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 * Ol ...

– 1548 in

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...

) was a

Count of Oldenburg image:BlasonChristian Ier (1143-1167), comte d'Oldenbourg.svg, 120px, Shield of the Counts of Oldenburg image:Blason Gérard VI (1430-1500), comte d'Oldenbourg et de Delmenhorst.svg, 120px, Shield of the Counts of Oldenburg-Delmenhorst This is a ...

. He was the eldest son of

John V, Count of Oldenburg John V, Count of Oldenburg and Delmenhorst (also counted as John XIV, including also non-ruling namesake siblings; 1460, Oldenburg – 10 February 1526, Oldenburg) was a member of the House of Oldenburg. He was the ruling Count of Oldenburg ...

and his wife, Anna of

Anhalt-Bernburg Anhalt-Bernburg was a Princes of the Holy Roman Empire, 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 subd ...

. 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

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 List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

s, while Christopher and Anthony I chose the

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

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

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

with a double wedding. John VI and George opposed this wedding for dynastic reasons, since the

Cirksena The House of Cirksena was the ruling family of East Frisia (). They descended from a line of East Frisian chieftains from Greetsiel. East Frisia In 1439, in the wake of clashes between different lines of chieftains, the town of Emden was first ...

family ruling East Frisia had only been raised to

imperial count Imperial Count (, ) was a title in the Holy Roman Empire. During the medieval era, it was used exclusively to designate the holder of an imperial county, that is, a fief held directly ( immediately) from the emperor, rather than from a prince wh ...

s 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 Henry V of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (; 10 November 1489 – 11 June 1568), called the Younger, (''Heinrich der Jüngere''), a member of the House of Welf, was Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and ruling Prince of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel from 1514 until ...

. 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 nobility People from Oldenburg (city) 16th-century Roman Catholics German Roman Catholics {{Germany-noble-stub

Life

See also

References