Ernest the Confessor

Ernest I
Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
Painting of Ernest the Confessor by Lucas Cranach the Elder
Born	(1497-06-27)27 June 1497 Uelzen
Died	11 January 1546(1546-01-11) (aged 48)
Noble family	Guelph
Spouse(s)	Sophia of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Issue Francis Otto Henry VII William VI
Father	Henry I of Lüneburg
Mother	Margarete of Saxony

Ernest of Brunswick-Lüneburg (German: Ernst der Bekenner) (27 June 1497 – 11 January 1546), also frequently called Ernest the Confessor, was duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and a champion of the Protestant cause during the early years of the Protestant Reformation. He was the Prince of Lüneburg and ruled the Lüneburg-Celle subdivision of the Welf family's Brunswick-Lüneburg duchy from 1520 until his death.

He was the son of Henry I, Duke of Lüneburg, and Margarete of Saxony, the daughter of Ernest, Elector of Saxony.

Ernest was born in Uelzen of the House of Guelph on 27 June 1497. His father was Henry I of Lüneburg and his mother Margarete of Saxony who was a sister of Frederick the Wise, Elector of Saxony and Champion of Martin Luther. Ernest succeeded as Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg upon the retirement of his brother Otto in 1527. Ernest, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, married Sophia of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and he died on 11 January 1547 at the age of 49.

Ernest's life coincided with the Protestant Reformation. In 1512 he was sent to the court of his mother's brother at Wittenberg, the Wettin elector Frederick III (Frederick the Wise), and received instruction there from Georg Spalatin in the University of Wittenberg; he remained at Wittenberg through the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.