![Friedrich II 300f](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/Friedrich_II_300f.jpg)
Frederick II of Brandenburg () (19 November 1413 – 10 February 1471), nicknamed "the Iron" (''der Eiserne'') and sometimes "Irontooth" (''Eisenzahn''), was a
Prince-elector
The prince-electors (german: Kurfürst pl. , cz, Kurfiřt, la, Princeps Elector), or electors for short, were the members of the electoral college that elected the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
From the 13th century onwards, the prince ...
of the
Margraviate of Brandenburg
The Margraviate of Brandenburg (german: link=no, Markgrafschaft Brandenburg) was a major principality of the Holy Roman Empire from 1157 to 1806 that played a pivotal role in the history of Germany and Central Europe.
Brandenburg developed out o ...
from 1440 until his abdication in 1470, and was a member of the
House of Hohenzollern
The House of Hohenzollern (, also , german: Haus Hohenzollern, , ro, Casa de Hohenzollern) is a German royal (and from 1871 to 1918, imperial) dynasty whose members were variously princes, Prince-elector, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzol ...
.
Biography
Frederick II was born at Tangermünde Castle (German: ''
Burg Tangermünde
The German word Burg means castle. Burg or Bürg may refer to:
Places Placename element
* ''-burg'', a combining form in Dutch, German and English placenames
* Burg, a variant of burh, the fortified towns of Saxon England
Settlements
* Burg, Aar ...
''), when
Tangermünde
Tangermünde (; nds, Tangermünn) is a historic town on the Elbe River in the district of Stendal, in the northeastern part of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.
Geography
Tangermünde is situated in the historic Altmark region of the North German Plain, ...
was within the
Margraviate of Brandenburg
The Margraviate of Brandenburg (german: link=no, Markgrafschaft Brandenburg) was a major principality of the Holy Roman Empire from 1157 to 1806 that played a pivotal role in the history of Germany and Central Europe.
Brandenburg developed out o ...
, to
Frederick I Frederick I may refer to:
* Frederick of Utrecht or Frederick I (815/16–834/38), Bishop of Utrecht.
* Frederick I, Duke of Upper Lorraine (942–978)
* Frederick I, Duke of Swabia (1050–1105)
* Frederick I, Count of Zoller ...
, Brandenburg's first Hohenzollern ruler, and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of
Frederick, Duke of Bavaria-Landshut
Frederick (1339 – 4 December 1393) was Duke of Bavaria from 1375. He was the second son of Stephen II and Elizabeth of Sicily.
Family
His maternal grandparents were Frederick III of Sicily and Eleanor of Anjou. Her parents were Charles I ...
, and
Maddalena Visconti
Maddalena Visconti (1366 – 17 July 1404) was a daughter of Bernabò Visconti and his wife Beatrice Regina della Scala. Maddalena was Duchess of Bavaria-Landshut by her marriage to Frederick, Duke of Bavaria.
Family
Maddalena was born in Milan ...
. The latter was a daughter of
Bernabò Visconti
Bernabò or Barnabò Visconti (1323 – 19 December 1385) was an Italian soldier and statesman who was Lord of Milan. Along with his brothers Matteo and Galeazzo II, he inherited the lordship of Milan from his uncle Giovanni. Later in 1355, he an ...
and
Beatrice della Scala
Beatrice ''Regina'' della Scala (1331 – 18 June 1384) was Lady of Milan by marriage to Bernabò Visconti, Lord of Milan, and politically active as the adviser of her spouse.Tuchman, p.333
Life
Beatrice Regina was born in Verona in 1331,Charle ...
. As the second son, his brothers included
John the Alchemist and
Albert Achilles
Albrecht III (9 November 141411 March 1486) was Elector of Brandenburg from 1471 until his death, the third from the House of Hohenzollern. A member of the Order of the Swan, he received the cognomen ''Achilles'' because of his knightly qualiti ...
, both of whom also ruled Brandenburg as
margrave
Margrave was originally the medieval title for the military commander assigned to maintain the defence of one of the border provinces of the Holy Roman Empire or of a kingdom. That position became hereditary in certain feudal families in the Emp ...
s.
In 1421, at age 8, Frederick was betrothed to
Hedwig Jagiellon, but she died on 8 December 1431, before the marriage could take place.
When Frederick I retired in 1437, he compensated his incapable eldest son John with the
Principality of Bayreuth
The Principality of Bayreuth (german: Fürstentum Bayreuth) or Margraviate of Brandenburg-Bayreuth (''Markgraftum Brandenburg-Bayreuth'') was an immediate territory of the Holy Roman Empire, ruled by a Franconian branch of the Hohenzollern dyna ...
while Frederick II assumed the government of Brandenburg. Unlike his father, he turned away from imperial politics and concentrated on his efforts to pacify the nobility and
towns
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares an ori ...
of the electorate. Quarrels with the city of
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
began in 1440 with his plans to build a new residence on the
Cölln
Cölln () was the twin city of Old Berlin (Altberlin) from the 13th century to the 18th century. Cölln was located on the Fisher Island section of Spree Island, opposite Altberlin on the western bank of the River Spree, until the cities we ...
island of the
Spree
Spree may refer to:
Geography
* Spree (river), river in Germany
Film and television
* ''The Spree'', a 1998 American television film directed by Tommy Lee Wallace
* ''Spree'' (film), a 2020 American film starring Joe Keery
* "Spree" (''Numbers' ...
river. In 1448 the ''Berliner Unwille'' (indignation) against the cession of the city's territory for an electoral stronghold culminated in open revolt, when the citizens flooded the excavation of the future ''
Stadtschloss''. Nevertheless, Frederick II prevailed, had the palace built and the
city's rights decisively curtailed.
In 1453, Frederick II, in his position as the Margrave of Brandenburg, was sent a letter from Rhodes, penned by the Grand Master of the Knights of St John, notifying him of the Fall of Constantinople and requesting he send them support so as to allow them to continue to combat the Turkish threat. His response is unknown.
[A. Pertusi, Testi inediti e poco noti sulla caduta di Constantinopoli, ed. A Carile. Il Mondo Medievale: sezione di bizantina e slava 4]
In 1454 and 1455, he concluded the
Treaties of Cölln and Mewe
The Treaties of Cölln and Mewe, concluded in 1454 and 1455, transferred the Neumark (New March) from the State of the Teutonic Order to the Electorate of Brandenburg. The Teutonic Knights had received the area as a pawn from Brandenburg in 1402, a ...
and thereby re-gained the
Neumark
The Neumark (), also known as the New March ( pl, Nowa Marchia) or as East Brandenburg (), was a region of the Margraviate of Brandenburg and its successors located east of the Oder River in territory which became part of Poland in 1945.
Calle ...
(New March) from the
Teutonic Order state
The State of the Teutonic Order (german: Staat des Deutschen Ordens, ; la, Civitas Ordinis Theutonici; lt, Vokiečių ordino valstybė; pl, Państwo zakonu krzyżackiego), also called () or (), was a medieval Crusader state, located in Centr ...
. Weary of the long struggle with the
Duchy of Pomerania
The Duchy of Pomerania (german: Herzogtum Pommern; pl, Księstwo Pomorskie; Latin: ''Ducatus Pomeraniae'') was a duchy in Pomerania on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, ruled by dukes of the House of Pomerania (''Griffins''). The country ha ...
, he abdicated in 1470 in favour of his younger brother Albert Achilles, he retired to the Bayreuth Principality and died one year later in
Neustadt an der Aisch
Neustadt an der Aisch (officially: ''Neustadt a.d.Aisch'') is a small town of around 13,000 inhabitants in the northern part of Bavaria (Germany), within the Franconian administrative region Middle Franconia.
"Neustadt an der Aisch" (mapping), ...
.
Family and children
On 11 June 1441, Frederick II married
Catherine
Katherine, also spelled Catherine, and other variations are feminine names. They are popular in Christian countries because of their derivation from the name of one of the first Christian saints, Catherine of Alexandria.
In the early Christ ...
of
Saxony
Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...
(1421 – August 23, 1476), a daughter of
Elector Frederick I of Saxony and
Katharina of Brunswick-Lüneburg. They had three children (and Frederick had one bastard):
*
Dorothea of Brandenburg
Dorothea of Brandenburg (1430/1431 – 10 November 1495) was a Hohenzollern princess who became a Scandinavian queen by marriage under the Kalmar Union. She was Queen of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden from her marriage to King Christopher III in 1 ...
(c. 1446 – March, 1519), married Duke
John V of Saxe-Lauenburg
John V of Saxe-Lauenburg (also numbered John IV; 18 July 1439 – 15 August 1507) was the eldest son of Duke Bernard II of Saxe-Lauenburg and Adelheid of Pomerania-Stolp (1410 – after 1445), daughter of Duke Bogislaus VIII of Pomerania-Stolp. ...
on 12 February 1464.
*
Margaret of Brandenburg
Margaret of Brandenburg-Salzwedel (german: Margareta, pl, Małgorzata; born ca. 1270 – died 1 May 1315) was a German noblewoman member of the House of Ascania and by her two marriages Duchess of Greater Poland (during 1293–1296), Queen of P ...
(c. 1450 – 1489), married
Bogislaw X, Duke of Pomerania
Bogislaw X of Pomerania, ''the Great'', (3 June 1454 – 5 October 1523) was Duke of Pomerania from 1474 until his death in 1523.
Biography
Bogislaw was born in Rügenwalde (now Darłowo, Poland). His parents were Eric II, Duke of Pomerania-Wo ...
.
*Johan of Brandenburg (December 23, 14 - 1454)
*Erasmus von Brandenburg (c. 1452 - 1465).
Ancestors
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frederick Ii, Elector Of Brandenburg
1413 births
1471 deaths
People from Stendal (district)
15th-century German people
Prince-electors of Brandenburg
Margraves of Bayreuth
House of Hohenzollern
Burials at Heilsbronn Abbey