Otto I. (Braunschweig-Lüneburg-Harburg)

Duke Otto I of Braunschweig and Lüneburg

Otto, Duke of Braunschweig-Lüneburg (born August 24, 1495 in Celle ; † August 11, 1549 in Harburg ) was Prince of Lüneburg from 1520 to 1527 and owner of the lordship in Harburg from 1527 to 1549 .

Life

Otto was born in 1495 as the eldest son of Heinrich the Middle and his wife Margaret of Saxony . Together with his brothers Ernst and Franz he studied in Wittenberg and thus came into contact with Luther's ideas of Reformation at an early stage and later became the driving force behind the introduction of the Reformation in the Principality of Lüneburg . When his father had to leave the country and go into exile in France because of his role in the Hildesheim collegiate feud in 1520 , he and his brother Ernst took over the government of the principality. Since the principality was heavily in debt, with the exception of the castle bailiwick of Celle, all bailiwicks were pledged, a focus of his reign was the financial rehabilitation of the country.

In 1527 Otto married the unequal Meta von Campe and was resigned to his own domain, the rule of Harburg on the Elbe at Harburg Castle . As the eldest son, Duke Otto von Braunschweig and Lüneburg renounced the government of the Duchy of Braunschweig-Lüneburg. At the same time, he renounced a 40-year-old widow, a lady-in-waiting of the Queen of France, whom he should marry at the urgent request of his father, Henry I. The King of France wanted to pay the lady-in-waiting a considerable amount of bridal treasure, and this would have come in handy to repay the debts of the Duchy of Braunschweig-Lüneburg . In 1527 Otto became the first Duke of Harburg on the Elbe. He joined the Union of Protestant Princes. In 1528 Duke Otto I founded the Harburg bird shooting and became the rifle king in the first year. In 1529 the reform in Harburg, which Otto had begun in 1527, was completed. After Otto's death, his son, Otto II. Succeeded him in the rule of Harburg on the Elbe.

family

Otto married Meta von Campe († 1580) in the autumn of 1527 and had 7 children with her:

• Anne (1526–1527)
• Otto (* / † 1527)
• Ernst (1527–1540), fell to his death at the age of 13 from a scaffolding at Harburg Castle
• Otto II (1528–1603), Duke of Braunschweig-Harburg

⚭ 1. 1551 Countess Margarete von Schwarzburg-Leutenberg (1530–1559)

⚭ 2. 1562 Countess Hedwig von Ostfriesland (1535–1616)

• Friedrich (1530-1533)
• Margaret (1532–1539)
• Susanna (1536–1581)

literature

• Eckardt Opitz: Otto I . In: Franklin Kopitzsch, Dirk Brietzke (Hrsg.): Hamburgische Biographie . tape 2 . Christians, Hamburg 2003, ISBN 3-7672-1366-4 , pp. 311-312 .
• Christa Geckler: The Celle dukes - life and work 1371–1705. Georg Ströher Celle 1986, ISBN 3-921744-05-8
• Quarterly journal for heraldry, spelling and genealogy, 1st year 1873, Princely Blood. A contribution to the genealogy of the House of Welfs , p.208

predecessor	Office	successor
Henry the Middle	Duke of Braunschweig-Lüneburg, Prince of Lüneburg 1520–1527	Ernst the confessor