The House Treaty of Gera was a

House law House law or House laws (''Hausgesetze'') are rules that govern a royal family or dynasty in matters of eligibility for succession to a throne, membership in a dynasty, exercise of a regency, or entitlement to dynastic rank, titles and styles ...

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, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzollern, Brandenbu ...

on the succession in Brandenburg and in the Franconian territories at the end of the sixteenth century binding rules. The Treaty and came about because Elector John George of Brandenburg had violated the requirements made in

Dispositio Achillea The Dispositio Achillea (also: ''Constitutio Achillea'' or ''Achillean House Law'') was the disposition of the territories of Elector Albert III Achilles of Brandenburg as regulated in his last will and testament of 1473. In particular, the Achi ...

in his will. In these provisions, the indivisibility of the

Mark Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Fi ...

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a states of Germany, state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an ar ...

has been prescribed as a mandatory principle of succession. John George, however, had stipulated his will that part of 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 ...

and

Krosno Odrzańskie Krosno Odrzańskie (german: Crossen an der Oder) is a city on the east bank of Oder River, at the confluence with the Bóbr. The town in Western Poland with 11,319 inhabitants (2019) is the capital of Krosno County. It is assigned to the Lubusz ...

should be separated from the Mark and given to his two younger sons.

History

Immediately after John George's death in 1598, his eldest son and successor, Elector Joachim Frederick contested the will and consulted with Margrave George Frederick I. He was the last descendant of the elder branch of the Franconian Hohenzollerns and ruled the two margraviates of

Brandenburg-Ansbach The Principality or Margraviate of (Brandenburg-)Ansbach (german: Fürstentum Ansbach or ) was a principality in the Holy Roman Empire centered on the Franconian city of Ansbach. The ruling House of Hohenzollern, Hohenzollern princes of the land ...

and

Brandenburg-Kulmbach 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 dynas ...

. George Frederick had no offspring of his own. This consultation led to the House Treaty of Gera: Joachim Frederick would inherit the whole Mark of Brandenburg (immediately) and his younger brothers would inherit the Franconian principalities (after George Frederick's death). The younger brothers had to renounce their claims that were based on John George's invalid will. After the House Treaty of Gera was finally accepted by all parties concerned, it was

ratified Ratification is a principal's approval of an act of its agent that lacked the authority to bind the principal legally. Ratification defines the international act in which a state indicates its consent to be bound to a treaty if the parties inte ...

on 29 April 1599 in Magdeburg. The most important paragraph of the agreement was that each Elector of Brandenburg should always inherit the entire and undivided Mark, because this was considered an integral part of the Electoral dignity. The ''indivisibility'' of the Mark of Brandenburg that was already prescribed in the , was renewed and reaffirmed. John George's younger sons were compensated with the succession of the Franconian possessions of the Hohenzollerns. After George Frederick's death, they would receive both his Margraviates as hereditary

secundogeniture A secundogeniture (from la, secundus "following, second," and "born") was a dependent territory given to a younger son of a princely house and his descendants, creating a cadet branch. This was a special form of inheritance in which the second a ...

s. To decide who would inherit which principality, they would have to draw lots among themselves, as had been the practice before the ''

''.

References

* Gerhard Taddey: ''Lexikon der deutschen Geschichte'', Stuttgart, 1998, * M. Spindler, A. Kraus: ''Geschichte Frankens bis zum Ausgang des 18. Jahrhunderts'', München, 1997, {{Use dmy dates, date=May 2012 House of Hohenzollern 1599