Ursula of Brandenburg (25 September 1450 – 25 November 1508,
Breslau) was a princess of
Brandenburg
Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a 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 area of 29,480 sq ...
by birth and by marriage Duchess of
Münsterberg and
Oels and Countess of
Glatz.
Life
Ursula was the eldest child of the Elector
Albrecht Achilles of Brandenburg (1414–1486) from his first marriage to
Margarete of Baden (1431–1457). The princess was considered a favorite child of her father and one of the most prominent victims of the
marriage of convenience
A marriage of convenience is a marriage contracted for reasons other than that of love and commitment. Instead, such a marriage is entered into for personal gain, or some other sort of strategic purpose, such as a political marriage. There are ...
in the 15th century. First, she had been promised to Duke
Albert the Brave of Saxony. When he broke off the engagement, she was passed on to his older brother,
Ernest
Ernest is a given name derived from Germanic word ''ernst'', meaning "serious". Notable people and fictional characters with the name include:
People
* Archduke Ernest of Austria (1553–1595), son of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor
* Ernest, ...
. When this engagement was also dissolved, the next marriage candidate was Duke
Henry the Elder of Münsterberg-Oels (1448–1498), son of the Bohemian king
George of Poděbrady
George of Kunštát and Poděbrady (23 April 1420 – 22 March 1471), also known as Poděbrad or Podiebrad ( cs, Jiří z Poděbrad; german: Georg von Podiebrad), was the sixteenth King of Bohemia, who ruled in 1458–1471. He was a leader of the ...
. In 1466
Pope Paul II
Pope Paul II ( la, Paulus II; it, Paolo II; 23 February 1417 – 26 July 1471), born Pietro Barbo, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States
from 30 August 1464 to his death in July 1471. When his maternal uncle Eugene IV ...
disapproved of the engagement as a "blasphemous connection with a heretic", and Ursula and her father were
excommunicated
Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The purpose ...
. The relations between Brandenburg and Emperor
Frederick III also worsened due to the engagement. George of Poděbrady and Abrecht Achilles created a