Elisabeth was born in
Birkenfeld, the daughter of
Frederick III, Elector Palatine, and his wife,
Marie of Brandenburg-Kulmbach. Elisabeth was the third child of the couple and the second to reached adulthood. On 12 June 1558 in
Weimar, Elisabeth married
John Frederick II, Duke of Saxony, eldest son of
John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony. He selected Grimmenstein Castle (the predecessor of
Friedenstein Castle) in
Gotha as their residence. During the Gotha War,
Augustus, Elector of Saxony, besieged Gotha and Grimmenstein Castle and conquered them on 13 April 1567. John Frederick was taken prisoner and would spend the rest of his life (29 years) in imperial captivity. He was brought to
Dresden and in June 1567 to
Wiener Neustadt. Elisabeth and her children fled to
Eisenach and then to her sister
Dorothea Susanne of Simmern, who was married to her husband's brother,
John William, Duke of Saxe-Weimar. At the end of 1568, she moved back to Eisenahch, initially to the
Zollhof court, then to the
Wartburg and finally into the castle at
Eisenberg In the following years, Elisabeth wrote a number of petitions to, among others, Emperor
Maximilian II, Empress
Maria and
Anne, Electress of Saxony, trying to obtain the release of her husband. With the help of her father and brothers, she appeared before the
Diet of Speyer (1570). She was allowed to
prostrate in front of Emperor Maximilian II at her father's
Heidelberg Castle. The Emperor then reinstated her sons as
Imperial Princes. Duke John William I acted as their guardian until the
Division of Erfurt was made on 6 November 1572. After that Division, their guardians were Elector
John George of Brandenburg (succeeded in 1578 by his nephew Margrave
George Frederick I of Brandenburg-Ansbach) and Elector Palatine
Frederick III and Elector
Augustus of Saxony, who provided them with an education under his supervision and in his spirit. In the summer of 1572, Elisabeth moved in with her husband in captivity in the
castle of Wiener Neustadt. From there, she has returned twice more to Coburg. On 5 August 1572, her son Frederick Henry died in Eisenberg. Her two youngest sons John Casimir and John Ernest moved into the
Ehrenburg Palace at
Coburg on 5 December 1572, where they were raised by under the governorship of Count Barby, who was a confidant of Augustus. In June and July 1578, Elisabeth traveled via Prague, where they unsuccessfully tried to meet Dowager Empress Maria, to Coburg where she met with her younger sister Dorothea Susanna. In 1583, Elisabeth traveled in the period from March to August, via Prague and Coburg to Weimar to attend on 5 May at the wedding of
Frederick William I, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, with
Sophie of Württemberg, and to meet Elector Augustus. However, the Elector cancelled the appointment. On her return journey, she visited her brother
Louis VI, Elector Palatine, in Heidelberg, where she was accompanied by her sons. Elisabeth died on 8 February 1594 in the armory of Wiener Neustadt. Her body was repatriated to Coburg at the end of the year and buried in the
Morizkirche on 30 December 1594. In 1598, Duke John Casimir had a twelve-meter-high
alabaster epitaph by the sculptor Nikolaus Bergner erected on the tomb of Elisabeth and John Frederick, who had died in 1595. == Marriage and issue ==