William 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 1300 – 1369) was the

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 1330 to 1369.

Life

Joint rule with Otto III

William was born around the year 1300 as the fourth child of Otto the Strict and his wife, Matilda of

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

.
On his father's death, William took over the reins of state jointly with his brother

Otto III Otto III (June/July 980 – 23 January 1002) was the Holy Roman emperor and King of Italy from 996 until his death in 1002. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto III was the only son of Emperor Otto II and his wife Theophanu. Otto III was c ...

. This was against his father's will because Otto II had wanted the state to be divided after his death. The focus of the brothers' reign in the early years was the territorial consolidation of the principality. For example, they succeeded in expanding their estate in the area of

Gifhorn Gifhorn () is a town and capital of the district of Gifhorn (district), Gifhorn in the east of Lower Saxony, Germany. It has a population of about 42,000 and is mainly influenced by the small distance to the more industrial and commercially import ...

considerably through the acquisition of the village of

Fallersleben Fallersleben is a part (''Ortsteil'') of the City of Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany, with a population of 11,269 (as of 2010). The village of Fallersleben was first mentioned in 942 under the name of ''Valareslebo''. Fallersleben became a city ...

and the counties of Papenheim and Wettmarshagen. Another focus of attention was their political support of economically growing towns. For example,

Lüneburg Lüneburg, officially the Hanseatic City of Lüneburg and also known in English as Lunenburg, is a town in the German Bundesland (Germany), state of Lower Saxony. It is located about southeast of another Hanseatic League, Hanseatic city, Hambur ...

trade flourished as a result of work to make the

Ilmenau Ilmenau () is a town in Thuringia, central Germany. It is the largest town within the Ilm district with a population of 38,600, while the district capital is Arnstadt. Ilmenau is located approximately south of Erfurt and north of Nuremberg w ...

navigable between Lüneburg and

Uelzen Uelzen (; ), officially the Hanseatic City of Uelzen (), is a town in northeast Lower Saxony, Germany, and capital of the district of Uelzen. It is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region, a Hanseatic town and an independent municipality. Uelz ...

as well as trade agreements between the Lüneburg princes and the dukes of Saxe-Lauenburg.

Selecting the successor

Following the death of his brother, Otto III, William increasingly turned his attention to the question of succession in the state of Lüneburg. Because his brother had lost his only son as a child and he himself had no eligible daughters, he selected his grandson, Albert of Saxe-Wittenberg, the son of his daughter Elizabeth, as his successor. In fact he had previously asked Emperor Charles IV for the eventual

enfeoffment In the Middle Ages, especially under the European feudal system, feoffment or enfeoffment was the deed by which a person was given land in exchange for a pledge of service. This mechanism was later used to avoid restrictions on the passage of t ...

of the state to his grandson, but backed away again in the years that followed, because he feared the influence of Albert's uncles, Wenceslas and Rudolf. A further reason may be found in the terms of the Brunswick-Lüneburg investiture agreement of 1235 as well as the succession treaties agreed by William's father with the Brunswick line of the

House of Welf The House of Welf (also Guelf or Guelph) is a European dynasty that has included many German and British monarchs from the 11th to 20th century and Emperor Ivan VI of Russia in the 18th century. The originally Franconian family from the Meuse-Mo ...

, according to which the principality had to be passed to any male heir within the ''entire'' Welf house if there were one. In order to satisfy his desire for one of his descendants to inherit the state, he married off his younger daughter, Matilda, to Louis of Brunswick-Lüneburg. Because the latter was heir to the Brunswick region the divided estate of the ducal house would once again be united under one ruler. Unaware of this, Emperor Charles IV had meanwhile authorised the enfeoffment of Albert of Saxe-Wittenberg and his two uncles and, with that, laid the foundation stone for the

Lüneburg War of Succession Lüneburg, officially the Hanseatic City of Lüneburg and also known in English as Lunenburg, is a town in the German state of Lower Saxony. It is located about southeast of another Hanseatic city, Hamburg, and belongs to that city's wider met ...

that began on William's death. Other problems were added by William's niece, Matilda, the daughter of his brother, Otto III. Her husband,

Otto II Otto II (955 – 7 December 983), called the Red (), was Holy Roman Emperor from 973 until his death in 983. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto II was the youngest and sole surviving son of Otto the Great and Adelaide of Italy. Otto II was ...

of Waldeck, made claims against William. The imperial court awarded Otto 100,000 marks which amounted to about half the principality. In response to William's refusal to pay this, an

imperial ban The imperial ban () was a form of outlawry in the Holy Roman Empire. At different times, it could be declared by the Holy Roman Emperor, by the Imperial Diet, or by courts like the League of the Holy Court (''Vehmgericht'') or the '' Reichskammerg ...

was imposed at first and, after a further vain attempt at mediation, the Emperor pronounced that he should be made an outlaw and tasked the Bishop of Minden to carry this out personally. Whether this actually happened is not known. Facing death, he finally handed rule of the principality to Magnus of Brunswick-Lüneburg who, after the death of his brother, Louis, had been named as heir to the principality. William died on 23 November 1369 in Lüneburg.

Marriages and issue

William had a daughter by each of his four wives.
From his 1st marriage to Hedwig of Ravensberg (d. after 1387), daughter of Otto IV, Count of Ravensberg: # Elizabeth (d. 1384) m. Otto, Duke of Saxe-Wittenberg (d. 30 March 1350), son of

Rudolf I, Duke of Saxe-Wittenberg Rudolf I ( – 12 March 1356), a member of the House of Ascania, was Duke of Saxe-Wittenberg from 1298 until his death. By the Golden Bull of 1356 he was acknowledged as Elector of Saxony. Life Rudolf was the eldest son of the Saxon duke A ...

; their son was Albert of Saxe-Wittenberg, Duke of Lüneburg ::m (ca. 1354) Nicholas, Count of Holstein (b. 1321; d. 1397), son of Gerhard III, Count of Holstein-Rendsburg From his 2nd marriage to Mary: # Matilda m Louis of Brunswick-Lüneburg (d. 1367), son of Magnus I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg In 1346 he married his third wife, Sophia of Anhalt-Bernburg (d. 1362), daughter of

Bernhard III, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg Bernhard III, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg (died 20 August 1348) was a German prince of the House of Ascania and ruler of the principality of Anhalt-Bernburg. He was the eldest son of Bernhard II, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg, by his wife Helene, daug ...

. In 1363 he married his fourth wife, Agnes (1353–1387), daughter of Duke Eric II of Saxe-Lauenburg.

External links

The House of Welf
{{DEFAULTSORT:William 02 #Brunswick-Luneburg Princes of Lüneburg Military personnel killed in action 1369 deaths 1300s births Old House of Lüneburg

Life

Joint rule with Otto III

Selecting the successor

Marriages and issue

See also

External links