Editing Frederick II, Elector of Brandenburg

{{Short description|Elector of Brandenburg from 1440 to 1470}}
{{about|Frederick II of Brandenburg|other rulers|Frederick II (disambiguation)}}
{{More references|date=December 2009}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Frederick II
| image        = Arolsen Klebeband 01 203 1.jpg
| caption      = Posthumous engraving of Frederick II, 16th century 
| succession   = [[List of margraves and electors of Brandenburg|Elector of Brandenburg]]
| reign        = 20 September 1440 – 10 February 1471
| predecessor  = [[Frederick I, Elector of Brandenburg|Frederick I]]
| successor    = [[Albrecht III Achilles, Elector of Brandenburg|Albert III Achilles]]
| house        = [[House of Hohenzollern|Hohenzollern]]
| father       = [[Frederick I, Elector of Brandenburg]]
| mother       = [[Elisabeth of Bavaria, Electress of Brandenburg|Elisabeth of Bavaria]]
| spouse       = {{marriage|[[Catherine of Saxony, Electress of Brandenburg|Catherine of Saxony]]|1441}}
| birth_date   = {{birth_date|1413|11|19|df=yes}}
| birth_place  = [[Tangermünde]] castle, [[Margraviate of Brandenburg]]
| death_date   = {{death date and age|1471|2|10|1413|11|19|df=yes}}
| death_place  = [[Neustadt an der Aisch]], [[Bavaria]]
| issue        = [[Dorothea of Brandenburg, Duchess of Saxe-Lauenburg]]<br/>[[Margaret of Brandenburg (1450–1489)|Margaret of Brandenburg]]<br/>Johan of Brandenburg
}}
'''Frederick II of Brandenburg''' ({{Langx|de|Friedrich II.}}) (19 November 1413 – 10 February 1471), nicknamed "'''the Iron'''" (''der Eiserne'') and sometimes "'''Irontooth'''" (''Eisenzahn''), was a [[Prince-elector]] of the [[Margraviate of Brandenburg]] from 1440 until his abdication in 1470, and was a member of the [[House of Hohenzollern]].
[[File:FriedrichII Brbg Siegesallee.JPG|thumb|Statue by Alexander Calandrelli, 1898, former [[Siegesallee]], Berlin]]

==Biography==
Frederick II was born at Tangermünde Castle (German: ''[[:de:Burg_Tangermünde|Burg Tangermünde]]''), when [[Tangermünde]] was within the [[Margraviate of Brandenburg]], to [[Frederick I, Elector of Brandenburg|Frederick I]], Brandenburg's first Hohenzollern ruler, and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of [[Frederick, Duke of Bavaria-Landshut]], and [[Maddalena Visconti]]. The latter was a daughter of [[Bernabò Visconti]] and [[Beatrice della Scala]]. As the second son, his brothers included [[John, Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach|John the Alchemist]] and [[Albert III Achilles, Elector of Brandenburg|Albert Achilles]], both of whom also ruled Brandenburg as [[margrave]]s.

In 1421, at age 8, Frederick was betrothed to [[Hedwig Jagiellon (1408–1431)|Hedwig Jagiellon]], but she died on 8 December 1431, before the marriage could take place.

When Frederick I retired in 1437, he compensated his incapable eldest son John with the [[Principality of Bayreuth]] while Frederick II assumed the government of Brandenburg. Unlike his father, he turned away from imperial politics and concentrated on his efforts to pacify the nobility and [[German town law|towns]] of the electorate. Quarrels with the city of [[Berlin]] began in 1440 with his plans to build a new residence on the [[Cölln]] island of the [[Spree (river)|Spree]] river. In 1448 the ''Berliner Unwille'' (indignation) against the cession of the city's territory for an electoral stronghold culminated in open revolt, when the citizens flooded the excavation of the future ''[[Stadtschloss, Berlin|Stadtschloss]]''. Nevertheless, Frederick II prevailed, had the palace built and the [[town privileges|city's rights]] decisively curtailed.

In 1453, Frederick II, in his position as the Margrave of Brandenburg, was sent a letter from Rhodes, penned by the Grand Master of the Knights of St John, notifying him of the Fall of Constantinople and requesting he send them support so as to allow them to continue to combat the Turkish threat. His response is unknown.<ref>A. Pertusi, Testi inediti e poco noti sulla caduta di Constantinopoli, ed. A Carile. Il Mondo Medievale: sezione di bizantina e slava 4</ref>

In 1454 and 1455, he concluded the [[Treaties of Cölln and Mewe]] and thereby re-gained the [[Neumark]] (New March) from the [[Teutonic Order state]]. Weary of the long struggle with the [[Brandenburg-Pomeranian conflict|Duchy of Pomerania]], he abdicated in 1470 in favour of his younger brother Albert Achilles, he retired to the Bayreuth Principality and died one year later in [[Neustadt an der Aisch]].

==Family and children==
[[File:Brandenburg- Friedrich II. - Münzkabinett, Berlin - 5499499.jpg|thumb|right|Coin minted during the reign of Frederick II, {{circa|1463-70}}]]
On 11 June 1441, Frederick II married [[Catherine of Saxony, Electress of Brandenburg|Catherine]] of [[Electorate of Saxony|Saxony]] (1421 – 23 August 1476), a daughter of [[Frederick I, Elector of Saxony|Elector Frederick I of Saxony]] and [[Catherine of Brunswick-Lüneburg|Katharina of Brunswick-Lüneburg]]. They had three children (and Frederick had one bastard):

*[[Dorothea of Brandenburg, Duchess of Saxe-Lauenburg|Dorothea of Brandenburg]] (c. 1446 – March, 1519), married Duke [[John V of Saxe-Lauenburg]] on 12 February 1464.
*[[Margaret of Brandenburg (1450–1489)|Margaret of Brandenburg]] (c. 1450 – 1489), married [[Bogislaw X, Duke of Pomerania]].
*Johan of Brandenburg (December 23, 14{06-16} - 1454)
*Erasmus von Brandenburg (c. 1452 - 1465).

== Ancestors ==
{{ahnentafel
|collapsed=yes |align=center
|boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;
|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;
|boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;
|boxstyle_5=background-color: #9fe;
| 1= 1. '''Frederick II, Elector of Brandenburg'''
|2= 2. [[Frederick I, Elector of Brandenburg]]
|3= 3. [[Elisabeth of Bavaria-Landshut]]
|4= 4. [[Frederick V, Burgrave of Nuremberg]]
|5= 5. [[Elisabeth of Meissen]]
|6= 6. [[Frederick, Duke of Bavaria|Frederick of Bavaria-Landshut]]
|7= 7. [[Maddalena Visconti]]
|8= 8. [[John II, Burgrave of Nuremberg]]
|9= 9. Elisabeth of Henneberg-Schleusingen
|10= 10. [[Frederick II, Margrave of Meissen]]
|11= 11. [[Mathilde of Bavaria, Margravine of Meissen|Mathilde of Bavaria]]
|12= 12. [[Stephen II, Duke of Bavaria]]
|13= 13. [[Elisabeth of Sicily (1310–1349)|Elisabeth of Sicily]]
|14= 14. [[Bernabò Visconti]]
|15= 15. [[Beatrice Regina della Scala]]
}}

==References==
<references />

==External links==
*{{Commonscat-inline|Frederick II, Elector of Brandenburg}}

{{S-start}}
{{S-hou|[[House of Hohenzollern]]|19 November|1413|10 February|1471}}
{{S-reg|}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Frederick I, Elector of Brandenburg|Frederick I]] }}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Elector of Brandenburg]]
|years=1440&ndash;1470 }}
{{s-aft|after=[[Albert III Achilles, Elector of Brandenburg|Albert III Achilles]]}}
{{S-end}}

{{Electors of Brandenburg}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frederick II, Elector Of Brandenburg}}
[[Category:1413 births]]
[[Category:1471 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Stendal (district)]]
[[Category:15th-century German people]]
[[Category:Prince-electors of Brandenburg]]
[[Category:Margraves of Bayreuth]]
[[Category:House of Hohenzollern]]
[[Category:Burials at Heilsbronn Abbey]]