John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg Totally Explained

Everything about John Sigismund Elector Of Brandenburg totally explained

John Sigismund (; 8 November, 1572 – 23 December, 1619) was a Prince-elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg from the House of Hohenzollern. He also served as a Duke of Prussia.
John Sigismund was born in Halle an der Saale to Joachim Frederick, Elector of Brandenburg, and his first wife Catherine, Princess of Brandenburg-Küstrin. He succeeded his father as Margrave of Brandenburg in 1608. He gave the Reichshof Castrop to his teacher and educator Carl Friedrich von Bordelius. John Sigismund received the territories of Cleves, Mark, and Ravensberg in the Treaty of Xanten in 1614. He succeeded his father-in-law Albert Frederick as Duke of Prussia in 1618, but died the following year.

Religious policy

John Sigismund's most significant action was his conversion from Lutheranism to Calvinism. He was probably won over to the faith during a visit to Heidelburg in 1606, but it wasn't until 1613 that he publicly took communion according to the Calvinist rite. The vast majority of his subjects in Brandenburg remained deeply Lutheran, however, and after the Elector and his Calvinist court officials drew up plans for mass conversion of the population to the new faith in February 1614 there were serious protests. Resistance was so strong that in 1615, John Sigismund backed down and relinquished any attempt at forcible conversion, allowing his subjects to be either Lutheran or Calvinist according to the dictates of their own consciences. Henceforward, Brandenburg-Prussia would be a bi-confessional state.

Family and children

On 30 October, 1594, John Sigismund married Anna of Prussia, daughter of Albert Frederick, Duke of Prussia (1553–1618). They were parents to eight children:

George William (13 November, 1595 – 1 December, 1640). His successor.
Anne Sophia of Brandenburg (15 March, 1598 – 19 December, 1659). Married Frederick Ulrich, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg.
Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg (11 November, 1599 – 28 March, 1655). Married Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden. They were parents of Christina of Sweden.
Catharina of Brandenburg (28 May, 1602 – 27 August, 1644). Married first Gabriel Bethlen, Prince of Transylvania and secondly Franz Karl of Saxe-Lauenburg.
Joachim Sigismund of Brandenburg (25 July, 1603 – 22 February, 1625).
Agnes of Brandenburg (31 August, 1606 – 12 March, 1607).
John Frederick of Brandenburg (18 August, 1607 – 1 March, 1608).
Albrecht Christian of Brandenburg (7 March – 14 March, 1609).

Further Information

Get more info on 'John Sigismund Elector Of Brandenburg'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://john_sigismund__elector_of_brandenburg.totallyexplained.com">John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.