Barbara of Saxe-Wittenberg
Barbara of Saxe-Wittenberg, from the Saxe-Wittenberg line of the House of Ascania, was the wife of John, Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach, called "John the Alchemist", and mother of Dorothea, Queen of Denmark.
Biography
Barbara was born in Dresden in 1405 as the eldest daughter of Rudolf III, Duke of Saxe-Wittenberg and his second wife, Barbara of Silesia-Liegnitz. She had three brothers, Rudolf, Wenceslas, and Sigismund, and a half-sister, Scholastica, from her father's first marriage to Anne of Meissen. Sigismund and Wenceslas were killed in the collapse of a castle tower.Barbara was betrothed at an early age to John of Brandenburg-Kulmbach, who was one year younger than she. She married John in 1416 when she was eleven and he ten. The marriage was arranged by the future Emperor Sigismund, who had initially planned to grant John the Electorate of Saxony, though this plan was abandoned.
The couple resided for a long time at Plassenburg castle near Kulmbach, then later at Scharfeneck Palace near Baiersdorf, and finally in a city apartment in Nuremberg. Barbara spent the time after her husband's death in Bayreuth. She died there on October 10, 1465, almost a year after her husband's death.
Family and children
Barbara and John had four children, of whom the three girls survived childhood:- Barbara of Brandenburg, married on 12 November 1433 Ludovico III Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua.
- Rudolf of Brandenburg
- Elisabeth of Brandenburg ; married, firstly, on 27 August 1440, Joachim, Duke of Pomerania. Married, secondly, on 5 March 1454, Wartislaw X, Duke of Pomerania.
- Dorothea of Brandenburg ; married, firstly, on 12 September 1445, King Christopher III of Denmark. Married, secondly, on 28 October 1449, King Christian I of Denmark.