Anna of Brandenburg (1487–1514)

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Portrait of Anna of Brandenburg on the cenotaph in the Bordesholm monastery church

Anna of Brandenburg (born August 27, 1487 in Berlin , † May 3, 1514 in Kiel ) was Princess of Brandenburg and from 1502 to 1514 as the wife of Frederick I, Duchess of Schleswig and Holstein .

About her son Christian III. Anna and Friedrich are the first parents of today's Danish royal family .

Life

Coat of arms of Anna von Brandenburg on the choir stalls of the Bordesholm monastery church

Anna was the eldest daughter of the Brandenburg Elector Johann Cicero from the noble family of Hohenzollern (1455–1499) and his wife Margaret of Saxony (1449–1501), daughter of Duke Wilhelm III. of Saxony .

As early as 1495, her father had started marriage negotiations with the Jagiellonian family for Anna and her brother Joachim, who was eleven at the time. However, his ambitions in this regard were dashed. After Johann Cicero's death in 1499, his half-brother, Margrave Friedrich V von Ansbach-Bayreuth, negotiated with the Danish royal family as guardian and regent for the minor Elector Joachim I for his niece and nephew. He thus built on a previous connection between the two families: his aunt Dorothea von Brandenburg-Kulmbach was successively the wife of the Danish kings Christoph III. and Christian I and thus mother of Anna's future husband Friedrich I , Duke of Schleswig and Holstein and since 1523 (after Anna's death) Danish and Norwegian king, as well as the grandmother of Joachim's future bride. In 1500 the marriage contract was signed. The wedding was scheduled for Anna's 14th birthday. Before that, a papal dispensation had to be obtained because the bride and groom were too closely related. The death of Anna's mother on July 13, 1501 delayed the marriage for several months.

On April 10, 1502, Anna married Friedrich, sixteen years her senior, the fourth son of King Christian I and Dorothea of ​​Brandenburg in Stendal . The wedding was carried out by Henning von Pogwisch , Bishop of Schleswig; as jointure Anna office, town and castle Kiel were awarded. On the same day, Anna's brother Joachim married Princess Elisabeth , daughter of the Danish King Johann, as part of this double wedding, which was very lavishly celebrated at the time . The financial implementation of the marriage contract was the responsibility of the Lübeck businessman Mathias Mulich . The fact that the dowry was paid on time was a notable exception.

With her husband, who she called his "Teltower turnip", Anna resided at Gottorf Castle , where Friedrich turned to a peasant girl soon after the wedding. She accompanied her husband several times on his travels and was very popular as a friendly country mother.

Two births at the age of not quite 16 or 17 years weakened the young duchess. At the age of 22 she contracted tuberculosis ; she died on May 3, 1514 at the age of 26, 28 weeks pregnant, and was buried in the abbey church of the Bordesholm Abbey in Bordesholm , which her husband had designated her (and originally his) burial place . This was the first time in Northern Europe that a monastery church became the burial place of a ruling family . The duke and ducal couple were very fond of Bordesholm and donated the choir stalls to the church in 1509 and the Brüggemann altar in 1514 .

Marriage and offspring

On April 10, 1502 , Anna married Friedrich , Duke of Schleswig and Holstein ; the marriage resulted in two children:

⚭ 1525 Princess Dorothea of ​​Sachsen-Lauenburg-Ratzeburg (1511–1571)
⚭ 1526 Albrecht von Brandenburg-Ansbach (1490–1568), Duke of Prussia

Tomb

The couple's tomb , which was commissioned during Anna's lifetime, a bronze cenotaph (= empty grave ), is one of the most important late Gothic tombs. The cenotaph is a structure above the actual grave in the vault below the church. Erected in 1903 between the choir stalls at Kaiser Wilhelm II's instigation, it has been back in its original location since 2000. The ducal couple is depicted as reclining figures in the Renaissance style on the cover plate, while the rest of the design is still late Gothic .

  • Bordesholm Cenotaph 03.jpg

  • Friedrich's and Anna's coat of arms on the front

  • Annunciation scene at the foot end

  • Location of the cenotaph in the nave

See also

literature

  • Gerhard Fouquet : Miss and Madam - Anna of Brandenburg (1487–1514) ; in: Christiana Albertina Vol. 54 (2002), Neumünster (Wachholtz); Pp. 19-31.
  • Hermann Kellenbenz : Anna von Brandenburg: born. August 27, 1487 Berlin-d. 3.5.1514 Kiel. In: Schleswig-Holstein biographical lexicon. Volume 3, Neumünster 1974, pp. 16-17.
  • Eduard Maria Oettinger: History of the Danish Court , Volume 1–2, Hoffmann and Campe, 1857, p. 80 ff.

Web links

Commons : Anna von Brandenburg  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Fouquet: Fräulein und Madam - Anna von Brandenburg (1487-1514) , p. 20
  2. ^ Wilhelm Adolf Schmidt: Allgemeine Zeitschrift für Geschichte, Volume 7-8 , Veit and Comp., 1847, p. 201
  3. ^ Fouquet: Miss and Madam - Anna von Brandenburg (1487-1514) , p. 24
  4. ↑ Fouquet: Fräulein and Madame - Anna von Brandenburg (1487-1514) , p. 30
  5. ↑ Andrea Baresel-Brand: Grave monuments of Northern European princely houses in the age of the Renaissance 1550-1650 , Verlag Ludwig, 2007, p. 96
  6. ^ Hanswilhelm Haefs: Place names and local histories in Schleswig-Holstein , Books on Demand, 2004, p. 73
  7. ↑ Working group Anna vB
personal data
SURNAME Anna of Brandenburg
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Duchess of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf
DATE OF BIRTH August 27, 1487
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH May 3, 1514
Place of death Kiel