Brandenburg-Prussia
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Brandenburg-Prussia (German: Brandenburg-Preußen) was a German monarchy established by the personal union between the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg in 1618.
The monarchy was ruled by the branch of the Hohenzollern dynasty that had earlier ruled Brandenburg. The term Brandenburg-Prussia refers to this monarchy from its establishment until 1701, after which it is usually known as the Kingdom of Prussia. The term "Brandenburg-Prussia" is sometimes also used to describe the Brandenburg-led state after the creation of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701, but this state is known simply as "Prussia" after 1806.
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[edit] History
The Margraviate of Brandenburg had been the seat of the main branch of the Hohenzollerns since 1415. Its rulers had enjoyed the influential rights of prince-electors in the Holy Roman Empire since 1356.
The Duchy of Prussia was created through the secularization of the Prussian Monastic state of the Teutonic Knights. It was a vassal of Poland and was governed by member of a cadet branch of the House of Hohenzollern, Duke Albert of Prussia. After his death in 1568, the duchy passed to the feeble-minded Albert Frederick. Because of the duke's sickness, Prussia was governed by the regents George Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1577–1603) and Joachim Frederick, Elector of Brandenburg (1603–1618).
Albert Frederick's daughter Anna married Joachim Frederick's son John Sigismund, and the main Hohenzollern branch in Berlin was granted the right of succession to the duchy. The Electors of Brandenburg inherited the Duchy of Prussia upon Albert Frederick's death in 1618, but the duchy continued to be held as a fief under the Polish Crown until 1657.
During the reign of the ineffective George William (1619–1640), the Hohenzollern lands suffered in the Thirty Years' War. Sweden compelled George William to join Sweden as an ally, and Sweden occupied substantial territory in Brandenburg-Prussia. Consequently, Catholic armies repeatedly ravaged Brandenburg and other Hohenzollern lands. George William's successor, Frederick William, concluded a peace agreement with Sweden. Although Sweden had occupied the Duchy of Pomerania, Brandenburg had the right of succession upon the death of its childless duke, Bogusław XIV, in 1637. Frederick William cultivated an alliance with the Dutch Republic. In the 1648 Peace of Westphalia, with Dutch support, Frederick William won possession of Farther Pomerania, the bishoprics of Halberstadt and Minden and the right of succession to the Archbishopric of Magdeburg. By 1680, these territories and the Bishopric of Kammin had been incorporated into Brandenburg-Prussia. Taking advantage of the difficult position of Poland against Sweden during the Northern Wars, Frederick William obtained full sovereignty for Brandenburg over Prussia from King Władysław IV Vasa of Poland in the Treaty of Wehlau in 1657. The rights of the Polish Crown meant that the duchy would legally revert back to Poland if the Hohenzollern dynastic line became extinct; this clause, which was to be renewed at each country's change of ruler, expired by 1700.
The location of the Duchy of Prussia outside the Holy Roman Empire—within which no ruler could call himself king—allowed Elector Frederick III of Brandenburg to become "king in Prussia" in 1701, in return for assisting Emperor Leopold I in the War of the Spanish Succession. This severed all links to Poland, and the first Prussian king was the last ruler of Brandenburg-Prussia who spoke fluent Polish. In 1773 the former duchy was reorganized into the province of East Prussia, while most of the Polish province of Royal Prussia became West Prussia. In 1806, Brandenburg, from which the kingdom was ruled, was itself reorganized as the Prussian Province of Brandenburg.
[edit] Independence from Polish kings in 1657
In 1657 during the Second Northern War between Sweden, Poland, and Brandenburg, the Treaty of Wehlau granted full sovereignty over Ducal Prussia to Elector Frederick William of Brandenburg. The duchy lost its status as a fief of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and instead remained as state of Brandenburg-Prussia, established 1577.
[edit] Polish threats
In 1675 King John III Sobieski of Poland concluded with France a secret pact, in which Poland would attack Prussia while France would pressure the Ottoman Empire to return territories to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Upon the ending of hostilities with the Ottoman Turks, Poland could then attack Brandenburg or France's rival Austria. However, Sobieski was opposed by the Papacy, by Polish gentry who saw the Ottomans as the greater threat, and by Polish magnates bribed by Berlin and Vienna, and Sobieski's plans for war with Prussia dissipated.[1]
[edit] Kingdom in 1701
Ducal Prussia's location outside of the Holy Roman Empire allowed Elector Frederick III of Brandenburg to become "king in Prussia" in 1701 without offending the only King in Germany, Emperor Leopold I. In 1773 former Ducal Prussia was reorganized into the Province of East Prussia, while most of Royal Prussia became the Province of West Prussia.
[edit] References
- ^ Gieysztor, Alexander, Stefan Kieniewicz, Emanuel Rostworowski, Janusz Tazbir, and Henryk Wereszycki. History of Poland. PWN. Warsaw, 1979. ISBN 83-01-00392-8
[edit] See also
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