John III | |
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Portrait of John III, 1500 | |
Duke of Brandenburg | |
Reign | 1531-1565 |
Coronation | 19 October 1493 in Berlin |
Predecessor | Charles I |
Successor | Elias I |
Born | 15 May 1489 Cölln, Brandenburg, Holy Roman Empire |
Died | 3 November 1565 Köpenick Palace, Berlin, Brandenburg, Holy Roman Empire |
Spouse | Constance von Jenagotha |
Issue | |
House | Přemyslid dynasty |
Father | Charles I |
Mother | Maria of Thuringia |
Religion |
Jungism (1506-) |
John III (15 May 1489 - 3 November 1565) was Duke of Brandenburg from 1531 until his death in 1565. He was the son of Charles I, Duke of Brandenburg, who he succeeded.
John III continued the Reformation in Brandenburg, much to the chagrin of his kinsmen Jaromir, Holy Roman Emperor. He maintained no fewer than eleven alchemists at court at all times, and also purchased lions, bears, and other exotic animals for hunting and exhibition, which placed the country into debt at the beginning of John's reign. Much like his father, John was interested in the occult, and was controversially associated with Peter Meise II briefly, as it was discovered John had been secretly, and perhaps unknowingly, funding Meise's "ritual experiments". John III responded to these allegations by linking the controversy to the Jews of Brandenburg and expelling them under flimsy justification. Jewish advocate and stadholder of Judenstadt, Josel von Rosheim later intervened and privately pleaded for the lifting of anti-Semitic policies in the country, to which John III acceded. Henry III subsequently became a vocal supporter of Judenstadt.
Later in life John III matured as an administrator, lifting Brandenburg out of debt and increasing the duchy's international standing. He negotiated the succession of Charles the White of Saxe-Belzig and backed up the treaty with Brandenburg's military force, deterring a takeover attempt by Saxony. Through this scheme the duchy came to be inherited by John's younger brother, Charles II, placing the territory firmly within the Brandenburg sphere. During the War of the Three Henrys, John III led Jungist forces against Henry X, Holy Roman Emperor, in the hopes of enthroning his son and heir Henry the Protector as King of Bohemia. Although initially successful, the assassination of Henry the Protector ended these ambitions, and John instead accepted Henry X's conversion to Jungism instead. John III also once stood for the position of Holy Roman Emperor unsuccessfully.
After Henry X's death in 1563 John III was active in the subsequent Imperial Election which elected Charles V, John's kinsman. A series of feuds emerged that weakened the Přemyslid dynasty, collectively known as the Brothers' Quarrel. John III remained distrustful of the new King of Bohemia, Jaromir III until his death in 1565. He was succeeded by his second son, Elias I.
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