Joachim II Hector, Elector of Brandenburg

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Joachim II Hector (German: Joachim II. Hector or Hektor; 13 January 1505 – 3 January 1571) was a Prince-elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg (1535-1571). A member of the House of Hohenzollern, Joachim II was the son of Joachim I Nestor, Elector of Brandenburg. He was nicknamed after Hector of Greek mythology.

[edit] Biography

Joachim II was born in Cölln. His first marriage was to Magdalene of Saxony.

Joachim Nestor had made his sons sign an inheritance contract in which they promised to remain Roman Catholic; had Joachim Hector not signed this pact, he would likely have been passed over in the line of inheritance.

After the death of Magdalena in 1534, Joachim Hector married Hedwig of Poland, daughter of Sigismund I the Old of Poland-Lithuania, in 1535. As the Jagiellon dynasty was Catholic, Joachim II promised Sigismund he would not make Hedwig change her religion.

In 1545 Joachim II held a gala double wedding celebration for his two children, John George and Barbara. They were married to Sophie and George, both children of the Silesian Piasta Duke of Liegnitz, Frederick II.

Long drawn to the Lutheran faith and always seeking balance between Protestant and Roman Catholic factions, Joachim II did not officially profess the Lutheran Creed until 1555, after the deaths of Joachim Nestor (1535) and Sigismund I (1548).

Joachim II died in Köpenick.