Dorothea of Lorraine, was by birth a member of the House of Lorraine and by marriage to Eric II, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg-Calenburg.
Background
Born at the Château de Deneuvre, she was the third child and second daughter of Francis I, Duke of Lorraine and Christina of Denmark. Dorothea was named after her maternal aunt and she was born crippled or lame, which was attributed to the stress of her mother during the pregnancy (her father died one month after her birth, on 12 June 1545).
Career
She attended the wedding between the King of France and Louise of Lorraine in Reims in 1573. In 1578, she joined Eric on his war expedition to support Juan d"Austria in Namur. The same year, Eric was employed by Philip of Spain in his attempt to conquer Portugal.
Dorothea lived at the Spanish court, and became a personal friend of the King.
He made instructions that certain amounts of her spouse"s salary be given to her rather than to him, granted her personal gifts, a patent for working certain gold-mines, and the succession of her spouse to Tortona, the dower estate of her mother in Italy, upon her mother"s death. In 1582, Dorothea persuaded Granvelle to recommend Eric to the post of Viceroy of Naples.
However, he died in 1584. Her marriage was childless.
After the death of Eric, Dorothea joined her mother in Tortona.
She remained in Lorraine the rest of her life, dying aged 76 in 1621. She was buried in the Église des Cordeliers, Nancy.