Albrecht Friedrich (Duke of Prussia)

Born in 1553 . He lagged behind in development from his peers, which could be the result of closely related marriages adopted in aristocratic families. Albrecht Friedrich was quite educated, fluent in Polish , Polish Lutherans nominated for the Polish throne as great-grandson of King Casimir IV Jagiellon .

After the death of his parents on one day on March 20, 1568, the 15-year-old Albrecht Friedrich was the sovereign ruler of the Duchy of Prussia . On June 19, 1569, in Lublin, he took the oath of allegiance to the Polish crown, since Prussia had been lazily dependent on Poland since 1454 .

In 1572, he began to show signs of mental illness . Over the young Duke established custody of several top advisers - Oberrath . Counselors restricted the duke's freedom of movement by inviting him to settle in the remote castle of Fischhausen . In order to show the duke's legal capacity , his marriage to Maria Eleanor Yulikh-Klevskaya was organized in 1573 .

Duke Albrecht Friedrich had seven children, but only the girls survived - two sons died as infants.

The Polish king Stefan Batory in 1577 made the regency of the second cousin of the Duke George Friedrich of Brandenburg . In February 1578, this decision was approved by the Polish Sejm .

In 1603, George Friedrich died without having sons. According to the Krakow Treaty , concluded in 1525 with Poland during the formation of the Duchy of Prussia, when the male line of the descendants of Duke Albrecht and his three brothers ended, Prussia was to become part of Poland. While Albrecht Friedrich was alive, representatives of the Hohenzollern dynasty did not lose hope of a favorable outcome for the diplomatic struggle for the Prussian inheritance. Poland would like to include Prussia, but they remembered the sad experience with Protestant Sweden . Prussia was also a Protestant state.

As a result, Poland and Brandenburg resolved the matter in a half-hearted manner, which arranged both sides. Poland secured the support of Brandenburg in case King Sigismund III Waza decides to regain the Swedish throne by force. A Brandenburg elector Joachim Friedrich Hohenzollern received from Poland consent to the inheritance of power in Prussia. The Elector made a contribution to the Polish treasury and provided significant relief for the Prussian Catholics .

Joachim Friedrich in 1603 took Prussian regency and custody of the Duke Albrecht Friedrich, but he was forbidden to visit Prussia without the permission of the Polish king. In 1608, Joachim Friedrich passed away. His son Johann Sigismund was married to the daughter of the Duke Anna and had a son, George Wilhelm, from her. This ensured the guarantee of the transfer of inheritance rights to Prussia to the descendants of Elector Brandenburg.

In August 1618, the Duke Albrecht Friedrich died in the castle of Fischhausen . Elector Johann Sigismund became a full-fledged duke, in fact creating the Brandenburg-Prussian state .

1. Anna ( 1576 - 1625 ), wife of John Sigismund , Elector of Brandenburg , Duke of Prussia, great-grandmother of the first Prussian King Frederick I ,
2. Maria ( 1579 - 1649 ), wife of Christian , Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth ,
3. Albert Friedrich (born and died in 1580 )
4. Sofia ( 1582 - 1610 ), wife of William Ketler , Duke of Courland ,
5. Eleanor ( 1583 - 1607 ), second wife of Joachim Friedrich , Elector of Brandenburg , Regent of Prussia,
6. Wilhelm ( 1585 - 1586 ),
7. Magdalena Sibylla ( 1586 - 1659 ), wife of John George I Wettin , Elector of Saxony .

• Albrecht Friedrich at Chronos website