Albrecht II (Mecklenburg)

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Albrecht II, Duke of Mecklenburg (* 1318 ; † February 18, 1379 ) was Lord of Mecklenburg from 1329 to 1348 and ruling Duke of Mecklenburg from 1348 to 1379 .

Albrecht II, Duke of Mecklenburg
Statue of Albrecht II at Schwerin Castle

Life

Albrecht II was the son of Heinrich II of Mecklenburg and Annas of Saxony-Wittenberg , daughter of Duke Albrecht II of Saxony-Wittenberg . From 1329 Albrecht ruled under the tutelage of a number of sovereign councilors from the Mecklenburg knighthood and representatives of the Hanseatic cities of Rostock and Wismar. The first task of the guardians of Albrecht II was after the death of the extremely belligerent Heinrich II, the conclusion of peace with the neighboring territories for the duration of the guardianship. Then they could turn to internal affairs, in particular the maintenance of peace.

When he came of age in 1336, the guardianship ended and Albrecht II acted independently. At first he had to fight with inferior Mecklenburg noblemen who did not attach any authority to the young sovereign and who fought violently. To restore the peace, Albrecht II allied himself with the Hanseatic cities of Rostock and Wismar as well as parts of the Mecklenburg knighthood loyal to him, especially leading noble families such as the Barnekow , Lützow , Stralendorf , Bülow , Moltke and Plessen families , who had been in power since the reign of his father Heinrich II . not only cooperated closely with the rulers, but also owned numerous bailiwicks of the country as pledges. The collaboration with these six families continued throughout Albrecht II's reign. Not only his most important ducal councilors came from them, but also the low-nobility war entrepreneurs who were indispensable for his active foreign policy. Under the reign of Albrecht II, the leading noble families expanded their position and in 1379 not only two thirds of the bailiwicks were in their lien, but also had extensive complexes of fiefdoms.

As in domestic policy, Albrecht II continued his father's foreign policy. His constant here were alliances with Bohemia, Saxony-Wittenberg and Holstein-Rendsburg, as well as opposition to Brandenburg, Pomerania and Denmark. On July 8, 1348, the Roman-German King and later Emperor Karl IV raised Albrecht II of Mecklenburg, who was closely allied with him, together with his younger brother Johann I to duke and thus to the rank of imperial prince . During the subsequent division of the state on November 25, 1352, the states of Rostock and the ancestral state of Mecklenburg were awarded to him, while his brother received the rule and the bailiffs of Lübz and Sternberg. Otherwise, Albrecht II changed feuding alliances: So he led together with the Pomeranian dukes Otto I and Barnim III. War against Brandenburg ( Pomeranian-Brandenburg War ), but was in conflict with Pomerania even in the other wars of succession. In 1358, after three wars, he appropriated the rights of the defeated Counts of Schwerin . Like Charles IV, he initially supported the false Waldemar , but reconciled himself with Margrave Ludwig in 1350 in order to be able to wage war elsewhere and to open war on Brandenburg again when the time came. Like the reign of his father, the rule of Albrecht II was marked by numerous successive wars. In his second half of the reign he fought mainly with Denmark over the Nordic royal crowns. In Sweden he unscrupulously expelled his wife's relatives from the royal throne and put his own son Albrecht III. a. For this purpose, Albrecht II, in contrast to his father, also got on well with the Hanseatic cities and on February 20, 1368 concluded an alliance treaty with the Wendish Hanseatic cities, as they did not achieve a general alliance with the duchy.

He was successful in establishing the peace in north-eastern Germany because internal peace was a prerequisite for his foreign policy projects. Shortly before his death, Ernst von Kirchberg had the Mecklenburg rhyming chronicle made for the fame of the Mecklenburg ducal house . Albrecht II was buried in the Doberan Minster .

progeny

Albrecht II was married to Euphemia , Duchess of Sweden, then to Adelheid, Countess von Hohnstein.

literature

Web links

Commons : Albrecht II. (Mecklenburg)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ^ Friedrich Lisch: About the guardianship and the assumption of government of Prince Albrecht II. (I.) the Great of Meklenburg . In: Yearbooks of the Association for Meklenburg History and Antiquity . No. 7 , 1842, pp. 1-51 .
  2. ^ Tobias Pietsch: Leading groups in the late medieval lower nobility of Mecklenburg . Kiel 2019.
  3. ^ Friedrich Oelgarte: The rule of the Meklenburger in Sweden . In: Yearbooks of the Association for Mecklenburg History and Archeology . No. 68 , 1903, pp. 2-70 .
  4. ↑ Horst Wernicke : The Stralsund Peace of 1370. Highlights of the development of Hanseatic power or one result among many? In: Nils Jörn , Ralf-Gunnar Werlich, Horst Wernicke (eds.): The Stralsund Peace of 1370. Prosopographical studies (= sources and representations on Hanseatic history. NF vol. 46). Böhlau, Cologne et al. 1998, ISBN 3-412-07798-4 , pp. 1–16, here p. 8.
  5. ↑ Christa Cordshagen, Roderich Schmidt (ed.): The Mecklenburg Reimchronik des Ernst von Kirchberg . Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 1997.
predecessor Office successor

Henry II 		Prince of Mecklenburg
1329–1348
-

-		 Duke of Mecklenburg
1348–1379
Henry III.
personal data
SURNAME Albrecht II.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Albrecht II, Duke of Mecklenburg (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Duke of Mecklenburg (1348–1379)
DATE OF BIRTH 1318
DATE OF DEATH February 18, 1379