Duke Ernest I of Brunswick-Göttingen ( – 24 April 1367John Morby, ''Dynasties of the World: a chronological and genealogical handbook'', Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1989, p. 132

viewed on 20 August 2006) was a member of the

Guelph Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as The Royal City, it is roughly east of Kitchener, Ontario, Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Ontario Highway 6, ...

dynasty and was Duke of Brunswick-Göttingen from 1344 until his death.

Life

Ernest was a son of Duke Albert II of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel-Göttingen and his wife, Rixa of Werle. In the division of 1286, his father had received the

Principality of Göttingen The Principality of Göttingen () was a subdivision of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg in the Holy Roman Empire, with Göttingen as its capital. It was split off from the Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel in 1286 in the course of an estate ...

and in 1292, he inherited

Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel The Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel () was a subdivision of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg, whose history was characterised by numerous divisions and reunifications. It had an area of 3,828 square kilometres in the mid 17th century. Va ...

from his childless brother

William I William I may refer to: Kings * William the Conqueror (–1087), also known as William I, King of England * William I of Sicily (died 1166) * William I of Scotland (died 1214), known as William the Lion * William I of the Netherlands and Luxembour ...

. After his father's death in 1318, Ernest's older brother

Otto the Mild Otto the Mild (24 June 1292 – 30 August 1344), Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, ruled over the Brunswick part of the duchy. Otto was the eldest son of Albert II, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg. Otto and his brothers succeeded on their father's death ...

took up government. After Otto died childless in 1344, Ernest and his older brother Magnus I divided the Duchy. Ernest received the

, which would remain separated from the rest of Brunswick for a while. The principality of Göttingen, also known as the Upper Forest, was the poorest of the Welf principalities. It consisted at this time of the former County of

Northeim Northeim (; ) is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, seat of the Northeim (district), district of Northeim, with a population of 30,118 as of 31 December 2023. It lies on the German Half-Timbered House Road. History Northeim is first mentioned in ...

, the cities of

Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

Uslar Uslar (; Eastphalian: ''Üsseler'') is a town and a municipality in southern Lower Saxony, Germany, in the south-western part of the district of Northeim, and in the south of the hills of Solling forest which are part of the Weser Uplands. Uslar ...

Dransfeld Dransfeld is a town in the district of Göttingen, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately 12 km west of Göttingen. Dransfeld is also the seat of the ''Samtgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") Dransfeld. Infrastructure ...

, Munden and Gieselwerder and one half of Moringen. The city of Brunswick remained shared property of the various Dukes of Brunswick. In 1339, Ernest married Elizabeth, a daughter of Landgrave Henry II "the Iron" of Hesse. With her, he had at least six children. The best known of these is his successor,

Otto I Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973), known as Otto the Great ( ) or Otto of Saxony ( ), was East Francia, East Frankish (Kingdom of Germany, German) king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the eldest son o ...

. A younger son joined the clergy. Around the year 1364, Ernest handed some of the government business to his son Otto I. After Ernest's death in 1367, Otto I took over completely. Not much is known about Ernest's rule, unlike his son's time in office. It is assumed that, like his predecessors, he fought alongside the cities in the area against the noble robber barons who held castles in the area. In his last years, he mostly lived in peace with his neighbours and had alliances with many of them. He was only at war with the

Bishopric of Hildesheim The Prince-Bishopric of Hildesheim () was an Hochstift, ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire from the Middle Ages until its dissolution in 1803. The Prince-Bishopric must not be confused with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Hildes ...

and its allies,

Mainz Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...

Hesse Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...

, Waldeck and Hohnstein.

References

* Dietrich Denecke and Helga-Maria Kühn (eds.): ''Göttingen. Geschichte einer Universitätsstadt'', 3 vols., vol. 1, Göttingen, 1987, * Paul Ehrenpfordt: ''Otto der Quade, Herzog von Braunschweig zu Göttingen (1367 - 1394)'', Geibel, Hannover, 1913 * Edgar Kalthof: ''Geschichte des südniedersächsischen Fürstentums Göttingen und des Landes Calenberg im Fürstentum Calenberg 1285–1584'', Verlag Otto Zander, Herzberg (Harz)-Pöhlde, 1982,

External links

The Guelphs

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ernest 01 Brunswick Gottingen) Princes of Göttingen 1300s births 1367 deaths Year of birth uncertain 14th-century German nobility Old House of Brunswick

Life

See also

References

External links

Footnotes