Barbara of Brandenburg (1464–1515)

Barbara of Brandenburg
Queen consort of Bohemia
Reign	1476–1490/1500
Born	30 May 1464 Ansbach, Brandenburg-Ansbach
Died	4 September 1515 Ansbach
Burial	Heilsbronn
House	House of Hohenzollern
Father	Albrecht III, Elector of Brandenburg
Mother	Anna of Saxony

Barbara of Brandenburg (30 May 1464 – 4 September 1515), a member of the German House of Hohenzollern, was by birth Margravine of Brandenburg and by her two marriages Duchess of Głogów from 1472 to 1476 and Queen of Bohemia from 1476 to 1490/1500.

Family

Barbara was born in the Hohenzollern residence of Ansbach as the tenth of the nineteen children of Margrave Albrecht III Achilles; she was the fourth child born from his second marriage to Anna, daughter of the Wettin elector Frederick II of Saxony. At the time of her birth, her father ruled the Franconian margraviate of Brandenburg-Ansbach and also inherited the neighbouring Principality of Kulmbach upon the death of his elder brother Margrave John the Alchemist. In 1471 he succeeded his brother Frederick Irontooth as Elector of Brandenburg.

First marriage

In Berlin on 11 October 1472, eight-year-old Barbara was married to the Piast duke Henry XI of Głogów, around thirty years her senior. The marriage contract stipulated that, in case of the duke's death without issue, his Duchy of Głogów was to be passed to his wife, with reversion to her Hohenzollern family. Four years later, on 22 February 1476, Henry IX died suddenly, possibly poisoned by Brandenburg agents. This death left Barbara Duchess of Głogów with Crossen and Kożuchów, but a long succession war erupted: The Silesian duchy had been a Bohemian fief since 1331, therefore not only Henry IX's closest male relative, his cousin Jan II the Mad, former Duke of Żagań, claimed the whole inheritance, but also King Vladislaus II of Bohemia and the Bohemian anti-king Matthias Corvinus. Immediately after the death of Duke Henry IX, Barbara's father Elector Albrecht Achilles had the Duchy of Głogów occupied by Brandenburg troops under the command of his son John Cicero.

Second marriage

In the name of his daughter, Albrecht Achilles appointed Otto von Schenk as provincial administrator.^[1] Nine months later, the twelve-year-old Duchess of Głogów and Crossen was married again, this time to King Vladislaus II of Bohemia, who wanted to seize the fief of Głogów to his domains. The wedding, performed by proxy with the Silesian duke Henry I of Münsterberg-Oels acting, took place in the Brandenburg city of Frankfurt (Oder) on 20 August 1476. His furious rival Matthias Corvinus supplied Duke Jan II the Mad with an army to occupy the Głogów lands, however, he was defeated by John Cicero's troops near Crossen in October 1478.

At the end of the succession dispute, Barbara -who counted on the support of the Głogów states-, after the violent fights with Duke Jan II, finally obtained the Duchy of Crossen, with the towns of Bobrowice, Sulechów and Lubsko,^[2] pledged to the Electorate of Brandenburg against Barbara's dowry, a sum of 50,000 florins.^[3]

Due to war Barbara couldn't travel to Bohemia for her marriage in person and coronation. Shortly after, Vladislaus II determined that his unconsummated and only juridical marriage with the Brandenburg princess was useless and began to seek the legal separation. This enraged Elector Albert Achilles, who in 1481 obtained a compensation payment; however, with the mediation of the Bishops of Bamberg and Würzburg, he still wanted to continue the marital bond, and even offered his ten-year-old daughter Dorothea as a replacement of her older sister, if the King did not want Barbara any more. The King refused any other agreement with the House of Hohenzollern, but remained legally married to Barbara although he never saw her.

At the death of Matthias Corvinus on 6 May 1490, the Bohemian King pursued the Hungarian crown too, and in order to obtain more support for this, he secretly married Corvinus' widow, Beatrice of Naples, on 4 October. After the union became public, this caused a scandal, because Vladislaus II was bigamous. This situation lasted for the next ten years, where he became increasingly desperate for an heir, because his Neapolitan wife was unable to bear him children.

Last years

In the meanwhile, Barbara fought against her family for a divorce from Vladislaus II; also, she became secretly engaged with the Franconian knight Conrad of Heideck in 1495. As a punishment for her independent behavior, Barbara was imprisoned in at Plassenburg Castle until Heideck broke off the engagement. Five years later, on 7 April 1500, Pope Alexander VI finally declared dissolved both marriages of Vladislaus II. Beatrice of Naples retired to Ischia, where she died eight years later. In 1502 the Bohemian-Hungarian King married Anne of Foix-Candale, relative of the Kings of France and Navarre, who bore him the needed heirs.

Barbara, without domains or incomes, probably remained in Plassenburg. Certainly, she died in her birthplace, Ansbach, on 4 September 1515, aged fifty-one. She was buried in Heilsbronn.

Ancestors

References

1. ↑ Alexander von Daniels, Handbuch der deutschen Reichs- und Staatenrechtsgeschichte, vol. II, Laupp, 1862, p. 260.
2. ↑ Gerhard Köbler, Historisches Lexikon der Deutschen Länder: die deutschen Territorien vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart, C.H.Beck, 2007, p. 125.
3. ↑ Karl Friedrich Pauli, Allgemeine preussische Staatsgeschichte, samt aller dazu gehörigen Königreichs, Churfürstenthums, Herzogthümer, Fürstenthümer, Graf- und Herrschaften, aus bewährten Schriftstellern und Urkunden bis auf gegenwärtige Regierung, vol. VII-VIII, C. P. Francken, 1767, p. 575.