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.
Albrecht III Achilles, Elector of Brandenburg
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Albert III, often known simply as Albert Achilles, was a Prince-elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg. He received the cognomen Achilles because of his qualities and virtues. He also ruled the Principality of Ansbach, Albert was born in Tangermünde as the third son of Elector Frederick I and his wife, Elisabeth of Bavaria-Landshut. On the division of territory which followed his fathers death in 1440, although his resources were meager, he soon took a leading place among the German princes and was especially prominent in resisting the attempts of the towns to obtain self-government. In 1443, Albert formed a league directed mainly against Nuremberg and it was not until 1448, however, that he found a pretext for attack. The attempt to secure these thrones for the Hohenzollerns through this marriage failed, in 1470, Albert, who had inherited Bayreuth on the death of his brother John in 1464, became Margrave of Brandenburg, owing to the abdication of his remaining brother, Elector Frederick II. He was soon engaged in its administration, and by the Treaty of Prenzlau in 1472 he brought Pomerania also under his supremacy. Alberts main attention afterwards was claimed by the business of the empire, soon after taking part in the election of Maximilian as King of the Romans, Albert died at Frankfurt in March 1486. He left an amount of treasure. Aided by King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary, Jan of Żagań invaded Brandenburg, first, he married 12 November 1446 Margaret of Baden, daughter of Margrave Jakob I of Baden and Catherine of Lorraine. From this marriage he had following children, Wolfgang, born, ursula, married Duke Henry I, Duke of Münsterberg-Oels. Elisabeth, married Eberhard II, Duke of Württemberg, margareta, abbess of the Poor Clares convent at Hof. Margaret died 24 October 1457 and in 1458 Albert married Anna, daughter of Frederick II, Elector of Saxony and their children were, Frederick I, Margrave in Ansbach since 1486 and Bayreuth since 1495. Amalie, married Kaspar, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken, Anna, born and died in 1462. Barbara, married, in Berlin 11 October 1472 to Duke Henry XI of Głogów, in Frankfurt 20 August 1476 to King Ladislaus II of Bohemia, Albrecht, born and died in 1466. Sibylle, married Duke Wilhelm IV of Jülich and Berg, Albrecht, born and died in 1470. Elisabeth, married Count Hermann VIII of Henneberg-Aschach Magdalene, anastasia, married Count William IV of Henneberg-Schleusingen Mario Müller, Kurfürst Albrecht Achilles. Kurfürst von Brandenburg, Burggraf von Nürnberg, Ansbach 2014, attribution, This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Albert III
3.
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
4.
Ansbach
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Ansbach is a city in the German state of Bavaria. It is the capital of the region of Middle Franconia. Ansbach is 25 miles southwest of Nuremberg and 90 miles north of Munich, on the Fränkische Rezat, in 2004, its population was 40,723. Developed in the 8th century as a Benedictine monastery, it became the seat of the Hohenzollern family in 1331, in 1460, the Margraves of Brandenburg-Ansbach lived here. The city has a known as Margrafen–Schloss, built between 1704–1738. It was not badly damaged during the World Wars and hence retains its original historical baroque sheen, Ansbach is now home to a US military base and to the Ansbach University of Applied Sciences. The city has connections via autobahn A6 and highways B13 and B14, Ansbach station is on the Nürnberg–Crailsheim and Treuchtlingen–Würzburg railways and is the terminus of line S4 of the Nuremberg S-Bahn. Ansbach was originally called Onoltesbach, a composed of three parts. The individual word elements are Onold, the Suffix -es and the Old High German expression pah or bach, the name of the city has slightly changed throughout the centuries into Onoltespah, Onoldesbach, Onoldsbach, Onelspach, Onsbach and finally Ansbach. It was also known as Anspach. According to folklore, towards the end of the 7th century a group of Franconian peasants and their leader Onold led them to an area called the Rezattal. This is where they founded the Urhöfe, gradually more settlers, such as the Winden-Tribe came, and the farms grew into a small village. Many villages around Ansbach were founded by the Winden during that period, a Benedictine monastery was established there around 748 by the Frankish noble St Gumbertus. The adjoining village of Onoltesbach is first noticed as a town in 1221. The counts of Öttingen ruled over Ansbach until the Hohenzollern burgrave of Nürnberg took over in 1331, the Hohenzollerns made Ansbach the seat of their dynasty until their acquisition of the Margraviate of Brandenburg in 1415. After the 1440 death of Frederick I, a branch of the family established itself as the margraves of Ansbach. George the Pious introduced the Protestant Reformation to Ansbach in 1528, the Markgrafenschloß was built between 1704–1738. Its gardens continued to be an attraction into the 19th century
5.
Arneburg
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Arneburg is a town in the district of Stendal, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated on the bank of the Elbe, approx. It is part of the Verbandsgemeinde Arneburg-Goldbeck, the stronghold was founded by Henry the Fowler on the Elbe as a bulwark against the Wends. Arneburg was an important Hohenzollern possession and indeed the Elector John Cicero died there in 1499, the ruins are now part of a park surrounded by a pretty town
6.
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
7.
Albert of Brandenburg
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Cardinal Albert of Brandenburg was Elector and Archbishop of Mainz from 1514 to 1545, and Archbishop of Magdeburg from 1513 to 1545. Born in Kölln, Albert was the son of John Cicero, Elector of Brandenburg. After their fathers death, Albert and his older brother Joachim I Nestor became margraves of Brandenburg in 1499, in 1514 he obtained the Electorate of Mainz, and in 1518 was made a cardinal at the age of 28. An agent of the Fuggers subsequently traveled in the Cardinals retinue in charge of the cashbox and he procured the services of John Tetzel to sell the indulgences. This so infuriated Martin Luther that he was driven to write his famous 95 Theses which led to the Reformation, Luther sent these to Albert on 31 October 1517 and according to tradition nailed them to the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg. Albert forwarded the theses to Rome, suspecting them of heresy, Cardinal Albert needed a prestigious church that met his expectations at a central location in his Residenz town. Albert feared for his peace of mind in heaven, and collected more than 8,100 relics and 42 holy skeletons which needed to be stored and these precious treasures known as Hallesches Heilthum and indirectly related to the sale of indulgences had triggered the Reformation a few years before. The new doctrines nevertheless made considerable progress in his dominions, during his latter years showed more intolerance towards the Protestants, and favoured the teaching of the Jesuits in his dominions. The service must have been at least partly conducted in the open air, Jonas began a successful preaching crusade and attracted so many people the church overflowed. Cardinal Albert left the town for good, after the estates in the city had announced that they would take over his enormous debt at the bank of Jacob Fugger. Halle became Protestant and in 1542 Jonas was appointed as priest to St. Marys, Albert adorned the collegiate church at Halle and the cathedral at Mainz in sumptuous fashion, and took as his motto the words Domine, dilexi decorem domus tuae. A generous patron of art and learning, he counted Erasmus among his friends and he died at the Martinsburg, Mainz in 1545. Kardinal Albrecht von Brandenburg, ein Renaissancefürst auf dem Mainzer Bischofsthron, der Kardinal Albrecht von Brandenburg, Renaissancefürst und Mäzen. 2 v. Regensburg, Schnell + Steiner,2006, katalog / herausgegeben von Thomas Schauerte—Bd. Essays / herausgegeben von Andreas Tacke, mit Beiträgen von Bodo Brinkmann, note, Exhibition held September 9 – November 26,2006, Halle an der Saale. Prayer Book of Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg, the J. Paul Getty Museum, viewed 24 July 2016
8.
Anna of Brandenburg
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Anna of Brandenburg was a German noblewoman. Anna was the daughter of Johann Cicero, Elector of Brandenburg and she was born in Berlin, Brandenburg, and died in Kiel, Holstein. In 1500 she was betrothed to Frederick, then Duke of Schleswig and Holstein and, after her death, king of Denmark, because they were second cousins their marriage required a Papal dispensation. In addition, the marriage was not held until 10 April 1502 due to Annas youth, the marriage, held in Stendal, was a double one, on the same day, Annas brother Joachim and Fredericks niece Elisabeth were married. Anna and Frederick had two children, Christian III of Denmark Dorothea, married 1 July 1526 to Albert, Duke of Prussia She died in 1514 at age 26 and her husband was remarried, to Sophie of Pomerania, and had six more children. Media related to Anna of Brandenburg at Wikimedia Commons
9.
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
10.
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
11.
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
12.
Ancient Rome
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In its many centuries of existence, the Roman state evolved from a monarchy to a classical republic and then to an increasingly autocratic empire. Through conquest and assimilation, it came to dominate the Mediterranean region and then Western Europe, Asia Minor, North Africa and it is often grouped into classical antiquity together with ancient Greece, and their similar cultures and societies are known as the Greco-Roman world. Ancient Roman civilisation has contributed to modern government, law, politics, engineering, art, literature, architecture, technology, warfare, religion, language and society. Rome professionalised and expanded its military and created a system of government called res publica, the inspiration for modern republics such as the United States and France. By the end of the Republic, Rome had conquered the lands around the Mediterranean and beyond, its domain extended from the Atlantic to Arabia, the Roman Empire emerged with the end of the Republic and the dictatorship of Augustus Caesar. 721 years of Roman-Persian Wars started in 92 BC with their first war against Parthia and it would become the longest conflict in human history, and have major lasting effects and consequences for both empires. Under Trajan, the Empire reached its territorial peak, Republican mores and traditions started to decline during the imperial period, with civil wars becoming a prelude common to the rise of a new emperor. Splinter states, such as the Palmyrene Empire, would divide the Empire during the crisis of the 3rd century. Plagued by internal instability and attacked by various migrating peoples, the part of the empire broke up into independent kingdoms in the 5th century. This splintering is a landmark historians use to divide the ancient period of history from the pre-medieval Dark Ages of Europe. King Numitor was deposed from his throne by his brother, Amulius, while Numitors daughter, Rhea Silvia, because Rhea Silvia was raped and impregnated by Mars, the Roman god of war, the twins were considered half-divine. The new king, Amulius, feared Romulus and Remus would take back the throne, a she-wolf saved and raised them, and when they were old enough, they returned the throne of Alba Longa to Numitor. Romulus became the source of the citys name, in order to attract people to the city, Rome became a sanctuary for the indigent, exiled, and unwanted. This caused a problem for Rome, which had a large workforce but was bereft of women, Romulus traveled to the neighboring towns and tribes and attempted to secure marriage rights, but as Rome was so full of undesirables they all refused. Legend says that the Latins invited the Sabines to a festival and stole their unmarried maidens, leading to the integration of the Latins, after a long time in rough seas, they landed at the banks of the Tiber River. Not long after they landed, the men wanted to take to the sea again, one woman, named Roma, suggested that the women burn the ships out at sea to prevent them from leaving. At first, the men were angry with Roma, but they realized that they were in the ideal place to settle. They named the settlement after the woman who torched their ships, the Roman poet Virgil recounted this legend in his classical epic poem the Aeneid
13.
Cicero
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Marcus Tullius Cicero was a Roman philosopher, politician, lawyer, orator, political theorist, consul, and constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy family of the Roman equestrian order. According to Michael Grant, the influence of Cicero upon the history of European literature, Cicero introduced the Romans to the chief schools of Greek philosophy and created a Latin philosophical vocabulary distinguishing himself as a translator and philosopher. Though he was an orator and successful lawyer, Cicero believed his political career was his most important achievement. During the chaotic latter half of the 1st century BC marked by civil wars, following Julius Caesars death, Cicero became an enemy of Mark Antony in the ensuing power struggle, attacking him in a series of speeches. His severed hands and head were then, as a revenge of Mark Antony. Petrarchs rediscovery of Ciceros letters is often credited for initiating the 14th-century Renaissance in public affairs, humanism, according to Polish historian Tadeusz Zieliński, the Renaissance was above all things a revival of Cicero, and only after him and through him of the rest of Classical antiquity. Cicero was born in 106 BC in Arpinum, a hill town 100 kilometers southeast of Rome and his father was a well-to-do member of the equestrian order and possessed good connections in Rome. However, being a semi-invalid, he could not enter public life, although little is known about Ciceros mother, Helvia, it was common for the wives of important Roman citizens to be responsible for the management of the household. Ciceros brother Quintus wrote in a letter that she was a thrifty housewife, Ciceros cognomen, or personal surname, comes from the Latin for chickpea, cicer. Plutarch explains that the name was given to one of Ciceros ancestors who had a cleft in the tip of his nose resembling a chickpea. However, it is likely that Ciceros ancestors prospered through the cultivation. Romans often chose down-to-earth personal surnames, the family names of Fabius, Lentulus, and Piso come from the Latin names of beans, lentils. Plutarch writes that Cicero was urged to change this name when he entered politics. During this period in Roman history, cultured meant being able to speak both Latin and Greek, Cicero used his knowledge of Greek to translate many of the theoretical concepts of Greek philosophy into Latin, thus translating Greek philosophical works for a larger audience. It was precisely his broad education that tied him to the traditional Roman elite, according to Plutarch, Cicero was an extremely talented student, whose learning attracted attention from all over Rome, affording him the opportunity to study Roman law under Quintus Mucius Scaevola. Ciceros fellow students were Gaius Marius Minor, Servius Sulpicius Rufus, the latter two became Ciceros friends for life, and Pomponius would become, in Ciceros own words, as a second brother, with both maintaining a lifelong correspondence. Cicero wanted to pursue a career in politics along the steps of the Cursus honorum
14.
Principality of Ansbach
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The Principality of Ansbach or Markgraftum Brandenburg-Ansbach was a reichsfrei principality in the Holy Roman Empire centered on the Bavarian city of Ansbach. The ruling Hohenzollern princes of the land were known as margraves, the principality was established at the death of Frederick V, Burgrave of Nuremberg, on 21 January 1398, when his lands were partitioned between his two sons. The younger son, Frederick VI, received Ansbach and the elder, John III, after John IIIs death on 11 June 1420, the two principalities were reunited under Frederick VI, who had become Elector Frederick I of Brandenburg in 1415. Upon Frederick Is death on 21 September 1440, his territories were divided between his sons, John received the principality of Bayreuth, Frederick received Brandenburg, and Albert received Ansbach. Thereafter Ansbach was held by branches of the House of Hohenzollern. The Margrave was middle-aged and childless, and Frederick William was his kinsman as the head of the House of Hohenzollern, the Margrave moved to England with his English second wife. Ansbach was formally annexed on 28 January 1792. org Marek, Ansbach and Bayreuth on Tacitus Historical Atlas
15.
Principality of Bayreuth
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The Principality of Bayreuth or Margraviate of Brandenburg-Bayreuth was an immediate territory of the Holy Roman Empire, ruled by a Franconian branch of the Hohenzollern dynasty. The Kulmbach-Bayreuth principality arose from the uplands of the former Burgraviate of Nuremberg. Mountainous and densely wooded, most of the lands were of agricultural use, nevertheless mineral resources. Beside the residence Bayreuth, the separate Oberland and Unterland territories were administrated from Hof, the two principalities were once again united under the younger son, Frederick, after Johns death on 11 June 1420. At the Council of Constance in 1415, Emperor Sigismund vested Frederick with the title of an Elector of Brandenburg. Frederick finally sold his title to the citizens of the Imperial City of Nuremberg. Ansbach passed to the third son Albert Achilles, as John the Alchemist had no male heirs, he renounced his rights in 1457, whereupon Kulmbach-Bayreuth fell to his brother, Albert Achilles. When the eldest brother, the Brandenburg elector Frederick Irontooth abdicated in 1470, the rulers were commonly known as the Margraves of Brandenburg-Bayreuth. Kulmbach-Bayreuth became part of the Franconian Circle in 1500, in 1552 he sparked the Second Margrave War against Nuremberg and the neighbouring Prince-bishoprics of Würzburg and Bamberg. His soaring plans to re-establish the medieval Duchy of Franconia under his rule ended with his utter defeat, with George Fredericks death in 1603, the elder Bayreuth line became extinct. He left his successor, Margrave Christian, younger son of the Brandenburg elector John George, in 1705 his son Prince George William founded the Ordre de la Sincerité, predecessor to the Prussian Order of the Red Eagle. A university was founded in 1742 and relocated to Erlangen the next year, on 2 December 1791, Charles Alexander signed a treaty with King Frederick William II of Prussia, whereby he ceded his principalities to the Prussian state against a lifelong annuity. He married socialite Elizabeth Craven and retired to life in England, while Bayreuth. Occupied by French troops during the War of the Fourth Coalition, Prussia had to cede Bayreuth according to the 1807 Treaty of Tilsit
16.
Franconia
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However, there is no fixed area that is officially defined as Franconia. The German word Franken - Franconians - also refers to the people group and they are to be distinguished from the Germanic tribe of the Franks and who historically formed their easternmost settlement area. The origins of Franconia lie in the settlement of the Franks from the 6th century in the area probably populated until then mainly by the Elbe Germanic people in the Main river area. Known from the 9th century as Francia Orientalis. in the Middle Ages the region formed much of the part of the Duchy of Franconia and, from 1500. In the course of the restructuring of the south German states by Napoleon after the demise of the Holy Roman Empire, the German name for Franconia, Franken, comes from the dative plural form of Franke, a member of the Germanic tribe known as the Franks. The onomatologists largely follow the book compiled by early medieval scholar, Saint Isidore of Seville. This syllable occurs in the Middle Dutch vrac, avaricious, and old Norwegian frakkr, quick, bold, according to this the Franks were thus the brave ones, courageous ones or audacious ones. From the 9th century the name no longer referred to the whole of France, but increasingly to the region along the River Main. The German word frank in the sense of free is, by contrast, not a description of the Franks. Not until the 15th century was the German word frei borrowed from the French, other large rivers include the upper Werra in Thuringia and the Tauber, as well as the upper Jagst and Kocher streams in the west, both right tributaries of the Neckar. In southern Middle Franconia, the Altmühl flows towards the Danube, the man-made Franconian Lake District has become a popular destination for day-trippers and tourists. The landscape is characterized by numerous Mittelgebirge ranges of the German Central Uplands, to the north rise the Rennsteig ridge of the Thuringian Forest, the Thuringian Highland and the Franconian Forest, the border with the Upper Saxon lands of Thuringia. In the east, the Fichtel Mountains lead to Vogtland, Bohemian Egerland in the Czech Republic, the hills of the Franconian Jura in the south mark the border with the Upper Bavarian region, historical Swabia, and the Danube basin. The northern parts of the Upper Bavarian Eichstätt District, territory of the historical Bishopric of Eichstätt, are counted as part of Franconia. In the west, Franconia proper comprises the Tauber Franconia region along the Tauber river, the states larger Heilbronn-Franken region also includes the adjacent Hohenlohe and Schwäbisch Hall districts. In the city of Heilbronn, beyond the Haller Ebene plateau, furthermore, in those easternmost parts of the Neckar-Odenwald-Kreis which had formerly belonged to the Bishopric of Würzburg, the inhabitants have preserved their Franconian identity. Franconian areas in East Hesse along Spessart and Rhön comprise Gersfeld, the two largest cities of Franconia are Nuremberg and Würzburg. Though located on the periphery of the area, the Nuremberg metropolitan area is often identified as the economic
17.
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
18.
Frederick II, Elector of Brandenburg
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The latter was a daughter of Bernabò Visconti and Beatrice della Scala. As the second son, his brothers included John the Alchemist and Albert Achilles, when Frederick I retired in 1437, he compensated his incapable eldest son John with the Principality of Bayreuth while Frederick II assumed the government of Brandenburg. Unlike his father, he turned away from politics and concentrated on his efforts to pacify the nobility. Quarrels with the city of Berlin began in 1440 with his plans to build a new residence on the Cölln island of the Spree river. In 1448 the Berliner Unwille against the cession of the territory for an electoral stronghold culminated in open revolt. Nevertheless, Frederick II prevailed, had the palace built and the citys rights decisively curtailed, in 1454 and 1455, he concluded the Treaties of Cölln and Mewe and thereby re-gained the Neumark from the Teutonic Order state. On 11 June 1441, Frederick II married Catherine of Saxony and they had four children, Dorothea of Brandenburg, married Duke John V of Saxe-Lauenburg on 12 February 1464. Margaret of Brandenburg, married Bogislaw X, Duke of Pomerania, johan of Brandenburg Erasmus von Brandenburg
19.
Duchy of Pomerania
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The Duchy of Pomerania was a duchy in Pomerania on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, ruled by dukes of the House of Pomerania. During the High Middle Ages, it comprised the northern Neumark and Uckermark areas as well as Circipania. Most of the time, the duchy was ruled by several Griffin dukes in common, after the last Griffin duke had died during the Thirty Years War in 1637, the duchy was partitioned between Brandenburg-Prussia and Sweden. The Kings of Sweden and the Margraves of Brandenburg, later Kings of Prussia, the name Pomerania comes from Slavic po more, which means Land by the Sea. In the 12th century, Poland, the Holy Roman Empires Duchy of Saxony and Denmark variously conquered Pomerania, the Stolp and Schlawe areas were ruled by Ratibor I and his descendants until the Danish occupation and extinction of the Ratiboride branch in 1227. The areas stretching from Kolberg to Stettin were ruled by Ratibors brother Wartislaw I, the terms of surrender after the Polish conquest were that Wartislaw had to accept Polish sovereignty, convert his people to Christianity, and pay an annual tribute to the Polish duke. In several expeditions mounted between 1102 and 1121, most of Pomerania had been invaded by the Polish duke Bolesław III Wrymouth, from 1102 to 1109, Boleslaw campaigned in the Netze and Persante area. The Pomeranian residence in Belgard was taken already in 1102, from 1112 to 1116, Boleslaw subdued all of Pomerelia. From 1119 to 1122, the area towards the Oder were subdued, Stettin was taken in the winter of 1121–1122. The conquest resulted in a death toll and devastation of vast areas of Pomerania. Polands influence vanished in the next decade, in 1135, Boleslaw had accepted overlordship of Holy Roman Emperor Lothair III and in turn received his Pomeranian gains as well as the still undefeated Principality of Rügen as a fief. Wartislaw I also accepted the Emperor as his overlord, with Boleslaws death in 1138, Polish overlordship ended, triggering competition of the Holy Roman Empire and Denmark for the area. Already in 1120, he had expanded west into the areas near the Oder Lagoon, most notably Demmin, the Principality of Gützkow and Wolgast were conquered in the following years. The major stage of the expansion into Lutici territory occurred between Otto of Bambergs two missions,1124 and 1128. In 1128, Demmin, the County of Gützkow and Wolgast were already incorporated into Wartislaw Is realm, captured Lutici and other war loot, including livestock, money, and clothes were apportioned among the victorious. These gains were not subject to Polish over lordship, but were placed under over lordship of Nordmark margrave Albrecht the Bear a dedicated enemy of Slavs, by Lothair III, thus, the western territories contributed to making Wartislaw significantly independent from the Polish dukes. Wartislaw was not the only one campaigning in these areas, the Polish duke Boleslaw III, during his Pomeranian campaign launched an expedition into the Müritz area in 1120–21, before he turned back to subdue Wartislaw. The later Holy Roman Emperor Lothair III in 1114 initiated massive campaigns against the local Lutici tribes resulting in their defeat in 1228
20.
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
21.
Silesian Piasts
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The Silesian Piasts were the elder of four lines of the Polish Piast dynasty beginning with Władysław II the Exile, eldest son of Duke Bolesław III of Poland. By Bolesławs testament, Władysław was granted Silesia as his hereditary province, the history of the Silesian Piasts began with the feudal fragmentation of Poland in 1138 following the death of the Polish duke Bolesław III Wrymouth. Władysław soon entered into conflicts with his brothers and the Polish nobility. When in 1146 he attempted to control of the whole of Poland, he was excomunicated by Archbishop Jakub ze Żnina of Gniezno. He was received by King Conrad III of Germany, his brother-in-law by Władysławs consort Agnes of Babenberg, Silesia and the Seniorate Province came under the control of second-born Bolesław IV the Curly, Duke of Masovia. In the same year King Conrad III attempted to power for Władysław. He died in 1159 without returning to Poland, the Duchy of Silesia remained within the Polish seniorate constitution, but Władysławs sons were obliged to pay a yearly tribute to the Holy Roman Emperor. Mieszko Tanglefoot the smaller Duchy of Racibórz around Racibórz and Cieszyn and their minor brother Konrad Spindleshanks received Żagań, Głogów and Krosno from the hands of Bolesław the Tall. In the same year, Poland abolished the seniorate and the Silesian duchies became independent entities, Henry I the Bearded actively took part in the inner-Polish conflicts and expanded his dominion with determination. Henry, before securing in 1229 the sovereignty in Kraków, had no less persevering efforts to bring Greater Poland also under his dominion. From the beginning of the century he had not ceased to intervene in the disputes which were carried on between the descendants of Mieszko the Old. At last in 1234, a half of that province was formally ceded to him. As a guardian of minor dukes, Henry moreover ruled over Opole and this Silesian prince not only intended to enlarge his possessions, he proposed to make them the nucleus of a restored Kingdom of Poland. He became duke of Kraków in 1232, which gave him the title of the Senior Duke of Poland, Henry expanded his realm also outside Poland ruling over Barnim, Teltow as well as parts of Lower Lusatia. Unfortunately, despite his efforts, he never gained the Polish crown, the royal crown, almost forgotten since the fall of Bolesław II, was destined by him for his eldest son, whom he associated in his rule towards the end of his life. This Henry II the Pious, who succeeded his father in 1238, was, in fact, pursuing the very able policy of Henry the Bearded, his son was moreover able to obtain the support of the clergy, with whom his father had had frequent disagreements. Following an old tradition of his dynasty, he placed himself under the protection of the Holy See, in 1241, he died as a Christian hero in the Battle of Legnica, in which he was attempting to arrest the Mongolian invasion. His death left the Silesian Piast dynasty deeply shaken, after Henrys death in 1241 his brother Bolesław II ruled on behalf of his underage brothers
22.
Berlin
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Berlin is the capital and the largest city of Germany as well as one of its constituent 16 states. With a population of approximately 3.5 million, Berlin is the second most populous city proper, due to its location in the European Plain, Berlin is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. Around one-third of the area is composed of forests, parks, gardens, rivers. Berlin in the 1920s was the third largest municipality in the world, following German reunification in 1990, Berlin once again became the capital of all-Germany. Berlin is a city of culture, politics, media. Its economy is based on high-tech firms and the sector, encompassing a diverse range of creative industries, research facilities, media corporations. Berlin serves as a hub for air and rail traffic and has a highly complex public transportation network. The metropolis is a popular tourist destination, significant industries also include IT, pharmaceuticals, biomedical engineering, clean tech, biotechnology, construction and electronics. Modern Berlin is home to world renowned universities, orchestras, museums and its urban setting has made it a sought-after location for international film productions. The city is known for its festivals, diverse architecture, nightlife, contemporary arts. Since 2000 Berlin has seen the emergence of a cosmopolitan entrepreneurial scene, the name Berlin has its roots in the language of West Slavic inhabitants of the area of todays Berlin, and may be related to the Old Polabian stem berl-/birl-. All German place names ending on -ow, -itz and -in, since the Ber- at the beginning sounds like the German word Bär, a bear appears in the coat of arms of the city. It is therefore a canting arm, the first written records of towns in the area of present-day Berlin date from the late 12th century. Spandau is first mentioned in 1197 and Köpenick in 1209, although these areas did not join Berlin until 1920, the central part of Berlin can be traced back to two towns. Cölln on the Fischerinsel is first mentioned in a 1237 document,1237 is considered the founding date of the city. The two towns over time formed close economic and social ties, and profited from the right on the two important trade routes Via Imperii and from Bruges to Novgorod. In 1307, they formed an alliance with a common external policy, in 1415 Frederick I became the elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, which he ruled until 1440. In 1443 Frederick II Irontooth started the construction of a new palace in the twin city Berlin-Cölln
23.
William III, Landgrave of Thuringia
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William III, called the Brave, was landgrave of Thuringia and claimant duke of Luxemburg. He is actually the second William to rule Thuringia, and in Luxembourg and he was a younger son of Frederick I the Warlike, elector of Saxony, and Catherine of Brunswick and Lunenburg. On 2 June 1446 he married Anne of Luxembourg, daughter of Albert II, King of Germany, Bohemia and Hungary, on behalf of his wife, he became Duke of Luxembourg from 1457 to 1469. They had two daughters, Margaret of Thuringia and Catherine of Thuringia, who married Duke Henry II of Münsterberg, William minted a silver groschen known as the Judenkopf Groschen. Its obverse portrait shows a man with a pointed beard wearing a Jewish hat, which the populace took as depicting a typical Jew
24.
Kiel
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Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 240,832. Kiel lies approximately 90 kilometres north of Hamburg, for instance, the city is known for a variety of international sailing events, including the annual Kiel Week, which is the biggest sailing event in the world. The Olympic sailing competitions of the 1936 and the 1972 Summer Olympics were held in Kiel, Kiel has also been one of the traditional homes of the German Navys Baltic fleet, and continues to be a major high-tech shipbuilding centre. Located in Kiel is the GEOMAR - Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel at the University of Kiel, Kiel is an important sea transport hub, thanks to its location on the Kiel Fjord and the busiest artificial waterway in the world, Kiel Canal. A number of ferries to Sweden, Norway, Russia. Moreover, today Kiel harbour is an important port of call for cruise ships touring the Baltic Sea, Kiel was one of the founding cities of original European Green Capital Award in 2006. In 2005 Kiels GDP per capita was €35,618, which is well above Germanys national average, within Germany and parts of Europe, the city is known for its leading handball team, THW Kiel. The city is home to the University of Kiel, Kiel Fjord was probably first settled by Normans or Vikings who wanted to colonize the land which they had raided, and for many years they settled in German villages. This is evidenced by the geography and architecture of the fjord, the city of Kiel was founded in 1233 as Holstenstadt tom Kyle by Count Adolf IV of Holstein, and granted Lübeck city rights in 1242 by Adolfs eldest son, John I of Schauenburg. Being a part of Holstein, Kiel belonged to the Holy Roman Empire and was situated only a few south of the Danish border. Kiel, the capital of the county of Holstein, was a member of the Hanseatic League from 1284 until it was expelled in 1518 for harbouring pirates, the University of Kiel was founded on 29 September 1665, by Christian Albert, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp. A number of important scholars, including Theodor Mommsen, Felix Jacoby, Hans Geiger and Max Planck, from 1773 to 1864, the town belonged to the King of Denmark. However, because the king ruled Holstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire only through a personal union, thus Kiel belonged to Germany, but it was ruled by the Danish king. Even though the Empire was abolished in 1806, the Danish king continued to rule Kiel only through his position as Duke of Holstein, when Schleswig and Holstein rebelled against Denmark in 1848, Kiel became the capital of Schleswig-Holstein until the Danish victory in 1850. On 24 March 1865 King William I based Prussias Baltic Sea fleet in Kiel instead of Danzig, the Imperial shipyard Kiel was established in 1867 in the town. When William I of Prussia became Emperor William I of the German Empire in 1871, he designated Kiel, the prestigious Kiel Yacht Club was established in 1887 with Prince Henry of Prussia as its patron. Emperor Wilhelm II became its commodore in 1891, because of its new role as Germanys main naval base, Kiel very quickly increased in size in the following years, from 18,770 in 1864 to about 200,000 in 1910. Much of the old centre and other surroundings were levelled and redeveloped to provide for the growing city
25.
Frederick I of Denmark
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Frederick I was the King of Denmark and Norway. His name is also spelled Friedrich in German, Frederik in Danish and Norwegian and he was the penultimate Roman Catholic monarch to reign over Denmark, when subsequent monarchs embraced Lutheranism after the Protestant Reformation. As King of Norway, Frederick is most remarkable in never having visited the country and was never being crowned King of Norway, therefore he was styled King of Denmark, the Vends and the Goths, elected King of Norway. Frederick was the son of the first Oldenburg King Christian I of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Soon after the death of his father, the underage Frederick was elected co-Duke of Schleswig and Holstein in 1482, in 1490 at Fredericks majority, both duchies were divided between the brothers. In 1500 he had convinced his brother King John to conquer Dithmarschen, a great army was called from not only the duchies, but with additions from all of the Kalmar Union for which his brother briefly was king. In addition, numerous German mercenaries took part, the expedition failed miserably, however, in the Battle of Hemmingstedt, where one third of all knights of Schleswig and Holstein lost their lives. In 1523 Christian II, King of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, was forced by disloyal nobles to abdicate and it is not certain that Frederick ever learned to speak Danish. After becoming king, he continued spending most of his time at Gottorp, in 1524 and 1525 Frederick had to suppress revolts among the peasants in Jutland and Scania who demanded the restoration of Christian II. The high point of the came in 1525 when Søren Norby. He raised 8000 men who besieged Kärnan, a castle in Helsingborg, Fredericks general, Johann Rantzau, moved his army to Scania and defeated the peasants soundly in April and May 1525. Frederick played a role in the spread of Lutheran teaching throughout Denmark. In his coronation charter, he was made the protector of Roman Catholicism in Denmark. In that role, he asserted his right to select bishops for the Roman Catholic dioceses in the country, Christian II had been intolerant of Protestant teaching, but Frederick took a more opportunist approach. For example, he ordered that Lutherans and Roman Catholics share the same churches, in 1526, when Lutheran Reformer Hans Tausen was threatened with arrest and trial for heresy, Frederick appointed him his personal chaplain to give him immunity. Starting in 1527, Frederick authorized the closure of Franciscan houses and monasteries in 28 Danish cities, during his reign, Frederick was skillful enough to prevent all-out warfare between Protestants and Roman Catholics. In 1532 he succeeded in capturing Christian II who had tried to make a political come-back in Norway, Frederick died on 10 April 1533 in Gottorp, at the age of 61, and was buried in Schleswig Cathedral. Upon Fredericks death, tensions between Roman Catholics and Protestants rose to a pitch which would result in the Counts Feud
26.
Henry V, Duke of Mecklenburg
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Henry V, Duke of Mecklenburg, nicknamed the Peaceful, was the reigning Duke of Mecklenburg in the region Mecklenburg-Schwerin, the son of Duke Magnus II and Sophie of Pomerania-Stettin. Henry ruled jointly with his brothers Eric II and Albert VII, Balthasar died on 16 March 1507 and Eric on 22 December 1508, both without an heir, thus Henry and Albert came into possession of the whole country. Albert repeatedly advocated the division of the territories of Mecklenburg, the treaty stipulated that Henry rule in Schwerin and Albert in Güstrow, without a de facto division of the country. It was during the reign of the brothers Henry and Albert that Martin Luther launched the Reformation, Lutheran doctrine was preached there more or less openly as early as 1523 and perhaps even earlier. Duke Henry supported the new doctrine from the beginning, at first in a very cautious manner, and he corresponded with Luther beginning in 1524, and Luther sent him teachers and preachers. Henry joined the League of Torgau on 12 June 1526, for the remainder of his reign, he was occupied with the organization of the Lutheran church. After Luthers death, a war erupted in Germany. Henry, however, did not participate, although he was a Protestant prince and he resisted the introduction of the Augsburg Interim by Emperor Charles V in 1548. Henry approved the decision of the Mecklenburg estates of July 1549 that formally recognized by the Lutheran doctrine, soon after, on 6 February 1552, he died with the reputation of a pious and peaceable prince. He first married Ursula of Brandenburg, daughter of the elector John II Cicero of Brandenburg and they had three children together, Magnus, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Administrator of the Prince-Bishopric of Schwerin, and from 1532 Bishop of Schwerin. Sophie, who married Duke Ernest of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Ursula, last abbess of the Poor Clares monastery at Ribnitz. Henrys second marriage, on 12 June 1513, was to Helen of the Palatinate, daughter of Philipp and they also had three children together, Philip, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin Margaret, who married Duke Henry II, Duke of Münsterberg-Oels. Catherine, who married Frederick III, Duke of Legnica and his third marriage was to Ursula, daughter of Magnus I, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg, and his wife Catherine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Duchess of Saxe-Lauenburg. 233033130 Literature about Henry V, Duke of Mecklenburg in the State Bibliography of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern genealogical table of the House of Mecklenburg
27.
Mainz
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Mainz is the capital and largest city of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany. It was the capital of the Electorate of Mainz at the time of the Holy Roman Empire. The city is famous as the home of the invention of the printing press. Until the twentieth century, Mainz was usually referred to in English by its French name, Mainz is located on the 50th latitude, on the west bank of the river Rhine, opposite the confluence of the Main with the Rhine. The population in the early 2012 was 200,957, an additional 18,619 people maintain a primary residence elsewhere but have a home in Mainz. The city is part of the Rhein Metro area comprising 5.8 million people, Mainz can easily be reached from Frankfurt International Airport in 25 minutes by commuter railway. Mainzs history and economy are closely tied to its proximity to the Rhine river historically handling much of the regions waterborne cargo, todays huge container port hub allowing trimodal transport is located on the North Side of the town. The river also provides another positive effect, moderating Mainzs climate, after the last ice age, sand dunes were deposited in the Rhine valley at what was to become the western edge of the city. The Mainz Sand Dunes area is now a reserve with a unique landscape. When the Mainz legion camp was founded in 13/12 BC, the buildings near the Rhine River, historical sources and archaeological findings both prove the importance of the military and civilian Mogontiacum as a port city on the Rhine. The Roman stronghold or castrum Mogontiacum, the precursor to Mainz, was founded by the Roman general Drusus perhaps as early as 13/12 BC. As related by Suetonius the existence of Mogontiacum is well established by four years later, although the city is situated opposite the mouth of the Main river, the name of Mainz is not from Main, the similarity being perhaps due to diachronic analogy. Main is from Latin Menus, the name the Romans used for the river, linguistic analysis of the many forms that the name Mainz has taken on make it clear that it is a simplification of Mogontiacum. The name appears to be Celtic and ultimately it is, however, it had also become Roman and was selected by them with a special significance. Mogontiacum was an important military town throughout Roman times, probably due to its position at the confluence of the Main. The town of Mogontiacum grew up between the fort and the river, the castrum was the base of Legio XIIII Gemina and XVI Gallica, XXII Primigenia, IIII Macedonica, I Adiutrix, XXI Rapax, and XIIII Gemina, among others. Mainz was also a base of a Roman river fleet, the Classis Germanica, remains of Roman troop ships and a patrol boat from the late 4th century were discovered in 1982/86 and may now be viewed in the Museum für Antike Schifffahrt. A temple dedicated to Isis Panthea and Magna Mater was discovered in 2000 and is open to the public
28.
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
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Elector of Mainz
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The Elector of Mainz was one of the seven Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire. Both a ruling prince and an archbishop, the Elector of Mainz held a position during the Middle Ages. The Elector of Mainz was president of the college, arch-chancellor of the empire. The lands of the elector lay around Mainz, and were on banks of the Rhine, their area at the time of the French Revolution was about 3200 sq. m. The last elector was Karl Theodor von Dalberg, the archbishopric was secularized in 1803, two years after the lands on the left bank of the Rhine had been seized by France. Some of those on the bank of the river were given to Kingdom of Prussia and to the Grand Duchy of Hesse. The archbishopric itself was transferred to the Principality of Regensburg, the Archbishop of Mainz was an influential ecclesiastic and secular prince in the Holy Roman Empire between 780–782 and 1802. In Church hierarchy, the Archbishop of Mainz was the primas Germaniae, aside from Rome, the See of Mainz is the only other see referred to as a Holy See, although this usage became rather less common. This archbishopric was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire. The first bishops before the 4th century have legendary names, beginning with Crescens, the first verifiable Bishop of Mainz was Martinus in 343. The ecclesiastical and secular importance of Mainz dates from the accession of St. Boniface to the see in 747, Boniface was previously an archbishop, but the honor did not immediately devolve upon the see itself until his successor Lullus. In 1802, Mainz lost its archiepiscopal character, Dalberg retained the Aschaffenburg area however, and when the Holy Roman Empire finally came to an end in 1806, this became the core of Dalbergs new Grand Duchy of Frankfurt. The modern Diocese of Mainz was founded in 1802, within the territory of France, since then it has had two cardinals and via various concordats was allowed to retain the mediæval tradition of the cathedral chapter electing a successor to the bishop
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Frederick I, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach
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Frederick I of Ansbach and Bayreuth was born at Ansbach as the eldest son of Albert III, Margrave of Brandenburg by his second wife Anna, daughter of Frederick II, Elector of Saxony. His elder half-brother was the Elector Johann Cicero of Brandenburg, friedrich succeeded his father as Margrave of Ansbach in 1486 and his younger brother as Margrave of Bayreuth in 1495. On 14 February 1479 at Frankfurt he was married to Sophia of Poland, daughter of King Casimir IV of Poland by his wife Elisabeth of Habsburg and they had seventeen children, Kasimir, Margrave of Bayreuth. Sofie, married on 14 November 1518 to Duke Frederick II of Legnica, Anna, married on 1 December 1518 to Duke Wenceslaus II of Cieszyn. Albert of Prussia, Grand Master of the Teutonic Order and later first Duke of Prussia, Elisabeth, married in Pforzheim on 29 September 1510 to Margrave Ernest of Baden-Durlach. Barbara, married in Plassenburg on 26 July 1528 to Landgrave George III of Leuchtenberg, Frederick, a canon in Würzburg and Salzburg. Wilhelm, Archbishop of Riga in 1539-63, john Albert, Archbishop of Magdeburg from 1545 to 1550
31.
Berlin Palace
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The Berlin City Palace was a royal and imperial palace in the centre of Berlin, the historical capital of Prussia, and subsequently Germany. It was located on the Museum Island at Schlossplatz, opposite the Lustgarten park and it was the winter residence of the Kings of Prussia and the German Emperors. In 2013 work started on reconstruction and a part of the exterior of the palace has been rebuilt, the completion is expected in 2019. The palace was built in the 15th century and changed throughout the next few centuries. It served as a residence to various Electors of Brandenburg and it was the principal residence and winter residence of the Hohenzollern Kings of Prussia from 1701 to 1918. After the unification of Germany in 1871, it was also the residence for the German Emperors. It became a museum following the fall of the German Empire in 1918, the palace was heavily damaged by Allied bombing in World War II. Although it could have repaired, the palace was demolished in 1950 by the German Democratic Republic authorities. Following the reunification of Germany, it was decided to rebuild the exterior of the palace in the original style except for one side. The new building will have the cubature of the former palace, the interior will be modern, but the facades of one of the courts will be in the original style. However, the floorplan has been designed to allow potential future reconstruction of notable historical rooms, the building will house the Humboldtforum museum and congress complex, and is scheduled to be finished 14 September 2019. The palace replaced an earlier fort or castle guarding the crossing of the Spree river at Cölln, the castle stood on Fishers Island, as the southern end of the Museum Island in the Spree is known. In 1443 Frederick II Irontooth, Margrave and Prince Elector of Brandenburg, at the completion of the castle in 1451, Frederick moved there from the town of Brandenburg. The castle also included a chapel, in 1454 Frederick II, after having returned via Rome from his pilgrimage to Jerusalem, made the castle chapel a parish church, richly endowing it with relics and altars. Pope Nicholas V ordered Stephan Bodecker, then Prince-Bishop of Brandenburg and this collegiate church became the nucleus of todays Evangelical Supreme Parish and Collegiate Church, adjoining the site of the castle. In 1538, the Margrave Joachim II demolished the palace and engaged the master builder Caspar Theiss to build a new, after the Thirty Years War, Frederick William, the Great Elector, embellished the palace further. In 1688, Nicodemus Tessin designed courtyard arcades with columns in front. Not much is known about the alterations of 1690–1695, when Johann Nering was the court architect, martin Grünberg continued the alterations in 1695–1699
32.
Excise
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An excise or excise tax is an inland tax on the sale, or production for sale, of specific goods or a tax on a good produced for sale, or sold, within a country or licenses for specific activities. Excises are distinguished from customs duties, which are taxes on importation, excises are inland taxes, whereas customs duties are border taxes. An excise is considered a tax, meaning that the producer or seller who pays the tax to the government is expected to try to recover or shift the tax by raising the price paid by the buyer. Excises are typically imposed in addition to another indirect tax such as a tax or value added tax. Typical examples of excise duties are taxes on gasoline and other fuels, the etymology of the word excise is derived from the Dutch accijns, which is presumed to come from the Latin accensare, meaning simply to tax. Regulatory and legal definitions of excise vary by country, for example, In India, an excise is described as an indirect tax levied and collected on the goods manufactured in India. Include alcohol, tobacco and petroleum and alternative fuels, in Australia, the meaning of excise is not merely academic, but has been the subject of numerous court cases. Samuel Johnson was less flattering in his 1755 dictionary, EXCISE, a hateful tax levied upon commodities, and adjudged not by the common judges of property, but wretches hired by those to whom excise is paid. Monies raised through excise may be earmarked for redress of specific social costs commonly associated with the product or service being taxed, tobacco tax revenues, for example, might be spent on government anti-smoking campaigns. Excise duties or taxes often serve political as well as financial ends, public safety and health, public morals, environmental protection, and national defense are all rationales for the imposition of an excise. Punitive Many US states impose taxes on illegal drugs and these are the three main targets of excise taxation in most countries around the world. They are everyday items of mass usage which bring significant revenue for governments, the first two are considered to be legal drugs, which are a cause of many illnesses, which are used by large swathes of the population, both being widely recognized as addictive. Some U. S. states tax transactions involving illegal drugs, gambling licences are subject to excise in many countries today. Profits of bookmakers are subject to General Betting Duty in the United Kingdom, Excise has been known to be applied to substances which would in todays world seem rather unusual, such as salt, paper, and coffee. In fact, salt was taxed as early as the second century, such would the justification of salt tax, paper excise, and even advertisement duty have been. The window tax was introduced after controversy arose around the introduction of income tax, which was considered to be a breach of privacy. The rationale behind this was that the grandeur of a persons house, one way people got around this problem was to brick up their windows. In the case of people this was a big social problem
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Beer
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Beer is the worlds oldest and most widely consumed alcoholic drink, it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. Most beer is flavoured with hops, which add bitterness and act as a natural preservative, the fermentation process causes a natural carbonation effect, although this is often removed during processing, and replaced with forced carbonation. Beer is sold in bottles and cans, it may also be available on draught, particularly in pubs, the brewing industry is a global business, consisting of several dominant multinational companies and many thousands of smaller producers ranging from brewpubs to regional breweries. The strength of beer is usually around 4% to 6% alcohol by volume, archaeologists speculate that beer was instrumental in the formation of civilisations. Approximately 5000 years ago, workers in the city of Uruk were paid by their employers in beer, the earliest known chemical evidence of barley beer dates to circa 3500–3100 BC from the site of Godin Tepe in the Zagros Mountains of western Iran. The Ebla tablets, discovered in 1974 in Ebla, Syria, a fermented beverage using rice and fruit was made in China around 7000 BC. Unlike sake, mould was not used to saccharify the rice, almost any substance containing sugar can naturally undergo alcoholic fermentation. It is likely that many cultures, on observing that a liquid could be obtained from a source of starch. Bread and beer increased prosperity to a level that allowed time for development of other technologies, Beer was spread through Europe by Germanic and Celtic tribes as far back as 3000 BC, and it was mainly brewed on a domestic scale. The product that the early Europeans drank might not be recognised as beer by most people today, alongside the basic starch source, the early European beers might contain fruits, honey, numerous types of plants, spices and other substances such as narcotic herbs. What they did not contain was hops, as that was an addition, first mentioned in Europe around 822 by a Carolingian Abbot. Beer produced before the Industrial Revolution continued to be made and sold on a scale, although by the 7th century AD, beer was also being produced. During the Industrial Revolution, the production of beer moved from artisanal manufacture to industrial manufacture, the development of hydrometers and thermometers changed brewing by allowing the brewer more control of the process and greater knowledge of the results. Today, the industry is a global business, consisting of several dominant multinational companies. As of 2006, more than 133 billion litres, the equivalent of a cube 510 metres on a side, of beer are sold per year, the process of making beer is known as brewing. A dedicated building for the making of beer is called a brewery, a company that makes beer is called either a brewery or a brewing company. Beer made on a scale for non-commercial reasons is classified as homebrewing regardless of where it is made. Brewing beer is subject to legislation and taxation in developed countries, however, the UK government relaxed legislation in 1963, followed by Australia in 1972 and the US in 1978, allowing homebrewing to become a popular hobby
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Altmark
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See German tanker Altmark for the ship named after Altmark and Stary Targ for a Polish Pomeranian village. The Altmark is a region in Germany, comprising the northern third of Saxony-Anhalt. As the initial territory of the March of Brandenburg, it is referred to as the Cradle of Prussia, as by Otto von Bismarck. The Altmark is located west of the Elbe river between the cities of Hamburg and Magdeburg, mostly included in the districts of Altmarkkreis Salzwedel. Adjacent east of the Elbe is the historical Prignitz region, the cultural landscape within the North European Plain is rural and widely covered with forests and heathlands. The largest towns are Stendal, with a population of 39,000, before the Migration Period of 300 to 700 AD, the Lombards had settled the future Altmark. Subsequently, Old Germanic Saxon tribes lived in the northwest and Polabian Slavs in the territories along the Elbe. After the Saxon Wars, waged by Charlemagne from 772 to 804 and they formed part of the Eastphalian territory of the Duchy of Saxony, which, from 843 onwards, constituted the eastern borderlands of East Francia under Louis the German. The bishops of Verden and of Halberstadt promoted the Christianisation of the Saxon population, in 936 the German king Otto I allotted the territory of the later Altmark to the Saxon Count Gero, in order to subdue the West Slavic Wends settling on the Elbe. Gero thereafter campaigned in the Slavic lands far beyond the river Elbe and he retained only his margravial title and the initial land basis of his predecessor Geros conquests west of the river. For further one-and-a-half centuries, the lands east of the Elbe defied German control, the Altmark remained with the March of Brandenburg, from 1415 held by the House of Hohenzollern, and thereby became part of the rising Brandenburg-Prussia and of the Kingdom of Prussia. After Prussias defeat at the hands of Napoleon in 1806, the terms of the Treaty of Tilsit assigned the territory of the Altmark to the new Kingdom of Westphalia. Prussia regained the area upon Napoleons defeat, however the separation from Brandenburg lasted, within Prussian Saxony, the Altmark was subdivided into the districts of Salzwedel, Gardelegen, Osterburg, and Stendal, all administered within the Regierungsbezirk of Magdeburg. After World War II the Altmark, lying to the east of the inner German border, the regional administration of East Germany saw it administered within Bezirk Magdeburg from 1952 to 1990. With German reunification in 1990, the Altmark became part of a reconstituted Saxony-Anhalt, the region is drained by the Elbe, joined by the Havel at Havelberg, and its left tributaries of the Milde-Biese-Aland system and the Jeetzel river. The largest natural lake of the Altmark is the Arendsee, the Altmark is located off the main traffic routes. The Bundesautobahn 14 leads to the Bundesautobahn 2 from Hanover to Berlin, a continuation through the Altmark towards Schwerin is planned. Beside which the Federal roads B71, B107, B188, B189, B190, Stendal station is a stop on the Hanover–Berlin high-speed railway
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Lower Lusatia
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Lower Lusatia is a historical region in Central Europe, stretching from the southeast of the German state of Brandenburg to the southwest of Lubusz Voivodeship in Poland. Like adjacent Upper Lusatia in the south, Lower Lusatia is a settlement area of the West Slavic Sorbs whose endangered Lower Sorbian language is related to Upper Sorbian, the sparsely inhabited area within the North European Plain is characterised by extended pine forests, heathlands and meadows. In the north it is confined by the middle Spree River with Lake Schwielochsee, in the glacial valley between Lübben and Cottbus, the Spree River branches out into the Spreewald riparian forest. Other rivers include the Berste and Oelse tributaries as well as the Schlaube, in the east, the Bóbr River from Łagoda via Krzystkowice down to the historic town of Żary forms the border with the lands of Lower Silesia. In the west the course of the upper Dahme River down to Golßen separates it from the former Electoral Saxon lands of Saxe-Wittenberg, between Lower and Upper Lusatia is a hill region called the Grenzwall, the eastern continuation of the Fläming Heath. In the Middle Ages this area had forests, so it represented a major obstacle to civilian. Today it is roughly congruent of the border between Brandenburg and the state of Saxony, today the area comprises the Brandenburg districts of Oberspreewald-Lausitz and Spree-Neiße with the unitary authority of Cottbus, as well as parts of Elbe-Elster, Dahme-Spreewald, and Oder-Spree. Since 1945, when a part of Lusatia east of the Oder-Neisse Line was incorporated into Poland. Emperor Conrad II reconquered the territories in 1031, in 1136 Conrad the Great of the mighty House of Wettin, margrave of Meissen since 1123, also received the March of Lusatia. This remained under the rule of the Wettin dynasty until in 1303 it was acquired by the Ascanian margraves of Brandenburg, Charles father King John of Bohemia had already acquired the adjacent territory to the south around Bautzen and Görlitz, which became known as Upper Lusatia. The former Lordship of Cottbus was acquired by Brandenburg in 1455, both Lusatias formed separate Bohemian crown lands under the rule of the Luxembourg, Jagiellon and—from 1526—Habsburg dynasties. In the course of the Reformation the vast majority of the population turned Protestant, as the Kingdom of Saxony had sided with Napoleon it had to cede Lower Lusatia to Prussia in the 1815 Congress of Vienna, whereafter the territory became part of the Province of Brandenburg. With the implementation of the Oder-Neisse line by the 1945 Potsdam Conference, the Lower Lusatian bull is first documented in 1363, upon the death of Emperor Charles IV in 1378 it appeared in gules on a field argent, similar to the coat of arms of Luckau. Spreewald biosphere reserve Lusatian Lake District Lower Lusatian Heath Nature Park Lower Lusatian Ridge Nature Park List of regions of Saxony
36.
Zossen
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Zossen is a German town in the district of Teltow-Fläming in Brandenburg, approximately 20 miles south of Berlin, and next to the B96 highway. Zossen consists of smaller municipalities, which were grouped together in 2003 to form the city. Since the 2003 municipal reform, Zossen consists of the districts and municipalities, Zossen. Its name may derive from Sosna meaning pine, a quite common in the region. In 1875 Zossen station opened at the line from Berlin to Dresden. Between 1901 and 1904, Zossen adopted the use of different high-speed vehicles, such as locomotives and trams, for transportation to. These vehicles were powered by a current of 15kV and used a variable frequency. The power was transmitted by three overhead lines. In 1910 a proving ground and a garrison of the Imperial German Army was established at the Waldstadt section of the Wünsdorf community and also until now it is still established. In World War I it was the site of several camps, including the crescent camp for Muslim fighters of the Triple Entente. From 1939 to 1945, Wünsdorf hosted the headquarters of the German Wehrmacht. After World War II the area was the site of a Soviet military camp, since then has been returned to civilian use as the Wünsdorf-Waldstadt book town
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Kingdom of Bohemia
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The Kingdom of Bohemia, sometimes in English literature referred to as the Czech Kingdom, was a medieval and early modern monarchy in Central Europe, the predecessor of the modern Czech Republic. It was an Imperial State in the Holy Roman Empire, the kings of Bohemia, besides Bohemia ruled also the Lands of the Bohemian Crown, which at various times included Moravia, Silesia and parts of Saxony, Brandenburg and Bavaria. Numerous kings of Bohemia were also elected Holy Roman Emperors and the capital Prague was the seat in the late 14th century. After the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the became part of the Habsburg Austrian Empire. The Czech language was the language of the Diet and the nobility until 1627. German was then formally made equal with Czech and eventually prevailed as the language of the Diet until the Czech national revival in the 19th century. German was also used as the language of administration in many towns after Germans immigrated and populated some areas of the country in the 13th century. The royal court used the Czech, Latin, and German languages, depending on the ruler, following the defeat of the Central Powers in World War I, both the Kingdom and Empire were dissolved. Bohemia became the part of the newly formed Czechoslovak Republic. In 1204 Ottokars royal status was accepted by Otto IV as well as by Pope Innocent III and it was officially recognized in 1212 by the Golden Bull of Sicily issued by Emperor Frederick II, elevating the Duchy of Bohemia to Kingdom status. Under these terms, the Czech king was to be exempt from all obligations to the Holy Roman Empire except for participation in the imperial councils. The imperial prerogative to ratify each Bohemian ruler and to appoint the bishop of Prague was revoked, the kings successor was his son Wenceslaus I, from his second marriage. Corresponding with the Pope, she established the Knights of the Cross with the Red Star in 1233, four other military orders were present in Bohemia, the Order of St. John of Jerusalem from c. 1160, the Order of Saint Lazarus from the late 12th century, 1200–1421, and the Knights Templar from 1232–1312. The 13th century was the most dynamic period of the Přemyslid reign over Bohemia, at the same time, the Mongol invasions absorbed the attention of Bohemias eastern neighbors, Hungary and Poland. Přemysl Ottokar II married a German princess, Margaret of Babenberg and he thereby acquired Upper Austria, Lower Austria, and part of Styria. He conquered the rest of Styria, most of Carinthia, and he was called the king of iron and gold. He campaigned as far as Prussia, where he defeated the natives and in 1256, founded a city he named Královec in Czech
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Vladislaus II of Hungary
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Vladislaus II, also known as Vladislav II, Władysław II or Wladislas II, was King of Bohemia from 1471 to 1516, and King of Hungary and Croatia from 1490 to 1516. As the eldest son of Casimir IV Jagiellon, he was expected to inherit Poland, George of Poděbrady, the Hussite ruler of Bohemia, offered to make Vladislaus his heir in 1468. Poděbrady needed Casimir IVs support against the rebellious Catholic noblemen and their ally, Matthias Corvinus, the Diet of Bohemia elected Vladislaus king after Poděbradys death, but he could only rule Bohemia proper, because Matthias occupied Moravia, Silesia and Lusatia. Vladislaus tried to reconquer the three provinces with his fathers assistance, but Matthias repelled them, Vladislaus and Matthias divided the Lands of the Bohemian Crown in the Peace of Olomouc in 1479. The Estates of the realm had strengthened their position during the war between the two kings, Vladislauss attempts to promote the Catholics caused a rebellion in Prague and other towns in 1483, forcing him to acknowledge the dominance of the Hussites in the municipal assemblies. The Diet confirmed the right of the Bohemian noblemen and commoners to freely adhere either to Hussitism or Catholicism in 1485, after Matthias Corvinus seized Silesian duchies to grant them to his illegitimate son, John Corvinus, Vladislaus made new alliances against him in the late 1480s. Vladislaus laid claim to Hungary after Matthiass death, the Diet of Hungary elected him king after his supporters defeated John Corvinus. The other two claimants, Maximilian of Habsburg and Vladislauss brother, John Albert, invaded Hungary, but they could not assert their claim and he settled in Buda, enabling the Estates of Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia and Lusatia to take full charge of state administration. In Hungary, Vladislaus always approved the decisions of the Royal Council and they even annexed territories in Croatia after annihilating the united army of the Croatian barons in the Battle of Krbava Field in 1493. Vladislaus was the eldest son of Casimir IV, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania and she was the daughter of Albert, King of the Romans, Hungary and Bohemia. Vladislaus was born in Kraków on 1 March 1456 and his mother and father laid claim to Hungary and Bohemia after her childless brother, Ladislaus the Posthumous, died on 23 November 1457. However, their claims were ignored in both Hungary and Bohemia, the Diet of Hungary elected Matthias Corvinus king on 24 January 1458. The Bohemian Estates of the realm proclaimed the Hussite George of Poděbrady king on 2 March, Vladislaus was his fathers heir in Poland and Lithuania. Casimir IV wanted to prepare all his sons for ruling a realm, the historian Jan Długosz was Vladislauss tutor. Pope Paul II excommunicated George of Poděbrady in late 1466 and proclaimed a crusade against him, the Czech Catholic noblemen rose up against the heretic Poděbrady and sought assistance from Matthias Corvinus. Matthias declared war in March 1468 and invaded Moravia, on 16 May 1468, Poděbrady offered Casimir IV to make Vladislaus his heir if Casimir mediated a peace treaty between Bohemia and Hungary. Matthias refused Casimirs offer, but Poděbrady forced him to sign a truce in early 1469, fearing of losing Matthiass support, the Catholic nobles proclaimed him king of Bohemia in Olomouc on 3 May. After Poděbrady repeated his offer of bequeathing Bohemia to Vladislaus, Casimir IV entered into negotiations with the Holy Roman Emperor, Poděbrady died on 22 March 1471
39.
House of Griffins
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The House of Griffins or House of Pomerania, also known as House of Greifen, was a dynasty of dukes ruling the Duchy of Pomerania from the 12th century until 1637. The name Griffins was used by the dynasty after the 15th century and had taken from the ducal coat of arms. Wartislaw I was the first historical ruler of the Duchy of Pomerania, the most prominent Griffin was Eric of Pomerania, who became king of the Kalmar Union in 1397, thus ruling Denmark, Sweden and Norway. The last Griffin duke of Pomerania was Bogislaw XIV, who died during the Thirty Years War, duchess Anna von Croy, daughter of Duke Bogislaw XIII and the last Griffin, died in 1660. The name Pomerania comes from Slavic po more, which means along the sea, the origins of the Griffins are not clear. Most theories derive them from either local Slavic nobility or a branch of Polish house of Piasts. In the 17th century, the Griffins derived their roots from legendary beings from Sorbs mythology called Gryphus or Baltus, the first known members of the Griffins were the brothers Wartislaw I and Ratibor I. The first known member of the Swantiborides branch of the Griffins, ∞ Sophia, daughter of Bolesław IV. of Poland Bogislaw II. ∞ Sophia, daughter Bogislaw IX of Pomerania-Stolp Bogislaw X Casimir VII, a daughter of Mieszko III of Poland Bogislaw, ∞ another daughter of Mieszko III of Poland Ratibor II The Swantiborides were related to the Griffins, but the link remains unclear. Probably they descend from Swantibor, a Pomeranian duke overthrown in a rebellion and this Swantibor might have been a cousin of Swantopolk, a Pomeranian duke defeated by Boleslaw III of Poland in a campaign of 1111/12. Yet, these assumptions all remain speculative, daughter 3 ∞ Czyrnek, Castellan of Kolberg Eric of Pomerania, son of Wartislaw VII, was King of Norway, elected King of Denmark, and of Sweden. He was the first king of the Nordic Kalmar Union, euphemia of Pomerania, daughter of Bogislaw IV, married Christopher II of Denmark and became queen of Denmark. Elizabeth of Pomerania, daughter of Bogislaw V, was the fourth and last wife of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor and her daughter Anne of Bohemia, of Luxembourg and of Pomerania became Queen of England as a wife of King Richard II of England. She was known as Good Queen Anne, sophie of Pomerania, daughter of Bogislaw X, married King Frederick I of Denmark and became Queen of Denmark and Norway. Edward Rymar, Rodowód książąt pomorskich, Szczecin 1995, martin Wehrmann, Genealogie des pommerschen Fürstenhauses. Veröffentlichungen the landesgeschichtlichen Forschungsstelle für Pommern, Reihe 1, Bd.5, martin Wehrmann, Geschichte von Pommern. genemaas. net/Pommern. htm Rulers of Pomerania Greifen, Herzöge von Pommern
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Lehnin Abbey
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Lehnin Abbey is a former Cistercian monastery in Lehnin in Brandenburg, Germany. Founded in 1180 and secularized during the Protestant Reformation in 1542, it has accommodated the Luise-Henrietten-Stift, to consolidate their rule, the Ascanians called for Christian settlers, especially from Flanders to settle among the pagan Slavs. Beside, they established Cistercian monasteries to develop the lands and to generate an income, Lehnin on the Zauche plateau south of the Havelland region, a daughter house of Morimond Abbey, was the first abbey to be founded as an Ascanian family monastery and place of burial. It soon became an important contributor to the development of the Margraviate. Otto I was buried here in 1184, in its turn Lehnin founded the daughter houses of Paradies Abbey, Mariensee Abbey, and Himmelpfort Abbey near Fürstenberg/Havel. The abbey was dissolved in 1542 during the Reformation and turned into an electoral demesne, devastated during the Thirty Years War, it was rebuilt under the Great Elector Frederick William from about 1650 and became a summer residence of his first consort Louise Henriette of Nassau. After her death in 1667, Frederick William encouraged the settlement of Huguenot refugees at Lehnin according to his 1685 Edict of Potsdam, which added largely to the recovery of the local economy. Lehnin received access to the Havel river via an artificial waterway and became the site of a large brickyard, from 1871 to 1877, the ruins were remarkably well restored. In 1911 the premises were purchased by the Prussian Union of churches to house the Protestant community known as the Luise-Henrietten-Stift, the deaconesses adopted the Cistercian tradition, they were suppressed under Nazi rule, when the authorities seized large parts of the monastery complex for Wehrmacht and SS purposes. From 1949 onwards, Lehnin Abbey was turned into a hospital, today it serves as a rehabilitation clinic. Lehnin Abbey is significant for its Brick Gothic architecture, and is one of the finest German Brick Gothic period buildings in the country. The Vaticinium Lehninense was a work, famous in its day, manuscripts of the prophecy, which was first printed in 1722, existed in Berlin, Dresden, Breslau and Göttingen. Here the writer leaves the region of safety and ceases to make any realistic portrait of the people about whom he is prophesying, the work ends with a Catholic ruler who re-establishes Lehnin as a monastery and is also made to restore the union of the Holy Roman Empire. The work is anti-Prussian, but the author cannot be discovered. The first to unmask the fraud was Pastor Weiss, who proved in his Vaticinium Germanicum that the pseudo-prophecy was really written between 1688 and 1700, even after the detection of its true character, attempts were made to use it in anti-Prussian polemics
