Note 100 — IV THE ELECTORAL HOUSE OF HANOVER (HANOVER AND HERRENHAUSEN, 1688-1701)

The supplementary (sixth) volume of the Roman Octavia, which contains the story of Sophia Dorothea under the title of the History of the Princess Solane, was first published in 1707, when Sophia Dorothea’s lady-in-waiting, Fräulein Eleonora von dem Knesebeck, who had, from first to last, been in the secret of the Princess’ relations with Count Königsmarck, either was or recently had been resident at Wolfenbüttel under the protection of Duke Antony Ulric after her escape from prison. In the revised edition of this ‘historical novel,’ published at Nürnberg in 1712 and dedicated to the ‘Hochlöbliche Nymfen-Gesellschaft an der Donau, the name of Solane was altered to Rhodogune, and there were certain other changes. The derivation of the traditional narrative from Duke Antony Ulric’s romance was convincingly traced by the late Professor Adolf Köcher, who, though disbelieving in the genuineness of the correspondence to be mentioned immediately, succeeded in throwing a flood of light upon the entire course of Sophia Dorothea’s story.—Writing, in 1709, about the amour between the Landgrave Ernest Lewis of Hesse-Darmstadt and the (married) Countess von Sintzendorf, the Duchess of Orleans observes that, since the lady is quite ready to show the Prince’s letters, it would be easy for Duke Antony Ulric to turn their affair into a romance.