John II Cicero | |
---|---|
Elector of Brandenburg | |
John Cicero
|
|
Elector of Brandenburg | |
Reign | 1486–1499 |
Predecessor | Albert III Achilles |
Successor | Joachim I Nestor |
Born |
Ansbach |
2 August 1455
Died | 9 January 1499 Arneburg Castle |
(aged 43)
Spouse | Margaret of Wettin |
Issue |
Joachim I Nestor, Elector of Brandenburg Albert, Archbishop of Magdeburg and Mainz Anna, Queen of Denmark Ursula, Duchess of Mecklenburg |
House | Hohenzollern |
Father | Albert III Achilles, Elector of Brandenburg |
Mother | Margaret of Baden |
John II (German: Johann II.; 2 August 1455 – 9 January 1499) was Elector of Brandenburg from 1486 until his death, the fourth of the House of Hohenzollern. After his death he received the posthumous cognomen Cicero, after the Roman orator of the same name, but the elector's eloquence and interest in the arts is debatable.
John Cicero was the eldest son of Elector Albert III Achilles of Brandenburg with his first wife Margaret of Baden. As his father then ruled as Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (from 1457 also as Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach), he was born at the Hohenzollern residence of Ansbach in Franconia, where he spent his childhood years until in 1466 he received the call to Brandenburg as presumed heir by his uncle Elector Frederick II. He joined him in the Stettin War of Succession with the Pomeranian dukes, until Frederick resigned in 1470 and was succeeded by John's father, who in 1473 appointed him regent of the Brandenburg lands. After the Pomeranian struggle he also had to deal with the inheritance conflict upon the 1476 death of the Piast duke Henry XI of Głogów, husband of his half-sister Barbara.