Albrecht I (Braunschweig)

Albrecht I the Great , Duke of Braunschweig-Lüneburg (* 1236 ; † August 15, 1279 , also called Albrecht the Long ) from the House of Welfs , was together with his brother Johann I second Duke of Braunschweig and Lüneburg until the division of the Duchy in 1269 and then first regent of the newly created Principality of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel until his death .

Life

After the death of his father Otto , the first duke of Braunschweig and Lüneburg, Albrecht took over the government of the duchy and the guardianship of his younger brother Johann in 1252 . At first both brothers ruled the duchy together. In 1267, since none of the brothers could assert themselves as duke, they then divided the duchy. Albrecht shared the property, Johann got the right to choose a part. Your uncle, Margrave Otto III. von Brandenburg acted as an observer and referee during the division. The Guelf division was very similar to that which Otto III. and his older brother Johann I at Tangermünde in June 1266 with regard to Neumark and Oberlausitz . Duke Johann chose the Lüneburg region with the city of Hanover as the duchy. Albrecht received the land around Braunschweig and Wolfenbüttel with areas in Calenberg and around Göttingen. He founded the so-called "Older House Braunschweig", his brother the "Older House Lüneburg". The division finally came into effect in 1269. Albrecht I died in 1279 and was buried in Brunswick Cathedral .

progeny

Duke Albrecht married Elisabeth von Brabant († 1261) on July 13, 1254, daughter of Duke Heinrich II of Brabant and Sophie of Thuringia , granddaughter of Saint Elisabeth and sister of Heinrich I , the first Landgrave of Hesse ; this marriage remained childless. In a second marriage he married Adelaide of Montferrat , the daughter of Margrave Boniface II of Montferrat († 1253/55) and Margaret of Savoy. From this marriage a daughter and six sons were born, of whom the three eldest sons became the inheritance and became the youngest Grand Master of the Teutonic Order:

• Heinrich (1267-1322)
• Albrecht the Fat (1268-1318)
• Wilhelm (1270-1292)
• Otto († around 1346)
• Luther (or Lothar) (1275–1335) was Grand Master of the Teutonic Order from 1331 to 1335
• Mechthild (1276-1318), ⚭ 1310/12 Heinrich III. , Duke of Glogau and Sagan
• Conrad († around 1303)

literature

• Adolf Baehr: Albrecht I, Duke of Braunschweig (1252–1279). In: Yearbook of the History Association for the Duchy of Braunschweig 13. 1914. pp. 1–62.
• Hans Butzmann :  Albrecht I the great. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1953, ISBN 3-428-00182-6 , p. 164 ( digitized version ).
• Horst-Rüdiger Jarck, Dieter Lent et al. (Ed.): Braunschweigisches Biographisches Lexikon - 8th to 18th century. Appelhans Verlag, Braunschweig 2006, ISBN 3-937664-46-7 , p. 34.
• Oliver Auge , Jan Habermann, Frederieke Maria Schnack (Eds.): The last Welfe in the north. Duke Albrecht I 'the Tall One' of Braunschweig (1236–1279). A 'great' prince and his room for maneuver in late medieval Europe (= Kiel workpieces. Volume 54). Lang, Berlin 2019, ISBN 978-3-631-78116-6 .
• Spehr:  Albrecht I, Duke of Braunschweig . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1875, pp. 257-261.
• Bernd Schneidmüller : The Guelphs. Reign and memory (819–1252). 2nd Edition. Kohlhammer. Stuttgart 2014, ISBN 3-17-026104-5 .

Web links

• Albrecht I. on welfen.de

predecessor	Office	successor
Otto the child	Duke of Braunschweig and Lüneburg 1252–1269	Division of the Duchy into the Principality of Lüneburg and the Principality of Braunschweig
---	Duke of Braunschweig-Lüneburg, Prince of Braunschweig 1269–1279	Heinrich I. Albrecht II. Wilhelm I.