
3. Lisbeta Eriksdotter Oxenstierna (1653-1653)
4. Elisabet Eriksdotter Oxenstierna (1654-1721), married to Gustaf Adolf De la Gardie.
5. Carl Gustaf Eriksson Oxenstierna (1655-1686), minister

Issue in her second marriage to Adolph John I, Count Palatine of Kleeburg:

1. Catherine (10 December 1661 – 27 May 1720)
2. Maria Elizabeth Louise (16 April 1663 – 23 January 1748)
3. Charles John (15 September 1664 – 10 December 1664)
4. John Casimir (4 September 1665 – 29 May 1666)
5. Adolph John (21 August 1666 – 27 April 1701)
6. Gustavus Casimir (29 June 1667 – 21 August 1669)
7. Christina Magdalena (4 April 1669 – 21 June 1670)
8. Gustavus Samuel Leopold (12 April 1670 – 17 September 1731)
9. unnamed (12 December 1671)