Bernard II,

Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

, (about 1437 – 1464) was the

Bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

Hildesheim Hildesheim (; or ; ) is a city in Lower Saxony, in north-central Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim (district), Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of t ...

(as Bernard III) from 1452 to 1457, as well as

Prince of Lüneburg A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The fem ...

from 1457 to 1464.

Life

Bernard was the son of Frederick the Pious and his wife

Magdalene of Brandenburg Magdalene of Brandenburg, also Magdalene and Magdalen, (7 January 1582 – 4 May 1616) was the daughter of John George, Elector of Brandenburg and his third wife Elisabeth of Anhalt-Zerbst. Issue She married Louis V, Landgrave of Hesse-Dar ...

. In 1452, Bernard was elected at the request of the

Bishop of Hildesheim This list records the incumbents of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Hildesheim (). Between 1235 and 1803 the bishops simultaneously officiating as rulers of princely rank (prince-bishop) in the Bishopric of Hildesheim, Prince-Bishopric of Hildeshei ...

to be his

coadjutor The term "coadjutor" (literally "co-assister" in Latin) is a title qualifier indicating that the holder shares the office with another person, with powers equal to the other in all but formal order of precedence. These include: * Coadjutor bishop ...

and later became his successor when the bishop died. However, the bishop's aspiration that in selecting a

Welf Welf is a Germanic first name that may refer to: *Welf (father of Judith), 9th century Frankish count, father-in-law of Louis the Pious *Welf I, d. bef. 876, count of Alpgau and Linzgau *Welf II, Count of Swabia, died 1030, supposed descendant of W ...

the bishopric would strengthen its position vis-a-vis the Welf Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel proved elusive because Bernard felt obliged to support the interests of his family first. At the request of his father, he left the bishopric in 1457 to take over the

Principality of Lüneburg The Principality of Lüneburg (later also referred to as Celle) was a territorial division of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg within the Holy Roman Empire, immediately subordinate to the emperor. It existed from 1269 until 1705 and its territory ...

, which he ruled jointly with his brother, Otto the Victorious, until his death on 9 Feb 1464.Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie
/ref> He married Matilda of Holstein-Schauenburg, daughter of

Otto II, Count of Schauenburg-Pinneberg Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', '' Odo'', '' Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity". The name is recorded fro ...

, in 1463, but the marriage was childless. Matilda went on to be the second wife of

William the Victorious, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg William I KG ( 1392 – 25 July 1482), called the Victorious (), a member of the House of Welf, was Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg. He was reigning Prince of Lüneburg from 1416 to 1428 and of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel from 1428 to 1432, counted ei ...

Ancestors

References

Sources

* Die Diözese Hildesheim. In Vergangenheit und Gegenwart von Thomas Scharf-Wrede * Geckler, Christa (1986). ''Die Celler Herzöge: Leben und Wirken 1371–1705''. Celle: Georg Ströher. . . *

External links

The House of Welf

Bishopric of Hildesheim
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bernard 02 Brunswick-Luneburg 15th-century German Roman Catholic bishops Princes of Lüneburg Prince-bishops of Hildesheim 1437 births 1464 deaths Middle House of Lüneburg

Life

Ancestors

See also

References

Sources

External links