Brandenburg Concertos: a Catholic dream
The Importance of Being Hohenzollern
«The House of Brandenburg» was the other dynasty with Polish Jagiellons had dynastic relations While the Habsburg gave their princesses at the Jagiellons, but they married only with their princesses (endogamy) to preserve the purity of their blood (and for the idea that their lineage was superior to the other), the Hohenzollerns had married more times Polish princesses of the Jagiellon family, fact that, in those lands where, wrote Pirenne, «the kingship was not still quite intimately integrate to the nation to refuse the crown to a stranger» and «it was enough to get along with the nobility», the wedding with a princess who can claim rights of succession to the crown in the event of extinction of the male succession, represented a "extraordinary opportunity" for the Hohenzollerns, much more than the opportunities that led the Hohenzollerns to become «the House of Brandenburg».
They assumed «a prominent position in northern Germany in the early years of the fifteenth century, and had somewhat pushed aside more ancient houses, such as the Guelfs of Brunswick, whose habit of subdividing their territories for a long time grievously weakened their influence» (Thomas Frederick Tout, «Germany and the Empire», in «The Renaissance» (1902) from «The Cambridge Modern History»)
The Hohenzollerns made fortunate marriages and shrewd purchases and the descendants of Frederick I burggraf of Nuremberg in the course of time acquired great estates in Franconia, Moravia, and Burgundy. Through their increasing wealth-whereby in the fifteenth century they had gained a position similar to that of the present Rothschilds - and by use of their political abilities, they attained commanding influence in the councils of the German princes» (Thomas Carlyle, «House Of Hohenzollern Established In Brandenburg»).
We continue the story with the words of Karl Marx (yes, precisely "that" Marx!): « In the beginning of the 15th century the Margraviate of Brandenburg belonged to the house of Luxemburg, at the head of which was Sigismund, who at the same time wielded the scepter of Imperial Germany. Sigismund was always in financial difficulties, and was hard pressed by his creditors. He found in Count Frederick of Nuremburg, of Hohenzollern descent, a friend who was both agreeable and helpful. At the same time, as security for the sums loaned to the Emperor at various times, the administration of Brandenburg was conveyed to Frederick by the Emperor in 1411. After the shrewd creditor had managed to secure temporary possession of the property of the spendthrift, he continued always to involve Sigismund in new debts; in the year 1415 upon final accounting between creditor and debtor, Frederick was invested with the hereditary title of Elector of Brandenburg. In order that there should be no doubt as to the nature of the agreement, two clauses were inserted: the one contained the condition that the house of Luxemburg had the right to buy back the Electorate for 400,000 florins, and in the other, Frederick and his heirs bound themselves in the case of all subsequent elections in Germany to cast their vote for the house of Luxemburg. The first clause shows that the agreement was a bit of bargaining, the second that it was pure bribery. In order now to acquire complete possession of the Electorate, it was merely necessary for the avaricious friend of Sigismund to get rid of the option to repurchase, and it did not take long before a favorable opportunity for undertaking this operation presented itself. At the Council of Constance, when Sigismund was once again unable to raise the necessary funds to defray the expense of Imperial attendance, Frederick hurried to the Swiss border and bought with his purse the cancellation of the fatal clause. Such is the nature of the methods employed by the Divine Right, by virtue of which the ruling dynasty of Hohenzollern acquired possession of the Margraviate of Brandenburg» (Karl Marx, «The Divine Right of the Hohenzollern», his article published on the newspaper «The People's Paper», 13 December 1856).
Of this very notable event in World-History, virtually we mention on the day it was completed: «"Advance me, in a round sum, two hundred and fifty thousand more," said he to Burggraf Friedrich, "two hundred and fifty thousand more, for my manifold occasions in this time - that will be four hundred in whole - and take the Electorate of Brandenburg to yourself, Land, Titles, Sovereign, Electorship and all, and make me rid of it!" That was the settlement adopted, in Sigismund's apartment at Constance, on 30 April 1415; signed, sealed, and ratified - and the money paid» (Carlyle).
This is the "character" of «the family».
«The Family»
Frederick's successor, Frederick II, nicknamed "der Eiserne" (the Iron) and sometimes "Eisenzahn" (Iron tooth), refused the crown of Bohemia, offered to him by the Pope in return for deposing George Podiebrad. Because he had no children, abdicated to the Electorate in favor of his brother Albert, known as "Achilles".
Albert III, often known simply as «Ulysses, because of his prudence and his valor» (Frederick the Great), supported the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III in his struggle with the princes who desired reforms in the Empire, and in return for this loyalty received many marks of favour from Frederick, including extensive judicial rights which aroused considerable irritation among neighbouring rulers. In 1457, Albert married his eldest son John with Margaret, daughter of William III, Landgrave of Thuringia, who inherited the claims upon Hungary and Bohemia of her mother, a granddaughter of Emperor Sigismund, in a failed attempt to secure these thrones for the Hohenzollerns. In 1472, Albert brought also the Pomerania under his supremacy. In 1473 he made a treaty of confraternity with the houses of Saxony and Hesse, which arranged between them the succession of their states in the event that one of their lines became extinguished. The same year, he arranged his own succession between his sons (February 1473, the «Dispositio Achillea»), with the division between the Margraviate of Brandenburg and the Franconian possessions. He treated in vain for a marriage between one of his sons and Mary, daughter and heiress of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. Albert takes part in the election of Maximilian as King of the Romans, and died in March 1486.
«As long as he lived he made his influence felt through his rare personal gifts, his courage, and his craft, and his fantastic combination of the ideals of the knight-errant with those of the statesman of the Renaissance. The welfare of Germany as a whole appealed to him almost as little as to Frederick the Victorious [i.e. Frederick I Count Palatine of the Rhine and Elector Palatine]. All his pride was in the extension of the power of his house, and his most famous act was perhaps that Dispositio Achlllea of 1473 which secured the future indivisibility of the whole Mark of Brandenburg and its transmission to the eldest male heir by right of primogeniture. Yet Albert died half conscious that his ambition had been ill-directed. All projects and all warlike preparations, declared the dying hero, were of no effect so long as Germany as a whole had no sound peace, no good law or law-courts, and no general currency» (Tout).
Of his male children, Frederick, lord of the the Franconian possessions (Ansbach, Kulmbach and Bayreuth), married in 1479 Sophia Jagiellon of Poland, daughter of King Casimir IV of Poland and Elisabeth of Habsburg: Casimir IV sought allies among the Germans, worried for the influence of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III, to supporte the rule of the Polish prince Vladislaus in Bohemia, meanwhile Elector Albert III Achilles, concerned about the growing power of Matthias Corvinus, who was threatening to take some of Albert's lands, sought an alliance with Corvinus's opponents, the Jagiellonian dynasty.
Frederick has kept close contacts with Sophia's brothers, and also he planned weddings to strengthen family ties between the Hohenzollerns and Jagiellons, but finally, these marriage plans never taken place. In March 1509 Frederick and Sophia were present in Prague for the coronation of her nephew Louis II Jagiellon.
John II, eldest Albert's son, who received after his death the nickname "Cicero" for his natural eloquence, died in the year 1499, leaving two sons: Joachim, who succeeded in the Electorate, and the second, Albert, who became Cardinal Elector of Mainz and Archbishop of Magdeburg, and who, for to pay them, had contracted a large loan with the bankers Fuggers and had obtained permission from Pope Leo X to conduct the sale of indulgences in his diocese to obtain funds to repay this loan, indulgences which were then one of the causes that had driven an infuriated Martin Luther to write his famous 95 Theses.
The Opportunity
Joachim I "Nestor", who wrongly, despite the thirty-five year reign, Frederick the Great recalls with just these two simple lines «he received the nickname of "Nestor", as Louis XIII that of "Just", that is to say without anyone having revealed the reason», succeeded in restoring some degree of order in his electorate through stern measures, improved the administration of justice, aided the development of commerce, and also was sympathetic to the needs to the towns. Young, Elector Joachim of Brandenburg was eager to put his sword at the service of Maximilian of Habsburg. He has more successl in internal affairs than in the endeavour to extend the size and importance of his realm. As ruler Joachim I was firmer, put an end to the excesses of the nobility and forced them to give up their freebooting expeditions, particularly in the provinces along the Baltic, reorganized the administration in Brandenburg and Pomerania and has also begun an economical policy
Joachim I sought to turn to the advantage of the Hohenzollerns the fact that the Wettin line ruling in Saxony, which up to that time had been of more importance than the Hohenzollerns, had paralyzed its future development in 1485 by dividing its possessions between two branches of the line. These two dynastic families, Wettin and Hohenzollern, were active competitors for the great spiritual principalities of the empire.
The acquisition in 1514 of the very influential Prince-Archbishopric-Electorate of Mainz for Albert was a coup that provided the Hohenzollerns with control over two of the seven electoral votes in imperial elections and many suffragan dioceses to levy dues, but, at the same time, has exponed them to incur vast debts with the Fuggers to obtain the archiepiscopal see. To assist in the recovery of the enormous expenditures employed to assist Albert, they obtained from the Holy See the license for Albert to sell indulgences to the believers in his archdioceses and their suffragans to cover the debts.
The neighbouring Elector Frederick the Wise of Saxony also "had made an offer" for the See of Mainz, but failed to secure it. As a result also the Saxon elector was facing debtsfor this, but no obtained no privilege to sell indulgences to recover his expenditures. Frustrated, in retaliation, he forbade the sale of indulgences in his electorate and allowed Martin Luther to polemicize against them.
At the same time, Albert, member of the Franconian (Ansbach) branch of the House of Hohenzollern, became Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, that is, he was the ruler of that portion of Prussia which still belonged to the order. Because the Teutonic Knights' fortunes in the long power struggle with Poland over Prussia had declined throughout the 15th century, it developed the idea of electing only an Imperial Prince as future Grand Master, who as subject to the Emperor could resist having to pay homage to the King of Poland. The Teutonic Knights hoped that by selecting someone connected by marriage to the ruling Jagiellon dynasty of Poland, they would strengthen their position. Albert of Hohenzollern was chosen in 1511 in the hope that his relationship to his maternal uncle, Sigismund I the Old of Poland, would facilitate a settlement of the disputes over eastern Prussia. The Albert's election as Grand Master had brought about hopes of a reversal of the declining fortune of the Teutonic Knights: he was a skilled political administrator and leader, and did indeed reverse the decline of the Teutonic Order: he refused to submit to the crown of Poland and a war over the Order's existence appeared inevitable.
However, shortly after, Albert, who was sympathetic to the ideas of Martin Luther, rebelled against the Catholic church and the Holy Roman Empire, but, truely, only for mere personal intersts, by converting the former Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights into a secularized and hereditary realm, the Duchy of Prussia, for obtained which he established Protestantism as the official state religion with a instrumental political use of this in his new lands. Albert did homage to his uncle, the King of Poland, and pledged a personal oath to the King and in return was invested with the duchy for himself and his heirs (Treaty of Kraków in 1525).
In the meantime in Brandeburg the Elector Joachim, who was not only a warrior but also a thinker, founded the Margraviate's first university, the Alma Mater Viadrina of Frankfurt (Oder) in 1506 and instituted the Berlin Supreme Court, proving himself worthy of the nickname "Nestor," meaning "Wise Mentor".
His reign coincided with the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. Joachim was known for his pugnacious adherence to the Roman Catholic faith, opposed Lutheranism throughout his lifetime, and decreed in his will that Brandenburg should forever remain Catholic.
But at the same time he had a very big problem: he had to witness at his wife's conversion to the new religion!
Elizabeth of Denmark, daughter of King Hans of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, after have visited a sermon of Martin Luther with her brother and her sister-in-law, became a convinced Protestant so that, in 1527, she received the Protestant communion in public: this meant a public break with the Catholic Church, and caused a conflict with her husband. In 1528, Joachim asked a clerical council from the Catholic Church to deliberate if he should divorce, execute or isolate her if she refused to renounce Protestant heresy. The church council replied that he should have her imprisoned. Elizabeth escaped to the court of her uncle, John, Elector of Saxony, where a public debate broke out and the same Luther supported her freedom to leave her husband for her religion. Joachim then refused to give her any allowance and forbade their sons to visit her. He had experienced the mortification of seeing the Protestantism also favoured by other members of his family.
Oh!, if he had cut off the head of his perverted wife or had closed her in the most secret cell of a convent!
Frederick the Great so described the Protestant Reformation:«A new religion, which appeared suddenly in the world, which divided Europe, which changed the nature of possessions, and which gave rise to new political combinations, merits that we should give some attention to its progress and, above all, that we should examine by what advantages it produced sudden conversions in the greatest states.[...] Since the year 1516, Luther had already attacked the schoolmen; he now arose with the greatest force against this abuse [the indulgences]. He advanced some other doubtful propositions, which he maintained and supported by new arguments. He was eventually excommunicated by the pope in 1520. Having tasted the pleasure of expressing his feelings without constraint; he now gave himself up to it without bounds. He renounced the [monastic] habit; and married Catherine of Bora in 1525, encouraging priests and monks by his example to return to the rights of nature and of reason. If he brought round citizens of the country, he also brought about his inheritance, bringing many princes over to his party, for whom the spoils of ecclesiastical possessions were sweet bait. The Elector of Saxony was the first to embrace his new sect. The new religion was received in the Palatinate, Hesse, Hanover, Brandenburg, and Swabia; in part of Austria, of Bohemia, and of Hungary; in the whole of Silesia, and in the North. Its dogmas are so well-known that I do not believe that I need to relate them here. Not long afterwards, in 1533, [John] Calvin appeared in France. [...] Despite the protection that Marguerite of Navarre gave to this new dogma, Calvin was forced to leave France on several occasions. [...] In 1536, he succeeded in aligning the city of Geneva with his beliefs; and he had Michel Servet burned, who was his enemy. From being persecuted he became a persecutor. The reformed religion, now persecuted, now tolerated in France, often served as a pretext for bloody wars which often seemed likely to overturn that kingdom. [...]If one wants to reduce the causes of the progress of the Reformation to simple principles, it will be seen that, in Germany it was the work of gain; in England that of love, and in France that of novelty or perhaps a song. One need not believe that John Huss, Luther, or Calvin were of superior genius; it is with the leaders of sects as with ambassadors: mediocre spirits are often more successful than the best, if the conditions that they offer are advantageous».
Words of Frederick the Great, king of Prussia!
Defender of the Faith
Joachim I has persuaded his son Joachim II Hector to sign an inheritance contract in which he has promised to remain Roman Catholic. He made this in part to assist his uncle, the Archbishop-Elector Albert of Mainz, fell in huge debts with the banking house of Fugger in order to pay his elevation to the episcopal see. Joachim II's reign fell in a time when Germany was deeply divided between Catholics and Protestants as well as his personal life - torn between a Catholic father and a Protestant mother is exemplary for the turmoil of the era of the Lutheran Reformation. Joachim kept the promise made to his father to remain Roman Catholic thanks to the influence exerted on him by his second wife.
Infact, widower of his first wife, Magdalena of Saxony, granddaughter of Casimir IV Jagiellon King of Poland, Joachim married secondly Hedwig Jagiellon, daughter of King Sigismund I of Poland[1].
The Hohenzollerns had associated with it a lot of hope at this marriage, for the eventuall claims of Hedwig. The new marriage of her son, instead, was not welcome by the Protestant Dowager Electress Elizabeth of Denmark, because Hedwig was a devout Catholic who had earned an affectionate influence on Joachim.
Hedwig was well-educated and, even if not a polyglot, she was committed seriously to learn speaking at least German[2]; she also interested in the arts, music, science, and court life. She was benevolent and loving stepmother to the children of first marriage of her husband.
On 1st November 1539, when Joachim attended a Lutheran service at St. Nicholas Church in Spandau, Hedwig persuaded him to no receive the Communion under both kinds as the heretics Protestant. Although Joachim never officially prohibited at his subjects to follow the Lutheran Reformation and he has endeavored to achieve a peaceful coexistence of all varieties of faith laiding the foundation for a high level of religious tolerance that would be one of Brandenburg's finest attributes for centuries to come, even inviting (1543) all Jews, forced to leave the country under his father's rule, to come back, Joachim II remained persistent and faithful in the Catholic faith.
«He did not join the union that the Protestant princes made at Smalkald in 1535; and he maintained the peace in the Electorate, while Saxony and neighboring countries were desolated by war. The war of religion started in 1546, and ended with the Peace of Passau and of Augsburg. The Emperor Charles V had put himself at the head of the Catholics; the illustrious and unfortunate John-Frederick, Elector of Saxony, and Philip the Magnanimous, Landgrave of Hesse, were the chiefs of the Protestants. The Emperor defeated them in Saxony, near Muehlberg. He and Cardinal Granville used a base stratagem to deceive the landgrave of Hesse. By an equivocal phrase in a safe-conduct, Charles 5th considered himself authorized to put the landgrave in prison, where he passed a great part of his life. The Elector Joachim, who had been the guarantor of this safe-conduct, was so outraged at this breach of faith that, in his anger, he drew his sword against the Duke of Alba; but they were separated. John-Frederick of Saxony was deposed and the Emperor gave this Electorate to Prince Maurice, who was of the Albertine line. Joachim 2nd however, Elector of Brandenburg, did not conform with this Interim, which the Emperor had caused to be published. The electors of Saxony and of Brandenburg were charged by the Emperor with the task of laying siege to Magdeburg, and the city surrendered after a defense of fourteen months. The capitulation was arranged with such delicacy, that it was with difficulty that the Emperor confirmed it. On the decease of the Archbishop of Magdeburg, the canons elected in his place Frederick, Bishop of Havelberg[3], second son of the Elector Joachim; and after his death, the Elector had sufficient influence to cause the election of his third son, Sigismund[4]» (Frederick the Great).
[1] The marriage was negotiate by Bishop of Lebus, Georg von Blumenthal (1490-1550), known in his lifetime as the "Pillar of Catholicism", who used his position as Chancellor of the Viadrina University to combat the Reformation, which he believed to be wrong. She received the nickname of ″reginula″. Hedwig was described by Olaus Magnus, who met her in 1528, as a «very beautiful, wise maiden [...] finer than all the riches I have just mentioned, and worthy of a glorious realm» (Olaus Magnus, «A Description of the Northern Peoples»). In 1519, the King of Poland Sigismund I the Old, acting as tutor of his minor nephew Louis II Jagiellon as Elector of Bohemia, in exchange for voting on Charles V wanted the brother of the latter, Ferdinand, to marry Hedwig. In 1522, Charles V, proposed engagement of Hedwig with John Frederick, the successor to the throne of Saxony. When this project collapsed, the emperor put forward a candidate Federico II Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua. In July 1524 Pope Clement VII proposed again Federico Gonzaga; Sigismund I the Old, however, refused. In the same year, Francis I, King of France, came up with a plan to marry Hedwig with James V, King of Scotland. In 1525 was refused the proposed of Francesco II Sforza, Duke of Milan. Followed, in 1529, the brother of John III, King of Portugal, the Infante Louis, Duke of Beja; the Habsburgs proposed as candidate Frederick, the younger brother of Louis V Count Elector of Palatine.
[2] In the reality, Hedwig could not speak German. The marriage was not happy, damaged by differences in religion and language.
[3] To prevent the annexation of Magdeburg by Saxony. Frederick's appointment was confirmed by the Pope in 1551.
[4] In the reality, the Pope confirmed as archbishop Sigismund although Lutheran, since the Holy See still expected the new schism to be a temporary phenomenon.
Enemy at the Gates
The Schmalkaldic League was the direct result of the Imperial Diet of Augsburg in 1530[5], of the failure of attempts to reconcile Catholics and Lutherans, the resolute stance of Charles V, of the Edict proposed on 22 September, which intimated to the Lutherans to return within seven months (15 April 1531) into the Catholic Church, of removal of the principles and representatives of the Protestant city from the diet, finally, of the rigorous Imperial Edict of 15 November. The fears of the Ottoman threat were rising; only a year before the Ottomans, led by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, had almost taken Vienna (Siege of Vienna, 27 September–15 October 1529) and Charles V wanted that Christianity was united against these enemies. But the League was also the open expression German's particularism of the princes and of the free cities in the fight against the power of Charles V, who returned to Germany after the victories in Italy, a successful peace treaty with France (Treaty of Madrid 1526) and the imperial coronation (22 February 1530), appared dangerusly of excessive as well as the omnipotence of the Habsburgs, who seemed confirmed on 5 January 1531 with the election as King of the Romans of the brother of Charles V, Ferdinand.
The League was officially established as a defensive religious alliance, with the members pledging to defend each other should their territories be attacked by Charles V. But the League quickly became more of a territorial political movement, because the breaking from the Catholic Church offered significant economic advantages. Starting in 1535, Francis I of France, while vigorously has persecuted Protestants at home, nevertheless has supported the Protestant princes in their struggle against their common foe.
The first effect of this show of force, the more serious because the Turks just then resumed the offensive in the Hungarian plain, was the religious Peace of Nuremberg 1532, by which the Lutherans gained important concessions: Charles V ceded and procrastinated the execution of the Edict of Augusta, assured up at the next Council the "status quo" to Lutherans. But much more serious for the Habsburg power were the successive events: when the union between France and the League became very narrow (agreements of Bar-le-Duc , January 1534), when to the coalition against Charles V joined the same Pope Clement VII, when, in May 1534, Duke Ulrich of Württemberg recaptured, thanks to the weapons of the Landgrave of Hesse and the French aid, his duchy, from 1519 in the hands of the Habsburgs: this, in fact meant a decisive blow inflicted on the Habsburg power in southern Germany. The peace of Kaaden (Bohemia) on 29 June 1534 with the recognition, by the king of the Romans Ferdinand, of Ulrich as Duke of Württemberg, and by related, of Ferdinand as King of the Romans, had put an end to this first resolute political action of the Schmalkaldic League.
The Schmalkaldic League, however, instead to dissolve, was strengthened: in the December 1535, the pact of the League was extended for 10 years, as well as in 1536, 1537, 1538, etc., reproposing the political and religious purposes, even the ties with France and, in the religious meet of 1537 approved the articles of faith drawn up by Luther (Schmalkaldic Articles), and rejected the idea to participate at the Council convened at Mantua by Pope Paul III.
Hence, the reconciliation efforts between Catholics and Reformed, again made by Charles V, and the Colloquy of Haguenau and of Regensburg (1540 and 1541).
[5] The 1530 Imperial Diet of Augsburg was requested by Emperor Charles V to decide on three issues: defending the empire against the Turks, welfare and currency policy, and disagreements over Christianity. One of the results of the 1530 Diet of Augsburg was the Augsburg confession, written by Philipp Melanchthon and was intended “to be an expression of the faith of the universal Church, and thus a basis for a reconciliation between the Lutheran Reformers and the Roman Church”. The Emperor Charles V called for the Diet of Augsburg in 1530 in attempt to reach some compromise and a chance to deal with the German situation. The climate during this time was vastly different from what we see today when the Lutheran church moved to reformation at the assembly of Augsburg.
All Quiet on the Western Front
French tactical support ended in 1544 with the signing of the Peace of Crépy (18 September 1544) whereby the French king pledged to stop backing the Protestant princes and the League. Following on the peace with France, the Emperor signed a truce with the Ottoman Empire, which was to free even more resources for a final confrontation with the League.
The situation changed abruptly after Luther's death (1546). The new general European situation between 1545 and 1546 (Peace of Crépy between Charles V and Francis I of France; truce between King Ferdinand and the Turks; union of Charles V with Pope Paul III against Protestants) and, in the interior of Germany, the detachment of some princes from the group anti-Habsburg, especially the alliance of Charles V with Maurice of Saxony and the Duke of Bavaria, led to a net change of the situation in favor of Charles V who, having already defeated the Duke of Clève, in 1543, banned on 20 July 1546, as perjured rebels and traitors, the Elector of Saxony and the Landgrave of Hesse, and soon after began his campaign to bottom against the Lutheran confederates (Schmalkaldic War), campaign started in September 1546 and closed at Mühlberg (24 April 1547) with the complete defeat of the Elector John Frederick of Saxony by Imperial troops, and, later, with the capitulation of the same Landgrave of Hesse and the other cities Protestants. The real Schmalkaldic League was thus over.
After his victory over the Schmalkaldic League, Charles V convened the Imperial Diet, where the Augsburg Interim was proclaimed. This attempt to give Catholicism the priority was rejected by many princes, though, and a resolution of the confessional tensions was only achieved at the session in 1555, where the Peace of Augsburg was concluded. The treaty acknowledged the Augsburg Confession and codified the "cuius regio, eius religio" principle, which gave each prince the power to decide the religion of his subjects.
Winners and Losers
Emperor Charles V, with the assistance of the Duke of Alba, captured Wittenberg[6] after the Battle of Mühlberg, where John Frederick I of Saxony was taken prisoner (24 April). Then, the Duke of Alba presided over a court-martial and on 10 May condemned him to death as a rebel[7]. With little political talent and disadvantaged physically for his considerable weight, Johann Frederick was a obstinate and a statesman of scarce capacity:he heard the verdict very calmly during a game of chess.
In despair Philip of Hesse, who had been negotiating with the Emperor for some time, agreed to throw himself on his mercy, on condition that his territorial rights would not be impaired and that he himself would not be imprisoned. These terms were disregarded, however, and on 23 June 1547 both the leaders of the Schmalkaldic League were taken to south Germany and executed.
For his part, the Emperor did not want to show no mercy to the rebels, demonstrating how he felt strong by now. In a brief ceremony in the field camp after the battle on 4 June 1547 Duke Maurice of Saxony was raised to the dignified position of Elector of Saxony. The emperor tried in this way to drive a still deeper wedge into the Protestant camp in order to prevent a further propagation of the Protestant Faith. The official appointment would take place later.
The Roman Catholic Duke Henry V of Brunswick-Lüneburg takes forcible possession of the dominions of the Landgraviate of Hesse; Philip and his uncle Barnim[8], Dukes of Pomerania, were deprived of their possessions, partitioned among the sons of Albrecht VII, Duke of Mecklenburg (prince who had been faithful to the Roman Catholic cause), John Albert, Ulrich III and George (were jointly invested with the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Güstrow by Emperor Charles V), which received the Duchy of Pomerania-Wolgast (Western Pomerania), and John of Brandenburg-Küstrin, who received the Duchy of Pomerania-Stettin (Farther Pomerania).
At the Diet of Augsburg on 25 February 1548, the ceremony of the formal inauguration of Maurice as Elector of Saxony took place. Charles V hoped that, with Maurice's appointment as the Elector of Saxony, with the signing of the agreement known as the Augsburg Interim, and with his own assistance, they could put an end to the religious strife that was splitting his empire. But Maurice was also disappointed by the emperor's attitude, because now Charles V tried to reintroduce Catholicism into the Empire's Protestant territories: when commissioned to capture the rebellious Lutheran city of Magdeburg (1550), Maurice seized the opportunity to raise an army and signed anti-Habsburg compacts with France and Germany's Protestant princes.
In the Treaty of Chambord signed with the French King Henry II in January 1552 Maurice promised the King money and weapons to assist him in his campaign against Charles V. In return, Henry was able to take four Imperial cities of Metz, Toul, Verdun and Cambrai, as well as their bishoprics.
In March 1552 the rebels overran the southern German states, suddenly had run over Innsbruck in Tyrol, where was the Emperor in the throes of a violent attack of gout. Charles V almost was caught. The Emperor had fled through a stormy night in torrential rain, carried in a litter. The head of the league did not captured him away and, thus, Maurice abandoned his alliance with Henry II and negotiated a treaty with Charles's brother King Ferdinand I, negotiations accepted by Charles V willingly and that led to the Treaty of Passau, signed in August. Charles provisionally guaranteed Lutheran religious freedoms only until the next Imperial Diet.
The emperor exhorted both parties, Catholic and Protestant, to maintain peace in his empire for undertake, shortly after, a campaign against the Ottomans in Hungary. Maurice of Saxony led the Imperial army into Hungary.
The Imperial Diet was called in early 1555 at Augsburg. The treaty, negotiated on Charles' behalf by his brother Ferdinand, effectively gave Lutheranism official status within the domains of the Holy Roman Empire. The next year Charles V voluntarily abdicated in favour of his brother Ferdinand I.
[6] Wittenberg had become the focal point of the Protestant Reformation. On the door of the castle church at Wittenberg in 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses, the opening act of the Reformation. There, in 1520 he burned the Papal Bull condemning him, and in 1534, always there, was printed the first Lutheran Bible. The Elector was the most important patron of the reforms. Wittenberg declined after 1547, when Dresden replaced it as the Saxon capital.
[7] In OTL, not to lose time in the siege of Wittenberg, which was defended by Sybille, the wife of the elector, Charles V did not execute the sentence and entered into negotiations. To save his life, to protect and save his wife and sons, and to prevent Wittenberg from being destroyed, the Prince-Elector conceded the «Capitulation of Wittenberg», and, after having been compelled to resign the government of his country, including Wittenberg, in favor of his relative, Maurice of Saxony, his condemnation was commuted to imprisonment for life and sent into exile in Worms. In the days of his captivity, he steadfastly refused to renounce the Protestant heresy or to acknowledge the Augsburg Interim. Though offered several opportunities to be set free, if he would but compromise his faith and convictions, he steadfastly refused, and urged his sons to remain strong and faithful. The sudden attack against the emperor by Elector Maurice made an end at the imprisonment of John Frederick, and he was released on 1 September 1552. He died within two years in Weimar, the new seat of government.
[8] The Protestant Reformation reached Pomerania in the early 16th century. Bogislaw X in 1518 sent his son, Barnim, to study in Wittenberg. In 1521, he personally attended a mass of Martin Luther in Wittenberg, and also of other reformed preachers in the following years. Also in 1521, Johannes Bugenhagen, the most important person in the following conversion of Pomerania to Protestantism, left Belbuck Abbey to study in Wittenberg, close to Luther. In Belbuck, a intellectual and religious circle had formed before, comprising not only Bugenhagen, but also many others Lutheran, spread the Protestant heresy in all over Pomerania. At several occasions, however, this went, along with public outrage, plunder and arson directed against the church. The dukes' role in the reformation process was ambitious. Bogislaw X, despite his sympathies, forbade Protestant preaching. Of his sons, George I opposed, and Barnim supported Protestantism. After Bogislaw X's death, his sons initially ruled in common. Yet, after Georg's death in 1531, the duchy was partitioned again between Barnim, who resided in Stettin, and Phillip I, who resided in Wolgast. The border ran roughly along the Oder and Swine rivers, with Pomerania-Wolgast now consisting of Western Pomerania (without Stettin), and Pomerania-Stettin consisting of Farther Pomerania. George was the eldest son of Duke Bogislaw X of Pomerania and his second wife Anna Jagiellon, a daughter of King Casimir IV of Poland. George was introduced to government by his father at an early age. In 1520 he was already active at the court of Emperor Charles V and participated in the Diet of Worms in 1521 and the Diet of Nuremberg in 1523. After he and his brother Barnim took up government jointly, George showed an interest in the efforts of the Reformation, yet he personally remained faithful to the Catholic church. When in 1524 a military conflict threatened with Brandenburg, George crafted an alliance with King Sigismund I of Poland, which was directed against Brandenburg and Duke Albert of Prussia and against the followers of the Reformation. Nevertheless, he failed to suppress the Reformation in his country; he could in the end only steer it onto moderate tracks. After the Diet of Speyer in 1526 he tried to approach Brandenburg, and in 1529 a compromise was struck, the Treaty of Grimnitz: George would marry Joachim's daughter Margaret of Brandenburg and Brandenburg would recognize Pomerania's imperial immediacy. George, resolved the dispute with Brandenburg, he would turn his efforts against the reformation. The situation changed somewhat after George died, aged 38, at Stettin, as his son and successor Philip I, joined the Reformation. When Philip took up government, he found his country in political and ecclesiastical turmoil. The Reformation had reached Pomerania and he could not ignore it, if he wanted to maintain his grip on the land. Consequently, joined at his uncle Barnim, the Dukes decided to officially introduce Protestantism in their realm. They called a parliament in Treptow an der Rega in 1543. The parliament failed due to opposition by the nobility, but nevertheless, Bugenhagen was tasked with drafting a church order for the duchy. However, when this church order was ready, it was not officially entered into force. Bugenhagen continued to visit local churches, following the Saxon model. The Reformation gradually prevailed in Pomerania through the tireless activity of evangelical leaders. In April 1536 in Frankfurt am Main, Philip and Barnim then joined the Schmalkaldic League. In 1547, after the Protestants had been defeated in the Schmalkaldic War, Philip feared persecution by the enraged Emperor Charles V. In OTL, he managed to soothe Charles by paying a fine.
A Dangerous Fortune
In 1569, Joachim II of Brandenburg obtained from his brother-in-law, King Sigismund II Augustus of Poland, the right to succeed Albert Frederick of Brandenburg, Duke of Prussia, in the event that he died without heirs; and bound himself to assist Poland with a certain number of troops in the event that it were attacked.
«The reign of this elector was mild and peaceful. He has been accused of pushing liberality to the point of prodigality» (Frederick the Great).
Had wrote still Marx in his article: «It would be absolutely wrong to suppose that, because the Reformation proved to be the mainstay of the Hohenzollern, the Hohenzollern were the mainstay of the Reformation. Quite the contrary. Frederick I., the founder of the dynasty, at the very outset of his reign, led the armies of Sigismund against the Hussites, who rewarded him for his trouble by giving him a sound thrashing. Joachim I. Nestor (1493-1535) was an adherent of the Reformation until he died. Joachim II. Hector, while he was an adherent of Lutheran protestantism, refused to draw the sword in defense of the new creed, and this at a time when it was in danger of being overcome by the overwhelming power of Emperor Charles V. Not alone did he refuse to participate in the armed resistance of the Smalcaldic League, but he offered his services to the Emperor surreptitiously. The German Reformation therefore met with open animosity on the part of the Hohenzollern at the time of its origin, false neutrality during the period of its initial struggles, and at its terrible conclusion through the ThirtyYears War, weak vascillation, cowardly inactivity, and base perfidy. [...] But even if the Hohenzollern were not the saviors of the Reformation, they certainly were its beneficiaries. Even though they hadn't the least ambition to fight for the cause of the Reformation, they were only too willing, and in fact eager, to commit plunder in its name. The Reformation, to them, was merely a religious pretext for secularizing church property, and the greatest part of their conquests in the 16th and 17th centuries can be traced back to a single great source: the blunder of the church, a further curious emanation of Divine Right».
It seems really strange, reading «Memoirs of the House of Brandenburg», observe how Frederick the Great has not made up his work with more judgment, but has, rather, overlooked and liquidated summarily some of his ancestors which, however, played a decisive role in the formation and development of the state that he would have to rule, as if to hide something or plagiarize the story for personal purposes, concealing some things, and emphasizing some other things, actually, of little value.
So it seems to have been for John George; wrote, in fact, Frederick: «His government was peaceful, and it is only mentioned here to connect the chronological thread of this history».
But it does not do justice at him.
John George, son of Joachim II, he brought together under his rule the Electorate of Brandenburg, the margravete of Küstrin and the part of Farther Pomerania. He was a rather conservative ruler and didn't apply any big changes. Probably a wise decision; after all, his father Joachim II has left him with a debt of 2.5 million gold coins. John George, for the successful consolidation of Brandenburg's finances,has gained the nickname "The Economist"[9]. In 1547 he was sent by his father to combact in the camp of the Emperor Charles V, participated in the Battle of Mühlberg and the siege of Wittenberg, and received by the Emperor the accolade as member of the Imperial Secret Council, and by King Philip II of Spain and Emperor Maximilian II as Imperial Commander. In Prussia (1569) the Brandenburg's Hohenzollerns obtained the right to joint feudal possession, and thus gained for the main branch of the family a claim to the Duchy of Prussia. Taken altogether, however, the Hohenzollern power declined very decidedly. The ruling branch in Brandenburg was badly crippled by debts, and the last member of the line ruling in Prussia was weak-minded.
At this juncture the head of the Franconian branch of the Hohenzollern family, George Frederick of Ansbach-Bayreuth, persuaded the Brandenburg branch of the family to enter upon a far-reaching policy of extension which, in the end, resulted in leading the dynasty and the state over which it reigned into an entirely new path. Influenced by George Frederick, the Elector John George of Brandenburg strengthened his claim upon Prussia by marrying some of his children and grandchildren with the daughters of the weak-minded Duke of Prussia, and secured for his descendents new reversionary rights to the Duchy of Cleve-Jülich, of which the ruling family was nearing extinction. Up to this time Hohenzollern's policy had been entirely directed to gaining control in eastern Germany, and this marriage was the first attempt to make acquisitions in western Germany.
Widower of Sophie of Legnica, who died shortly after the birth of her only child Joachim Frederick, Elector John George was engaged in negotiations to marry a sister of George Frederick of Brandenburg-Ansbach and cousin of his first wife. But his stepmother Hedwig Jagiellon intervened instead proposing a marriage with one of his sisters minor, a wedding far more remarkable. King Sigismund I of Poland and his wife Bona Sforza, very favorable to a union so relevant, proposed firstly Sophia[10], considered the smartest, or Anna[11], bur John George has preferred the younger Polish princess Catherine[12], and they were married in Krakow on 12 February 1548, two months before King Sigismund's death.
Catherine brought a large entourage of about 60 people, among which Polish nobles o noblewomen, personnel of varying degrees, some of Italian origin; two huskaplaner, a "cleric", a pharmacist and a few "dwarfs" were included among the staff. Catherine also has brought jewelry, luxurious clothes and silverware sumptuous (but her actually dowry and inheritance after her mother was never given).
During the years of marriage the spouses have got to know each other well and Catherine, whose Catholic faith was the older Polish-type, has influenced John George, who from his youth showed no attraction to religious questions, in a strict Catholic direction.
She was also an important factor exerting political pressure on her husband.
The death, firstly, on 13 September 1566 of Sigismund of Brandenburg, Prince-Archbishop of Magdeburg and of Halberstadt, half-brother of Elector John George and son of Hedwig Jagiellon (stepsister of Catherine), and then, on 7 July 1572 the death childless of King Sigismund II Augustus of Poland, Catherine considered her son Sigismund to have rights to the Polish throne through her. These plans, however, were complicated by the fact that Poland from 1569 was no longer a hereditary kingdom, but had became an elective monarchy and any inheritance rights no longer existed.
Moreover, the six year of Catherine's son Sigismund made it difficult to believe that he had some chances, and a diplomatic mistake by her believing that the Polish Senate would have done assert their right to inherit the throne
This matter, also, had an international significance.
[9] Howerver, it must be noted that he started, yet again, the supression of Jewish people and ordered all of them to leave Brandenburg in 1573. This injustice wasn't corrected until almost 100 years later by the Great Elector Frederic William.
[10] She became in 1556 the second wife of of Henry V, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg.
[11] In OTL, in May 1565 Sigismund II Augustus rejected the courting of his sister by the Prince Magnus of Denmark, second son of King Christian III of Denmark and Norway, who had demanded in dowry several castles in the Archbishopric of Riga . Other suitor was the son of Gustav Eriksson Vasa, King of Sweden, who finally married the sister, Catherine.
[12] Catherine spoke in addition to Polish, Latin and Italian. In the reality, after her father's death in 1548, she left Krakow and lived with her mother and sisters in Masovian (Czaplinski). Her brother, Sigismund II Augustus, did not have a close relationship with her sisters, and after that their mother had returned to Italy in 1558, Catherine and her sister Anna lived in quite uncertain and difficult conditions. Among the marriage's candidates proposed were Duke Albrecht of Prussia and Archduke Ferdinand of Austria. Another marriage was proposed by Tsar Ivan the Terrible in 1560. A marriage alliance between Poland and Sweden had been proposed already in 1526, when Gustav Vasa had asked for the hand of Catherine's half-sister Hedwig. In 1555 was proposed a marriage between Catherine and Eric, then with John of Sweden. After Erik XIV's accession to the throne, began the negotiations for John (1561).
Gaude Mater Polonia
During the ensuing interregnum, anxiety for the safety of the Commonwealth eventually led to agreements among the political classes that, pending election of a new king, the Roman Catholic Primate of Poland Jakub Uchanski would exercise supreme authority, acting as interrex (from the Latin) and the nobles would assume power in each the country's regions. On 6 January 1573, the Convocation Sejm was summoned to Warsaw. Initially, Archduke Ernest of Austria was regarded as the most important candidate for the Polish-Lithuanian throne. But, at that time the Habsburg Monarchy was in a never-ending conflict with the Ottoman Empire, and Polish nobility feared that the Commonwealth would be drawn into the war.
Another candidate was Tsar of Muscovy, Ivan the Terrible, supported mostly by the Lithuanians, who hoped that his election would end the Muscovite–Lithuanian Wars[13]. Since he did not send any envoys to Warsaw, his candidacy failed. Albert Frederick, Duke of Prussia, was seriously considered for a time as a possible candidate, as great grandson of the Polish king Casimir IV Jagiellon, and because he was fluent in Polish. But his mental disorder did reject his candidature.
Henry of Valois, the brother of Charles IX of France emerged as a possible candidate. He was supported by the pro-French circles among Polish nobility, which hoped to reduce Habsburg influences, end wars with Ottoman Empire, a traditional French ally, and profit from lucrative Baltic Sea trade with France. French court also expressed interest in this idea. In August 1572, Paris sent to the Commonwealth an official delegation, headed by Bishop of Valence, Jean de Montluc. The French were also supported by an influential Papal legate, Giovanni Francesco Commendone. Henri was supported also by Anna Jagiellon, and the Lithuanians, who hoped for a revision of the Union of Lublin.
The Election Sejm dragged for a long time, due to several issues which were discussed. The election began on May 3, and by May 9 it turned out that French candidate won.On 11 May 1573, Henri of Valois was nominated King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. Valois was crowned in Krakow only on 21 February 1574.
After finding out about the death of his brother, King Charles IX of France, who died on 30 May 1574, Henri decided to secretly leave Poland, and return to his homeland[14].
Since Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was left without a monarch, and there was a danger of anarchy, in late August 1574 the Primate of Poland called a council of senators and magnate. In May 1575, finally, with support of Senate, the Primate Jakub Uchanski officially declared interregnum.
As future King, the Prince of Transylvania, Stephen Bathory, was the favourite candidate, because the nobility wanted to avoid any military conflicts with a powerful neighbor as the Ottoman Empire, which supported Bathory.
On 1st February 1576 Bathory was elected , and scheduled the coronation for 4 March. On 6 April he crossed Polish border, and on 18 April entered Krakow.
On 1st May 1576, Anne Jagiellon married Bathory, and the couple was crowned.
The third free election in 15 years in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in 1587, after the death of King Stefan Batory (12 December 1586) began a third period of interregnum in 15 years. The Commonwealth was left without a monarch, since Anna Jagiellon, who was regarded as co-ruler of the country (together with her husband, Stefan Batory), had relinquished her claims to the crown.
The Convocation Sejm began on 2 February 1587, and was immediately marred by arguments between supporters of four camps: Habsburg, Brandenburg (or Jagiellon), Muscovy and those who backed a Piast, or a native citizen of the Commonwealth. The Habsburg candidate, the Archduke of Austria Maximilian III,
had received large sums of money from Emperor Rudolf II. Another possible candidate, Tsar Feodor I of Russia was supported by the Lithuanians, who hoped that his election would end never-ending wars between Muscovy and Grand Duchy of Lithuania. A Piast candidate was liked by the Poles, but opposed by the Lithuanians.
The Brandenburg (Jagiellon) candidate Sigismund, Catherine's son, now twenty-one-years-old, was backed by Anna Jagiellon and one of most powerful magnates of the Commonwealth, Jan Zamoyski.
At the Election Sejm, on August 19, the Primate nominated Sigismund to the throne, but three days later, a part of the Polish nobility declared Maximilian III, Archduke of Austria new king of Poland. Both Sigismund and Maximilian accepted Polish throne, which resulted in the War of the Polish Succession. Neither Sigismund nor Maximilian were present in Poland (the Commonwealth) at that time.
In October Maximilian, who has took on the title of King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, entered the Commonwealth with an army of some 5,000 (plus 1,500 Polish supporters), planning to capture Kraków, but failed to do so, and gave up the siege on November 30.
Sigismund of Brandenburg, finally, on 7 October, swore to observe the pacta conventa at the Oliwa Cathedral, and on 9 December 1587, he entered Kraków, where he was crowned on 27 December as «Sigismund III, by the grace of God, king of Poland, grand duke of Lithuania, Ruthenia, Prussia, Masovia, Samogitia, Livonia».
On 24 January 1588, the army of Maximilian of Habsburg was defeated by Jan Zamoyski in the Battle of Byczyna. Maximilian, together with his court, was interned in Krasnystaw[15]. The conflict was ended in early spring of 1589, during the so-called Pacification Sejm. Supporters of Maximilian swore their allegiance to Sigismund, and were allowed to return to the Commonwealth.
King Sigismund and his elder half-brother the electoral prince Joachim Frederick of Brandenburg also tried to maintain peace with their powerful neighbors with a skillful marriage policy: in 1592 the prince John Sigismund, Joachim Frederick 's son, married the Archduchess Anna of Austria[16]; Sigismund III married on 30 October 1594 Anna of Prussia[17], first daughter of Albert Frederick, Duke of Prussia, and Marie Eleonore of Cleves, who was not beautiful, but the marriage was arranged in order to secure the incorporation of the Duchy of Prussia into the Kingdom of Poland through her, whose father had no surviving male heirs. This was a political match of exceptional importantance, since Anna was not only heir to Prussia, but also the expected heir of Cleves, Jülich and Berg, as well as Mark and Ravensberg[18].
[13] Ivan himself initially did not express any interest in the Polish-Lithuanian throne, neither for himself, nor for his son. Later on, however, he presented a list of unrealistic demands, such as incorporation of vast territories of the Commonwealth, and creation of a Polish-Lithuanian-Muscovy state, with a hereditary monarch.
[14] It must be noted that Polish nobility had previously considered this option. Henri was to marry Anna Jagiellon, and return to France, leaving his wife in the Commonwealth. Thus, the two nations would be ruled by a royal couple.
[15] However, at the request of Pope Sixtus V, King Sigismund III released Maximilian who surrendered his claim to the Polish Commonwealth in 1589.
[16] Daughter of Charles II of Austria and Maria Anna of Bavaria. Her sister Constance Renate became in 1605 the second wife of King Sigismund III.
[17] In OTL she died on 30 August 1625, but in this TL she died from complication while giving birth to her son Sigismund Joachim (25 July 1603 – 22 February 1625).
[18] Rights which later she gave to her sister Marie of Prussia, the second wife in 1604 of Elector John Sigismund of Brandenburg.
