Query - Partition of Brandenburg-Prussia proposed by Frederick William (Great Elector)'s 2nd testament?

[Woolly Mammoth]

As a quick query does anyone happen to know what the proposed partition of Brandenburg-Prussia in c.1680s would have involved? Wikipedia mentions the whole affair thus; 'Frederick William's testament would have divided Brandenburg-Prussia among his sons, yet firstborn Frederick III with the emperor's backing succeeded in becoming the sole ruler based on the Treaty of Gera, which forbade a division of Hohenzollern territories.' I've looked at English language sources but unfortunately I'm unable to read in German.

I feel if this partition had not been avoided it would have had interesting butterflies.

 

[Alex Richards]

Do you have a link to any o the stuff you've found about the Second Testament? I can only find the first online from my googling.

 

[Woolly Mammoth]

Took forever to dig out my copy of Iron Kingdom and it was frustratingly uninformative; page 102 mentions "It was under pressure from Dorothea that the Great Elector agreed to provide for his younger sons through the testamentary partition of his lands, a decision that was concealed from Frederick and that he successfully countermanded after his accession." I remembered it being a little more descriptive which is frustrating.

The German Wikipedia is a little more forthcoming; "In violation of the house laws of the Hohenzollern, which have been in force since 1473, Brandenburg-Prussia was to be divided among the five sons of Frederick William, i.e. Frederick and his four half brothers." They quote Werner Schmidt Friedrich I. Kurfurst von Brandenburg. Konig in Preussen (1996) - I haven't been able to find an English translation.

I did also find an open-access book chapter called Aktenstucke zur Geschichte Konig Friedrich Wilhelms I but it is written in Fraktur font and my auto-translation can't handle that. It might have nothing of value.

 

[Alex Richards]

Took forever to dig out my copy of Iron Kingdom and it was frustratingly uninformative; page 102 mentions "It was under pressure from Dorothea that the Great Elector agreed to provide for his younger sons through the testamentary partition of his lands, a decision that was concealed from Frederick and that he successfully countermanded after his accession." I remembered it being a little more descriptive which is frustrating.

The German Wikipedia is a little more forthcoming; "In violation of the house laws of the Hohenzollern, which have been in force since 1473, Brandenburg-Prussia was to be divided among the five sons of Frederick William, i.e. Frederick and his four half brothers." They quote Werner Schmidt Friedrich I. Kurfurst von Brandenburg. Konig in Preussen (1996) - I haven't been able to find an English translation.

I did also find an open-access book chapter called Aktenstucke zur Geschichte Konig Friedrich Wilhelms I but it is written in Fraktur font and my auto-translation can't handle that. It might have nothing of value.

Huh, appears I can get the first for £1.71 used or £122 new.

EDIT: Oh look good old Abebooks has better options. Might get that anyway actually, would be good to have more sources for the period.

I could have a go at the latter if can share a link. Not exactly fluent mind you.

 

[Woolly Mammoth]

Huh, appears I can get the first for £1.71 used or £122 new.

EDIT: Oh look good old Abebooks has better options. Might get that anyway actually, would be good to have more sources for the period.

I could have a go at the latter if can share a link. Not exactly fluent mind you.

Its a book that is apparently called Geschichte der Preussischen Politik (might have misspelled that).

The PdF I bookmarked is here - https://www.degruyter.com/downloadpdf/book/9783111580494/10.1515/9783111580494-003.pdf
The page on the De Gruyter website is - https://www.degruyter.com/view/title/62581?tab_body=toc

Hopefully both of these work!

 

[Alex Richards]

Its a book that is apparently called Geschichte der Preussischen Politik (might have misspelled that).

The PdF I bookmarked is here - https://www.degruyter.com/downloadpdf/book/9783111580494/10.1515/9783111580494-003.pdf
The page on the De Gruyter website is - https://www.degruyter.com/view/title/62581?tab_body=toc

Hopefully both of these work!

I think I may have found the relevant passage, though it's from the 1664 testament.

In diesem wird wiederholt, daß der Kurprinz Alle» mit Ausnahme von Halberstadt und Amt Egeln erben, daß Prinz Friedrich diese erhalten soll; der Kurfürst fügt hinzu, „wenn un» der höchste Gott einen dritten Sohn bescheeren sollte", so soll dieser die Herrschaften Lauenburg und Bütow in gleicher Weise wie Markgraf Friedrich Halberstadt erblich erhalten; wenn noch mehr Söhne geboren werden, so soll e» bei der Disposition der Borfahren bleiben, doch so, daß die Apanage der jüngeren Brüder um je 4000 Thaler erhöht wird; auch soll der älteste Bruder als Kurfürst, wie schon in der Disposition von 1664 bestimmt worden, darauf sehen» daß die jüngeren Brüder mit Statthaltereien und Beneficien versorgt werden.

Which effectively equates to

Kurprinz Karl (who died in 1687): All lands except
Friedrich (who would become Frederick I): The Principality of Halberstadt and the Amt Egeln
Hypothetical third son (i.e. Ludwig when born in 1666): The Lordships of Lauenburg and Bütlow.
Further sons: non-territorial lordships of a set value.

The elder son was to be charged with providing high positions for his younger siblings, the Prince of Halberstadt and Lord of Lauenburg were to agree not to enter into any foreign treaty outside of those agreed by the elder son.

EDIT: Oh there's a whole succession of suggestions here! More to come.

 

[Alex Richards]

Alright so the 1670 testament appears to have expanded the lands granted to Ludwig- he was to inherit Lauenburg and Bütlow and the lands/position(?) of the Provosts of the Cathedrals of Magdeburg and Halberstadt when these became vacant.

Phillip Wilhelm was to receive the lordships of Draheim and Elbing when these had been successfully claimed from Poland, and financial compensation until then.

It then looks like they basically started making minor amendments for a bit.

You know what, I think I need to take some time to go through this in detail.

 

[Woolly Mammoth]

I think I may have found the relevant passage, though it's from the 1664 testament.



Which effectively equates to

Kurprinz Karl (who died in 1687): All lands except
Friedrich (who would become Frederick I): The Principality of Halberstadt and the Amt Egeln
Hypothetical third son (i.e. Ludwig when born in 1666): The Lordships of Lauenburg and Bütlow.
Further sons: non-territorial lordships of a set value.

The elder son was to be charged with providing high positions for his younger siblings, the Prince of Halberstadt and Lord of Lauenburg were to agree not to enter into any foreign treaty outside of those agreed by the elder son.

EDIT: Oh there's a whole succession of suggestions here! More to come.

This is exactly the sort of detail I was hoping for, thank you!
EDIT - just spotted the follow up. The English language sources I looked at did seem to suggest that the later testament was more aggressive in partitioning the inheritance, its interesting to see that was the case.

 

[Alex Richards]

This is exactly the sort of detail I was hoping for, thank you.

It gets very confusing after Karl's death, because it rather looks like things both start being moved up, but also changes made, but also it appears that the idea shifted to 'lands inherited as subjects of the elder son.

So the 1681 Testament sets out that Friedrich is to be considered the 'Universal heir' but that the younger sons are to receive:

Margrave Ludwig: The Principality of Minden
Margrave Phillip Wilhelm: The Principality of Halberstadt and Grafschaft Reinstein

Both these territories had their own electoral votes in the Reichstag, but these votes were to be exercised by ambassadors and in the same direction as Brandenburg propper.

Margrave Albrecht Friedrich: The Grafschaft Ravensburg and also 'Session and Botum' which I think is Bochum and somewhere else
Margrave Carl Phillip: The Grafschaft Naugardt mit Massow, Lauenburg, Bütow and Draheim.
Margrave Christian Ludwig: Amt Egeln and the right to inherit the army leadership after the death of Johann Moritz von Nassau.

 

[Woolly Mammoth]

I've mapped the 1681 testament provisions, based on your translations (took me much longer than I anticipated). I haven't managed to find any map which give the exact boundaries of Amt Egeln so I've had to pop in a dashed line.

If one of the more expansive testamentary partitions had occured there seems to be the potential for a clipping of Prussian influence in western Germany at least for a short period; something akin to the 1670 provisions of losing Magdeburg would be quite significant. The the secundogenitures might become a thorn in the side of their nominal suzerain akin to the relationship between Denmark and the Dukes of Holstein-Gottorp (maybe by seeking Imperial immediacy or backing Austria in moments of conflict with Prussia).

 

[Alex Richards]

If one of the more expansive testamentary partitions had occured there seems to be the potential for a clipping of Prussian influence in western Germany at least for a short period; something akin to the 1670 provisions of losing Magdeburg would be quite significant. The the secundogenitures might become a thorn in the side of their nominal suzerain akin to the relationship between Denmark and the Dukes of Holstein-Gottorp (maybe by seeking Imperial immediacy or backing Austria in moments of conflict with Prussia).

It wasn't the whole Bishopric/Duchy of Magdeburg however. Just the direct Cathedral lands. Estates rather than territories.

That's a very nice map however. And yes, they certainly could prove a bit of a thorn, especially once you're into the grandchildren and Prussia proper has centralising tendencies. Although I think it's going to be more foci of domestic opposition rather than aligning with abroad.

Looking at those younger heirs, Ludwig died in very suspicious circumstances- quite possibly a poisoned orange- and his wife ended up marrying the Elector Palatine. They only had one daughter survive to adulthood, but the House of Wittelsbach is so ridiculously infertile it's an utter miracle it still exists (seriously the 19th Century Royal reigning house were the branch of Pfalz-Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld, mainly because despite the fact that they were 14 generations removed from the rulers of Bavaria in the male line they were basically the only ones who kept having kids). So basically, kids are quite possible.

Phillip Wilhelm went to daughters only within a couple of generations, Albrecht Friedrich had a couple of sons who both died quite young, Christian Ludwig appears to have never actually married, while Karl Phillip did marry an Italian countess, but it utterly scandalised everyone and wasn't recognised by anyone.