Margraviate of Brandenburgball

Margraviate of Brandenburgball was a Holy Roman Imperial margraviate and electorate. It even colonized a portion of the Gold Coast in West Africa.
==History==
=== Background ===
 Margraviate of Brandenburgball started back when it was a 2ball, then they form Germaniaball, then Germaniaball was pushed out of East Germanyball by Hunball, and after Hunball colapsed, Slavsball came to the Region, forming Veletiball, later Saxonyball conquered Luticiball, forming Marca Geronisball, succeded by Northern Marchball and later Margraviate of Brandenburgball.
=== Under House of Ascania ===
 Brandenburgball was originaly ruled by the house of Ascania, with its first margrave being Albert the Bear.
After Albert's death in 1170, his son succeeded him as Otto I. The Ascanians pursued a policy of expanding to the east and the northeast with the goal of connecting their territories through Pomeraniaball to the Baltic Sea. This policy brought them into conflict with Denmarkball. After the Battle of Bornhöved (1227), Margrave John I staked his claim to Pomeraniaball, receiving it as a fief from Emperor Frederick II in 1231. The middle of the 13th century was a time of important developments for the Ascanian House, as it won Stettinball and the Uckermarkball (1250), although the former was later lost to Duchy of Pomeraniaball. Also around 1250 it took over Lubusz Land from then-fragmented First Kingdom of Polandball and subsequently conquered northwestern parts of Greater Polandball in the late 13th century, moving the border east of the Oder river. Henry II, the last Ascanian margrave, died in 1320.
=== Under House of Wittelsbach ===
Having defeated Habsburgball, the Wittelsbach Emperor Louis IV, an uncle of Henry II, granted Brandenburgball to his oldest son, Louis I (the "Brandenburger") in 1323. As a consequence of the murder of Provost Nikolaus von Bernau in 1325, Brandenburgball was punished with a papal interdict. From 1328 onwards, Louis was in war against Pomeraniaball which he claimed as a fiefdom and the conflict did not end before 1333. The rule of Margrave Louis I was rejected by the domestic nobility of Brandenburgball, and, after the death of Emperor Louis IV in 1347, the margrave was confronted with the False Waldemar, an imposter of the deceased Margrave Waldemar. The pretender was recognized as Margrave of Brandenburg on 2 October 1348 by the new emperor, Charles IV of Luxembourg, but was exposed as a fraud after a peace between the Wittelsbachs and Luxembourgs at Eltville. In 1351 Louis gave the Mark to his younger half-brothers Louis II (the "Roman") and Otto V in exchange for the sole rule over Upper Bavariaball.
Louis the Roman forced the False Waldemar to renounce his claims to Brandenburgball and succeeded in establishing the Margraves of Brandenburg as prince-electors in the Golden Bull of 1356. Brandenburgball therefore became a Kurfürstentum (literally "electoral principality" or "electorate") of Holy Roman Empireball and had a vote in the election of the Holy Roman Emperor. Margrave of Brandenburgball also held the ceremonial title of Arch-Chamberlain of the Empire (Latin: Archi-Camerarius Imperii). When Louis the Roman died in 1365, Otto took over the rule of Brandenburgball, although he quickly neglected the march. He sold Lower Lusatiaball, which he had already pledged to the Wettin dynasty, to Emperor Charles IV in 1367.
=== Under House of Luxembourg ===
After the middle of the 14th century, Emperor Charles IV attempted to secure Brandenburgball for the House of Luxembourg. Control over the electoral vote of Brandenburgball would help assure the Luxembourgs of election to the imperial throne, as they already held the vote of Bohemiaball. Charles succeeded in purchasing Brandenburgball for 500,000 guilders in 1373 and, at he attached (but not incorporated) Brandenburgball to the Crown of Bohemiaball.
The power of the Luxembourgs in Brandenburgball declined during the reign of Charles's nephew Jobst of Moravia. Neumarkball was pawned to Teutonicball, who neglected the border region. Under the Wittelsbach and Luxembourg margraves, Brandenburgball fell increasingly under the control of the local nobility as central authority declined.
=== Under House of Hohenzollern ===
In return for supporting Sigismund as Holy Roman Emperor at Frankfurt in 1410, Frederick VI of Nuremberg (I in Brandenburgball), a burgrave of the House of Hohenzollern, was granted hereditary control over Brandenburgball in 1411, but was only recognized as Margrave in 1415, the next Margrave, Frederick II recovered Neumarkball from Teutonic Orderball.
 Brandenburgball accepted the Protestant Reformation in 1539. The population has remained largely Lutheran since, although some later electors converted to Calvinism.
The Hohenzollerns of Brandenburgball sought to expand their power base from their relatively meager possessions, although this brought them into conflict with neighboring states. John William, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg died childless in 1609. His eldest niece, Anna, Duchess of Prussia, was the wife of John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg, who promptly claimed the inheritance and sent troops to take hold of some of John William's holdings in the Rhineland. Unfortunately for John Sigismund, this effort became tied up with the Thirty Years War and the disputed succession of Jülichball. At the end of the war in 1648, Brandenburgball was recognized as the possessor of approximately half the inheritance, comprising the Duchy of Clevesball in the Rhineland and the Counties of Markball and Ravensbergball in Westphalia. These territories, which were more than 100 kilometers from the borders of Brandenburgball, formed the nucleus of the later Prussian Rhineland.
In 1618, Brandenburgball inherited the Duchy of Prussiaball, forming Brandenburg-Prussiaball.
In the Thirty Years War, it gained half of Pomeraniaball, and in 1701, Frederick III of Brandenburg became the first King in Prussia.
 Margraviate of Brandenburgball was dissolved with the dissolution of HREball.
==Gallery==
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Category:HREball
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Category:Historical Countryballs
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Category:Margraviateballs
Category:Margraviateballs of Holy Roman Empireball
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Category:Lutheran
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