John VI, Count of Oldenburg (1501 in

Oldenburg Oldenburg may also refer to: Places *Mount Oldenburg, Ellsworth Land, Antarctica *Oldenburg (city), an independent city in Lower Saxony, Germany **Oldenburg (district), a district historically in Oldenburg Free State and now in Lower Saxony *Olde ...

– 1548 in

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

) was a Count of Oldenburg. He was the eldest son of John V, Count of Oldenburg and his wife, Anna of

Anhalt-Bernburg Anhalt-Bernburg was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire and a duchy of the German Confederation ruled by the House of Ascania with its residence at Bernburg in present-day Saxony-Anhalt. It emerged as a subdivision from the Principality of ...

. He was supposed to rule jointly with his younger brothers. However, his time in office was marked by conflicts between John VI and his co-rulers.

Life

John V died in 1526 and his four sons, John VI, George,

Christopher Christopher is the English language, English version of a Europe-wide name derived from the Greek language, Greek name Χριστόφορος (''Christophoros'' or ''Christoforos''). The constituent parts are Χριστός (''Christós''), "Jesus ...

and Anthony I took up ruling the Count of Oldenburg jointly. Their relationship was tense from the start of their joint rule. John VI, George, Anna, and their mother remained

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

s, while Christopher and Anthony I chose the

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

faith. Furthermore, Christopher and Anthony I tried to improve relationships with neighbouring

East Frisia East Frisia or East Friesland (german: Ostfriesland; ; stq, Aastfräislound) is a historic region in the northwest of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is primarily located on the western half of the East Frisian peninsula, to the east of West Frisia ...

with a double wedding. John VI and George opposed this wedding for dynastic reasons, since the Cirksena family ruling East Frisia had only been raised to imperial counts in 1464. The conflict was resolved when Christopher and Anthony I forced John VI and George to abdicate in 1529. After his abdication, John VI tried to regain power. He was supported by Henry V, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg. In 1533, John VI was appointed co-ruler with limited responsibilities for a 10-year period. John VI sued his brothers, demanding an equal share in power, or else a division of the county. In 1542, the case was settled out of court, with John accepting financial compensation while renouncing his claims to co-rulership. Contemporary sources do not provide information as to what happened to George. John VI died in 1548 in Bremen. His widow was not a noblewoman, so children from this marriage (if any) would be unable to inherit the county. He probably married her after he had lost all hope of regaining power.

References

* Hans Friedl, Wolfgang Günther, Hilke Günther-Arndt and Heinrich Schmidt (eds.): ''Biographisches Handbuch zur Geschichte des Landes Oldenburg'', Oldenburg, 1992, Counts of Oldenburg 1501 births 1548 deaths 16th-century German people People from Oldenburg (city) 16th-century Roman Catholics German Roman Catholics {{Germany-noble-stub

Life

See also

References