• General Notes

  Dorothea of Brandenburg (Germany-1430/1431 – Denmark-November 10,1495) was the consort of Christopher of Bavaria and Christian I ofDenmark. She is also known as Dorothea of Hohenzollern and as DorothyAchillies. She was queen of Denmark (1445-1448 and 1449-1481), Norway(1445-1448 and 1450-1481) and Sweden (1447-1448 and 1457-1464) twotimes each. She also served as regent in Denmark during the absencesof her spouse.
  
  Family
  Dorothea was born in 1430 or 1431 to John, Margrave ofBrandenburg-Kulmbach and Barbara of Saxe-Wittenberg (1405-1465). Shehad two sisters: Barbara (1423-1481, who became the Marchioness ofMantua, and Elisabeth (14??-1451), who married Joachim I Mlodszy, Dukeof Pomerania (14??-1451).
  
  She married, on 12 September 1445, Christopher of Bavaria, the King ofDenmark from 1440-1448, Sweden from 1441-1448 and Norway from1442-1448. The wedding was held in Copenhagen. She was crowned queenof the three kingdoms on 14 September 1445.
  
  After Christopher's death, Dorothea married the next elected king,King Christian I of Denmark, on 28 October 1449. In 1457, she becamequeen of Sweden for the second time, and was crowned in UppsalaCathedral.
  
  Biography
  She was given control over fiefs in all three Nordic Kingdoms at avalue of 45,000 Rhine guilders, as well as an additional note of fiefsvalued at 15,000 in Oberpfalz. When she was widowed in 1448, therewere marriage negotiations with Albert VI, Archduke of Austria andKing Casimir IV Jagiellon, but when Christian of Oldenburg was chosenas the new king of Denmark, it was agreed that he should marry herinstead.
  
  As a widow, her many fiefs were considered a problem. At her secondwedding, she renounced her existing fiefs in Denmark and Norway, whichwere replaced with Kalundborg and Samsø in Denmark and Romerike inNorway. Her claim over her territories in Sweden, however, wassomething she would not give up. For the rest of her life, she foughtto regain control over them. In 1451, war erupted between thecountries over her inheritance. She gained control over Närke andVärmland in 1457, and lost them in 1464. In this affair, she asked forthe help of the Pope from 1455, and he excommunicated the Swedishregent Sten Sture the Elder. This disrupted the separate politicalnegotiations with Sweden for many years, and her son had theexcommunication removed as soon as she died in 1495 - her son becameking of Sweden in 1497. She also fought with her uncle to inherit fromher father.
  
  She served as regent during the absence of her spouse. She was grantedthe slotsloven, which meant she had the right to command all thecastles in Denmark. She was a great powerholder due to her strongeconomic position, toward both her husband and her son. She alsoacquired fiefs from her spouse when she lent him money he could notpay back: in 1479, she acquired Holsten and in 1480 Schleswig from herhusband as a security for a loan he was unable to pay back, and at thetime of his death, she ruled the duchies as her own territory.
  
  In 1475 and 1488, she visited the Pope in Rome and her sister Barbarain Mantova; in 1488, she also met the Emperor in Innsbrück. In 1490,she divided Holsten and Schleswig between her sons. She was describedas cold, practical and economic. As a widow, she stayed mainly atKalundborg castle. She died on 25 November 1495, and is interred nextto her second husband in Roskilde Cathedral.
  
  Children
  Oluf (1450-1451)
  Canute (1451-1455)
  John (Hans) (1455-1513), Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, King of Denmark,Norway and Sweden
  Margarete (1456-1486), married King James III of Scotland in 1469
  King Frederik I of Denmark and Norway (1471-1533)

Details of Dorothea's family

Details of Dorothea's family with King Christian von Oldenburg I