Margaret of Brandenburg (1511–1577)

Margaret of Brandenburg
The Baptism of Christ (detail), 1556, by Lucas Cranach the Younger. The two people at the front are said to represent Margrave John of Küstrin and his sister Margareta. In the background, the Royal Palace at Dessau is depicted. The scene refers to Margaret's second marriage in 1534 in Dessau.
Born	c. 1511
Died	after 3 November 1577
Noble family	House of Hohenzollern
Spouse(s)	George I, Duke of Pomerania John V, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst
Father	Joachim I, Elector of Brandenburg
Mother	Elizabeth of Denmark

Margaret of Brandenburg (1511 – after 3 November 1577) was a Princess of Brandenburg by birth and by marrying first a Duchess of Pomerania and later a Princess of Anhalt.

Margaret was the youngest daughter of the Elector Joachim I of Brandenburg (1484–1535) from his marriage to Elisabeth (1485–1555), daughter of King John of Denmark.

She married her first husband on 23 January 1530 in Berlin Duke George I of Pomerania (1493–1531). She brought a dowry of 20000guilders into the marriage, enabling George I to transfer a jointure consisting of the districts of Barth, Damgarten, Tribsees, Grimsby and Klempenow to her. The marriage had apparently been agreed during negotiations at Grimnitz Castle about the constitutional relationship between Brandenburg and Pomerania. George I died a year after the marriage and Margaret enjoyed the revenue from het wittum for only three years. She was quite unpopular in Pomerania and when Prince John IV of Anhalt asked for her hand, her stepson Philip I, Duke of Pomerania had to levy a special tax to pay her dowry and redeem her jointure.

Margaret and George had a posthumous child, a girl named Georgia. Georgia went with her mother to Anhalt, but returned to Pomerania when she was eight years old. Margaret succeeded in tough negotiations with her stepson, Philip I, to delay her return until May 1543.