Elizabeth of Brandenburg (1510–1558)

Early years

Elizabeth of Brandenburg was born on August 24, 1510. Her birthplace was probably the city of Cologne (now part of Berlin ). She was the third child and second daughter of the Brandenburg Elector Joachim I and the Danish Princess Elizabeth , daughter of Johann I , King of Denmark. Elizabeth was raised in the spirit of strict religiosity. She received a good education, which, according to the tradition of that time, was of a humanistic character.

In Stettin, on July 7, 1525, at the age of less than fifteen, she was married to a forty-year-old widower, Erich I , Duke of Braunschweig-Luneburg and Prince Kalenberg-Göttingensky.

She first learned of the Reformation in 1527 at the court in Brandenburg, when her mother took the sacrament under both forms, thereby openly agreeing with the teachings of Martin Luther . Fearing his wife would convert to Lutheranism , an angry father expelled Protestant preachers from Wittenberg from Margrave. The latter, using the patronage of the Elector, were at court in Brandenburg. Perhaps this event aroused interest in the reform movement in young Elizabeth.

Family life

Despite the difference in age, Elizabeth's marriage did not have insurmountable contradictions. Perhaps because the duke spent most of his time in the castles of and , while his wife lived in the in the city of Münden , which she received as a duke's wife.

In 1528, complications during the second pregnancy allowed Elizabeth to accuse the duke's long-term lover, noblewoman Anna von Rumshottel, of witchcraft. She demanded that her husband burn her at the stake. The duchess sent her spies and a military detachment to Minden with the order to arrest Anna, who, according to her information, tried to find refuge in the . The fugitive was not found, but during the inquisition proceedings against her alleged assistants, several accused women died after being tortured at the stake.

Taking advantage of the situation, Elizabeth forced her husband to give her more favorable content than their marriage contract provided. She received the Kalenberg district in Unterwald, which included the Kalenberg castle, the cities of Neustadt and Hanover, as well as a small income from the cities of Münden, Gortheim and Göttingen in Oberwald, which had great financial opportunities and important political importance.

The duchess's pregnancy ended in the birth of a healthy male infant, who, like his father, was named Erich .

Transition to Lutheranism

In 1534, Elizabeth visited her mother in the castle of , where she met Martin Luther. In 1538, an active correspondence ensued between him and the duchess. In addition to letters, they sent each other parcels: the duchess regaled the preacher with wine and cheese, and he tut and figs her. After completing the translation of the Bible into German , Luther sent Elizabeth a copy with personal dedication.

On April 7, 1538, the Duchess publicly accepted the sacrament under both forms and thereby declared her transfer to Lutheranism.

On October 6 of the same year, she announced her transfer to Philip I, the Landgrave of Hesse. Elizabeth invited the Protestant preacher Anton Corvinus to Münden. The duke reacted calmly to his wife's transition to Lutheranism . He respected the courage of the Protestants, but remained faithful to Catholicism and the emperor .

Reformation Activities

Elizabeth found a reliable and strong ally in the person of Johann Friedrich, Elector of Saxony . After the death of the Duke on July 30, 1540, he helped her become regent with her underage son, along with Philip I, the Landgrave of Hesse , despite fierce resistance from Heinrich the Younger , Duke of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel. The joint regency lasted five years. The Dowager Duchess took this opportunity to begin the reformation in the Principality of Kalenberg-Göttingen.

She appointed Anton Corvinus as superintendent of the duchy with a residence in Pattensen . Martin Luther's protege, lawyer Justus von Waldhausen, a graduate of Wittenberg University, was appointed by her ducal adviser, then chancellor. The participants in the reformation movement in the duchy were also Dr. Burkard Mithoff, court judge and Master Heinrich Kampe.

In 1542, Lutheranism was declared a state confession in the Principality of Kalenberg-Göttingen. By a decree of November 4, 1542, Elizabeth abolished monasteries in the duchy, transferring their property to the Lutheran church. She took a personal part in the inventory of the monastery property, which lasted from November 17, 1542 to April 30, 1543. The final law governing legal relations in the state was adopted by her in 1544.

At this time, the Dowager Duchess composed many spiritual songs. She addressed an open letter to her subjects, in which she supported their reform initiatives.

In 1554, Elizabeth decided to marry her son Erich II, Duke of Braunschweig-Kalenberg-Göttingen, to Anna of Hesse , daughter of Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse. However, the duke fell in love with Sidonia of Saxony , the sister of Moritz, the Duke of Saxony (and later Elector of Saxony), who also professed Lutheranism. At the insistence of her son, Elizabeth broke his engagement to Anna of Hesse. On May 17, 1545, Erich II married Sidonia of Saxony, who was ten years older than him.

The Dowager Duchess wrote a book for her son with management advice, which, in her opinion, was supposed to help him rule the state at the end of the regency.

Later years

In 1546, a year after the end of the regency, Elizabeth married Poppo XII, Count von Henneberg, the younger brother of her eldest daughter’s husband. From the content that the late duke allocated to her, she retained only the rule in Münden.

With anxiety, Elizabeth watched as her son showed increasing tolerance for Catholicism, hoping for preferences at the court of the emperor. In 1548, the Duke adopted the Augsburg Interim . The following year, he arrested Anton Corvinus and Walter Hoyker, who, at the synod in Münden, along with one and a half hundred other pastors, strongly objected to the Augsburg interim order. Both Lutheran preachers were imprisoned in Kalenberg Castle from 1549 to 1552.

In 1550, Elizabeth married her daughter Anna Maria to Albert, the Duke of Prussia, with whom she had many years of friendship and correspondence. Elizabeth's son-in-law was forty years older than his young wife. She wrote a book for her daughter, in which she outlined tips for maintaining family and state life.

In 1533, after the , Elizabeth lost Münden, who was taken from her nephew by her late husband, Heinrich the Younger . She fled to Hanover. In 1555 she moved to Ilmenau in the county of Genneberg , in Thuringia , where she wrote a book of comfort for widows.

Dictated by financial gain, the decision of Erich II in 1557 to extradite his younger sister, Lutheran Catherine, to marry a Catholic, Burggraph Wilhelm von Rosenberg, caused indignation among his mother. When she reached Münden with great difficulty, she discovered that her son had deliberately given her the wrong wedding date, and the marriage had been concluded some time before. However, in the prenuptial agreement, the duke obtained permission from Catherine to practice Lutheranism and keep a pastor at the court to conduct services.

Elizabeth died a year later, on May 25, 1558, in Ilmenau, disappointed by the behavior of her heirs. She was buried in the chapel of St. Aegidius in the in Schloisingen . In 1566, over the grave of her mother, her children erected a monument to the work of the sculptor Sigmund Linger from Innsbruck .

From her first marriage to Erich I, the Duke of Braunschweig-Luneburg and Prince Kalenberg-Göttingensky (February 14, 1470 - July 30, 1540), Elizabeth of Brandenburg gave birth to a son and three daughters:

• (April 8, 1526 - August 19, 1566), Princess of Braunschweig-Kallenberg, married on August 19, 1543, with George Ernst (1511-1583), Count von Henneberg;
• Erich II (August 10, 1528 - November 17, 1584), the Duke of Braunschweig-Luneburg and Prince Kalenberg-Göttingensky under the name of Erich II the Younger, married his first marriage on May 17, 1545 with Sidonia of Saxony (March 8, 1518 - January 4, 1575), daughter of Henry V , Duke of Saxony and Catherine of Mecklenburg , second marriage November 26, 1576 with Dorothea of ​​Lorraine (August 24, 1545 - June 2, 1621), daughter of Francis I , Duke of Lorraine and Christina of Denmark ;
• Anna Maria (April 23, 1532 - March 20, 1568), Princess of Braunschweig-Kallenberg, was married in 1550 to Albert the Elder (May 17, 1490 - March 20, 1568), Duke of Prussia;
• Catherine (May 1534 - May 10, 1559), Princess of Braunschweig-Kallenberg, was married on February 28, 1557 to Wilhelm (March 10, 1535 - August 31, 1592), the supreme burgrave of Bohemia.

From the second marriage to Poppo XII (1513-1574), Count von Henneberg, Elizabeth of Brandenburg had no children.

In addition to the rich epistolary heritage and numerous religious and poetic works, Elizabeth of Brandenburg left behind her four books:

• “An open letter to his subjects” (“ German: Ein Sendbrief an ihre Untertanen ”), 1544.
• “Management Guide for Son Erich II” (“ German: Regierungshandbuch für ihren Sohn Erich II ”), 1545.
• “Maternal education (marriage book) for Anna Maria” (“ German: Mütterlicher Unterricht (Ehestandsbuch) für Anna Maria ”), 1550.
• The Book of Consolation for Widows ( German: Trostbuch für Witwen ) 1555 ^[2] .

• Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz. Elisabeth von Münden / Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Band 1, Bautz, Hamm 1975. 2., unveränderte Auflage Hamm 1990, ISBN 3-88309-013-1 , Sp. 1495-1497.

• Ingeborg Klettke-Mengel. Elisabeth / Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB). Band 4, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1959, ISBN 3-428-00185-0, S. 443 f.
• Herzogin Elisabeth zu Braunschweig-Lüneburg