Henry IV, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
Encyclopedia
Henry Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
Brunswick-Lüneburg
The Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg , or more properly Duchy of Brunswick and Lüneburg, was an historical ducal state from the late Middle Ages until the late Early Modern era within the North-Western domains of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, in what is now northern Germany...

, called Henry the Elder or Henry the Evil, was prince of Wolfenbüttel from 1491 until his death.

Life

Henry's father, William IV, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
William IV, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
William was duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and ruled over the Wolfenbüttel and Göttingen principalities....

, retired in 1491, leaving government of Wolfenbüttel to his two sons, Henry the Elder, and Eric
Eric I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
Eric I, the Elder was Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg from 1495 and the reigning prince of Calenberg-Göttingen.- Ancestry :Eric I was born on 16 February 1470 in Neustadt am Rübenberge at the castle of Rovenburg....

. In 1494, the brothers divided the territory between them, and Henry received the eastern part of the state, with the cities of Brunswick
Braunschweig
Braunschweig , is a city of 247,400 people, located in the federal-state of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located north of the Harz mountains at the farthest navigable point of the Oker river, which connects to the North Sea via the rivers Aller and Weser....

 and Wolfenbüttel
Wolfenbüttel
Wolfenbüttel is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, located on the Oker river about 13 kilometres south of Brunswick. It is the seat of the District of Wolfenbüttel and of the bishop of the Protestant Lutheran State Church of Brunswick...

.

Starting in 1492, Henry laid siege to the City of Brunswick for a year and a half to enforce tax payments; the siege ended with a compromise. On 24 November 1498 Henry IV, Magnus
Magnus I, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg
Magnus I of Saxe-Lauenburg was a Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg from the House of Ascania.-Life:...

 and the latter's father John V, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg
John V, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg
John V of Saxe-Lauenburg was the eldest son of Duke Bernard II of Saxe-Lauenburg and Adelheid of Pomerania-Stolp , daughter of Duke Bogislaus VIII of Pomerania-Stolp...

 allied in order to conquer the Land of Wursten
Land Wursten
Land Wursten is a Samtgemeinde in the district of Cuxhaven, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately 20 km southwest of Cuxhaven, and 15 km north of Bremerhaven...

, a de facto autonomous region of free Frisian
Frisians
The Frisians are a Germanic ethnic group native to the coastal parts of the Netherlands and Germany. They are concentrated in the Dutch provinces of Friesland and Groningen and, in Germany, East Frisia and North Frisia, that was a part of Denmark until 1864. They inhabit an area known as Frisia...

 peasants in a marsh at the Weser estuary, under the loose overlordship of the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen. Henry obliged to send 3,000 lansquenet
Lansquenet
Lansquenet is a card game. Lansquenet also refers to 15th and 16th century German foot soldiers; the lansquenet drum is a type of field drum used by these soldiers.-Game play:The dealer or banker stakes a certain sum, and this must be met by the nearest to the dealer first, and so...

s to the Land of Hadeln, the Lauenburgian exclave serving as beachhead
Beachhead
Beachhead is a military term used to describe the line created when a unit reaches a beach, and begins to defend that area of beach, while other reinforcements help out, until a unit large enough to begin advancing has arrived. It is sometimes used interchangeably with Bridgehead and Lodgement...

, with the lansquenets meant to gain their payment by looting and plundering the free peasants of Wursten, once successfully subjected.

On November 16, Prince-Archbishop Johann Rode
Johann Rode von Wale
Johann Rode von Wale was a Catholic cleric, a Doctor of Canon and Civil Law, a chronicler, a long-serving government official and as John III Prince-archbishop of Bremen between 1497 and...

 of Bremen had prepared for this by concluding a defensive alliance with Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

, fearing for its military outpost Ritzebüttel at the Outer Elbe protecting free navigation from and to the city. Rode gained more allies on 1 August 1499 (Bremen city
Bremen
The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is...

, Buxtehude
Buxtehude
Buxtehude is a town on the Este River in Northern Germany in the district of Stade and part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region . Buxtehude is a steadily growing medium-sized town and the second largest in the district of Stade. It lies on the southern borders of the Altes Land within easy reach of...

, Ditmarsh, and Stade
Stade
Stade is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany and part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region . It is the seat of the district named after it...

), providing 1,300 warriors and equipment to defend Wursten and / or invade Hadeln, and waged a pre-emptive feud
Feud
A feud , referred to in more extreme cases as a blood feud, vendetta, faida, or private war, is a long-running argument or fight between parties—often groups of people, especially families or clans. Feuds begin because one party perceives itself to have been attacked, insulted or wronged by another...

 on John V and his allies on 9 September 1499. Rode's allied forces easily conquered the Land of Hadeln.

By 20 November 1499 Magnus hired the so-called Great or Black Guard of ruthless and violent Dutch and East Frisian mercenaries, commanded by Thomas Slentz, recapturing Hadeln in early 1500. By early December 1499 Rode had addressed Duke Henry IV for help, who was actually allied with Magnus. In return Rode offered to appoint Henry's 12-year old son Christopher as his coadjutor, a position usually (as coadiutor cum iure succedendi), and in this case indeed, entailing the succession to the respective see. This exactly accomplished Henry's own expansionist ambitions, so he converted to Rode's column.

Henry IV and his troops were then hunting the Black Guard. Mediated by Eric I, Duke of Brunswick and Lunenburg
Eric I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
Eric I, the Elder was Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg from 1495 and the reigning prince of Calenberg-Göttingen.- Ancestry :Eric I was born on 16 February 1470 in Neustadt am Rübenberge at the castle of Rovenburg....

, Prince of Calenberg and Henry IV, Rode and Magnus concluded peace on 20 January 1500. Hadeln was restored to Magnus, thus no substantial change as compared with the status quo ante
Status quo ante bellum
The term status quo ante bellum is Latin, meaning literally "the state in which things were before the war".The term was originally used in treaties to refer to the withdrawal of enemy troops and the restoration of prewar leadership. When used as such, it means that no side gains or loses...

.

On February 1 Rode and Bremen's cathedral chapter
Cathedral chapter
In accordance with canon law, a cathedral chapter is a college of clerics formed to advise a bishop and, in the case of a vacancy of the episcopal see in some countries, to govern the diocese in his stead. These councils are made up of canons and dignitaries; in the Roman Catholic church their...

 officially appointed Christopher as coadjutor. Rode and chapter had agreed to pay for Christopher's necessary papal dispensation from the canon-law
Canon law
Canon law is the body of laws & regulations made or adopted by ecclesiastical authority, for the government of the Christian organization and its members. It is the internal ecclesiastical law governing the Catholic Church , the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches, and the Anglican Communion of...

 age limit, he was too young to be coadjutor, while Henry IV guaranteed military support for the prince-archbishopric. In 1501, Henry attacked Frisian Butjadingen
Butjadingen
Butjadingen is a peninsula and municipality in the Wesermarsch districts, in Lower Saxony, Germany.-Geography:Butjadingen is situated on the German North Sea coast. It is bordered on the west and southwest by the Jade River and on the east by the Weser River. It forms the northern part of the...

, in order to subject it to the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen, but he had to abort the campaign. On 7 May 1501 Pope Alexander VI dispensed Christopher from being under age, which cost the Bremian see 1,500 Rhenish guilder
Rhenish guilder
Rhenish guilder is the name of the golden, base currency coin of the Rhineland in the 14th and 15th centuries.- Formation :...

s. Alexander VI confirmed Christopher as coadjutor under the proviso that he should only ascend to office having come of age (27 years), which was in 1514. However, Christopher de facto assumed the rule in 1511, after Rode's death.

In 1509 Magnus and Henry's daughter Catherine
Catherine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Duchess of Saxe-Lauenburg
Catherine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel was a member of the house of Welf and a Princess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and by marriage Duchess of Saxe-Lauenburg.- Life :...

 married, which sealed the reconcialition of Henry and Magnus. In 1511, Henry, together with the other members of the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg, conquered the County of Hoya, which had refused to recognize Brunswick-Lüneburg as its liege lord
Liege Lord
Liege Lord was an American speed/power metal band, active in the 1980s and considered to be a pioneer of the genre. It was formed by Matt Vinci, Anthony Truglio and Frank Cortese....

. A second attack on Frisia
Frisia
Frisia is a coastal region along the southeastern corner of the North Sea, i.e. the German Bight. Frisia is the traditional homeland of the Frisians, a Germanic people who speak Frisian, a language group closely related to the English language...

 in 1514 - in the course of the Saxon Feud
Saxon feud
The Saxon feud was a confrontation between the East Frisian Count Edzard I and George, Duke of Saxony in the years 1514-1517. The war took place predominantly on East Frisian soil and destroyed large parts of the region.- Background :...

 - led to Henry's death; his head was shot off during the siege of Leerort Castle.

Family

Henry married Catherine, daughter of Eric II, Duke of Pomerania
Eric II, Duke of Pomerania
Eric II or Erich II, of the House of Pomerania , , was Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast from 1457 to 1474. He was the son of Wartislaw IX of Pomerania-Wolgast and Sophia of Saxe-Lauenburg Eric II or Erich II, of the House of Pomerania (Griffins), (between 1418 and 1425 – 1474), was Duke of...

, in 1486. They had the following children:
  • Christopher, Archbishop of Bremen (c. 1487 - 1558)
  • Catherine
    Catherine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Duchess of Saxe-Lauenburg
    Catherine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel was a member of the house of Welf and a Princess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and by marriage Duchess of Saxe-Lauenburg.- Life :...

     (c. 1488 - 29 June 1563), married Duke Magnus I
    Magnus I, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg
    Magnus I of Saxe-Lauenburg was a Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg from the House of Ascania.-Life:...

     of Saxe-Lauenburg in November 1509.
  • Henry
    Henry V, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
    Henry , Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, called the Younger, was Prince of Wolfenbüttel from 1514 until his death...

     (1489-1568)
  • Francis, Bishop of Minden (c. 1492 - 1529)
  • George, Archbishop of Bremen (1494-1566)
  • Eric (c. 1500 - 1553), joined the Teutonic Order
  • William (died c. 1557), joined the Teutonic Order
  • Elizabeth, Abbess of Steterburg
  • John (died as a child)
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