Abstract
Not very much is known about Dorothea Susanna (1544-1592), duchess of Sachsen-Weimar. What we do know about her, however, opens a multi-faceted perspective on the interaction between faith and political power. The example of Dorothea Susanna of Sachsen-Weimar is a classic case of how the struggle for faith and power impacted the most diverse environments and spheres of activity: dynastic relationships, political rivalries, and the composition of confessional documents as normative expressions of Reformation identity. What follows demonstrates this from three complementary points of view, indicating how the duchess from Sachsen-Weimar was negotiating the fields of political and ecclesiastical tension in her day while struggling with the questions of faith and power that confronted her. The essay briefly reviews the factors setting distinct understandings of the faith at odds with each other, then discusses the maneuvering between the two branches of the Saxon Wettin dynasty, and finally considers how the duchess, although she was able to maintain her confession, ultimately lost the battle for political autonomy.
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