Wilhelm II. (Braunschweig-Lüneburg)

Wilhelm II. On a wall painting in the Fürstensaal in the Lüneburg town hall

Wilhelm II. , Duke of Brunswick and Lüneburg (* around 1300; † November 23, 1369 ) was Prince of Lüneburg from 1330 to 1369 .

Life

Wilhelm was born around 1300 as the fourth child of Otto the Strict and his wife Mathilde von Bayern.
Not following the wish of his father, who had wanted the country to be divided after his death, Wilhelm took over after his death in 1330 together with his brother Otto III. the government. The main focus of their rule in the first years was the territorial consolidation of the principality. By acquiring the village of Fallersleben, the counties of Papenheim and Wettmarshagen, they succeeded in significantly increasing their property in the Gifhorn area. Another focus was the political support of the economically emerging cities. The trade in Lüneburg in particular benefited from the making the Ilmenau navigable between Lüneburg and Uelzen and from economic agreements between the Lüneburg princes and the dukes of Saxony-Lauenburg .

After the death of his brother Otto III. Wilhelm's attention increasingly turned to the succession in the Lüneburg region. Since his brother's son had died as a child and he only had daughters who were not entitled to inheritance, he chose his grandson, Albrecht von Sachsen-Wittenberg , the son of his daughter Elisabeth, to be his successor. Although he had already asked Emperor Charles IV for a contingent loan from his grandson, he refrained in the following years because he feared the influence of Albrecht's uncles, Wenzel and Rudolf. Another reason can be found in the Braunschweig-Lüneburg investiture contract of 1235 and the inheritance contracts signed by Wilhelm’s father with the Brunswick line of the Welfenhaus , according to which the principality must be inherited to them as long as there are male heirs in the entire house. In order to achieve his wish to enable one of his descendants to inherit, he married his younger daughter Mathilde to Ludwig von Braunschweig-Lüneburg. Since this was also the heir of the Braunschweigische Land , the divided properties of the ducal house would have been reunited in one hand. Regardless of this, Emperor Karl IV had in the meantime carried out the contingent loan of Albrecht von Sachsen-Wittenberg and his two uncles, thus laying the foundation for the War of Succession in Lüneburg, which began after Wilhelm's death .

Wilhelm's niece Mathilde, the daughter of his brother Otto III., Added further problems. Her husband Otto von Waldeck also made claims. The imperial court awarded this 100,000 marks, which corresponded to about half of the principality. In response to the refusal of William to pay this, was first the imperial ban and pronounced after another unsuccessful attempt to mediate the night, but on him by the emperor and commissioned the Bishop of Minden with its enforcement. However, it is not known whether this happened. With his death in mind, he finally handed over the government of the Principality to Magnus von Braunschweig-Lüneburg , who had been designated as heir after the death of his brother Ludwig, before he died on November 23, 1369 in Lüneburg.

Grave slab in the St. Michaelis Church in Lüneburg

Wilhelm II was buried in the Church of St. Michaelis in Lüneburg .

progeny

Wilhelm had a daughter from each of the first two of his 4 marriages.

From his 1st marriage (before April 7, 1328) with Hedwig von Ravensberg († December 5, 1336):

1. Elisabeth († 1384)

⚭ Otto von Sachsen-Wittenberg († March 30, 1350)

⚭ (approx. 1354) Nikolaus Graf von Holstein (* 1321; † 1397), son of Gerhard III. (Holstein-Rendsburg)

From his 2nd marriage to Marie:

1. Mathilde († after May 16, 1410)

⚭ 1355 Ludwig von Braunschweig-Lüneburg († 1367)

⚭ June 25, 1368 Otto I of Holstein-Schaumburg († 1404)

literature

• Paul Zimmermann :  Wilhelm, Duke of Braunschweig-Lüneburg . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 42, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1897, pp. 730-733.

predecessor	Office	successor
Otto II the severity	Duke of Braunschweig-Lüneburg, Prince of Lüneburg 1330–1369	Magnus II.