John I
Monument to John I (sitting) and his brother Otto III in theSiegesallee in Berlin, byMax Baumbach.
Margrave of Brandenburg
Reign	1220–1266
Predecessor	Albert II
Successor	Otto III
Born	c. 1213
Died	(1266-04-04)4 April 1266
Burial	Mariensee monastery
Spouse	Sophie of Denmark Brigitte of Saxony
Issue	John II, Margrave of Brandenburg-Stendal Otto IV, Margrave of Brandenburg-Stendal Conrad, Margrave of Brandenburg-Stendal Eric, Archbishop of Magdeburg Helene, Margravine of Landsberg Hermann, Bishop of Havelberg Agnes, Queen of Denmark Henry I, Margrave of Brandenburg-Stendal Matilda, Duchess of Pomerania Albert of Brandenburg
House	House of Ascania
Father	Albert II, Margrave of Brandenburg
Mother	Matilda of Lusatia

John I, Margrave of Brandenburg (c. 1213 – 4 April 1266) was from 1220 until his deathMargrave ofBrandenburg, jointly with his brotherOtto III "the Pious".

The reign of these twoAscanian Margraves was characterized by an expansion of the Margraviate, which annexed the remaining parts ofTeltow andBarnim, theUckermark, the Lordship ofStargard, theLubusz Land and parts of theNeumark east of theOder. They consolidated the position of Brandenburg within theHoly Roman Empire, which was reflected in the fact that in 1256, Otto III was a candidate to be electedKing of the Germans. They founded several cities and developed the twin cities ofCölln andBerlin. They expanded the Ascanian castle in nearbySpandau and made it their preferred residence.

Before their death, they divided the Margraviate into aJohannine andOttonian parts. The Ascanians were traditionally buried in theLehnin Abbey in the Ottonian part of the country. In 1258, they founded aCistercian monastery namedMariensee, where members of the Johannine line could be buried. In 1266, they changed their mind and founded a second monasteryChorin, 8 km southwest of Mariensee. John was initially buried at Mariensee; his body was moved to Chorin in 1273.

After the Ottonian line died out in 1317, John I's grandsonWaldemar reunited the Margraviate.

John was the elder son ofAlbert II of the Brandenburg line of the House of Ascania and Mechthild (Matilda), the daughter of MargraveConrad II of Lusatia, a junior line of theHouse of Wettin. Since John and his two-year-younger brotherOtto III were minors when their father died in 1220, EmperorFrederick II transferred the regency to ArchbishopAlbert I of Magdeburg. The guardianship was taken up by the children's first cousin once removed, CountHenry I of Anhalt, the older brother of DukeAlbert I of Saxony, a cousin of Albert II. As the sons of DukeBernhard III of Saxony, they were the closest relatives, and Henry had the older rights.

In 1221, their mother, Countess Matilda, purchased the regency from the Archbishop of Magdeburg for 1900 silverMarks and then ruled jointly with Henry I.^[1] The Archbishop of Magdeburg then travelled to Italy to visit Emperor Frederick II, and Duke Albert I of Saxony attempted to grab power in Brandenburg, causing a rift with his brother Henry I. The Saxon attack allowed Count PalatineHenry V to get involved. Emperor Frederick II prevented a feud, urging them to keep the peace.

After Matilda died in 1225, the brothers jointly ruled the Margraviate of Brandenburg. John I was twelve at the time, and Otto III was ten. They were knighted on 11 May 1231 inBrandenburg an der Havel, which is generally taken as the beginning of their reign.^[2][3]

After the death of Count Henry of Brunswick-Lüneburg in 1227, the brothers supported his nephew, their brother-in-lawOtto the Child, who was only able to prevail against Hohenstaufen's claims and its vassals by force of arms. In 1229, there was a feud with former regent Archbishop Albert, which ended peacefully. Like their former opponents and defenders, they appeared at the Diet of Mainz in 1235, where thePublic Peace of Mainz was proclaimed.

After the dispute over the kingship betweenConrad IV andHenry Raspe the brothers recognizedWilliam II of Holland as King in 1251. They first exercised Brandenburg's electoral privilege in 1257, when they voted for KingAlfonso X of Castile. Although Alfonso was not elected, the fact that they could vote illustrates the growing importance of Brandenburg, founded only a century earlier, in 1157, byAlbert the Bear. When John and Otto came to power, Brandenburg was considered an insignificant little principality on the eastern border. By the 1230s, the Margraves of Brandenburg had gained the heritable post of Imperial Chamberlain and the indisputable right to vote in the election of theKing of the Germans.^[4]

John I and his brother Otto III developed the territory of their margraviate and expanded market towns and castles, includingSpandau,Cölln andPrenzlau, into towns and centers of commerce. They also expandedFrankfurt an der Oder, and John I awarded it city status in 1253.

Between 1230 and 1245, Brandenburg acquired the remaining part ofBarnim and the southernUckermark up to theWelse river. On 20 June 1236, the Margraviate acquired the Lordships ofStargard,Beseritz, andWustrow by theTreaty of Kremmen from DukeWartislaw III of Pomerania. Later that year, the brothers initiated the construction ofStargard Castle to secure the northernmost part of their territory.

From 1239 to 1245, the brothers fought theTeltow War against theMargraves of Meissen of theHouse of Wettin. At stake was aSlavic castle atKöpenick, a former headquarters of the Sprewanen tribe, located at the confluence of theSpree andDahme rivers. At the time, it was just east ofBerlin; today, it is part of the city. It dominated theBarnim andTeltow areas. In 1245, the brothers managed to take the castle at Köpenick and a fortress atMittenwalde. From this base, they could expand further to the east. In 1249, they acquired theLubusz Land and reached the riverOder.

In 1250, the brothers closed theTreaty of Landin with the Dukes of Pomerania. Under this treaty, they received the northern part of the Uckermark (terra uckra), north of the Welse River and the districts ofRandow and Löcknitz in exchange for the half of the Lordship ofWolgast that John I had received asdowry from KingWaldemar II of Denmark when he married his first wife, Sophia. This treaty is considered the birth of the Uckermark as a part of Brandenburg.^[5]

During the first third of the 13th century, German settlers were recruited by DukeLeszek I the White to settle inNeumark. After he died in 1227, the Polish central government collapsed, allowing the Margraves of Brandenburg to expand eastwards. They acquired land east of theOder and expanded their domain further east to the riverDrawa and north toPersante. In 1257, John I founded the town ofLandsberg (now calledGorzów Wielkopolski) as an alternative river crossing across theWarta, competing with the crossing in the Polish town ofSantok, detracting from the considerable revenues Santok made from foreign trade (customs duties, fees from the market operation and storage fees), similar to the wayBerlin had been founded to compete withKöpenick. In 1261, the Margraves purchasedMyślibórz (German:Soldin) from theKnights Templar and began developing the town into their power center in the Neumark.

The Margraves used the tried and tested Ascanian policy of founding monasteries and settlements to stabilise their new possessions. As early as 1230, they supported the Polish Count Dionysius Bronisius when he founded theCistercianParadies Monastery nearMiędzyrzecz (Meseritz) as afiliation of the monastery at Lehnin. Their cooperation with the Polish count provided border security against Pomerania and prepared the area's economy for integration into the Neumark. Among the settlers in the Neumark was thevon Sydow family, who were later ennobled. The small town ofCedynia (Zehden; today in the Polish Voivodeship ofWest Pomerania) was enfeoffed to the noblevon Jagow family.

The historian Stefan Warnatsch has summarized this development and the attempts of the Ascanians to gain access to theBaltic Sea from the middle Oder and the Uckermark as follows:The great success of the territorial expansion in the 13th century was mainly due to the great-grandsons ofAlbert the Bear. The design of their reign reached much further spatially and conceptually than their predecessors.^[6] According to Lutz Partenheimer:[around 1250], the Ascanians had pushed back their competitors from Magdeburg, Wettin, Mecklenburg, Pomerania, Poland and the smaller competitors on all fronts.^[4] However, John I and Otto III could have produced a strategically important connection to the Baltic Sea.

The development of the Berlin area is closely related to the other policies of the two Margraves. The two founding cities of Berlin (Cölln andBerlin) were founded relatively late. The settlements began around 1170 and achieved city status around 1240.^[7] Other settlements in the area, such asSpandau andKöpenick, date back to the Slavic period (from about 720). These naturally had a greater strategic and political importance than the young merchant towns Cölln and Berlin. For a long time, the border between the territories of theSlavic tribes Hevelli and Sprewanen crossed straight through the area of today's Berlin. Around 1130,Spandau was an eastern outpost of theHevelli underPribislav. When Pribilav died in 1150, Spandau fell to Brandenburg under the terms of an inheritance treaty betweenPribislav andAlbert the Bear. Brandenburg did not acquire Köpenick until 1245.

In 1229, the Margraves of Brandenburg lost a battle against their former guardian, the archbishop of Magdeburg at thePlauer See, close to their residence inBrandenburg an der Havel. The escaped to the fortress at Spandau. In the following years, the brothers made Spandau their preferred residence, next toTangermünde in theAltmark. Between 1232 and 1266, seventeen stays at Spandau have been documented, more than at any other town.^[8]

Albert the Bear probably expanded the fortress island at Spandau eastwards before or shortly after his victory against a certainJaxa (this was probablyJaxa of Köpenick) in 1157. Towards the end of the 12th century, the Ascanians moved the fortress about a kilometer to the North, to the location of today'sSpandau Citadel, probably because of a rising ground water table. The presence of an Ascanian fortress on this site in 1197 has been established.^[9] John I and Otto III expanded the fortress and promoted thecivitas in the adjacent settlement. They gave it city rights in 1232 or earlier. They founded theBenedictinenunnery of St. Mary in 1239. TheNonnendammallee, one of the oldest streets in Berlin and asNonnendamm part of atrade route as early as the 13th century, is still a reminder of the former nunnery^[10]

According to the current state of research, no evidence has been found that a Slavic settlement existed in the area around the twin towns of Berlin and Cölln.^[11] Theford across the largely swampy Berlin Glacial Valley gained importance during the Slavic-German transition period, when John I and Otto III settled the sparsely populated plateaus of Teltow and Barnim with local Slavs and German immigrants.

According to Adriaan von Müller, the strategic importance of Cölln and Berlin, and the reason for the foundation was probably to form a counterweight to Köpenick, a secure trading hub held by theWettin (dynasty) with its own trade roues to the north and east. The broad ford across two or even three river arms away could best be protected by fortified settlements on both river banks. The Margraves protected the route toHalle across the northwestern Teltow plateau by a chain ofTemplar villages:Marienfelde,Mariendorf, Rixdorf andTempelhof. After the Ascanians defeated the Wettins in theTeltow War of 1245, the importance of Köpenick decreased, took an increasingly central position in the developing trading network.^[12]

According to Winfried Schich, we can assume the "Berlin and Cölln owe their development as urban settlements to the structural changes in this area due to the expansion during theHigh Middle Ages, which led both to a denser population and a reorganization of long-distance trade routes. [...] The diluvial plateaus of Teltow and Barnim with their heavy and relatively fertile soils, were systematically settled and put under the plow during the reign of Margraves John I and Otto III."^[13] During the first phase of settlement, the lowland areas along the river with their lighter soils seem to have been the preferred places of settlement.

According to theChronica Marchionum Brandenburgensium of 1280, Berlin and other places were "built" (exstruxerunt) by John I and Otto III. Since their reign had started in 1225, the period around 1230 is considered the founding period of Berlin. Recent archeological research has uncovered evidence of late 12th centurymarket towns in both Cölln and Berlin. Ninety graves were excavated in theSt. Nicholas Church, the oldest building in Berlin, with foundations dated 1220-1230 and some of these graves could also be from the late 12th century. This implies that the two Margraves did not actually found the cities of Cölln and Berlin, although they did play a decisive rôle in the early expansion of the cities.^[14]

Among the privileges granted to the two cities by the Margraves were Brandenburg Law (including absence of tolls, free exercise of trade and commerce, hereditary property rights) and in particular thestaple right,^[15] which gave Cölln and Berlin an economic advantage of Spandau and Köpenick. The Margraves gave theMirica, the Cölln Moor, with all usage rights to the citizens of Cölln. The connection of the Margraves with Berlin is also evidenced by their choice of Hermann von Langele as theirconfessor. This Hermann von Langele was the first known member of theFranciscan convent at Berlin. He is mentioned as a witness in a deed issued by the Margrave in Spandau in 1257.^[16]

The joint rule of the Margraves ended in 1258 with a division of their territory. A cleverly managed division and continued consensual policy prevented the Margraviate from falling apart. The preparations for the reorganization may have begun in 1250, when the Uckermark was acquired, but no later than 1255, when John I married Jutta (Brigitte), the daughter of DukeAlbert I of Saxony-Wittenberg.^[17]

The politics of marriage and 1258 consummated division of the state government led to the joint foundation of the monastery ofMariensee on a former island in theParsteiner See lake on the northeastern edge of today'sBarnim. Until then, deceased Margraves of Brandenburg had been buried atLehnin Abbey, in the Ottonian part of the Margraviate. The monastery of Mariensee was meant to provide the Johannine line with a burial place of their own. Construction of the monastery began in 1258 with monks from Lehnin. Even before Marinesee was completed in 1273, a decision was made to move to a new location approximately five miles to the southwest with the new nameChorin Abbey. When John I died in 1266, he was initially buried at Mariensee. In 1273, his body was moved to Chorin Abbey.^[18] It appears that in 1266, John I arranged for the monastery to move and that he donated rich gifts to the new Chorin Abbey, including the village ofParstein. His sons later confirmed these donations for the benefit of their father's soul and their own.^[19]

As with all monastery founded by the Ascanians, political and economic considerations played an important rôle, alongside the pastoral aspects. A Slaviccircular rampart existed on the island, to the west of the monastery. John I and Otto III probably used this rampart as a castle against their Pomeranian competitors. The monastery was meant to provide central and administrative functions."Both the foundation itself and the location in a regional centre 'across' the trade route [...] in a populated area are to be interpreted as the result of political calculations".^[20]

When the Margraviate was divided, John I receivedStendal and theAltmark, which was considered the "cradle" of Brandenburg, and would remain a part until 1806. He also received theHavelland and theUckermark. His brother Otto III receivedSpandau,Salzwedel,Barnim, theLubusz Land andStargard.^[21] The most important factors in this division were revenue and the number ofvassals; geographical factors played only a subordinate rôle.^[22] Their successors asMargraves of Brandenburg,Otto IV "with the Arrow",Waldemar "the Great" andHenry II "the Child" all stem from the Johannine line. Otto's sons and grandsons and John's younger sons also styled themselves "Margrave of Brandenburg" and as such co-signed official document — for example, John's sonsJohn II andConrad so-signed in 1273 the decision to move Mariensee monastery to Chorin — however, they remained "co-regents".

The Ottonian line died out in 1317 with the death of MargraveJohn V in Spandau, so that Brandenburg was reunited under Waldemar the Great. The Johannine line died out only three years later, with the death of Henry the Child in 1320, ending Ascanian rule in Brandenburg. In 1290, nineteen Margraves of the two lines had gathered on a hill nearRathenow; in 1318 only two Margraves were left alive: Waldemar and Henry the Child.^[23] The last Ascanian in Brandenburg, the eleven-year-old Henry the Child, only played a minor rôle and was already at the mercy of the various houses trying to grab power in the upcoming power vacuum.

In 1230, John I married Sophie of Denmark (1217–1247), daughter of KingValdemar II of Denmark andBerengaria of Portugal. With her, he had the following children:

• John II of Brandenburg (1237(?)–1281), Margrave of Brandenburg as co-ruler.
• Otto IV of Brandenburg (c. 1238–1308), Margrave of Brandenburg.
• Conrad I of Brandenburg (c. 1240–1304), Margrave of Brandenburg as co-regent, the father ofWaldemar, the last Ascanian Margrave of Brandenburg.
• Eric of Brandenburg (c. 1242–1295),Archbishop of Magdeburg from 1283 to 1295.
• Helene of Brandenburg (1241 or 1242 – 1304), married in 1258 to MargraveDietrich of Landsberg (1242–1285).
• Hermann of Brandenburg (died: probably 1291),Bishop of Havelberg from 1290 onward.

In 1255, John I married Brigitte Jutta of Saxony, the daughter ofAlbert I, Duke of Saxony and Agnes of Austria (1206–1226). With her, he had the following children:

• Agnes of Brandenburg (after 1255 – 1304), married firstly in 1273 to KingErik V of Denmark (1249–1286), and secondly in 1293 toGerhard II, Count of Holstein-Plön (1254–1312).
• Henry I of Brandenburg, "Lackland" (1256–1318), Margrave of Brandenburg andLandsberg.
• Matilda of Brandenburg (died: before 1309), married toBogislaw IV, Duke of Pomerania (1258–1309).
• Albert of Brandenburg (c. 1258–1290)

John I held King Eric V prisoner from 1262 to 1264. In 1273, the King of Denmark married John's daughter, Agnes of Brandenburg.

After John's death in 1266, his brother Otto III ruled Brandenburg alone. After Otto's death in 1267, John's son, Otto IV, took over as the senior Margrave.

The double statue depicted on the left stood in theSiegesallee in theGroßer Tiergarten in Berlin. TheSiegesallee was agrand boulevard commissioned by EmperorWilhelm II in 1895 with statues illustrating the history of Brandenburg and Prussia. Between 1895 and 1901, 27 sculptors led byReinhold Begas created 32 statues of Prussian and Brandenburg rulers, each 2.75  high. Each statue was flanked by two smaller busts representing people who had played an important rôle in the life of the historic ruler.

The central statue in group 5 was the double statue of John and Otto. On the left was a bust ofprovost Simeon of Cölln, who was a witness, on 28 October 1237, together with bishop Gernand of Brandenburg, of the oldest deed in which Cölln is mentioned.^[24] On the right was a bust ofMarsilius de Berlin, the first recorded mayor (Schultheiß) of Berlin. He was simultaneously mayor of Cölln.^[25]

The choice of the secular and ecclesiastical leaders of Berlin and Cölln as flanking characters for John and Otto underscores the pivotal rôle the city of Berlin played in the lives of the Margraves in the opinion ofReinhold Koser, the historian who did the research for theSiegesallee. Koser regarded the founding and development of the city as the Margrave's most important policy, more so than the expansion the principality and the founding of the monastery. he was also impressed by the consensus which characterised their joint rule, as presented in the Chronicle of 1280. According to Koser, the sculptorMax Baumbach was responsible for the decision to make the founding of Berlin the central theme of the double statue, rather than the expansion or the founding of the monastery.

John I depicted sitting on a stone, with the city charter of Berlin and Cölln spread across his knees. The younger Otto III stand beside him, pointing to the deed with one hand, while his other arm rests on a spear.The outstretched arms and bowed head suggest the brothers' protection and promotion of the twin cities. The fact that the two young men are depicted as mature men was seen by Koser as legitimized by the right of artistic freedom. Two adolescents would not have been able to adequately express the founding of a future world city, from the perspective of the late 19th century interpretation of history.^[26]

The overall architecture of the statue group maintains aromanticism style. According to Uta Lehnert, the two eagles show characteristics of theJugendstil.^[26]

• Heinrici de Antwerpe:Can. Brandenburg., Tractatus de urbe Brandenburg, edited and elucidated by Georg Sello, in:22. Jahresbericht des Altmärkischen Vereins für vaterländische Geschichte und Industrie zu Salzwedel, Magdeburg, 1888, issue 1, p. 3-35, internet version by Tilo Köhn with transcriptions and translation.
• Chronica Marchionum Brandenburgensium, ed. G. Sello,FBPrG I, 1888.
• Schreckenbach,Bibliogr. zur Gesch. der Mark Brandenburg, vols. 1–5, Publications of the State Archive at Potsdam, vol. 8 ff, Böhlau, Cologne, 1970–1986

• Tilo Köhn (publisher):Brandenburg, Anhalt und Thüringen im Mittelalter. Askanier und Ludowinger beim Aufbau fürstlicher Territorialherrschaften, Böhlau, Cologne, Weimar and Vienna, 1997,ISBN 3-412-02497-X
• Helmut Assing:Die frühen Askanier und ihre Frauen, Kulturstiftung Bernburg, 2002,ISBN 3-9805532-9-9
• Wolfgang Erdmann:Zisterzienser-Abtei Chorin. Geschichte, Architektur, Kult und Frömmigkeit, Fürsten-Anspruch und -Selbstdarstellung, klösterliches Wirtschaften sowie Wechselwirkungen zur mittelalterlichen Umwelt, with contributions by Gisela Gooß, Manfred Krause and Gunther Nisch, with extensive bibliography, in the seriesDie Blauen Bücher, Königstein im Taunus, 1994,ISBN 3-7845-0352-7
• Felix Escher:Der Wandel der Residenzfunktion. Zum Verhältnis Spandau – Berlin. Das markgräfliche Hoflager in askanischer Zeit, in: Wolfgang Ribbe (ed.):Slawenburg, Landesfestung, Industriezentrum. Untersuchungen zur Geschichte von Stadt und Bezirk Spandau, Colloqium-Verlag, Berlin, 1983,ISBN 3-7678-0593-6
• Uta Lehnert:Der Kaiser und die Siegesallee. Réclame Royale, Dietrich Reimer Verlag, Berlin, 1998,ISBN 3-496-01189-0
• Lyon, Jonathan R. (2013).Princely Brothers and Sisters: The Sibling Bond in German Politics, 1100-1250. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.ISBN 978-0801451300.
• Uwe Michas:Die Eroberung und Besiedlung Nordostbrandenburgs, in the series:Entdeckungen entlang der Märkischen Eiszeitstraße, vol. 7, Gesellschaft zur Erforschung und Förderung der märkischen Eiszeitstraße (ed.), Eberswalde, 2003,ISSN 0340-3718.
• Adriaan von Müller:Gesicherte Spuren. Aus der frühen Vergangenheit der Mark Brandenburg, Bruno Hessling Verlag, Berlin, 1972,ISBN 3-7769-0132-2
• Lutz Partenheimer:Albrecht der Bär – Gründer der Mark Brandenburg und des Fürstentums Anhalt, Böhlau Verlag, Cologne, 2001,ISBN 3-412-16302-3
• Jörg Rogge:Die Wettiner, Thorbecke Verlag, Stuttgart, 2005,ISBN 3-7995-0151-7
• Winfried Schich:Das mittelalterliche Berlin (1237–1411), in: Wolfgang Ribbe (ed.):Veröffentlichung der Historischen Kommission zu Berlin: Geschichte Berlins, vol. 1, Verlag C.H. Beck, Munich, 1987,ISBN 3-406-31591-7
• Winfried Schich:Die Entstehung der mittelalterlichen Stadt Spandau, in: Wolfgang Ribbe (ed.):Slawenburg, Landesfestung, Industriezentrum. Untersuchungen zur Geschichte von Stadt und Bezirk Spandau, Colloqium-Verlag, Berlin, 1983,ISBN 3-7678-0593-6
• Oskar Schwebel:Die Markgrafen Johann I. und Otto III., in: Richard George (ed.):Hie gut Brandenburg alleweg! Geschichts- und Kulturbilder aus der Vergangenheit der Mark und aus Alt-Berlin bis zum Tode des Großen Kurfürsten, Verlag von W. Pauli’s Nachfolger, Berlin, 1900Online.
• Harald Schwillus and Stefan Beier:Zisterzienser zwischen Ordensideal und Landesherren, Morus-Verlag, Berlin, 1998,ISBN 3-87554-321-1
• Otto Tschirch:Geschichte der Chur- und Hauptstadt Brandenburg a. d. Havel. Festschrift zur Tausendjahrfeier der Stadt 1928/29, 2 vols, Brandenburg an der Havel, 1928; reprinted: 1936, 1941
• Stephan Warnatsch:Geschichte des Klosters Lehnin 1180–1542, in the seriesStudien zur Geschichte, Kunst und Kultur der Zisterzienser, vol. 12.1, Lukas Verlag, Berlin, 2000 (also: thesis, Free University, Berlin, 1999),ISBN 3-931836-45-2

• Margraves of Brandenburg
• 1210s births
• 1266 deaths
• House of Ascania
• 13th-century German nobility
• Royal reburials

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