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Erich I, the Elder (February 16, 1470 – July 30, 1540) was Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg from 1495 and the first reigning Prince of Calenberg-Göttingen.

Ancestry

Erich I was born on February 16, 1470 in Neustadt am Rübenberge at the Castle of Rovenburg. Son of Wilhelm IV, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Princess Elizabeth of Stolberg-Wernigerode.

Erich I was the founder of the Calenberg line of the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg. His father, Duke Wilhelm IV, died in 1503, but had already divided his lands in 1495, between his sons, Heinrich and Erich.

Erich I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg was given the Principalities of Calenberg and Göttingen, whilst his elder brother, Heinrich IV, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg received the Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. Even as a boy, Erich had travelled as a pilgrim to Jerusalem and toured Italy before he entered the service of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I.

First marriage of Erich I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg was to Princess Catherine of Saxony, the eldest child of Duke Albrecht III of Saxony and his wife, the Bohemian princess Sidonie of Poděbrady.

Her paternal grandparents were Prince-Elector Friedrich III of Saxony and Archduchess Margaret of Austria, daughter of the Habsburg Duke Ernst the Iron. Her maternal grandparents were King George of Poděbrady and his first wife Kunigunde of Sternberg.

At the age of 16, in 1484 at the Innsbruck court, Princess Catherine of Saxony’s first marriage was as the second wife of Archduke Sigismund, who was already 56 years old and regarded as senile.

The Archduke Sigismund had previously been married to Princess Eleanor of Scotland, a daughter of King James I of Scotland and Joan Beaufort, a daughter of John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset, a legitimised son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster (son of King Edward III of England) by his mistress (and later third wife) Katherine Swynford.

Princess Eleanor of Scotland left Archduke Sigismund no surviving children. Likewise, the marriage of Princess Catherine and Archduke Sigismund remained childless.

Archduke Sigismund gave up his Tyrolean possessions to his cousin Holy Roman Emperor Friedrich III. With his resignation in 1490, his wife Catherine had significantly less income than before. In 1496 Sigismund died.

Soon after the Archduke ‘s death, in 1496, Catherine married the Welf Duke Erich I of Brunswick-Lüneburg, ruler over the Principality of Calenberg-Göttingen. The marriage produced one short-lived daughter, Princess Anna Maria of Brunswick-Lüneburg.

After Princess Catherine’s death on July 7, 1525 the 55 year old Duke Erich I of Brunswick-Lüneburg married the 15-year-old Princess Elisabeth of Brandenburg, the third child and second daughter of the Prince-Elector Joachim I of Brandenburg and his wife Princess Elisabeth of Denmark. She was educated in a strictly religious and humanist fashion.

From this marriage resulted his long-awaited successor Duke Eric II (1528–1584).

When, in 1528, Elisabeth fell ill in bed when she was pregnant, she held the witchcraft of her husband’s mistress, Anna Rumschottel, responsible. She persuaded her husband to hold a trial. In the process, several women were burned to death, but Duke Erich I allowed his mistress to escape. She was however later burned to death in Hamelin.

In 1540, just under 23 years after the Martin Luther’s posting of his theses, Duchess Elisabeth had publicly allowed communion to be taken in both kinds in a church service. From then on she and her husband followed separate confessions: Duke Erich I remained Roman Catholic, the Duchess Elisabeth became Lutheran.

Duke Eric I of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Prince of Calenberg-Göttingen died on July 30, 1540 at the Reichstag in Haguenau, Alsace.

His son, Duke Eric II of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Prince of Calenberg-Göttingen, was still a child, which is why his mother, the Duchess Elisabeth, took over the reign for five years as Regent.

When Duke Eric I died he left behind large debts, estimated at 900,000 thalers, as well as two important buildings: the Erichsburg near Dassel and the rebuilt Calenberg Castle. His funeral took place in 1541 in Hann.

Münden’s St. Blasius Church, after his body was released in Haguenau one year after his death on payment of his debts. This required every subject in his duchy to pay 16 pfennigs.