Francis I, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg

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Francis I
Maurice
Frederick
HouseHouse of Ascania
FatherMagnus I
MotherCatherine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
ReligionLutheranism

Francis I of Saxe-Lauenburg (1510 – 19 March 1581,

Francis II
in 1581.

Life

With his thriftiness Francis I deeply plunged Saxe-Lauenburg into debts, to this end he pawned most of the ducal

capitular canons
refused.

Heavily indebted and with no further need for good relations with the prince-bishopric Francis I looted Ratzeburg Cathedral in 1552. In 1558 he conquered the prince-episcopal

Mölln, looted and demolished the cloister, forced its vassal farmers to swear him loyalty and pay him dues, and started overfelling in the monasterial woods, selling the timber abroad.[2]

In 1571 – highly indebted – Francis I resigned in favour of his eldest son

, further escalating due to Magnus' violent temperament.

In 1573 Francis I deposed Magnus and reascended to the throne while Magnus fled to Sweden, the homeland of his wife Sophia Vasa of Sweden. The following year Magnus hired troops in order to take Saxe-Lauenburg with violence. Francis II, an experienced military commander in imperial service, and Duke Adolphus of Holstein-Gottorp, then Lower Saxon Circle Colonel (Kreisobrist), helped Francis I to defeat Magnus. In return Saxe-Lauenburg had to cede the bailiwick of Steinhorst to Adolphus' Holstein-Gottorp in 1575. Francis II again helped his father to inhibit Magnus' second military attempt to overthrow his father in 1578.[3] Francis I then made Francis II his vicegerent actually governing the duchy.

In 1581 - shortly before he died and after consultations with his son Prince-Archbishop Henry of Bremen and Emperor Rudolph II, but unconcerted with his other sons Magnus and Maurice - Francis I made his third son Francis II, whom he considered the ablest, his sole successor, violating the rules of primogeniture.[4] This severed the anyway difficult relations with the estates of the duchy, which fought the ducal practice of growing indebtedness.[5]

Marriage and issue

Freiberg, *2 May 1515 – 18 July 1592*, Buxtehude), daughter of Henry IV, Duke of Saxony
. They had the following children:

Illegitimate children with Else Rautenstein were:

  • Franz Rautenstein (*? – after 26 December 1618*)
  • Katharina Rautenstein (*1565 – 1587*), ∞ in 1579 Johann Grotjan

Ancestry

Notes

Francis I, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg
Born: 1510 Died: 19 March 1581 in Buxtehude
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Magnus I
Magnus II
Succeeded by
Magnus II
Preceded by
Magnus II
Francis II
(son) (1578 – 1581)
Succeeded by
Maurice
as Administrators of Saxe-Lauenburg