In the name of his daughter, Elector Albrecht Achilles appointed Otto von Schenk as provincial administrator.[1] Nine months later, Barbara of Brandenburg was married again, this time to King Vladislaus II, 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, King 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
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 and coronation in person. Shortly after, King Vladislaus II determined that his unconsummated and only juridical marriage with the Brandenburg princess was useless and began to seek 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 of Brandenburg as a replacement to her older sister, if the King did not want Barbara any more. King Vladislaus II refused any other agreement with the House of Hohenzollern, but remained legally married to Barbara although he never saw her.
At the death of King 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 King 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 King Vladislaus II; also, she became secretly engaged with the Franconian knight, Conrad of Heideck, in 1493. As a punishment for her independent behavior, Barbara was imprisoned at
Barbara probably remained in Plassenburg without domains or incomes. Without a doubt, she died in her birthplace, Ansbach, on 4 September 1515, aged fifty-one. She was buried in Heilsbronn.
^Alexander von Daniels, Handbuch der deutschen Reichs- und Staatenrechtsgeschichte, vol. II, Laupp, 1862, p. 260.
^Gerhard Köbler, Historisches Lexikon der Deutschen Länder: die deutschen Territorien vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart, C.H.Beck, 2007, p. 125.
^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.
