Аннотация: The Personal Union of Brandenburg - Prussia (1619). The complex sovereignty of the Duchy of Prussia. The historical essay
The Personal Union of Brandenburg - Prussia (1619). The complex sovereignty of the Duchy of Prussia. The historical essay.
Contents:
1. From the first Duke of Prussia to the second Duke of Prussia (1568 -1569).
2. Brandenburg and Prussia (1525-1619).
3. The Polish royal custody (guardianship) of the Prussian Duchy (1568-1569 ...).
4. George Frederick begins to rule Prussia (1577-1578).
5. The creation of the personal union of Brandenburg - Prussia (1594 - 1619).
6. The Personal Union Brandenburg - Prussia successfully formed (1619).
7. The complex sovereignty of the Duchy of Prussia (1619).
1. From the first Duke of Prussia to the second Duke of Prussia (1568 -1569)
Among the important historical points - the formation of the 'complex sovereignty' of the Prussian Duchy (1578-1619).
The first Duke of Prussia appeared in 1525 - simultaneously with the advent of the secular state of the Duchy of Prussia.
The first Duke of "new" secular Prussia (Albert, the member of the Brandenburg-Ansbach branch of the House of Hohenzollern,) died on 20 March 1568 - the year before the creation of the Rech Pospolita (1 July 1569).
On 19 July 1569, his son, Albert Frederick (29 April 1553 - 27 August 1618), became Duke of Prussia.
2. Brandenburg and Prussia (1525 - 1619)
The first duke of Prussia was linked with Brandenburg. His father was Frederick I of Hohenzollern, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach. His mother was Sophia, daughter of Casimir IV Jagiellon.
During the transition of power inside the Prussian Duchy, in the Brandenburg ruled Joachim II Hector (13 January 1505, Cologne-3 January 1571). Joachim II Hector married in 1535 to Hedwig (1513-1573), daughter of King Sigismund I the Old of Poland.
It is believed that the Elector of Brandenburg, Joachim II Hector, through his relative, King Sigismund II Augustus of Poland (who was the son of Sigismund I), acquired the rights to the Prussian Duchy. It is hard to say how true this opinion is. Perhaps there were some agreements. Perhaps there were no (binding) agreements between Joachim II and Sigismund II Augustus.
The second Prussian duke at the time of the death of his father (and mother) was 14 years old.
The custody (guardianship) was appointed. Perhaps either the very fact of the appointment of guardianship, or some special conditions of guardianship served as the basis for the version about the existence of agreements between Joachim II and Sigismund II Augustus regarding the (partial) transfer of power in favour the rulers of Brandenburg. (This is just an assumption).
3. The Polish royal custody (guardianship) of the Prussian Duchy (1568-1569 ...)
Establishment of guardianship is not the best option for a starting a reign.
There is a version that guardianship was carried out in the form of "tyranny", and accompanied by deprivations for the young duke, and that custody (guardianship) brought him to depression and to subsequent mental disorder.
Albert Frederick, the second Duke of Prussia, married in 1573 Marie Eleonore of Cleves (daughter of William, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg and Maria of Austria).
In 1572, Albert Frederick, according to the dominant version, began to show signs of mental disorder.
Were there the two guardianships? (At first, one? Later, the another?).
Or the custody (guardianship) in connection with the young age gradually moved into the custody in connection with a mental disorder?
The specific date of cancellation of the "first" guardianship (due to young age) is not mentioned in public sources.
4. George Frederick begins to rule Prussia (1577-1578)
In 1577, when the (second) Prussian Duke Albert Frederick was increasingly falling into depression, George Frederick (the Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach), as his closest relative (apparently he can be described as a cousin), assumed guardianship, although the Prussian estates (classes) protested against this.
In 1578, George Frederick 's status as the (first) appointed ruler of the Duchy of Prussia was authorized by the Polish King Stephen Bathory.
In 1578 the Livonian war (1558-1583) was proceeding. Its participants were the Livonian Confederation, The Russian Kingdom, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (since 1569 - Rzeczpospolita), the Swedish and Danish kingdoms. Perhaps Stephen Bathory needed both money and allies. It may be supposed that the imposition on George Frederick of the duties of the appointed ruler of the Duchy of Prussia allowed to some extent to solve the problem of lack of money and the acquisition of allies.
People are not eternal. George Frederick, the appointed ruler of the Duchy of Prussia (guardian (trustee) of the second Prussian Duke), was not eternal.
The foresight was useful.
The son of the Brandenburg elector (Joachim Friedrich) John Sigismund (Johann Sigismund) married Anna, the eldest (first) daughter of the ("feeble") Duke of Prussia Albert Frederick, in 1594.
Both the first appointed ruler George Frederick and the Brandenburg elector (Joachim Friedrich), and the son of the elector (Johann Sigismund), and the grandson of the elector (Georg Wilhelm) - were representatives of the House of Hohenzollerns. Considering that the last Grand Master of the Teutonic Order and the first Duke of Prussia was also a representative of the House of Hohenzollern, the desire to retain power over Prussia was understandable.
5. The creation of the personal union of Brandenburg - Prussia (1594 - 1619)
About nine years after the marriage between Johann Sigismund and Anna of Prussia, on April 25, 1603, Georg Friedrich, the (first) appointed ruler of the Prussian Duchy, went into another world.
The increasingly close "union" of Brandenburg and Prussia required renewal.
On 2 November 1603 in Berlin, Eleanor, the fourth daughter of the ("mentally ill") second Duke of Prussia, married the Elector of Brandenburg Joachim Friedrich, becoming his second wife (the first wife by this time died).
Political will required the father (Brandenburg elector) and his son to marry the sisters - daughters of the second "mentally ill" Prussian Duke (respectively on the fourth and first daughters).
The Polish king Sigismund III Vasa appointed Joachim Friedrich the regent in 1605 and allowed his (Joachim Friedrich) son, Johann Sigismund, to become his successor in 1611.
It can be assumed that Sigismund III Vasa positively accepted the obligation of Johann Sigismund Hohenzollern (in 1609) to contribute 30,000 guilders annually to the Polish Royal Treasury.
In 1611, Johann Sigismund was granted a Charter (a letter of authority) - which gave the right to govern and the right of hereditary power in the Prussian Duchy.
6. The Personal Union Brandenburg - Prussia successfully formed (1619)
From Johann Sigismund and Anna of Prussia, who married in 1594, George William was born (1595 - 1640).
On August 28, 1618, the second ('insane') duke of Prussia died. He did not leave any heirs in the male line. Perhaps there was the possibility to insist on the transition of all of the Eastern Prussia under the full sovereignty of the Kingdom of Poland according the provisions of the Treaty of Krakow (1525).
The gaining power is often a long story. In the case of Prussia, in addition to George Frederick (the first appointed ruler of Prussia), also the father, the son, and the grandson participated in this process.
George William (grandson) became the legal duke of Prussia in 1619 with the entire scope of inheritance rights. He paid the feudal tribute personally to the king of Poland, Sigismund III, in September 1621 in Warsaw. (At the 'East', the tribute may be a familiar, ordinary matter... At the "West " a tribute a somebody could perceive as a boring business...).
7. The complex sovereignty of the Duchy of Prussia (1619)
At the same time George William was the Margrave and the Elector of Brandenburg (the sovereign state entity).
The Duchy of Prussia, as a result of the personal union Brandenburg-Prussia, became a state of "complex sovereignty." The de facto Brandenburg-Prussian state was established (with Berlin as its capital). In this united state, Brandenburg had the practically full sovereignty and the Duchy of Prussia had the partial sovereignty (Prussia was still a vassal of the Rech Pospolita).
The Duchy of Prussia gained full sovereignty at another historical stage...
September 10, 2019 12:51
Translation from Russian into English: September 10, 2019 23:51.
Владимир Владимирович Залесский 'Личная уния Бранденбург - Пруссия (1619). Сложный суверенитет Прусского Герцогства. Исторический очерк'.