Ernest III, Duke of Brunswick-Grubenhagen | |
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Ernest III, by Cranach, Museum of Fine Arts, Reims
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Born |
Osterode am Harz |
17 December 1518
Died | 2 April 1567 Herzberg am Harz |
(aged 48)
Noble family | House of Guelph |
Spouse(s) | Princess Margaret of Pomerania-Wolgast |
Issue
Elisabeth
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Father | Philip I, Duke of Brunswick-Grubenhagen |
Mother | Countess Catherine of Mansfeld-Vorderort |
Ernest III of Brunswick-Grubenhagen-Herzberg (by a different counting: Ernest IV; 17 December 1518 in Osterode am Harz – 2 April 1567 in Herzberg Castle, Herzberg am Harz), was a member of the noble family of Guelph and a duke of Brunswick-Grubenhagen.
Ernest was the eldest son of Duke Philip I of Brunswick-Grubenhagen (1476–1551) and his second wife, Countess Catherine of Mansfeld-Vorderort (1501–1535), eldest daughter of Count Ernest II and his first wife Barbara of Querfurt. His paternal grandparents were Duke Albert II of Brunswick-Grubenhagen and his wife Countess Elisabeth of Waldeck.
Together with his father and brothers, he took part in a military campaign in southern Germany in 1546, during the Schmalkaldic War, which ended unsuccessfully at Ingolstadt.
On 9 October 1547 in Wolgast, Duke Ernest III married Princess Margaret of Pomerania-Wolgast (1518–1569), eldest daughter of Duke George I of Pomerania and his first wife, Princess Amalia of the Palatinate. From this marriage only one daughter reached adulthood:
Because Ernest had no sons, after his death, his duchy was inherited by his younger brother Wolfgang. When he, too, died without a male heir, the duchy was inherited by their youngest brother, Philip II. With Philip's death, the Brunswick-Grubenhagen line of the House of Guelph died out, and the duchy was merged back into Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.