Name Albert Duke | Mother Brigitte of Denmark | |
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Spouse(s) Agnes of AustriaAgnes of ThuringiaHelene of Brunswick-Luneburg Children Albert II, Duke of Saxony, John I, Duke of Saxony, Jutta of Saxony Grandparents Albert the Bear, Sophie of Winzenburg Great-grandparents Otto, Count of Ballenstedt, Eilika of Saxony, Herman I, Count of Winzenburg | ||
Parents Bernhard, Count of Anhalt |
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.
Contents
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. After Bornhöved Albert reinforced and extended his fortress and castle in Lauenburg upon Elbe, which his father Bernard had erected in 1182.
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.
Marriages and issue
In 1222 Albert married Agnes of Austria (*1206–before 29 August 1226*) daughter of Duke Leopold VI of Austria
In 1238 Albert married Agnes of Thuringia (*1205–1246*), daughter of Landgrave Hermann I of Thuringia
In 1247 Albert married Helene of Brunswick-Lüneburg (*1231–6 September 1273*), daughter of Duke Otto the Child