Dorothea of Brandenburg, Duchess of Mecklenburg

Dorothea of Brandenburg (9 February 1420, Berlin – 19 January 1491, Benedictine monastery at Rehna) was a princess of Brandenburg by birth and by marriage Duchess of Mecklenburg.

For other people named Dorothea of Brandenburg, see Dorothea of Brandenburg (disambiguation).
Dorothea of Brandenburg
Born9 February 1420
Berlin
Died19 January 1491(1491-01-19) (aged 70)
Benedictine monastery at Rehna
BuriedGadebusch
Spouse(s)Henry IV, Duke of Mecklenburg
FatherFrederick I, Elector of Brandenburg
MotherElisabeth of Bavaria-Landshut

Life

Dorothea was a daughter of the Elector Frederick I of Brandenburg (1371–1440) from his marriage to Elisabeth (1383–1442), daughter of Duke Frederick of Bayern-Landshut. Elizabeth's brothers were Electors Frederick II and Albert Achilles, who successively ruled Brandenburg.

In May 1432, Dorothea married Duke Henry IV of Mecklenburg (1417–1477). She received as dowry Dömitz and Gorlosen, which her sister Margaret had also received when she married into the House of Mecklenburg. Margaret's husband, Ernest Louis, however, had died shortly after the marriage.[1] When a dispute arose later between Brandenburg and Mecklenburg about the inheritance of the principality of Wenden, the family ties between Duke Henry and Elector Frederick made it easier to reach a settlement.

Henry IV died in 1477. After 1485 Dorothea lived, she lived as a nun in the Rehna convent.[2] She died in 1491 and was buried in the City Church of St. James' Church and St. Dionysius in Gadebusch. Her grave stone is marked with an incised drawing of the Duchess as a nun, crowned by a canopy.

Issue

From her marriage with Henry, Dorothy had the following children:

married in 1466 or 1468 Countess Catherine of Lindau-Ruppin († 1485)
  • John VI († 1474), Duke of Mecklenburg
  • Magnus II (1441–1503), Duke of Mecklenburg
married in 1478 princess Sophie of Pomerania (1460-1504)
  • Catherine (1442-1451/52)
  • Anna (1447–1464)
  • Elisabeth (1449–1506), abbess of Ribnitz
  • Balthasar (1451–1507), Duke of Mecklenburg, coadjutor in the diocese of Schwerin until 1479

Notes
  1. Ludwig Ernst Hahn: Kurfürst Friedrich der Erste von Brandenburg, Burggraf zu Nürnberg, der Ahnherr des preußischen Königshauses, Hertz, 1859, S. 210
  2. Cawley, Charles, MECKLENBURG, Medieval Lands database, Foundation for Medieval Genealogy,

References
  • Carl Friedrich Goeschel: Elisabeth, die erste Kurfürstin von Brandenburg aus dem Hause Hohenzollern, Mittler, 1844, p. 35
  • Samuel Buchholtz: Versuch einer Geschichte der Churmarck Brandenburg, F. W. Birnstiel, 1767, p. 39
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