Maria of Jülich-Berg

German princess

Maria of Jülich Berg (3 August 1491 – 29 August 1543) was the Duchess of Jülich Berg, as the daughter of Wilhelm IV, Duke of Jülich Berg and Sibylle of Brandenburg. She became heiress to her father’s estates of Jülich, Berg and Ravensberg after it had become apparent that her parents’ marriage would not produce any more children. In 1509, Maria married John III, Duke of Cleves. Their daughter, Anna, became the consort of King Henry VIII of England.

Duchess Maria was born on 3 August 1491 in Jülich, Germany, as the only child of Duke Wilhelm IV and Duchess Sibylle, the daughter of Albert III Achilles, Elector of Brandenburg, and his wife Anna of Saxony, daughter of the Elector Frederick II of Saxony from his marriage to Margaret of Austria. Maria came from the line of German princesses that stretched back to Sybille of Brandenberg, Sophia of Saxony, and Adelaide of Teck. In 1496, at the age of 5, Duchess Maria was betrothed to the 6 year old Duke of Cleves, John.

They married in 1509. Maria's estates and titles were then merged with the Duchy of Cleves. The marriage resulted in the Cleves Union, in which the Duchies of Jülich Berg Ravensberg and Cleves Mark were combined to form the United Duchies of Jülich Cleves Berg. When her father died in 1511 Maria, being female, could not inherit, and Jülich Berg Ravensberg fell to her husband John III through her. At the request of Maria and John II, who resided in Cleves, Maria's mother Sibylle acted as governor of Jülich Berg during this period. John, who inherited the Duchy of Cleves Mark in 1521, then became the first ruler of the United Duchies of Jülich Cleves Berg, which would exist until 1666. Maria was a traditional Catholic who gave her daughters a practical education on how to run a noble household, which was the norm for German noblewomen during the time period. This differed from the education typically given to daughters of the English nobility and gentry. In The Wives of Henry VIII, Antonia Fraser suggests that, following their marriage, one reason Henry VIII disliked her daughter Anne so much was that, unlike his first two wives and many of the court ladies around him, Anne did not possess educational and musical accomplishments and was ill equipped to function in the contentious English court. Duchess Maria herself appears not to have favored sending her daughter to England. She wrote in a later correspondence she loved her daughter so much that she was 'loath to suffer her to depart her'.

Maria died on 29 August 1543 of unspecified causes.