Francis I, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg
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Francis I | |
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Maurice Frederick | |
House | House of Ascania |
Father | Magnus I |
Mother | Catherine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel |
Religion | Lutheranism |
Francis I of Saxe-Lauenburg (1510 – 19 March 1581,
Life
With his thriftiness Francis I deeply plunged Saxe-Lauenburg into debts, to this end he pawned most of the ducal
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
In 1571 – highly indebted – Francis I resigned in favour of his eldest son
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
- Albert (*1542 – 1544*)
- Dorothea (Lüneburg, *11 March 1543 – 5 April 1586*, Herzberg am Harz), ∞ Wolfgang, Duke of Brunswick-Grubenhagen (*1531 – 1595*)
- Magnus II (*1543 – 14 May 1603*, Ratzeburg)
- Ursula (*1545 – 22 October 1620*, Schernebeck), married in 1569 Henry, Duke of Brunswick-Dannenberg
- Francis II(*1547 – 1619*)
- (Henry I, 1577–1585), married Anna von Broich
- Maurice(*1551 – 1612*), married in 1581 Katharina von Spörck, divorced in 1582
- Sidonia Catharina (*?– 1594*), married in 1567 (1) Gespan of the Duchy of Teschen
- canon at the Cologne and Bremen Cathedrals
Illegitimate children with Else Rautenstein were:
- Franz Rautenstein (*? – after 26 December 1618*)
- Katharina Rautenstein (*1565 – 1587*), ∞ in 1579 Johann Grotjan
Ancestry
Ancestors of Francis I, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Notes
- ISBN 978-3-529-02606-5
- ISBN 978-3-529-02606-5
- ISBN 978-3-529-02606-5
- ISBN 978-3-529-02606-5
- ISBN 978-3-529-02606-5