Waldemar the Great (german: Waldemar der Große; – 14 August 1319), a member of the
House of Ascania
The House of Ascania (german: Askanier) was a dynasty of German rulers. It is also known as the House of Anhalt, which refers to its longest-held possession, Anhalt.
The Ascanians are named after Ascania (or Ascaria) Castle, known as ''Schloss ...
, was
Margrave of Brandenburg-Stendal from 1308 until his death. He became sole ruler 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 ...
upon the death of his cousin
John V of Brandenburg-Salzwedel in 1317. Waldemar is known as the last in the line of Ascanian margraves starting with
Albert the Bear
Albert the Bear (german: Albrecht der Bär; 1100 – 18 November 1170) was the first margrave of Brandenburg from 1157 to his death and was briefly duke of Saxony between 1138 and 1142.
Life
Albert was the only son of Otto, Count of Bal ...
in 1157; he was only succeeded by his minor cousin
Henry II, who died one year later.
Life
He was a son of Margrave
Conrad of Brandenburg-Stendal and his wife
Constance
Constance may refer to:
Places
*Konstanz, Germany, sometimes written as Constance in English
*Constance Bay, Ottawa, Canada
* Constance, Kentucky
* Constance, Minnesota
* Constance (Portugal)
* Mount Constance, Washington State
People
* Consta ...
, eldest daughter of the
Piast
The House of Piast was the first historical ruling dynasty of Poland. The first documented Polish monarch was Duke Mieszko I (c. 930–992). The Piasts' royal rule in Poland ended in 1370 with the death of king Casimir III the Great.
Branche ...
duke
Przemysł I of Greater Poland
Przemysł I (4 June 1221 – 4 June 1257), a member of the Piast dynasty, was Duke of Greater Poland from 1239 until his death, from 1241 with his brother Bolesław the Pious as co-ruler. He was able to re-acquire large parts of Greater Poland, r ...
. Waldemar was co-regent from 1302, and succeeded as margrave upon the death of his uncle
Otto IV
Otto IV (1175 – 19 May 1218) was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1209 until his death in 1218.
Otto spent most of his early life in England and France. He was a follower of his uncle Richard the Lionheart, who made him Count of Poitou in 1196 ...
in 1308.
![Pommerellen](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/Pommerellen.png)
In 1307 Waldemar signed an agreement with the
Swienca family ceding him the lands of
Pomerelia
Pomerelia,, la, Pomerellia, Pomerania, pl, Pomerelia (rarely used) also known as Eastern Pomerania,, csb, Pòrénkòwô Pòmòrskô Vistula Pomerania, prior to World War II also known as Polish Pomerania, is a historical sub-region of Pome ...
(
Gdańsk Pomerania
Gdańsk Pomerania ( pl, Pomorze Gdańskie), csb, Gduńsczim Pòmòrzã, german: Danziger Pommern) is a geographical region within Pomerelia in northern and northwestern Poland, covering the bulk of Pomeranian Voivodeship.
It forms a part and t ...
), whereafter Brandenburg troops occupied
Świecie
Świecie (; german: Schwetz) is a town in northern Poland with 25,968 inhabitants (2006), situated in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship (since 1999); it was in Bydgoszcz Voivodeship from 1975 to 1998. It is the capital of Świecie County.
Locatio ...
,
Tczew
Tczew (, csb, Dërszewò; formerly ) is a city on the Vistula River in Pomerelia, Eastern Pomerania, Kociewie, northern Poland with 59,111 inhabitants (December 2021). The city is known for its Old Town and the Vistula Bridge, or Bridge of Tczew ...
and all strategic locations up to
Gdańsk
Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...
(Danzig). In turn, the Polish king
Władysław I called for the support of the
Teutonic Knights
The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly known as the Teutonic Order, is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was formed to aid Christians on ...
, and after their
takeover of Danzig, Waldemar by the 1309
Treaty of Soldin relinquished his claims on Pomerelia east of the
Łeba
Łeba (pronounced: , Kashubian, Pomeranian and German: ''Leba'') is a seaside town in the Pomeranian Voivodeship of northern Poland. It is located in the Pomerelia sub-region, near Łebsko Lake and the mouth of the river Łeba on the coast of th ...
River to the Teutonic Order for a payment of 10,000
silver Mark. The castle districts
Schlawe and Stolp including the Swienca residence of
Rügenwalde at first remained with Brandenburg.
In 1312, Waldemar also waged war against Margrave
Frederick I of Meissen
Frederick I, called the Brave or the Bitten (German: ''Friedrich der Freidige'' or ''Friedrich der Gebissene''; 1257 – 16 November 1323) was Margrave of Meissen and Landgrave of Thuringia.
Life
Born in Eisenach, Frederick was the son of Albert I ...
. Frederick was captured and arrested; to regain his freedom, he had to cede the
March of Lusatia
The March or Margraviate of Lusatia (german: Mark(grafschaft) Lausitz) was as an eastern border march of the Holy Roman Empire in the lands settled by Polabian Slavs. It arose in 965 in the course of the partition of the vast ''Marca Geronis''. R ...
as well as the towns of
Torgau
Torgau () is a town on the banks of the Elbe in northwestern Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district Nordsachsen.
Outside Germany, the town is best known as where on 25 April 1945, the United States and Soviet Armies forces first ...
and
Großenhain
Großenhain (also written as Grossenhain; hsb, Wulki Hojn) is a Große Kreisstadt (German for major district town) in the district of Meissen, Saxony, Germany. It was originally known as Hayne. The current name simply means "big Hayne"
History
...
to Brandenburg and to pay a ransom of 32,000 silver Mark. In the
Imperial election
The election of a Holy Roman Emperor was generally a two-stage process whereby, from at least the 13th century, the King of the Romans was elected by a small body of the greatest princes of the Empire, the prince-electors. This was then followed ...
of 1314, Waldemar voted for the
Wittelsbach
The House of Wittelsbach () is a German dynasty, with branches that have ruled over territories including Bavaria, the Palatinate, Holland and Zeeland, Sweden (with Finland), Denmark, Norway, Hungary (with Romania), Bohemia, the Electorate o ...
candidate
Louis IV against his
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...
rival
Frederick the Fair
Frederick the Fair (german: Friedrich der Schöne) or the Handsome (c. 1289 – 13 January 1330), from the House of Habsburg, was the duke of Austria and Styria from 1308 as well as the anti-king of Germany from 1314 until 1325 and then co-king ...
. In 1316, Waldemar again occupied
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...
until the feud with Meissen was finally brought to an end in 1317.
In the ongoing conflict with Prince
Henry II of Mecklenburg
Henry II, Lord of Mecklenburg, nicknamed ''the Lion'' (after 14 April 1266 – 21 January 1329 in Sternberg) was regent of Mecklenburg from 1287 to 1298, co-regent from 1298 to 1302 and ruled alone again from 1302 to 1329.
Life
He was the ...
, Waldemar supported the citizens of
Stralsund
Stralsund (; Swedish: ''Strålsund''), officially the Hanseatic City of Stralsund (German: ''Hansestadt Stralsund''), is the fifth-largest city in the northeastern German federal state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after Rostock, Schwerin, Neub ...
against an impending Mecklenburg invasion and occupied the
Lordship of Stargard
The Lordship of Stargard (German: ''Herrschaft Stargard'', ''Stargarder Land'' or ''Land Stargard'') was a county first set up in the 13th century as the ''terra Stargardiensis'' and first documented in the area of the border between Brandenburg, ...
, a former possession of Henry's late wife
Beatrix of Brandenburg. Thereby, he provoked a large coalition of Mecklenburg, Werle, and the
Kingdom of Denmark
The Danish Realm ( da, Danmarks Rige; fo, Danmarkar Ríki; kl, Danmarkip Naalagaaffik), officially the Kingdom of Denmark (; ; ), is a sovereign state located in Northern Europe and Northern North America. It consists of Denmark, metropolitan ...
against him. In August 1316, Waldemar's troops were defeated near
Gransee
Gransee ()''Duden - Das Aussprachewörterbuch, 7. Auflage (German)'', Dudenverlag, is a town in the Oberhavel district, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated 20 km south of Fürstenberg/Havel, and 55 km northwest of Berlin.
An importa ...
. According to the 1317
Treaty of Templin
The Treaty of Templin was concluded on 24/25 November 1317, ending a war between the Margraviate of Brandenburg and Denmark, the latter leading a North German alliance. During this war, Brandenburgian margrave Waldemar (also Woldemar) and his tro ...
, the margrave had to surrender Stargard and
Neubrandenburg
Neubrandenburg (lit. ''New Brandenburg'', ) is a city in the southeast of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is located on the shore of a lake called Tollensesee and forms the urban centre of the Mecklenburg Lakeland.
The city is famous for its ...
to Mecklenburg. He also had to waive the previous Pomerelian acquisitions of Schlawe and Stolp, which passed to Duke
Wartislaw IV of Pomerania.
In 1319 Waldemar acquired the
Silesian towns of
Züllichau and
Schwiebus.
Family
![Siegesallee 08 Waldemar 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Siegesallee_08_Waldemar_2.jpg)
In 1309 he married his cousin Agnes (–1334), a daughter of Margrave
Hermann of Brandenburg-Salzwedel. The marriage remained childless.
Waldemar was the last governing member of the Brandenburg line of the Ascanian House. With the death of his cousin John V in 1317, the younger Salzwedel line of the Brandenburg margraves became extinct. From 1318 Waldemar also acted as a guardian for his minor cousin Henry II, Margrave of Brandenburg-Stendal. His advance towards the
Prussian
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...
lands was resumed more than 200 years later, when both Brandenburg and the
Duchy of Prussia
The Duchy of Prussia (german: Herzogtum Preußen, pl, Księstwo Pruskie, lt, Prūsijos kunigaikštystė) or Ducal Prussia (german: Herzogliches Preußen, link=no; pl, Prusy Książęce, link=no) was a duchy in the Prussia (region), region of P ...
were under the rule of the
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, Brandenb ...
dynasty.
After Waldemar's death, his wife Agnes secondly married Duke
Otto of Brunswick-Göttingen in December 1319. When Waldemar's ward Henry II died in July 1320, the Brandenburg branch of the Ascanian house died out in 1320. As a reverted fief, the margraviate fell back to the Wittelsbach king Louis IV. In 1323, he enfeoffed his eldest son
Louis Louis may refer to:
* Louis (coin)
* Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name
* Louis (surname)
* Louis (singer), Serbian singer
* HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy
See also
Derived or associated terms
* Lewis ( ...
with Brandenburg, ignoring the claims of the Ascanian princes of
Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of
and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it the ...
.
False Waldemar
In 1348, an impostor appeared in the
Archbishopric of Magdeburg
The Archbishopric of Magdeburg was a Roman Catholic archdiocese (969–1552) and Prince-Archbishopric (1180–1680) of the Holy Roman Empire centered on the city of Magdeburg on the Elbe River.
Planned since 955 and established in 968, the Roma ...
and successfully claimed that he was Waldemar, returning from pilgrimage to the Holy Land after somebody else had been buried in his place. Quickly gaining support due to the rivalries between the Wittelsbach and
Luxembourg
Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
dynasties, King
Charles IV reinvested him for about two years before "the last Ascanian" was unmasked and fled to the Anhalt court in
Dessau
Dessau is a town and former municipality in Germany at the confluence of the rivers Mulde and Elbe, in the '' Bundesland'' (Federal State) of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 1 July 2007, it has been part of the newly created municipality of Dessau-Roßlau ...
, where he spent the rest of his life.
Ancestry
External links
www.genealogie-mittelalter.deAbsatz ''Der falsche Waldemar'' aus Artikel ''Waldemar von Brandenburg'' in der Allgemeinen Deutschen Biographie(
ADB), Bd. 40, Seiten 682–687
Artikel zum Waldemar-Bluff
{{Authority control
Brandenburg-Stendal, Waldemar, Margrave of
Brandenburg-Stendal, Waldemar, Margrave of
Margraves of Brandenburg-Stendal
House of Ascania
Year of birth uncertain
13th-century German nobility
14th-century German nobility