Erich I. Sr. ( German: Erich I. der Ältere ; , - , ) - Duke of Braunschweig-Luneburg since 1491 and the first reigning prince of Kalenberg .
| Erich i | |||||||
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 Erich I with his second wife Elizabeth, approx. 1530 g | |||||||
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| Predecessor | Wilhelm IV | ||||||
| Successor | Erich ii | ||||||
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| Death | |||||||
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| Father | |||||||
| Mother | Elizabeth Stolberg-Wernigerode | ||||||
| Spouse | 1) Katharina of Saxony 2) Elizabeth of Brandenburg | ||||||
| Children | from 1st marriage : no from 2nd marriage : son : Erich II daughters : , Anna Maria and Catherine | ||||||
Content
Life
Erich I was born on February 16, 1470 in Neustadt am Rübenberg in the castle of Rovenburg. He was the founder of the Kalenberg line house of Braunschweig-Luneburg. His father, William IV , died in 1503. Eight years earlier, in 1495, he managed to divide his lands between his sons Henry and Erich. Erich inherited the principalities of Kalenberg and Göttingen, and his older brother Henry received the principality of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel. While still a boy, Erich made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and traveled to Italy before entering the service of Emperor Maximilian I.
From an early age, Erich showed himself a brave warrior on the side of the empire and took part in the campaign against the Turks in 1497. He later fought against Venice, the Swiss Confederation and France. During the Bavarian-Landhut war in 1504, he saved the life of the emperor at the Battle of Regensburg, after which he was knighted.
In 1497, he married the widow of the Austrian archbishop Sigismund Katharina of Saxony. The marriage was childless. Widowed, on July 7, 1525, Erich I married 15-year-old Elizabeth of Brandenburg . In this marriage, the long-awaited son and heir Erich was born. When in 1528 Elizabeth, being pregnant, fell into bed from an illness, she blamed her husband’s mistress Anna Ramshottel for witchcraft. She persuaded her husband to conduct a trial. At the same time, several women were burned at the stake, but the duke allowed his mistress to escape. However, she was burned in Hameln .
During the diocesan feud of Hildesheim (1519-1523), he, along with Henry V Wolfenbüttelsky, captured the Hunnesruck Castle in 1521. Between 1527 and 1530, he built the Erichsburg castle, which was protected by a wide moat and high ramparts. It was named after its heir, born in 1528, who later became Duke Erich II. He moved from Hunnesruk to a new castle and made it his permanent residence.
After the war, the Amts Colt and Poppenburg were handed over to Duke Erich I in accordance with the Quedlinburg Peace. In 1523, the Abbey of St. Andrew in Derneburg requested protection from Erich I due to repeated robbery raids by the knights of Duke Henry V of Wolfenbüttel [2] .
In 1529, Erich authorized the annual Schützenfest ("shooting festival") in Hanover , which today has become the largest in the world. In 1530, he took Erzen back into the possession of the Welsh .
In 1539, Erich I united the former Amts Amsternak, Luthorst and Lauenberg into the new Erichsburg fortress, which remained in this form until 1643.
On July 30, 1540, a little less than 23 years after the publication of his theses by Martin Luther , the Duke Erich I died. Two years earlier, she had publicly permitted communion at both Catholic and Lutheran church services. Her husband remained a Catholic, and the Duchess became a Lutheran. His son Erich II was still a child, so his mother, the Duchess Elizabeth, was regent for five years. He left behind large debts estimated at 900 thousand thalers , as well as two castles: Erichsburg near Dassel and the restored castle of Kalenberg. His funeral took place in 1541 in Münden at the Church of St. Blasius after his body was returned from Hagenau a year after his death at the expense of paying his debts. For this, each resident of his duchy had to pay 16 pfennigs.
Children
Duke Erich had a son and three daughters from his second marriage with Elizabeth of Brandenburg :
- (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.
Genealogy
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 German National Library , Berlin State Library , Bavarian State Library , etc. Record # 116562498 // General regulatory control (GND) - 2012—2016.
- ↑ Geschichte St. Andreas in Sottrum http://www.wohldenberg.de/sottrum.htm Archived January 7, 2007 on Wayback Machine on September 25, 2006
Literature
- Wolfgang Kunze: Herzog Erich I. von Braunschweig-Lüneburg . In: Wolfgang Kunze (Hg.): Leben und Bauten Herzog Erichs II. von Braunschweig-Lüneburg. Catalog of the historic exhibition at Landestrost Castle , Neustadt am Rübenberge . Hanover 1993, p. 31–45.
- Joachim Lehrmann: Hexenverfolgung in Hannover-Calenberg und Calenberg-Göttingen , Lehrte, 2005. ISBN 978-3-9803642-5-6
Links
- Picture and short description of the life of Duke Eric with his second wife, Elisabeth on the official pages of the house of Welf.
- Coins from his reign
- Historic picture of the Ericsburg