John George, Elector of Brandenburg

John George (German: Johann Georg; 11 September 1525 – 8 January 1598) was a Prince-elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg (1571-1598) and a Duke of Prussia. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he was the son of Joachim II Hector, Elector of Brandenburg, and his first wife Magdalena of Saxony.

Faced with large debts accumulated during the reign of his father, John George instituted a grain tax which drove part of the peasantry into dependence on the exempt nobility. Though a staunch Lutheran opposed to the rise of Calvinism, he permitted the admission of Calvinist refugees from the wars in the Spanish Netherlands and France. He was succeeded by his son Joachim Frederick.

Upon the 1568 death of his kinsman Albert I, Duke of Prussia, the Duchy of Prussia was inherited by the latter's underage son Albert Frederick. John George's father was a co-inheritor of the Duchy of Prussia. In 1577 the Brandenburg electors became co-regent with Duke Albert Frederick of Prussia.

Ancestors

Family and children

John George was married three times.

Firstly, he married Princess Sofie of Liegnitz (ca. 1525 – 6 February 1546) in 1545 and they had the following children:

1. Joachim Frederick (27 January 1546 – 1608)

Secondly, he married Margravine Sabine of Brandenburg-Ansbach (12 May 1529 – 2 November 1575-daughter of George, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach) in 1548 and they had the following children:

1. Georg Albrecht (1555 – 1557)
2. Erdmuthe (1561 – 1623), married in 1577 to Duke Joachim Friedrich of Pomerania
3. Anna Marie (1567 – 1618), married in 1581 to Duke Barnim X of Pomerania
4. Sofie (6 June 1568 – 1622), married in 1582 to Elector Christian I of Saxony

Thirdly, he married Princess Elisabeth of Anhalt-Zerbst (5/15 September 1563 – 5 October 1607) in 1577 and they had the following children:

1. Christian (1581 – 1655)
2. Magdalene (7 January 1582 – 4 May 1616), married in 1598 to Landgrave Louis V of Hesse-Darmstadt
3. Joachim Ernst (1583 – 1625)
4. Agnes (1584 – 1629), married:
   1. in 1604 Duke Philipp Julius of Pomerania;
   2. in 1628 Duke Franz Karl of Saxe-Lauenburg
5. Frederick (1588 – 1611)
6. Elisabeth Sofie (4 July 1589 – 24 December 1628), married:
   1. in 1613 to Reichsfürst (Prince) Janusz Radziwill;
   2. in 1628 to Duke Julius Heinrich of Saxe-Lauenburg
7. Dorothea Sibylle (19 October 1590 – 9 March 1625), married in 1610 to Duke John Christian of Liegnitz, Brieg, Wehlau
8. Georg Albrecht (1591 – 1615)
9. Sigismund (20 November 1592 – 30 April 1640)
10. Johann (1597 – 1627)
11. Johann Georg (1598 – 1637)

External links

• A portrait with ducal title