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Wednesday, July 18, 2012

[July 18] Joachim III Friedrich, elector of Brandenburg

Parents: John George, elector of Brandenburg, and Sophie of Legnica
Date of Birth: 27 January 1546
Royal House: Hohenzollern
Spouse: (1) Catherine, daughter of John, margrave of Brandenburg-Küstrin, and Catherine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, then (2) Eleanor, daughter of Albert Frederick, duke of Prussia, and Marie Eleanore of Jülich-Cleves-Berg
Predecessor: John George
Reign: 1598 — 1608
Summary: Nothing is said of the early life of Joachim Friedrich. At the age of twenty, he was appointed the administrator of the Archbishopric of Magdeburg, although he lost technical rights to that post in 1570 when he married Catherine of Brandenburg-Küstrin. Since Magdeburg was a Catholic see and the Hohenzollern family was Lutheran, they only exercised political power in the archbishopric. The Bishop of Halberstadt was in charge of ecclesiastical affairs in Magdeburg between 1480 and 1680 when it was secularized and became a duchy. Joachim Friedrich became margrave and Holy Roman Imperial Elector of Brandenburg upon the death of his father in 1598, at which time he passed his authority in Madgeburg to his youngest son, Christian Wilhelm.


Of his reign, almost nothing is known. He became regent over the Duchy of Prussia in 1605 in the name of his relative, Albert Frederick, who had become feeble-minded. The Brandenburg-Ansbach branch of the family had technical control over Prussia, but it was decided that that control passed to the Electorate after Margrave George Friedrich's death in 1603. Joachim Friedrich's first wife died in 1602 and the margrave was forced to find another wife, whom he found among his cousin and ward's children. Marrying, Eleanor, the daughter of Albert Friedrich of Prussia helped emphasize his control and influence in Prussia while also giving him rights to Jülich-Cleves-Berg, a territory that Eleanor could one day inherit. Eleanor died in 1607 after giving birth to her only child, Maria Eleanore. Joachim Friedrich died the following year passing his margraviate to his eldest son from his first wife, John Sigismund.
Date of Death: 18 July 1608
Successor: John Sigismund

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