It’s hard to really grasp how utterly different everything was in the Europe of five centuries ago. One reason it’s hard to grasp is that we just don’t know that much about it. But one of the things we do know a bit about is the life of Maria of Jever, who was born September 5, 1500. In Jever, in case there was any question about that.
Jever is a town in northern Germany, and it’s still there — pretty well known, it’s said, for Jever Pilsner beer. And it’s also known as Marienstadt (Maria City) because of Maria. In 1500 there wasn’t any such entity as “Germany,” and Jever was sort of a city-state in that it had its own ruler and military. It was called “Jeverland,” or at least nowadays that name is used for the ancient version of the area. Maria’s father was Edo Wiemken the Younger, who you may (or may not) remember was a chieftan. He died when Maria was 10, and there was a council of elders who took charge of the city-state until the eldest child, Christopher, could take command (I don’t think they had a crown handy). That plan fizzled when Christopher died at 18, leaving Maria the eldest child.
It had been intended that Maria and her sister would, as noblewomen did, marry for political and economic reasons. The council couldn’t quite wrap their heads around the idea of a woman being in charge, so when the Count of East Frisia offered a marriage contract, they approved it — that would make him the chief of Jever, and Maria was supposed to marry one of his sons. But that plan fizzled too; the Count’s two sons were a bit headstrong and invaded (or otherwise occupied) Jever Castle in 1527, which they were not supposed to do, and the deal was of. Then a Landdrost (another sort of leader), Boing of Oldersum, drove the Count of East Frisia — and his sons — out of Jever. It’s said he was in love with Maria and intended to marry her, but yet again, the plan came to nothing because he died in another battle.
Maria had evidently had quite enough of all this marriage nonsense, and decided to take charge of Jever regardless. There was still a great deal of harrumphing about her being a woman, but in a clever and unexpected move, she contacted Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor and the guy in charge of more of Europe than anyone else, and asked him for help. He took possession of Jeverland (evidently a matter of paperwork rather than swordsmanship) and immediately gave it back to her, putting her formally in charge.
Maria turned out to be a very competent head of city/state; she established trade treaties, expanded the rule of law, and enlarged her territory by building new polders (reclaiming land from the sea). She ruled for fifty years, at which time things got weird (again). When she died, the council of the day was afraid the current Count (or possibly Counts) of East Frisia might try to seize Jever. So her death was covered up: they sealed her room (her body was still in it) and servants placed meals outside her door. Another servant secretly ATE the food to preserve the illusion that Maria was in there (and, um, still alive). They kept it up until the real heir to Jever, Count John of Oldenburg, arrived. And no, I have no idea why he was the heir; Maria never married or had any children. The world was a very different place back then.
