The Dispositio Achillea (also: Constitutio Achillea or Achillean House Law) was the disposition of the territories of Elector Albert III Achilles of Brandenburg as regulated in his last will and testament of 1473.
In particular, the Achillea Dispositio stipulated that the Mark Brandenburg was to remain undivided and to be inherited in its entirety by the eldest son (at Albrecht Achilles death, that would be John Cicero). This was a requirement of the Golden Bull: electorates were required to be indivisible. Albrecht Achilles's younger sons, Frederick I and Siegmund would inherit the Franconian Margraviates of Brandenburg-Ansbach and Brandenburg-Kulmbach (later Brandenburg-Bayreuth), and draw lots to decide who would inherit which principality. If Albrecht Achilles were to have any more sons (which he did not), they would not inherit any land and should instead pursue an ecclesiastical career.
Strictly speaking, at the time the Dispositio Achillea was written, it only defined the division of the Margraviates among the sons of the Margrave of the day. Over time, however, it was accepted as a succession principle of the House of Hohenzollern and in 1541 the Dispositio Achillea and the House Treaty of Regensburg were accepted as a binding house law of the Hohenzollern dynasty.
The central element of Achillea Dispositio was the principle of the indivisibility of the Mark Brandenburg, which it made part of the Hohenzollern House law, and not—as previously—only a clause in the Golden Bull. At the same time, it provided the cornerstone for a development that eventually lead to progressive separation of the Mark Brandenburg from the Hohenzollern stem lands in Franconia. It created the two territories of Brandenburg-Ansbach and Brandenburg-Kulmbach, which were only reunited with the Mark's successor state of Prussia in 1792.
References and sources
Gerhard Taddey: Lexikon der deutschen Geschichte, Stuttgart, 1998, ISBN3-520-81303-3
M. Spindler, A. Kraus: Geschichte Frankens bis zum Ausgang des 18. Jahrhunderts, Munich, 1997, ISBN3-406-39451-5
Frederick I of Ansbach and Bayreuth was born at Ansbach as the eldest son of Albert III, Margrave of Brandenburg by his second wife Anna, daughter of Frederick II, Elector of Saxony. His elder half-brother was the Elector John Cicero of Brandenburg. Friedrich succeeded his father as Margrave of Ansbach in 1486 and his younger brother Siegmund as Margrave of Bayreuth in 1495.
George Frederick of Brandenburg-Ansbach was Margrave of Ansbach and Bayreuth, as well as Regent of Prussia. He was the son of George, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach and a member of the House of Hohenzollern. He married firstly, in 1559, Elisabeth of Brandenburg-Küstrin. He married secondly, in 1579, Sophie of Brunswick-Lüneburg, daughter of William of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Dorothea of Denmark.
The House of Hohenzollern is a German royal dynasty whose members were variously princes, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzollern, Brandenburg, Prussia, the German Empire, and Romania. The family came from the area around the town of Hechingen in Swabia during the late 11th century and took their name from Hohenzollern Castle. The first ancestors of the Hohenzollerns were mentioned in 1061.
Albert III was Elector of Brandenburg from 1471 until his death, the third from the House of Hohenzollern. A member of the Order of the Swan, he received the cognomen Achilles because of his knightly qualities and virtues. He also ruled in the Franconian principalities of Ansbach from 1440 and Kulmbach from 1464.
The Principality or Margraviate of (Brandenburg-)Ansbach was a free imperial principality in the Holy Roman Empire centered on the Franconian city of Ansbach. The ruling Hohenzollern princes of the land were known as margraves, as the principality was a margraviate.
The Principality of Bayreuth or Margraviate of Brandenburg-Bayreuth was an immediate territory of the Holy Roman Empire, ruled by a Franconian branch of the Hohenzollern dynasty. Since Burgrave Frederick VI of Nuremberg was enfeoffed with the Margraviate of Brandenburg in 1415/17, the Hohenzollern princes transferred the margravial title to their Franconian possessions, though the principality never had been a march. Until 1604 they used Plassenburg Castle in Kulmbach as their residence, hence their territory was officially called the Principality of Kulmbach or Margraviate of Brandenburg-Kulmbach until the Empire's dissolution in 1806.
Plassenburg is a castle in the city of Kulmbach in Bavaria. It is one of the most impressive castles in Germany and a symbol of the city. It was first mentioned in 1135. The Plassenberg family were ministerial of the counts of Andechs and used as their seat the Plassenburg. The House of Guttenberg, a prominent Franconian noble family, traces its origins back to 1149 with a Gundeloh v. Blassenberg (Plassenberg). The name Guttenberg is derived from Guttenberg and was adopted by a Heinrich von Blassenberg around 1310. From 1340, the Hohenzollerns governed from Plassenburg castle their territories in Franconia till 1604. The Plassenburg was fortress and residence for the Hohenzollerns.
The Margraviate of Brandenburg was a major principality of the Holy Roman Empire from 1157 to 1806 that played a pivotal role in the history of Germany and Central Europe.
Christian Heinrich of Brandenburg-Bayreuth-Kulmbach, was a German prince and member of the House of Hohenzollern and nominal Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth-Kulmbach.
George Frederick Charles, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, was a German prince, member of the House of Hohenzollern, nominal Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth-Kulmbach (1708–35) and Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth (1726–35).
Barbara of Brandenburg, a member of the German House of Hohenzollern, was by birth Margravine of Brandenburg, and by her two marriages, Duchess of Głogów from 1472 to 1476, and Queen of Bohemia from 1476 to 1490/1500.
Sophia of Poland, was a princess, member of the Jagiellonian dynasty, great grand daughter of Emperor Sigismund and by marriage Margravine of Brandenburg-Ansbach and Brandenburg-Kulmbach.
Joachim Ernst, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach was a German nobleman. He ruled as margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach from 1603 to 1625, succeeding his cousin George Frederick and succeeded by his son Frederick III.
Anna of Saxony was a princess of Saxony by birth and Electress of Brandenburg by marriage.
John of Brandenburg-Küstrin, was a member of the House of Hohenzollern and a Margrave of Brandenburg-Küstrin.
The House Treaty of Gera was a House law of the House of Hohenzollern on the succession in Brandenburg and in the Franconian territories at the end of the sixteenth century binding rules. The Treaty and came about because Elector John George of Brandenburg had violated the requirements made in Dispositio Achillea in his will. In these provisions, the indivisibility of the Mark of Brandenburg has been prescribed as a mandatory principle of succession. John George, however, had stipulated his will that part of the Neumark and Krosno Odrzańskie should be separated from the Mark and given to his two younger sons.
Margrave Ernest I of Baden-Durlach was the founder of the so-called "Ernestine" line of the House of Baden, the line from which the later Grand Dukes descended. He was the ruling Margrave of Baden-Pforzheim from 1533 and resided in Pforzheim from 1537. In 1565, his son Charles II moved the capital to Durlach and thereby changed the name of his country to Baden-Durlach. He had to deal with the upcoming Reformation and the frequent Ottoman wars in Europe. In this turbulent time, he tried to maintain a neutral position between the Protestants and Catholics. He did not participate in the Schmalkaldic War.
The House Treaty of Regensburg was a treaty concluded on 23 July 1541 between two branches of the House of Hohenzollern, defining the boundaries between the newly created principalities of Ansbach and Kulmbach. These two territories had been created when in 1486 the Burgraviate of Nuremberg had been divided according to the Dispositio Achillea.
The Bavarian War from 1459 to 1463, also known as the Princes' War, was a result of the expansionist ambitions of the two warring Principalities, pitting Margrave, later Elector, Albert Achilles from the House of Hohenzollern, which by this time had already annexed the principalities of Brandenburg-Kulmbach and Brandenburg-Ansbach, against Duke Louis "the Rich" of Bavaria-Landshut from the House of Wittelsbach.
Elizabeth of Brandenburg-Ansbach-Kulmbach was a princess of Brandenburg-Ansbach by birth and by marriage Margravine of Baden.
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