1.
Elector of Brandenburg
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This article lists the Margraves and Electors of Brandenburg during the period of time that Brandenburg was a constituent state of the Holy Roman Empire. The Mark, or March, of Brandenburg was one of the constituent states of the Holy Roman Empire. It was created in 1157 as the Margraviate of Brandenburg by Albert the Bear, Margrave of the Northern March. In 1356, by the terms of the Golden Bull of Charles IV, the early rulers came from several different dynasties, but from 1415 Brandenburg and its successor states were ruled by the House of Hohenzollern for over 500 years. From 1618 onward, Brandenburg was ruled in union with the Duchy of Prussia. The titles of Margrave of Brandenburg and Elector of Brandenburg were abolished along with the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, from 1871 to 1918 the Hohenzollerns were also the German Emperors. The upper president carried out central prerogatives on the provincial level and these parliaments legislated within the competences transferred to the provinces. The provincial diet of Brandenburg elected an executive body, the provincial committee, and a head of province. Self-rule was abolished under the Nazi dictatorship, after being abolished in a reorganization of the territories administered by the German Democratic Republic, the Land Brandenburg was restored in the prelude to German unification in 1990. Matthias Platzeck, 2002–2013 Dietmar Woidke, since 2013
2.
Johann Bussemacher
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Johann Bussemacher was a German engraver and publisher. Bussemacher was active as an engraver, printer and art dealer in Cologne from about 1580 to 1613. His many works include images of saints and a striking plate of Frau Richmuth Rising up from a Trance. Variations of his signature included Jans, jo Buss, Johan Bussemec and I. His name appears on a set of 13 engravings copied from Heinrich Aldegrevers Labours of Hercules and engraved by Pieter Maes, Bussemacher was presumably their publisher
3.
Margraviate of Brandenburg
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The Margraviate of Brandenburg was a major principality of the Holy Roman Empire from 1157 to 1806. Also known as the March of Brandenburg, it played a role in the history of Germany. Brandenburg developed out of the Northern March founded in the territory of the Slavic Wends and its ruling margraves were established as prestigious prince-electors in the Golden Bull of 1356, allowing them to vote in the election of the Holy Roman Emperor. The state thus became known as Electoral Brandenburg or the Electorate of Brandenburg. The House of Hohenzollern came to the throne of Brandenburg in 1415, under Hohenzollern leadership, Brandenburg grew rapidly in power during the 17th century and inherited the Duchy of Prussia. The resulting Brandenburg-Prussia was the predecessor of the Kingdom of Prussia, although the electors highest title was King in/of Prussia, their power base remained in Brandenburg and its capital Berlin. Although the Margraviate of Brandenburg ended with the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, despite its meager beginnings in the Holy Roman Empire, the Hohenzollern Kingdom of Prussia achieved the unification of Germany and the creation of the German Empire in 1871. The Mark Brandenburg is still used today to refer to the federal state of Brandenburg in the Federal Republic of Germany. The territory of the margraviate, commonly known as the Mark Brandenburg, lies in present-day eastern Germany. Geographically it encompassed the majority of the present-day German states Brandenburg and Berlin, the Altmark, parts of the present-day federal state Brandenburg, such as Lower Lusatia and territory which had been Saxon until 1815, were not parts of the Mark. Colloquially but not accurately, the federal state Brandenburg is sometimes identified as the Mark or Mark Brandenburg, the region was formed during the ice age and characterized by moraines, glacial valleys, and numerous lakes. The territory is known as a Mark or march because it was a county of the Holy Roman Empire. The Mark is defined by two uplands and two depressions, the depressions are taken up by rivers and chains of lakes with marsh and boggy soil along the shores, once used for peat collection, the riverbanks are now mostly drained and dry. The Northern or Baltic Uplands of the Mecklenburg Lake Plateau have only minor extensions into Brandenburg, the southern depression is generally to the north of this ridge and appears strikingly in the Spreewald. Between these two depressions is a low plateau that extends from the Poznań area westward to Brandenburg through Torzym, the Spree plateau, the region is predominantly marked by dry, sandy soil, wide stretches of which have pine trees and erica plants, or heath. However, the soil is loamy in the uplands and plateaus and, Mark Brandenburg has a cool, continental climate, with temperatures averaging near 0 °C in January and February and near 18 °C in July and August. Precipitation averages between 500 mm and 600 mm annually, with a modest summer maximum, by the 8th century, Slavic Wends, such as the Sprevjane and Hevelli, started to move into the Brandenburg area. They intermarried with Saxons and Bohemians, the Bishoprics of Brandenburg and Havelberg were established at the beginning of the 10th century
4.
John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg
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John Sigismund was a Prince-elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg from the House of Hohenzollern. He became the Duke of Prussia through his marriage to Duchess Anna and their marriage resulted in the creation of Brandenburg-Prussia. John Sigismund was born in Halle an der Saale to Joachim III Frederick, Elector of Brandenburg and he succeeded his father as Margrave of Brandenburg in 1608. In 1611, John Sigismund traveled from Königsberg to Warsaw, where on 16 November 1611 he gave homage to Sigismund III Vasa. He officially became Duke of Prussia in 1618, although he had served as regent on behalf of the mentally-disturbed Albert Frederick, Duke of Prussia, John Sigismund died in the following year. He was probably won over to Calvinism during a visit to Heidelberg in 1606, the vast majority of his subjects in Brandenburg, including his wife Anna of Prussia, remained deeply Lutheran, however. Resistance was so strong that in 1615, John Sigismund backed down, instead, he allowed his subjects to be either Lutheran or Calvinist according to the dictates of their own consciences. Henceforward, Brandenburg-Prussia would be a bi-confessional state, on 30 October 1594, John Sigismund married Anna of Prussia, daughter of Albert Frederick, Duke of Prussia. They were parents to eight children, George William, married Frederick Ulrich, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg. They were parents of Christina of Sweden, married first Gabriel Bethlen, Prince of Transylvania and secondly Franz Karl of Saxe-Lauenburg
5.
Anne Catherine of Brandenburg
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Anne Catherine of Brandenburg was queen-consort of Denmark and Norway from 1597 to 1612 as the first spouse of King Christian IV of Denmark. Anne Catherine was born in Halle and raised in Wolmirstedt and her parents were Joachim Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg and his first wife Catherine of Brandenburg-Küstrin. Christian met her on his journey in Germany in 1595 and decided to marry her, in 1596, Anne Catherine and her parents were present at his coronation, and the next year, the marriage was arranged. Anne Catherine became Queen of Denmark on 27 November 1597 when she was married to Christian IV, the wedding took place in the castle of Haderslevhus in South Jutland the year after the coronation of Christian IV. She was crowned queen in 1598, together they had six children, among them Christian, the Prince-Elect, who died a year before his father, and Frederik III who introduced absolute monarchy in Denmark. Her son, Ulrik, was murdered in 1633 and their two daughters, Sophia and Elisabeth, and the elder son, Frederick, died at a very young age. Anne Catherine was the first wife of Christian IV, but not much is known about her and she does not seem to have had much political influence. She often accompanied the King on his travels, in her time, she was praised for her modesty and deep religious feelings. There is no mention as to whether the marriage was happy or not, the building of the Rosenborg Castle began while she was queen, but the extent of her influence on the building and its interior is not known. Despite her good relationship with the Lutheran archbishop, she called upon a Calvinist vicar to give her the last sacrament on her death bed and she died in Copenhagen and was buried in the Roskilde Cathedral. Frederick, Hereditary Prince of Denmark died in infancy, Christian, Hereditary Prince of Denmark married Magdalene Sibylle of Saxony. Frederick III married Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg and had issue, Ulrik, Prince-Bishop of Schwerin died unmarried. Article in the Dansk biografisk Lexikon Queen Anna Cathrine at the website of the Royal Danish Collection
6.
Barbara Sophie of Brandenburg
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Barbara Sophia of Brandenburg was the daughter of the Catherine of Küstrin and Elector of Joachim Frederick of Brandenburg. She was married to Duke John Frederick of Württemberg and after his death guardian for their minor son, on 5 November 1609 she married Duke John Frederick of Württemberg, eldest son of Frederick I and Sibylla of Anhalt. On the occasion of marriage he had the Urach Palace in Bad Urach renovated, the Golden Hall was constructed. They apparently had a happy marriage. In 1630, she began a renovation of Brackenheim Castle. The castle contained an art room with 155 paintings, at the time the second largest collection in Württemberg, the art room was well preserved until her death, despite the Thirty Years War ravaging the country around it. During the renovation of her castle, she lived at Schloss Kirchheim Castle in Kirchheim unter Teck and she never lived in Brackenheim, despite the Castle, the city and the district forming her wittum. Nevertheless, she was considered a benefactor of the city, due to her dedication to the city during the Thirty Years War, when her husband died, her 14-year-old son Eberhard III was still a minor and his uncle Louis Frederick, Duke of Württemberg-Montbéliard acted as regent. After Frederick Louis died on 26 January 1631, the regency was taken up by Sophie Barbara and Julius Frederick, Duke of Württemberg-Weiltingen and she therefore moved back to Stuttgart in 1632 and became politically active. After the Battle of Lutzen in late 1632, Julius Frederick joined the war on the Swedish side and his goal was to drive enemy troops out of the country, as well as the Catholic former owners of secularized church properties. Despite his successes, he was accused of acting selfishly, the councillors and the Estates managed to drive him out of the regency. After Emperor Ferdinand II declared Eberhard III to be an adult and he joined the Protestant Heilbronn League which on suffered a crushing defeat at the Battle of Nördlingen of 6 September 1634. Württemberg was then looted and pillaged, Duke Eberhard and his entire court hastily fled into exile in Strasbourg. Barbara Sophia died in Strasbourg in 1636 and was buried in the Stiftskirche,1,1980, p. 1-4 Kat, Das unbekannte Altbekannte, Künstler sehen das historische Zabergäu, Brackenheim,2004, p.5 Publications by or about Barbara Sophie of Brandenburg at VD17
7.
Christian William of Brandenburg
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Christian Wilhelm of Brandenburg was a titular Margrave of Brandenburg, and from 1598 to 1631 Archbishop of Magdeburg. Christian Wilhelm was a son of Elector Joachim Frederick of Brandenburg from his first marriage with Catherine and he was elected as Archbishop of Magdeburg in 1598. However, the city of Magdeburg did not recognnize him as Prince-Bishop, when he married in 1614, he assumed the title of Lutheran administrator on. That same year, he became coadjutor of Halberstadt. In 1624, he became administrator of Halberstadt, during the Thirty Years War, he entered into an alliance with Denmark. In 1626, he led an army from Lower Saxony into the Battle of Dessau Bridge, after Wallenstein won this battle, he fled abroad. In 1629, he fled to the court of King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, in 1630, he returned to Germany. The cathedral chapter of Magdeburg formally deposed him in 1631, Sweden promised to assist him when he attempted to reconquer his Archbishopric. Nevertheless, the reconquest failed and he was injured during the siege of Magdeburg in 1631. He was taken up in the army camp Pappenheim, where his wounds were tended, a pamphlet with the title Speculum veritatis was published in his name, and he was released. Under the Peace of Prague of 1635, he received a sum of 12000 taler from the revenues of the archbishopric of Magdeburg, plus the districts Loburg. In 1651, he purchased the Nový Hrad estate in Bohemia and he died at Zinna Abbey in 1665. His first wedding took place on 1 January 1615 in Wolfenbüttel, where he married Dorothea, on 28 May 1657 he married, again in Prague, to Maximiliane, a daughter of Count Weichard of Salm-Neuburg
8.
Dynasty
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A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a feudal or monarchical system but sometimes also appearing in elective republics. The dynastic family or lineage may be known as a house, historians periodize the histories of many sovereign states, such as Ancient Egypt, the Carolingian Empire and Imperial China, using a framework of successive dynasties. As such, the dynasty may be used to delimit the era during which the family reigned and to describe events, trends. The word dynasty itself is often dropped from such adjectival references, until the 19th century, it was taken for granted that a legitimate function of a monarch was to aggrandize his dynasty, that is, to increase the territory, wealth, and power of his family members. The longest-surviving dynasty in the world is the Imperial House of Japan, dynasties throughout the world have traditionally been reckoned patrilineally, such as under the Frankish Salic law. Succession through a daughter when permitted was considered to establish a new dynasty in her husbands ruling house, however, some states in Africa, determined descent matrilineally, while rulers have at other times adopted the name of their mothers dynasty when coming into her inheritance. It is also extended to unrelated people such as poets of the same school or various rosters of a single sports team. The word dynasty derives via Latin dynastia from Greek dynastéia, where it referred to power, dominion and it was the abstract noun of dynástēs, the agent noun of dynamis, power or ability, from dýnamai, to be able. A ruler in a dynasty is referred to as a dynast. For example, following his abdication, Edward VIII of the United Kingdom ceased to be a member of the House of Windsor. A dynastic marriage is one that complies with monarchical house law restrictions, the marriage of Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, to Máxima Zorreguieta in 2002 was dynastic, for example, and their eldest child is expected to inherit the Dutch crown eventually. But the marriage of his younger brother Prince Friso to Mabel Wisse Smit in 2003 lacked government support, thus Friso forfeited his place in the order of succession, lost his title as a Prince of the Netherlands, and left his children without dynastic rights. In historical and monarchist references to formerly reigning families, a dynast is a member who would have had succession rights, were the monarchys rules still in force. Even since abolition of the Austrian monarchy, Max and his descendants have not been considered the rightful pretenders by Austrian monarchists, nor have they claimed that position. The term dynast is sometimes used only to refer to descendants of a realms monarchs. The term can therefore describe overlapping but distinct sets of people, yet he is not a male-line member of the royal family, and is therefore not a dynast of the House of Windsor. Thus, in 1999 he requested and obtained permission from Elizabeth II to marry the Roman Catholic Princess Caroline of Monaco. Yet a clause of the English Act of Settlement 1701 remained in effect at that time and that exclusion, too, ceased to apply on 26 March 2015, with retroactive effect for those who had been dynasts prior to triggering it by marriage to a Catholic
9.
House of Hohenzollern
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The House of Hohenzollern is a dynasty of former princes, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzollern, Brandenburg, Prussia, the German Empire, and Romania. The family arose in the area around the town of Hechingen in Swabia during the 11th century, the first ancestor of the Hohenzollerns was mentioned in 1061. They may have derived from the Burchardinger dynasty, the Hohenzollern family split into two branches, the Catholic Swabian branch and the Protestant Franconian branch, which later became the Brandenburg-Prussian branch. The Swabian branch ruled the principalities of Hohenzollern-Hechingen and Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen until 1849, members of the Franconian branch became Margrave of Brandenburg in 1415 and Duke of Prussia in 1525. The Margraviate of Brandenburg and the Duchy of Prussia were ruled in personal union after 1618 and were called Brandenburg-Prussia, germanys defeat in World War I in 1918 led to the German Revolution. The Hohenzollerns were overthrown and the Weimar Republic was established, thus bringing an end to the German monarchy, Georg Friedrich, Prince of Prussia is the current head of the royal Prussian line, while Karl Friedrich, Prince of Hohenzollern is the head of the princely Swabian line. Zollern, from 1218 Hohenzollern, was a county of the Holy Roman Empire and its ruling dynasty was first mentioned in 1061. The Hohenzollerns named their estates after Hohenzollern Castle in the Swabian Alps, the Hohenzollern Castle still belongs to the family today. According to the medieval chronicler Berthold of Reichenau, Burkhard I, Count of Zollern was born before 1025, the Zollerns received the comital title from Emperor Henry V in 1111. As loyal vassals of the Swabian Hohenstaufen dynasty, they were able to enlarge their territory. In 1218 the burgraviate passed to Fredericks younger son Conrad I, he became the ancestor of the Franconian Hohenzollern branch. 1150-1155 and 1160, Gotfried of Zimmern, 4th oldest son of Frederick I before 1171 – c,1200, Frederick III/I Count Frederick III of Zollern was a loyal retainer of the Holy Roman Emperors Frederick Barbarossa and Henry VI. In about 1185 he married Sophia of Raabs, the daughter of Conrad II, after the death of Conrad II who left no male heirs, Frederick III was granted Nuremberg in 1192 as Burgrave Frederick I of Nuremberg-Zollern. Since then the name has been Hohenzollern. The younger brother, Conrad III, received the burgraviate of Nuremberg from his older brother Frederick IV in 1218, members of the Franconian line eventually became the Brandenburg-Prussian branch. The Franconian line later converted to Protestantism, the cadet Franconian branch of the House of Hohenzollern was founded by Conrad I, Burgrave of Nuremberg. Beginning in the 16th century, this branch of the family became Protestant and decided on expansion through marriage, the family supported the Hohenstaufen and Habsburg rulers of the Holy Roman Empire during the 12th to 15th centuries, being rewarded with several territorial grants. He ruled the Margraviate of Brandenburg-Ansbach after 1398, from 1420, he became Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach
10.
John George, Elector of Brandenburg
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John George of Brandenburg was a Prince-elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg and a Duke of Prussia. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he was the son of Joachim II Hector, Elector of Brandenburg, and his first wife Magdalena of Saxony. Faced with large debts accumulated during the reign of his father, though a staunch Lutheran opposed to the rise of Calvinism, he permitted the admission of Calvinist refugees from the wars in the Spanish Netherlands and France. He was succeeded by his son Joachim Frederick, upon the death of his kinsman Albert I, Duke of Prussia in 1568, the Duchy of Prussia was inherited by the latters underage son Albert Frederick. John Georges father was a co-inheritor of the Duchy of Prussia, in 1577 the Brandenburg electors became co-regent with Duke Albert Frederick of Prussia. John George was married three times and his first wife was Princess Sophie of Legnica, whom he married in 1545. They had one child together, Joachim Frederick Secondly, he married Margravine Sabina of Brandenburg-Ansbach, daughter of George, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, in 1548
11.
Lutheranism
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Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestant Christianity which identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German friar, ecclesiastical reformer and theologian. Luthers efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched the Protestant Reformation in the German-speaking territories of the Holy Roman Empire. Lutheranism advocates a doctrine of justification by grace alone through faith alone on the basis of Scripture alone and this is in contrast to the belief of the Catholic Church, defined at the Council of Trent, concerning authority coming from both the Scriptures and Tradition. In addition, Lutheranism accepts the teachings of the first seven ecumenical councils of the undivided Christian Church, unlike Calvinism, Lutherans retain many of the liturgical practices and sacramental teachings of the pre-Reformation Church, with a particular emphasis on the Eucharist, or Lords Supper. Lutheran theology differs from Reformed theology in Christology, the purpose of Gods Law, the grace, the concept of perseverance of the saints. Today, Lutheranism is one of the largest denominations of Protestantism, with approximately 80 million adherents, it constitutes the third most common Protestant denomination after historically Pentecostal denominations and Anglicanism. The Lutheran World Federation, the largest communion of Lutheran churches, Other Lutheran organizations include the International Lutheran Council and the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference, as well as independent churches. The name Lutheran originated as a term used against Luther by German Scholastic theologian Dr. Johann Maier von Eck during the Leipzig Debate in July 1519. Eck and other Catholics followed the practice of naming a heresy after its leader. Martin Luther always disliked the term Lutheran, preferring the term Evangelical, which was derived from euangelion, the followers of John Calvin, Huldrych Zwingli, and other theologians linked to the Reformed tradition also began to use that term. To distinguish the two groups, others began to refer to the two groups as Evangelical Lutheran and Evangelical Reformed. As time passed by, the word Evangelical was dropped, Lutherans themselves began to use the term Lutheran in the middle of the 16th century, in order to distinguish themselves from other groups such as the Philippists and Calvinists. In 1597, theologians in Wittenberg defined the title Lutheran as referring to the true church, Lutheranism has its roots in the work of Martin Luther, who sought to reform the Western Church to what he considered a more biblical foundation. Lutheranism spread through all of Scandinavia during the 16th century, as the monarch of Denmark–Norway, through Baltic-German and Swedish rule, Lutheranism also spread into Estonia and Latvia. Since 1520, regular Lutheran services have been held in Copenhagen, under the reign of Frederick I, Denmark-Norway remained officially Catholic. Although Frederick initially pledged to persecute Lutherans, he adopted a policy of protecting Lutheran preachers and reformers. During Fredericks reign, Lutheranism made significant inroads in Denmark, at an open meeting in Copenhagen attended by the king in 1536, the people shouted, We will stand by the holy Gospel, and do not want such bishops anymore. Fredericks son Christian was openly Lutheran, which prevented his election to the throne upon his fathers death, however, following his victory in the civil war that followed, in 1537 he became Christian III and advanced the Reformation in Denmark-Norway
12.
German language
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German is a West Germanic language that is mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol, the German-speaking Community of Belgium and it is also one of the three official languages of Luxembourg. Major languages which are most similar to German include other members of the West Germanic language branch, such as Afrikaans, Dutch, English, Luxembourgish and it is the second most widely spoken Germanic language, after English. One of the languages of the world, German is the first language of about 95 million people worldwide. The German speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of publication of new books. German derives most of its vocabulary from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, a portion of German words are derived from Latin and Greek, and fewer are borrowed from French and English. With slightly different standardized variants, German is a pluricentric language, like English, German is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects, with many unique varieties existing in Europe and also other parts of the world. The history of the German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the migration period, when Martin Luther translated the Bible, he based his translation primarily on the standard bureaucratic language used in Saxony, also known as Meißner Deutsch. Copies of Luthers Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region that translated words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Roman Catholics initially rejected Luthers translation, and tried to create their own Catholic standard of the German language – the difference in relation to Protestant German was minimal. It was not until the middle of the 18th century that a widely accepted standard was created, until about 1800, standard German was mainly a written language, in urban northern Germany, the local Low German dialects were spoken. Standard German, which was different, was often learned as a foreign language with uncertain pronunciation. Northern German pronunciation was considered the standard in prescriptive pronunciation guides though, however, German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire, which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe. Until the mid-19th century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of the Empire and its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Some cities, such as Prague and Budapest, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain, others, such as Pozsony, were originally settled during the Habsburg period, and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest and Bratislava as well as cities like Zagreb, the most comprehensive guide to the vocabulary of the German language is found within the Deutsches Wörterbuch. This dictionary was created by the Brothers Grimm and is composed of 16 parts which were issued between 1852 and 1860, in 1872, grammatical and orthographic rules first appeared in the Duden Handbook. In 1901, the 2nd Orthographical Conference ended with a standardization of the German language in its written form
13.
Prince-elector
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The prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire were the members of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire. From the 13th century onwards, the Prince-Electors had the privilege of electing the King of the Romans, Charles V was the last to be a crowned Emperor, his successors were elected Emperors directly by the electoral college, each being titled Elected Emperor of the Romans. In practice, all but one Emperor from 1440 onwards came from the Austrian House of Habsburg, the dignity of Elector carried great prestige and was considered to be second only to that of King or Emperor. The Electors had exclusive privileges that were not shared with the princes of the Empire. The heir apparent to a secular prince-elector was known as an electoral prince, the German practice of electing monarchs began when ancient Germanic tribes formed ad hoc coalitions and elected the leaders thereof. Elections were irregularly held by the Franks, whose successor states include France, the French monarchy eventually became hereditary, but the Holy Roman Emperors remained elective, at least in theory, although the Habsburgs provided most of the later monarchs. While all free men originally exercised the right to vote in such elections, in the election of Lothar II in 1125, a small number of eminent nobles chose the monarch and then submitted him to the remaining magnates for their approbation. Soon, the right to choose the monarch was settled on a group of princes. The college of electors was mentioned in 1152 and again in 1198, a letter of Pope Urban IV suggests that by immemorial custom, seven princes had the right to elect the King and future Emperor. The seven have been mentioned as the vote-casters in the election of 1257 that resulted in two kings becoming elected, the Count Palatine of the Rhine held most of the former Duchy of Franconia after the last Duke died in 1039. The Margrave of Brandenburg became an Elector when the Duchy of Swabia was dissolved after the last Duke of Swabia was beheaded in 1268, Saxony, even with diminished territory, retained its eminent position. The Palatinate and Bavaria were originally held by the same individual, meanwhile, the King of Bohemia, who held the ancient imperial office of Arch-Cupbearer, asserted his right to participate in elections. Sometimes he was challenged on the grounds that his kingdom was not German, though usually he was recognized, instead of Bavaria which after all was just a younger line of Wittelsbachs. The Declaration of Rhense issued in 1338 had the effect that election by the majority of the electors automatically conferred the title and rule over the empire. The Golden Bull of 1356 finally resolved the disputes among the electors, in 1621, the Elector Palatine, Frederick V, came under the imperial ban after participating in the Bohemian Revolt. The Elector Palatines seat was conferred on the Duke of Bavaria, originally, the Duke held the electorate personally, but it was later made hereditary along with the duchy. When the Thirty Years War concluded with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, since the Elector of Bavaria retained his seat, the number of electors increased to eight, the two Wittelsbach lines now sufficiently estranged so as not to pose a combined potential threat. In 1685, the composition of the College of Electors was disrupted when a Catholic branch of the Wittelsbach family inherited the Palatinate
14.
Archbishopric of Magdeburg
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The Archbishopric of Magdeburg was a Roman Catholic archdiocese and Prince-Archbishopric of the Holy Roman Empire centered on the city of Magdeburg on the Elbe River. All his successors were only administrators of the prince-archbishopric and Lutheran too, in political respect the Erzstift, the archiepiscopal and capitular temporalities, had gained imperial immediacy as prince-archbishopric in 1180. The prince-archbishopric maintained its statehood as a monarchy until 1680. Then Brandenburg-Prussia acquired Magdeburg prince-archbishopric, and after being secularised, transformed it into the Duchy of Magdeburg, the 1994-founded modern Diocese of Magdeburg is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic church located in the German states of Saxony-Anhalt, Brandenburg and Saxony. After the wars of the years 940 and 954, when the Polabian Slavs, as far as the Oder, the Magyars had come far into Germany, at the Battle of Lechfeld in 955 they were defeated and repelled. Immediately in 955 Otto the Great set to work to establish an archbishopric in Magdeburg and he wished to transfer the capital of the diocese from Halberstadt to Magdeburg, and make it an archdiocese. But this was opposed by the Archbishop of Mainz, who was the metropolitan of Halberstadt. When, in 962, Pope John XII sanctioned the establishment of an archbishopric, the estates belonging to the convents mentioned above were converted into a mensa for the new archbishopric, and the monks transferred to the Berge Convent. The archiepiscopal church made St. Maurice its patron, and in addition received new donations and its ecclesiastical province included the existing dioceses of Brandenburg and Havelberg and the newly founded dioceses of Merseburg, Zeitz, and Meißen. The new archdiocese was close to the border regions of the Holy Roman Empire and Slavic tribes. Then, on 20 April 967, the archbishopric was established at the Synod of Ravenna in the presence of the pope. The first archbishop was Adelbert, a monk of St. Maximins at Trier, afterwards missionary bishop to the Ruthenians. He was elected in the autumn of 968, received the pallium at Rome, the archdiocesan area of Magdeburg was rather small, it comprised the Slavonic districts of Serimunt, Nudizi, Neletici, Nizizi, and half of northern Thuringia, which Halberstadt resigned. The cathedral school especially gained in importance under Adalberts efficient administration, the scholastic Othrich was considered the most learned man of his times. Many eminent men were educated at Magdeburg, Othrich was chosen archbishop after Adalberts death. Gisiler of Merseburg by bribery and fraud obtained possession of the See of Magdeburg, and also succeeded temporarily in grasping the Bishopric of Merseburg. Among successors worthy of mention are the zealous Gero, Werner, who was killed in battle with Henry IV, St. Norbert, prominent in the 12th century, Archbishop Wichmann was more important as a sovereign and prince of the Holy Roman Empire than as a bishop. Albrecht II quarrelled with Otto II, Margrave of Brandenburg, because he had pronounced the ban against the latter
15.
Albert Frederick, Duke of Prussia
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Albert Frederick was Duke of Prussia from 1568 until his death. He was a son of Albert of Prussia and Anna Marie of Brunswick-Lüneburg and he was the second and last Prussian duke of the Ansbach branch of the Hohenzollern family. Albert became Duke of Prussia after paying homage to the King of Poland, Zygmunt August. The homage was described by the Polish chronicler Jan Kochanowski in his work Proporzec, Albert Frederick initially refused to recognize the election of Stefan Bathory and supported the candidacy of Maximilian of Habsburg. However, at the Toruń sejm of October 1576 he gave his support to the new monarch and he particularly enjoyed the support of Polish Lutherans. In 1572 he began to exhibit signs of mental disorder, in early 1578, the regency was taken over by his cousin, George Frederick of Brandenburg-Kulmbach. After George Fredericks death in 1603, the Polish king Sigismund III Vasa appointed Joachim Frederick as regent in 1605, the latter became Duke of Prussia after Albert Fredericks death in 1618. Albert Frederick was married in 1573 to Marie Eleonore of Cleves, Maria was a daughter of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor and Anna of Bohemia and Hungary. Albert Frederick and Marie were parents to seven children, Anna of Prussia, married John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg. Married Joachim Frederick, Elector of Brandenburg, married John George I, Elector of Saxony. At his death, the passed to his son-in-law John Sigismund, Margrave of Brandenburg
16.
Marie Eleonore of Cleves
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Duchess Marie Eleonore of Cleves was a Duchess consort of Prussia as the wife of Albert Frederick, Duke of Prussia. She was the eldest child of William, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg and her mother was the daughter of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor and Anna of Bohemia and Hungary. Her brother was John William, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg and her paternal aunts were Anne of Cleves, who was the fourth wife of Henry VIII of England, and Sybille of Cleves, who married John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony. Marie Eleonore had many maternal aunts and uncles, such as Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor, among her cousins were Anna of Austria, Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, Eleonora de Medici, and Marie de Medici. In 1573 Marie Eleonore married Albert Frederick, Duke of Prussia and they were the parents of seven children, Anna of Prussia, married John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg. Duchess Marie of Prussia, married Christian, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, Duchess Sofie of Prussia, married Wilhelm Kettler of Courland. Duchess Eleonore of Prussia, married Joachim Frederick, Elector of Brandenburg, Duchess Magdalene Sibylle of Prussia, married John George I, Elector of Saxony
17.
Regent
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A regent is a person appointed to administer a state because the monarch is a minor, is absent or is incapacitated. The rule of a regent or regents is called a regency, a regent or regency council may be formed ad hoc or in accordance with a constitutional rule. Regent is sometimes a formal title, if the formally appointed regent is unavailable or cannot serve on a temporary basis, a Regent ad interim may be appointed to fill the gap. In a monarchy, a regent usually governs due to one of these reasons and this was the case in the Kingdom of Finland and the Kingdom of Hungary, where the royal line was considered extinct in the aftermath of World War I. In Iceland, the regent represented the King of Denmark as sovereign of Iceland until the country became a republic in 1944, in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, kings were elective, which often led to a fairly long interregnum. In the interim, it was the Roman Catholic Primate who served as the regent, in the small republic of San Marino, the two Captains Regent, or Capitani Reggenti, are elected semi-annually as joint heads of state and of government. Famous regency periods include that of the Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, giving rise to terms such as Regency era. Strictly this period lasted from 1811 to 1820, when his father George III was insane, as of 1 December 2016, Liechtenstein is the only country with an active regency. The term regent may refer to lower than the ruler of a country. The term may be used in the governance of organisations, typically as an equivalent of director, some university managers in North America are called regents and a management board for a college or university may be titled the Board of Regents. The term regent is used for members of governing bodies of institutions such as the national banks of France. This type of group portrait was popular in Dutch Golden Age painting during the 17th century, in the Dutch East Indies, a regent was a native prince allowed to rule de facto colonized state as a regentschap. Consequently, in the state of Indonesia, the term regent is used in English to mean a bupati. Again in Belgium and France, Regent is the title of a teacher in a lower secondary school. In the Philippines, specifically, the University of Santo Tomas, the Father Regent and they also form the Council of Regents that serves as the highest administrative council of the university. In the Society of Jesus, a regent is a training to be a Jesuit. A regent in the Jesuits is often assigned to teach in a school or some other academic institution as part of the formation toward final vows, list of regents Viceroy, an individual who, in a colony or province, exercised the power of a monarch on his behalf
18.
Duchy of Prussia
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The Duchy of Prussia or Ducal Prussia was a duchy in eastern Prussia established during the Protestant Reformation in 1525. It was the first Lutheran duchy with a dominant German-speaking population, as well as Polish, in old texts and in Latin, the term Prutenia refers alike to Ducal Prussia, its western neighbor Royal Prussia, and their common predecessor, Teutonic Prussia. The adjectival form of the name was Prutenic, in 1525 during the Protestant Reformation, the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, Albert, secularized the orders Prussian territory, becoming Albert, Duke of Prussia. His duchy, which had its capital in Königsberg, was established as fief of the Crown of Poland and it was inherited by the Hohenzollern prince-electors of Brandenburg in 1618, this personal union is referred to as Brandenburg-Prussia. Frederick William, the Great Elector of Brandenburg, achieved full sovereignty over the territory in the 1657 Treaty of Wehlau, the Duchy of Prussia was elevated to the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701. In a deal brokered by Luther, Ducal Prussia became the first Protestant state. When Albert returned to Königsberg, he declared his conversion. On 10 December 1525, at their session in Königsberg, the Prussian estates established the Lutheran Church in Ducal Prussia by deciding the Church Order. By the end of Alberts rule, the offices of Großkomtur and Ordensmarschall had deliberately been left vacant, some of the knights converted to Lutheranism in order to retain their property and then married into the Prussian nobility, while others returned to the Holy Roman Empire and remained Catholic. On 1 March 1526 Albert married Princess Dorothea, daughter of King Frederick I of Denmark, Albert was greatly aided by his elder brother George, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, who had already earlier established the Protestant religion in his territories of Franconia and Upper Silesia. Albert also found himself reliant on support from his Jagiellonian uncle Sigismund I of Catholic Poland, as the Holy Roman Empire, the Teutonic Order had only superficially carried out its mission to Christianize the native rural population and had erected few churches within the states territory. There was little longing for Roman Catholicism, Bishop George of Polentz had forbidden the widespread forms of pagan worship in 1524, and repeated the ban in 1540. Already on 18 January 1524 Bishop George had ordered to use native languages at baptisms. There was little resistance to the new creed, although the fact that the Teutonic Knights had brought Catholicism and Protestantism made the transition easier. The Church Order of 1525 provided for visitations of the parishioners and pastors, because Ducal Prussia was ostensibly a Lutheran land, authorities travelled throughout the duchy ensuring that Lutheran teachings were being followed and imposing penalties on pagans and dissidents. The rural population of native descent was only thoroughly Christianised starting with the Reformation in Prussia, a peasant rebellion broke out in Sambia in 1525. The combination of taxation by the nobility, the furor of the Protestant Reformation, the relatively well-to-do rebel leaders, including a miller from Kaimen and an innkeeper from Schaaken in Prussia, were supported by sympathizers in Königsberg. The rebels demanded the elimination of taxes by the nobility
19.
Szczecin
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Szczecin is the capital city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea, it is a major seaport, as of June 2011, the population was 407,811. Szczecin is located on the Oder, south of the Szczecin Lagoon, the city is situated along the southwestern shore of Dąbie Lake, on both sides of the Oder and on several large islands between the western and eastern branches of the river. The citys recorded history began in the 8th century as a Slavic Pomeranian stronghold, in the 12th century, when Szczecin had become one of Pomeranias main urban centres, it lost its independence to Piast Poland, the Duchy of Saxony, the Holy Roman Empire and Denmark. At the same time, the House of Griffins established themselves as rulers, the population was Christianized. The native Slavic population was subjected to discrimination and Germanization in the following centuries, between 1237 and 1243, the town was rebuilt, granted extensive autonomy rights and eventually joined the Hanseatic League. After the Treaty of Stettin in 1630, the town came under the control of the Swedish Empire, in the late-19th century Stettin became an industrial town, vastly increasing in size and population, and served as a major port for Berlin. During the Nazi era, opposition groups and minorities were persecuted and treated as enemies, by the end of World War II Stettins status was in doubt, and the Soviet occupation authorities at first appointed officials from the citys almost entirely German pre-war population. In July 1945, however, Polish authorities were permitted to take power, Stettin was renamed Szczecin and became part of the newly established the Polish Peoples Republic, and from 1989 the Republic of Poland. From 1999 onwards, Szczecin has served as the site of the headquarters of NATOs Multinational Corps Northeast, the names Szczecin and Stettin are of Slavic origin, though the exact etymology is the subject of ongoing research. Other medieval names for the town are Burstaborg and Burstenburgh and these names, which literally mean brush burgh, are likely derived from the translation of the citys Slavic name. The recorded history of Szczecin began in the century, when West Slavs settled Pomerania. Since the 9th century, the stronghold was fortified and expanded toward the Oder bank, Mieszko I of Poland took control of Pomerania between 960 and 967, and the region with the city of Szczecin became part of Poland in 967. Subsequent Polish rulers, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Liutician federation all aimed to control the territory, after the decline of the neighbouring regional centre Wolin in the 12th century, the city became one of the more important and powerful seaports of the Baltic Sea. In a campaign in the winter of 1121–1122, Bolesław III Wrymouth, the inhabitants were Christianized by two missions of Bishop Otto of Bamberg in 1124 and 1128. At this time, the first Christian church of Saints Peter, Polish minted coins were commonly used in trade in this period. The population of the city at that time is estimated to be at around 5, Polish rule ended with Boleslaws death in 1138. There, a Polish contingent supplied by Mieszko III the Old joined the crusaders, however, the citizens had placed crosses around the fortifications, indicating they already had been Christianised
20.
Pomerania
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Pomerania is a region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Germany and Poland. The name derives from the Slavic po more, meaning by the sea, Pomerania stretches roughly from the Recknitz river in the west to the Vistula river in the east. The largest Pomeranian islands are Rügen, Usedom/Uznam and Wolin, the largest Pomeranian city is Gdańsk, or, when using a narrower definition of the region, Szczecin. Outside its urban areas, Pomerania is characterized by farmland, dotted with lakes, forests. The region was affected by post–World War I and II border and population shifts. Pomerania is the area along the Bay of Pomerania of the Baltic Sea between the rivers Recknitz in the west and Vistula in the east and it formerly reached perhaps as far south as the Noteć river, but since the 13th century its southern boundary has been placed further north. Most of the region is coastal lowland, being part of the North European Plain, but its southern, hilly parts belong to the Baltic Ridge, within this ridge, a chain of moraine-dammed lakes constitutes the Pomeranian Lake District. The soil is rather poor, sometimes sandy or marshy. The western coastline is jagged, with many peninsulas and islands enclosing numerous bays, Łebsko and several other lakes were formerly bays, but have been cut off from the sea. The easternmost coastline along the Gdańsk Bay and Vistula Lagoon, has the Hel peninsula, the Pomeranian region has the following administrative divisions, Hither Pomerania in northeastern Germany, stretching from the Recknitz river to the Oder–Neisse line. This region is part of the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The southernmost part of historical Vorpommern is now in Brandenburg, while its eastern parts are now in Poland. Vorpommern comprises the regions inhabited by Slavic tribes Rugians and Volinians, otherwise the Principality of Rügen. The West Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland, stretching from the Oder–Neisse line to the Wieprza river, the Pomeranian Voivodeship, with similar borders to Pomerelia, stretching from the Wieprza river to the Vistula delta in the vicinity of Gdańsk. The northern half of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, comprising most of Chełmno Land, the bulk of Farther Pomerania is included within the modern West Pomeranian Voivodeship, but its easternmost parts now constitute the northwest of Pomeranian Voivodeship. Parts of Pomerania and surrounding regions have constituted a euroregion since 1995, the Pomerania euroregion comprises Hither Pomerania and Uckermark in Germany, West Pomerania in Poland, and Scania in Sweden. Pomerania was first mentioned in a document of 1046, referring to a Zemuzil dux Bomeranorum. Pomerania is mentioned repeatedly in the chronicles of Adam of Bremen, the term West Pomerania is ambiguous, since it may refer to either Hither Pomerania or to the West Pomeranian Voivodeship
21.
Treaty of Grimnitz
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It renewed and amended the Treaty of Pyritz of 1493. With some formal caveats, the House of Pomerania received the Duchy of Pomerania as an imperial fief. In turn the Electors of Brandenburg were granted the right of succession, instead of taking sides in the Hohenzollern-Pomeranian dispute, Emperor Charles V invested both houses with the duchy and collected the respective tax from both. When Bogislaw X died 1523, he was succeeded by his sons Barnim IX and George I, Joachim I Nestor accepted the imperial immediacy of the Duchy of Pomerania. The Pomeranian dukes Barnim IX and George I accepted the Electorate of Brandenburgs right of succession in the Duchy of Pomerania if the House of Pomerania died out. The Brandenburgian electors were further granted the right to have a present at ceremonial receptions of allegiance oaths given to the Pomeranian dukes by the Pomeranian nobility. The Brandenburgian electors as vested remainders were also granted the right to be invested with the option of succession in Pomerania by the emperor. With every subsequent investiture of new dukes, the treaty was to be announced and renewed. The emperor replied that the protest is noted, George, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, seconded the electors protest. Elector Joachim I Nestor renewed his protest, and when the Pomeranian dukes received their flags from the emperor, he stepped forward and this formalized procedure was thence repeated at every new investiture. The last duke of the House of Pomerania, Bogislaw XIV, died in 1637, George William, Elector of Brandenburg, claimed succession based on the inheritance clause in the Treaty of Grimnitz. However, Bogislaw XIV had concluded an alliance with Sweden in the Treaty of Stettin, Sweden refused to hand over the duchy. An agreement was reached to partition the duchy into a Swedish and a Brandenburgian part in the Peace of Westphalia, which was put into effect in the Treaty of Stettin
22.
Christian IV of Denmark
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Christian IV, sometimes colloquially referred to as Christian Firtal in Denmark and Christian Kvart or Quart in Norway, was king of Denmark-Norway and Duke of Holstein and Schleswig from 1588 to 1648. His 59-year reign is the longest of Danish monarchs, and of Scandinavian monarchies, a member of the house of Oldenburg, Christian began his personal rule of Denmark in 1596 at the age of 19. He is frequently remembered as one of the most popular, ambitious, Christian IV obtained for his kingdom a level of stability and wealth that was virtually unmatched elsewhere in Europe. He engaged Denmark in numerous wars, most notably the Thirty Years War, which devastated much of Germany, undermined the Danish economy and he renamed the Norwegian capital Oslo as Christiania after himself, a name used until 1925. Christian was born at Frederiksborg Castle in Denmark on 12 April 1577 as the child and eldest son of King Frederick II of Denmark–Norway. He was descended, through his mothers side, from king John of Denmark, at the time, Denmark was still an elective monarchy, so in spite of being the eldest son Christian was not automatically heir to the throne. However, in 1580, at the age of 3, his father had him elected Prince-Elect, at the death of his father on 4 April 1588, Christian was 11 years old. He succeeded to the throne, but as he was still under-age a regency council was set up to serve as the trustees of the power while Christian was still growing up. It was led by chancellor Niels Kaas and consisted of the Rigsraadet council members Peder Munk, Jørgen Ottesen Rosenkrantz and his mother Queen Dowager Sophie,30 years old, had wished to play a role in the government, but was denied by the Council. At the death of Niels Kaas in 1594, Jørgen Rosenkrantz took over leadership of the regency council, Christian continued his studies at Sorø Academy and received a good education with a reputation as a headstrong and talented student. In 1595, the Council of the Realm decided that Christian would soon be old enough to assume control of the reins of government. On 17 August 1596, at the age of 19, Christian signed his haandfæstning, twelve days later, on 29 August 1596, Christian IV was crowned at the Church of Our Lady in Copenhagen by the Bishop of Zealand, Peder Jensen Vinstrup. He was crowned with a new Danish Crown Regalia which had made for him by Dirich Fyring. On 30 November 1597, he married Anne Catherine of Brandenburg, Christian took an interest in many and varied matters, including a series of domestic reforms and improving Danish national armaments. New fortresses were constructed under the direction of Dutch engineers, the Danish navy, which in 1596 had consisted of but twenty-two vessels, in 1610 rose to sixty, some of them built after Christians own designs. The formation of a national army proved more difficult, up until the early 1620s, Denmarks economy profited from general boom conditions in Europe. This inspired Christian to initiate a policy of expanding Denmarks overseas trade and he founded a number of merchant cities, and supported the building of factories. He also built a number of buildings in Dutch Renaissance style
23.
Krnov
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From 1938 to 1945 it was one of the municipalities in Sudetenland. Its history reaches up to 13th century when Krnov acquired city rights. The area is inhabited almost without any interruptions since the stone age, an industrial center of the Upper-Silesian region, it manufactures textiles, beverages and musical instruments. It is also a resort and a winter sport area with close access to the Jeseníky Mountains. The city was founded in 1221 and served as the capital of an independent duchy from 1377 to 1523, Krnov has an 18th-century castle, several churches and abbeys as well as a lookout tower from 1903. The Krnov Synagogue is one of the few large synagogues to have survived the Nazi occupation of Europe, Krnov has two rail stations, central station and rail station called Cvilin. In Krnov is factory producing cola-based drink Kofola, one of the big local companies is a company rieger-kloss which makes organs. According to the Austrian census of 1910, the town had 16,681 inhabitants,15,647 of whom had permanent residence there, the census had asked people for their native language,15,390 were German-speaking and 247 were Czech-speaking. Jews were not allowed to declare Yiddish, thus most of them declared German as their native language, the most populous religious groups were Roman Catholics with 15,290, followed by Protestants with 885 and the Jews with 459. After World War2 the German population was expelled. krnovsko. eu Alter Jägerndorf Catholic priests protest against ultra-right party in Krnov, June 13,2011
24.
Sibylla of Anhalt
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Sibylla of Anhalt was an Ascanian princess of Anhalt who became Duchess of Württemberg by marriage to Duke Frederick I. She was the daughter of Joachim Ernest, Prince of Anhalt, by his first wife Agnes, daughter of Wolfgang I. Sibylla was born in Bernburg in 1564, Sibylla was confirmed in office by the emperor, Rudolph II. During her reign as abbess the only record of her activities comes from a document in which she invests the widow of Stefan Molitor with a piece of land. In 1581, Sibylla was relieved of her post as abbess in order to marry Frederick, Count of Mömpelgard, the marriage was arranged by her stepmother, Eleonore of Württemberg. The wedding took place in Stuttgart on 22 May of that year and her successor as abbess was her younger half-sister Agnes Hedwig. Only sixteen years old at the time of her wedding, Sibylla bore her husband fifteen children during the first fifteen years of their marriage. However, she did not play a prominent role in life or have any influence over her husband. After the birth of their last child, the couple lived apart. On his frequent travels to France, Italy, and England and he succeeded his fathers cousin Ludwig as Duke of Württemberg in 1593. Sibylla was anxious to expand her knowledge of botany and chemistry, to veil her interest in the dubious discipline of alchemy, she explained her activity as gathering an herbal collection for the production of medicine for the poor. From 1606/1607, Maria Andreae took over this post, in 1609 Schickhardt built a lakeside house not far from Leonberg that was used as a hunting lodge
25.
Bishop of Strasbourg
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Son of Joachim III Frederick, Elector of Brandenburg. Elected by the majority Protestant canons of Strasbourg in 1592, son of Charles III, Duke of Lorraine. Elected by the minority Catholic canons of Strasbourg in 1592, accepted as Bishop by both parties in 1604 upon Johann Georgs resignation. Also Bishop of Metz from 1578
26.
Order of Saint John (Bailiwick of Brandenburg)
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The Order is led by its thirty-seventh Herrenmeister, Prince Oskar of Prussia. Each of its knights, about four thousand men worldwide, is either a Knight of Justice or a Knight of Honor, although membership no longer is limited to the nobility, as it was until 1948, the majority of knights still are drawn from this class. The Order comprises seventeen commanderies in Germany, one each in Austria, Finland, France, Hungary, and Switzerland, with the Roman Catholic Sovereign Military Order of Malta, these four Alliance orders represent the legitimate heirs of the Knights Hospitaller. The Order and its orders in the Netherlands and Sweden. The SMOM, headquartered in Rome, admits only men and women of the Roman Catholic faith, in time, these landholdings were gathered into regional administrative divisions known as commanderies, each headed by a senior knight, or knight commander of the Order. The first commandery in the Germanies was founded in the mid-twelfth century, though separated from the Roman Catholic main stem of the Order of Saint John, the Bailiwick of Brandenburg continued to flourish. Admitting only noblemen, principally from the Germanies, the Bailiwick maintained hospitals and other institutions to care for the poor, the sick, and the injured. The horrific Thirty Years War devastated the Bailiwick, resulting in the deaths of many knights and he established a similarly named order of merit, the Royal Prussian Order of Saint John, in its stead. He announced his election to the head of the Order of Malta, during the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the Order created and supported more and more charitable activities. It now owns and operates numerous hospitals, ambulance services, old-age homes, after World War II, with the Neumark given by the victorious Allies to Poland, the Order moved its headquarters to Bonn, West Germany. After the reunification of West and East Germany, the headquarters were moved again, more than location of the seat of the Order changed in the aftermath of the Second World War. The Finnish commandery, however, remains a purely noble society, as do the now independent Swedish, there are three active classes in the Order, Commander, Knight of Justice, and Knight of Honor. These services are similar to the St. John Ambulance in many Commonwealth nations, all are carried out under the auspices of the Christian faith. Additionally, spiritual retreats and other activities of the Order concentrate on the spiritual formation, the cloak of the Order is plain black with a large, white, linen eight-pointed cross on the left breast. For most knights, the cloak is black woollen with a plain lining, the cloaks of most knights are closed only at the neck, but the Herrenmeister, Commanders, Honorary Commanders, and Knights of Justice also wear a long black cord called a cingulum. The insignia, also known as crosses of honor, are no longer bestowed by the Order automatically, Knights of Honor now must have rendered five years of service to the Order before a cross of honor is granted. Promotion to Knight of Justice requires at least seven years of distinguished service, the basic insignia of the Order is a white-enamelled Maltese cross. Each cross is worn from a black-moire,4. 5-centimeter-wide ribbon worn about the neck, all members of the Order may also wear a plain, Maltese cross as a star or breast badge
27.
John Cicero, Elector of Brandenburg
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John II was Elector of Brandenburg from 1486 until his death, the fourth of the House of Hohenzollern. After his death he received the posthumous cognomen Cicero, after the Roman orator of the same name, John Cicero was the eldest son of Elector Albert III Achilles of Brandenburg with his first wife Margaret of Baden. After the Pomeranian struggle he also had to deal with the conflict upon the 1476 death of the Piast duke Henry XI of Głogów. On 25 August 1476 in Berlin John married Margaret of Wettin and their children were, Wolfgang, born and died 1482. Joachim I Nestor, Elector of Brandenburg, Elector of Brandenburg, anna of Brandenburg, married 10 April 1502 to King Frederick I of Denmark. Ursula of Brandenburg, married 16 February 1507 to Duke Henry V, Albert of Mainz, Cardinal since 1518, Archbishop of Magdeburg in 1513–45, Archbishop of Mainz in 1514–45. John succeeded his father as elector in 1486, while the Franconian possessions of the Hohenzollern dynasty passed to his younger brothers Frederick I and he also implemented an excise tax on beer in 1488, which sparked several disturbances, mainly in the towns of the Altmark region. He died in 1499 from pleural effusion at Arneburg Castle and was succeeded by his eldest son Joachim I, John was the first of the Hohenzollern electors to be buried in Brandenburg, first at Lehnin Abbey, later transferred to Berlin Cathedral by order of his grandson Joachim II
28.
Joachim I Nestor, Elector of Brandenburg
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Joachim I Nestor was a Prince-elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, the fifth member of the House of Hohenzollern. His nickname was taken from King Nestor of Greek mythology, the eldest son of John Cicero, Elector of Brandenburg, Joachim received an excellent education under the supervision of Dietrich von Bülow, Bishop of Lebus and Chancellor of Frankfurt University. He became Elector of Brandenburg upon his fathers death in January 1499 and he also improved the administration of justice, aided the development of commerce, and was sympathetic to the needs to the towns. On the approach of the election of 1519, Joachims vote was eagerly solicited by the partisans of King Francis I of France. In spite of this, relations between the Emperor and the Elector were not friendly, and during the few years Joachim was frequently in communication with Charles enemies. Since prince-episcopal sees were so influential, competing candidates usually ran for them, a candidature could turn into a bribery competition, without ever knowing exactly how much competitors paid to obtain office. This exhausted their means and caused them to incur vast debts with the Fuggers, the neighbouring Electorate of Saxony also bid for the See of Mainz, but failed to secure it. The Saxon elector Frederick the Wise had debts of his own as a result, frustrated, he forbade the sale of indulgences in his electorate and allowed Martin Luther to polemicize against them. Joachim Nestors brother, Archbishop Albert, was the object of Luthers attack. He urged on the Emperor the need to enforce the Edict of Worms, a patron of learning, Joachim Nestor established the Viadrina university of Frankfurt in 1506. He promoted Georg von Blumenthal, the Pillar of Catholicism, as Chancellor of Frankfurt University, Bishop of Lebus and he was among those who met at Dessau in July 1525 and was a member of the league established at Halle in November 1533. But his wife, against his will, like her brother King Christian of Denmark, became Lutheran and he experienced the mortification of seeing Protestantism also favoured by other members of his family. He died at Stendal in 1535
29.
Margaret of Thuringia
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Margaret of Saxony was a German noblewoman, Electress of Brandenburg by marriage. She was the daughter of William III, Duke of Luxemburg, on 15 August 1476, in Berlin, she married John Cicero, Elector of Brandenburg. They had the children, Wolfgang, born and died 1482. Albert, Cardinal since 1518, Archbishop of Magdeburg in 1513-14, anna, married 10 April 1502 to the future King Frederick I of Denmark. Ursula, married 16 February 1507 to Henry V, Duke of Mecklenburg
30.
Joachim II Hector, Elector of Brandenburg
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Joachim II was a Prince-elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, the sixth member of the House of Hohenzollern. Joachim II was the eldest son of Joachim I Nestor, Elector of Brandenburg and his wife Elizabeth of Denmark, Norway and he received the cognomen Hector after the Trojan prince and warrior for his athel qualities and prowess. Joachim II was born in Cölln and his father, Joachim I Nestor, made Joachim Hector sign an inheritance contract in which he promised to remain Roman Catholic. This was intended in part to assist Joachim Nestors younger brother, Joachim Nestor, who had co-financed this accumulation of offices, agreed to let Albert recover these costs by the sale of indulgences to his subjects. Thus repayment of the debt to the Fugger depended on the sale of indulgences to Catholic believers in Brandenburg, however, had Joachim Hector not agreed to this, he would likely have been passed over in the line of inheritance. His first marriage was to Magdalena of Saxony from the ducal Albertine line of the House of Wettin, in 1535 he married Hedwig, daughter of King Sigismund I the Old of Poland. As the Jagiellon dynasty was Catholic, Joachim II promised Sigismund that he would not make Hedwig change her religious affiliation, with the deaths of his father Joachim Nestor and father-in-law Sigismund, Joachim turned gradually to the Protestant Reformation. On 1 November 1539, he received Communion under both kinds in Spandaus St. Nicholas Church, an act that indicated a degree of sympathy with the new religious ideas. However, Joachim did not explicitly adopt Lutheranism until 1555, to open confrontation with his ally. This pogrom had resulted in the expulsion of the Jews from Brandenburg, the Jewish advocate Josel von Rosheim, who was also in attendance, pleaded privately with Joachim to allow the Jews to settle in the Brandenburg again. Joachim acceded to this request on 25 June 1539 and his wife Hedwigs mother Barbara Zápolya was a sister of John Zápolya, who had claimed the vacant throne of Hungary after King Louis II was killed in battle against the Ottoman Empire in 1526. However, Joachim supported Ferdinand of Habsburg, who claimed the crown. In 1542 Joachim assisted Ferdinand against the Ottomans at the Siege of Buda and he commanded an army of Austrian, Hungarian, German, Bohemian, Italian, and Dalmatian troops, but the Elector was not a seasoned warrior and eventually beat a retreat. He was defeated again by the Ottomans in the Siege of Pest in 1542, in 1545 Joachim held a gala double wedding celebration for his two children, John George and Barbara. They were married to Sophie and George, both children of the Piast Duke Frederick II of Liegnitz in Silesia, Joachim was a brother-in-law of King Sigismund II Augustus of Poland. In 1569, he paid Sigismund for a deed of enfeoffment which made Joachim, in 1571, Joachim died in the Köpenick Palace, which he had built in 1558. Joachim Hector co-inherits Ducal Prussia Portrait of Magdalena of Saxony
31.
John, King of Denmark
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John was a Scandinavian monarch under the Kalmar Union. He was King of Denmark, Norway and as John II Sweden, from 1482 to 1513, he was concurrently Duke of Schleswig and Holstein in joint rule with his brother Frederick. He currently remains the only King of Denmark since the century to not be named Christian or Frederick, if one does not include the current Queen of Denmark. The three most important political goals of King John were the restoration of the Kalmar Union, reduction of the dominance of the Hanseatic League, and the building of a strong Danish royal power. He was born at Aalborghus, in Aalborg, the son of Christian I of Denmark and Dorothea of Brandenburg, in 1478, he married Christina of Saxony, granddaughter of Frederick the Gentle of Saxony. This produced the following offspring, Christian II, Francis, Knud, and Elisabeth, from about 1496 until 1512, he had a relationship with Edele Jernskjæg. In 1458, Johns father, King Christian I, had the Norwegian Council of the Realm commit to electing Christians eldest son as king of Norway upon his death. A similar declaration was made in Sweden, in 1467, John was hailed as successor to the throne in Denmark. John used the title heir to the throne of Norway, in line with Norways old status as a hereditary kingdom, but this was a claim the Norwegian Council did not immediately recognise. Consequently, upon King Christians death in May 1481, Johns position was unchallenged in Denmark, whereas in Norway the Council of the Realm assumed royal authority, and an interregnum ensued. No serious rival candidates to the Norwegian throne existed, but the Council was determined to demonstrate Norways status as a sovereign kingdom. A meeting between the Councils of Denmark, Sweden and Norway was appointed for 13 January 1483 at Halmstad, to work out the terms for electing John as king — his håndfæstning. The Swedish Council failed to turn up at the meeting, but the Norwegian and Danish councils proceeded to produce a joint declaration containing the terms for Johns rule and it was hoped that Sweden would later accept the same document and thereby acknowledge John as king. Subsequently, John was crowned King of Denmark in Copenhagen on 18 May, during the first years of his rule John carried out a balancing policy. By diplomatic means he tried to weaken the position of the Swedish regent Sten Sture, after the 1493 treaty, Ivan III of Russia imprisoned all Hanseatic merchants trading in Novgorod and instigated the Russo-Swedish War. The Hanseatic cities were also troubled by a war by Danish privateers. Johns domestic policies were marked by economic support of the Danish merchants and by the use of commoners as officials or even as councillors. The most important of his initiatives was perhaps establishing a permanent Danish navy, according to the Privilege of Ribe the Noble Diets of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein were to elect a duke among the sons of the previous duke
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Elizabeth of Denmark, Electress of Brandenburg
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Elizabeth of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden was a Scandinavian princess who became Electress of Brandenburg as the spouse of Joachim I Nestor, Elector of Brandenburg. She was daughter of King Hans of Denmark, Norway and Sweden and his spouse, as a child, Elizabeth had a close relation with her brother, the later King Christian II of Denmark. She was able to read and write in both Danish and German, on 10 April 1502 she married Joachim I Nestor, Elector of Brandenburg, in a double wedding alongside her uncle, the future king Frederick I of Denmark, and her sister-in-law Anna of Brandenburg. Elizabeth and Joachim got along well during the first twenty years of their marriage. She received her mother in 1507, attended her brother Christians wedding in 1515 and her spouse was a pugnacious adherent of Roman Catholic orthodoxy during the Reformation. In 1523, she visited a sermon of Martin Luther with her brother and her sister-in-law, in 1527, she received the Protestant communion in public, this meant a public break with the Catholic Church, and caused a conflict with her husband. In 1528, her husband asked a clerical council from the Catholic Church if he should divorce, the church council replied that he should have her imprisoned. Otherwise, she suggested that they separate, referring to the separation of her own parents in 1504 and she was given a residence near Wittenberg. Her husband refused to give her an allowance and forbade her sons to visit her, in 1532, her uncle died and her brother was imprisoned, and she thereby lost her supporters. In 1535, her husband died and her sons asked her to return to Brandenburg and she finally returned in 1545 and stayed in Spandau. The marriage of her son Joachim II Hector, Elector of Brandenburg, Catholic services were held for Hedwig in her private chapel, and the Dowager Electress was also unhappy because Hedwig could not speak German
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Christina of Saxony
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Christina of Saxony, was Queen consort of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. She was born a granddaughter of Frederick the Gentle of Saxony and she was the grandmother of Christina of Denmark through her son Christian II. Christina was engaged to John, King of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, the year after, she traveled from Saxony to Warnemunde, where she was met by a Danish retinue who brought her Copenhagen Castle, where she was married to John on 6 September 1478. In 1481, she became queen of Denmark and she was however not crowned until 1483, when John had become king of Norway also. On 18 May 1483, she and John were crowned king and queen of Denmark, during the first twenty years of her marriage, there is not much information about Christina, and she seem to have lived a life devoted to her family. She was the mother of Christian II, Franciscus, Knud and Elizabeth, who later married Joachim I Nestor, Elector of Brandenburg, Christina is described as pious, and were said to weep every time she was unable to attend mass. In 1497, John was elected king of Sweden, two years later, Christina followed him to Sweden, and on 4 February 1499, they were crowned king and queen of Sweden in Uppsala. She accompanied John on his visit to Sweden in 1500. During the 1501 visit, John entered into his affair with one of her ladies-in-waiting, Edel Jernskjæg. When the War of Deposition against King Hans and Dano-Swedish War took place later that same year and he left Christina in charge of the garrison of the Castle of Tre Kronor in Stockholm as regent and as moral support for his followers. From September 1501 until 6 May 1502, queen Christina was besieged by the Swedish rebels and this was one of the hardest sieges known during the Kalmar Union, during which a garrison of 1000 men was reduced to 70 out of plague and starvation. On 9 May 1502, queen Christina surrendered to the Swedish Regent Sten Sture the Elder, according to the peace settlement, was to be kept at a convent in Stockholm until she could travel back to Denmark. When she surrendered her position, she turned herself over to lady Ingeborg Tott and she was kept first at the Black Friars Monastery of Stockholm and then at the Grey Friars Abbey, Stockholm. However, the treaty was broken by Sten Sture, when John had a ship sent to Stockholm to collect her, in October 1503, she was finally released and escorted to the Danish border by Sten Sture, where she was met by her son Christian in Halmstad. In 1504, she made a pilgrimage to Wilsnack and Sternberg in Brandenburg, upon her return to Denmark, she founded convents for Poor Clares in Copenhagen and Odense. From her return to Denmark after her release onward, queen Christina lived the rest of her separated from king John. She had her own court, headed by Anne Meinstrup. Christina was interested in art and music and acted as the benefactor of musicians and she commissioned the famous altar piece of Claus Berg, who depicted the royal Danish family and was placed in the Odense cathedral, as well as the literary work of the priest Michael of Odense
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Albert III, Duke of Saxony
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Albert III was a Duke of Saxony. He was nicknamed Albert the Bold or Albert the Courageous and founded the Albertine line of the House of Wettin. Albert was born in Grimma as the third and youngest son of Frederick II the Gentle, Elector of Saxony, later, he was a member of the Order of the Golden Fleece. After escaping from the hands of Kunz von Kaufungen, who had abducted him together with his brother Ernest, he spent some time at the court of the emperor Frederick III in Vienna. In Eger on 11 November 1464 Albert married Zdenka, daughter of George of Podebrady, King of Bohemia, but failed to obtain the Bohemian Crown on the death of George in 1471. He was successful in restoring the authority of Maximilian in Holland, Flanders, and Brabant and his services were rewarded in 1498 when Maximilian bestowed upon him the title of Hereditary Governor of Friesland, but he had to make good his claim by force of arms. He had to a great extent succeeded, and was paying a visit to Saxony, the duke recaptured Groningen, but soon afterwards he died at Emden. Albert, who was a man of strength and considerable skill in feats of arms, delighted in tournaments. His loyalty to the emperor Frederick, and the expenses incurred in connection, aroused some irritation among his subjects. Frederick, Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights
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George, Duke of Saxony
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George the Bearded, Duke of Saxony, was duke of Saxony from 1500 to 1539. Duke George was a member of the Order of the Golden Fleece and his father was Albert the Brave of Saxony, founder of the Albertine line of the Wettin family, his mother was Sidonie, daughter of George Podiebrad, King of Bohemia. Elector Frederick the Wise, a member of the Ernestine branch of the same family, George, as the eldest son, received an excellent training in theology and other branches of learning, and was thus much better educated than most of the princes of his day. George was married at Dresden, on 21 November 1496, to Barbara Jagiellon, daughter of Casimir IV, King of Poland and Elisabeth and they had ten children, but all, with the exception of a daughter, died before their father, Christof. Johann, Hereditary Duke of Saxony, married on 20 May 1516 to Elizabeth of Hesse, Frederick, Hereditary Duke of Saxony, married on 27 January 1539 to Elisabeth of Mansfeld. Christine, married on 11 December 1523 to Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, magdalena, married on 6 November 1524 to Joachim Hector, then Hereditary Elector of Brandenburg. In 1498, the emperor granted Albert the Brave the hereditary governorship of Friesland, at Maastricht,14 February 1499, Albert settled the succession to his possessions, and endeavoured by this arrangement to prevent further partition of his domain. He died 12 September 1500, and was succeeded in his German territories by George as the head of the Albertine line, the Saxon occupation of Friesland, however, was by no means secure and was the source of constant revolts in that province. But this arrangement did not restore peace in Friesland, which remained a source of trouble to Saxony, in 1515 George sold Friesland to the future Emperor Charles V for the very moderate price of 100,000 florins. He tried tot keep the lands of het Bildt which werent granted him by Charles V. These troubles outside of his Saxon possessions did not prevent George from bestowing much care on the government of the ducal territory proper. When regent, during the lifetime of his father, the difficulties arising from conflicting interests, in his desire to achieve good order, severity, and the amelioration of the condition of the people, he sometimes ventured to infringe even on the rights of the cities. From the beginning of the Reformation in 1517, Duke George directed his energies chiefly to ecclesiastical affairs, the duke was not blind to the undeniable abuses existing at that time in the Church. Some years later, he wrote a preface to a translation of the New Testament issued at his command by his private secretary, Hieronymus Emser. Lutheran books were confiscated by his order, wherever found, though he refunded the cost of the books, for those, however, who merely held anti-catholic opinions, the punishment was only expulsion from the duchy. The duke deeply regretted the constant postponement of the ardently desired council and he vainly sought to obtain from the Curia the right, which was sometimes granted by Rome, to make official visitations to the conventual institutions of his realm. His reforms were confined mainly to uniting the almost vacant monasteries and to matters of economic management, in 1525, Duke George formed, with some other German rulers, the League of Dessau, for the protection of Catholic interests. In the same way he was the spirit of the League of Halle, formed in 1533
