By 1699, Anna Constantia was living openly in
Castle Burgscheidungen with the director of the Saxonian
Generalakzis Kollegiums, Adolph Magnus, Baron of
Hoym (1668-1723), whom she met in Wolfenbüttel. After four years of
cohabitation, they were married on 2 July 1703 but were
divorced by 1706. When she arrived in
Dresden, Anna Constantia claimed that she was still married to the Baron in order to be able to appear at court. Her former husband was raised to the rank of
Imperial Count on 17 July 1711.
Royal mistress In 1704, the King of Poland and Elector of Saxony Augustus the Strong met the vivacious Baroness von Hoym and fell in love with her. The Baron of Hoym tried unsuccessfully to prevent the relationship, because he considered his former wife unsuitable for the role of official mistress. Augustus' pious wife,
Christiane Eberhardine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, refused to reign alongside her husband at the Catholic, scandalous Polish court, and had effectively
exiled herself to the
Schloss Pretzsch (
Elbe). Anna Constantia became close to Augustus, but he still had another mistress,
Ursula Katharina, Princess of Teschen. Finally, in 1705, the Princess Teschen was banished from the court, and Anna Constantia took her place as official mistress. In 1706, she was created the Imperial Countess (
Reichsgräfin) of Cosel. Two years later, on 24 February 1708, she gave birth to August's daughter, named Augusta Anna Constantia after both her parents. One year later, on 27 October 1709, the Countess von Cosel bore a second daughter, Friederike Alexandrine, and three years later, on 27 August 1712, she had a son, Frederick Augustus, who was named after his father and eventually inherited Gut Depenau from his maternal grandparents. In the opinion of the court, Anna Constantia interfered too much into politics, and in particular, her attempts to meddle in Augustus' Polish politics encountered strong resistance. The Protestant Electorate of Saxony was determined to turn the King's attention away from Catholic Poland, which he had lost after the defeat at the hands of Sweden's
Charles XII in the
Great Northern War. Anna Constantia came to be considered increasingly dangerous to the Polish political interests, especially when it was rumoured that Augustus had written his mistress a secret promise to marry her. The Polish aristocracy tried to supplant the Countess von Cosel with a Catholic mistress and thus eliminate her from the political scene. Augustus finally gave in to the charms of the Catholic
Maria Magdalena, Countess von Dönhoff.
Exiled to Burg Stolpen In 1713, Anna Constantia was banished to the
Pillnitz Castle, but in 1715 she managed to flee to
Berlin, Prussia. For this, she was condemned in Saxony as a
Landesverräter (state criminal). In Berlin, she hoped to get her hands on Augustus' secret written marriage promise, which was in the hands of her cousin, Count Detlev Christian zu
Rantzau, held in the fortress of
Spandau. However, the Countess failed to retrieve this important document and was arrested on 22 November 1716 in
Halle an der Saale and exchanged for Prussian deserters in Saxony. Augustus exiled his former mistress on 26 December 1716 to
Burg Stolpen, where she remained for the next 49 years until her death.
Emancipated after August II's demise? As to whether or not the Countess' exile was lifted after the death of August II (1 February 1733) and during the reign of his son and successor,
August III, there is some debate. Rumour has it she was not given freedom . Other rumours state, that the Countess did not use the opportunity to flee even though this was presented to her twice (1745 and 1756). In both cases the Saxon guards, according to rumour, fled before advancing Prussian troops . A documented view on her circumstances after August II comes from the Polish writer
Józef Ignacy Kraszewski's historical novel
Countess of Cosel ("Hrabina Cosel" 1873, later the feature movie
Hrabina Cosel). The following quote is from the final chapter where the Countess has been offered freedom after 17 years of imprisonment: The Countess died on 31 March 1765, aged 84 at
Stolpen and is also buried there. ==References==