Albert I, Duke of Saxony

Albert I, Duke of Saxony
Woodcut of Albert I c.  1550
Spouse(s)	Agnes of Austria Agnes of Thuringia Helene of Brunswick-Lüneburg
Noble family	House of Ascania
Father	Bernard III, Duke of Saxony
Mother	Brigitte of Denmark
Born	c.  1175
Died	7 October 1260
Buried	Lehnin Abbey

Albert I (German: Albrecht I.) (c. 1175 – 7 October 1260) was a Duke of Saxony, Angria, and Westphalia; Lord of Nordalbingia; Count of Anhalt; and Prince-elector and Archmarshal of the Holy Roman Empire. Even though his grandfather Albert the Bear had held the Saxon dukedom between 1138 and 1142, this Albert is counted as the first.^[1]

Biography

A member of the House of Ascania, Albert was a younger son of Bernard III, Duke of Saxony, and Brigitte of Denmark, daughter of Canute V of Denmark. After his father's death in 1212, the surviving sons of the late duke divided his lands according to the laws of the House of Ascania: The elder Henry received Anhalt and the younger Albert the Saxon duchy. Albert supported Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor, in his wars against the Hohenstaufen.

In 1218 Albert's maternal uncle Prince-Archbishop Valdemar of Denmark, who had been deposed from his Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen, found refuge in Saxony, before he joined the Loccum Abbey as monk.

On 22 July 1227 Albert I asserted as fellow victor in the Battle of Bornhöved, commanding the Holy Roman left flank, his earlier disputed rank as liege lord of the Counts of Schauenburg and Holstein, a privilege, however, lost by his successor John V in 1474.^[2] After Bornhöved Albert reinforced and extended his fortress and castle in Lauenburg upon Elbe, which his father Bernard had erected in 1182.^[3]

Albert came into conflict with Ludolph I, Prince-Bishop of Ratzeburg, and duly imprisoned Ludolph, where he was badly beaten, and later sent into exile.

After Albert's death at Lehnin Abbey, his sons, the elder John I and the younger Albert II, ruled together as Dukes of Saxony, with John succeeded by his three sons Albert III, Eric I and John II, until before 20 September 1296 they split Saxony into Saxe-Lauenburg and Saxe-Wittenberg, with the brothers jointly ruling the former, and Albert II ruling the latter.^[4]

Marriages and issue

In 1222 Albert married Agnes of Austria (*1206–before 29 August 1226*) daughter of Duke Leopold VI of Austria

• Bernard (d. after 1238)
• Judith of Saxony, (1) ∞ 17 November 1239 King Eric IV of Denmark (*1216–1250*); and (2) ∞ Burchard VIII of Querfurt-Rosenburg, Burgrave of Magdeburg (1273–1313 recorded)
• Ann Mary (Anna Marie; d. 7 January 1252), ∞ Duke Barnim I of Pomerania
• Bridget (Brigitte Jutta) (d. 4 April 1266), fiancée of Otto of Brunswick and Lunenburg, ∞ before 1255 Margrave John I of Brandenburg [founder of the Johannean line Brandenburg-Stendal]
• Mathilde (Mechthild) (d. 28 July 1266), ∞ ca. 1241 Count John I of Schauenburg and Holstein-Kiel

In 1238 Albert married Agnes of Thuringia (*1205–1246*), daughter of Landgrave Hermann I of Thuringia

• Agnes, ∞ Duke Henry of Silesia-Breslau
• Jutta, ∞ m. 1255, John I, Margrave of Brandenburg; 2m: Burkhard VIII of Rosenburg, Burgrave of Magdeburg
• Margaret (d. 1265), ∞ 1264 Count Helmold III of Schwerin

In 1247 Albert married Helene of Brunswick-Lüneburg (*1231–6 September 1273*), daughter of Duke Otto the Child

• Helene (*1247–12 June 1309*), (1) ∞ in 1266 Duke Henry III the White of Silesia-Breslau, and (2) ∞ in 1275 Burgrave Frederick III of Nuremberg
• Elisabeth (d. before 2 February 1306), (1) ∞ in 1250 Count John I of Schauenburg and Holstein-Kiel, (2) ∞ in 1265 Count Conrad I of Brehna
• John I (* after 1248–30 July 1285*, in Wittenberg upon Elbe), co-ruling Duke of Saxony with his younger brother Albert II, resigned in 1282, John I married in 1257 Ingeborg Birgersdotter of Småland (*1247/or ca. 1253–1302*), daughter or grandchild of Birger jarl
• Albert (Albrecht) II (*1250–25 August 1298*), co-ruling Duke of Saxony with his elder brother John II (till 1282), then with the sons of the latter (till 1296), then as the sole duke of the partitioned branch duchy Saxe-Wittenberg, ∞ in 1273 Agnes (aka Hagne) (*c. 1257–11 October 1322*, in Wittenberg), daughter of King Rudolph I of Germany
• Rudolf (d. after 1269), ∞ Anna, daughter of Count Palatine Louis of Bavaria

Ancestors

Ancestors of Albert I, Duke of Saxony

16. Adalbert II, Count of Ballenstedt               8. Otto, Count of Ballenstedt                       17. Adelheid of Meissen               4. Albert the Bear                             18. Magnus, Duke of Saxony               9. Eilika of Saxony                       19. Sophia of Hungary               2. Bernard III, Duke of Saxony                                   20. Meginhard IV of Formbach               10. Herman I, Count of Winzenburg                       21. Matilda of Reinhausen               5. Sophie of Winzenburg                             11. a Countess of Everstein                       1. Albert I, Duke of Saxony                                         24. Niels I of Denmark               12. Magnus I of Sweden                       25. Margaret Fredkulla               6. Canute V of Denmark                             26. Bolesław III Wrymouth               13. Richeza of Poland                       27. Salomea of Berg               3. Birgitte of Denmark

References

1. Different counting traditions developed, following the arguments, that with Albert I's father Bernard ascending to dukedom, this was either (1) a successor of the old stem duchy of Saxony, with its two prior dukes named Bernard or (2) the sharply belittled territorial rest of Saxony remaining after the carve-up of the old duchy in 1180 formed the so-called Younger Duchy of Saxony, whose first duke of this name was then Albert I's father Bernard I (or III). Both traditions compete, more so with Bernard sometimes counted I or III, less so with Albert, usually counted I, but with his grandfather of the same name also having ruled as Saxon duke.
2. Cordula Bornefeld, "Die Herzöge von Sachsen-Lauenburg", in: Die Fürsten des Landes: Herzöge und Grafen von Schleswig, Holstein und Lauenburg [De slevigske hertuger; German], Carsten Porskrog Rasmussen (ed.) on behalf of the Gesellschaft für Schleswig-Holsteinische Geschichte, Neumünster: Wachholtz, 2008, pp. 373-389, here pp. 373seq. ISBN 978-3-529-02606-5
3. Cordula Bornefeld, "Die Herzöge von Sachsen-Lauenburg", in: Die Fürsten des Landes: Herzöge und Grafen von Schleswig, Holstein und Lauenburg [De slevigske hertuger; German], Carsten Porskrog Rasmussen (ed.) on behalf of the Gesellschaft für Schleswig-Holsteinische Geschichte, Neumünster: Wachholtz, 2008, pp. 373-389, here p. 383. ISBN 978-3-529-02606-5
4. Cordula Bornefeld, "Die Herzöge von Sachsen-Lauenburg", in: Die Fürsten des Landes: Herzöge und Grafen von Schleswig, Holstein und Lauenburg [De slevigske hertuger; German], Carsten Porskrog Rasmussen (ed.) on behalf of the Gesellschaft für Schleswig-Holsteinische Geschichte, Neumünster: Wachholtz, 2008, pp. 373-389, here p. 375. ISBN 978-3-529-02606-5