Dorothea of Brandenburg

Dorothea of Brandenburg (31 December 1430 – 10 November 1495) was Queen of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden under the Kalmar Union as the consort of first Christopher III of Denmark and later Christian I of Denmark. She served as interim regent during the interregnum in 1448 and as regent in the absence of her second spouse during his reign. She and Christian had three surviving children: John, Margaret, and Frederick, of whom John served as king of the union and both sons served as kings of Denmark and Norway.

Early life

Dorothea was born in 1430 or 1431 to John, Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach, and Barbara of Saxe-Wittenberg (1405–1465), the daughter of Rudolf III, Duke of Saxe-Wittenberg. She had two sisters: Barbara (1423–1481), who became Marchioness of Mantua, and Elisabeth (1425- after 13 January 1465), who became Duchess of Pomerania. From about the age of eight, she lived in Bayreuth, where her father was ruler. In 1443, Christopher of Bavaria, the newly elected King of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, inherited Oberpfalz close to Bayreuth, and a marriage was suggested between Christopher and Dorothea to secure her father's support for Christopher's power over his German domain. The election of Charles as king in Sweden and Norway deprived her of her dower lands in these kingdoms. The newly married couple's ambition was to have Christian crowned in Sweden and Norway as well, and thereby reunite the shattered Kalmar Union. and is interred next to her second spouse in Roskilde Cathedral.

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