Background
Erdmuthe Dorothea Von Reuss was born November 7, 1700 in the village of Ebersdorf, in Thuringia. She was the daughter of Count Henry X of Reuss-Ebersdorf and his wife, Erdmuthe Benigna of Solms-Laubach.
Erdmuthe Dorothea Von Reuss was born November 7, 1700 in the village of Ebersdorf, in Thuringia. She was the daughter of Count Henry X of Reuss-Ebersdorf and his wife, Erdmuthe Benigna of Solms-Laubach.
She enjoyed a pietistic upbringing according to the principles Philip Jacob Spener. The marriage was described as combative, based on a mutual decision to strive - fight, if you will - for mutual goals, rather than convenience or love. They had twelve children, among them, Christian Renatus von Zinzendorf.
After her husband"s first expulsion in 1732, he transferred his possessions to her.
They had grown apart during his exile, and lived separately after his return: he resided at his castle in Berthelsdorf. She lived in Herrnhut.
Erdmuthe Dorothea wrote a number of hymns and initiated the annual publication of the Daily Watchwords.