Magnus I, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg

Magnus I of Saxe-Lauenburg (1 January 1470 – 1 August 1543) was a Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg from the House of Ascania.

Life Magnus was born in Ratzeburg, the second son of John V, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg and Dorothea of Brandenburg, daughter of Frederick II, Elector of Brandenburg.

In 1481 John V redeemed Saxe-Lauenburg's exclave Land of Hadeln, which had been pawned to Hamburg as security for a credit of 3,000 Rhenish guilders since 1407. John V then made his son and heir apparent, Magnus, vicegerent of Hadeln, and finally regent as of 1498.

Vicegerent and regent of the Land of Hadeln In 1484 Magnus, who aimed at increasing his local revenues, had reached out to conquer the rich neighbouring Land of Wursten, a de facto autonomous region of free Frisian peasants in a North Sea marsh at the Weser estuary, but he failed Magnus tried to justify his violent act with the pretence that Wursten used to be Saxon before the imperial deposition of Duke Henry the Lion and the carve-up of his Duchy of Saxony in 1180, which only brought Magnus' Ascanian dynasty to take the belittled dukedom. The Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen, claiming Wursten for itself, was alarmed.

After becoming Regent Magnus planned a new conquest of Wursten. Finally on 9 September 1499 Rode waged feud against John V and Magnus. Having crossed the latter's border the Guard turned westwards into the Bremian prince-archbishopric, by-passing the fortified Buxtehude and Stade, leaving behind a wake of devastation on the countryside and in the monasteries (, Neukloster, both localities of today's Buxtehude, Himmelpforten Convent).

Since prince-archiepiscopal forces secured Vörde the Guard circumvented them southerly, not sparing Zeven . So the Guard turned northeastwards, looting Neuenwalde Nunnery underways, into Hadeln, recapturing it for Magnus in early 1500. For the Hadelers, however, this invasion meant no less man slaughter, looting and incendiary than for the rural population in the prince-archbishopric.

By early December Rode turned for help to Duke Henry IV the Elder, who was actually allied with Magnus. In return Rode had to offer appointing Henry's 12-year-old son Christopher as his coadjutor, a position usually (as coadiutor cum iure succedendi), and in this case indeed, entailing the succession to the respective see.

Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg proper During the declining years of his father he governed the country and succeeded his father as the regnant Duke in 1507. The first years of his governing has been filled by various conflicts with the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen and its suffragan Prince-Bishopric of Ratzeburg. Through his marriage with Catherine in 1509 Magnus further intensified his ties with her father Henry IV, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, his deserted former war ally.

Magnus was the first Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg, who adopted a compliant position as to the dispute on the electoral privilege between Saxe-Lauenburg and Saxe-Wittenberg. He refrained from showing on his coat-of-arms on a sable and argent background the electoral swords in gules. The electoral swords indicated the office as Imperial Arch-Marshal (Erzmarschall, Archimarescallus), pertaining to the privilege as prince-elector, besides the much more important right to elect the new emperor after the decease of the former.

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, enfeoffed Magnus with the Duchy of Saxony, Angria and Westphalia (so its official name, but colloquially Saxe-Lauenburg) and the pertaining regalia at the imperial diet in Augsburg on 12 November 1530. The imperial writ of feoffment emphasises, that Magnus had requested to be also enfeoffed with the Saxon electoral privilege, however, further explaining that this could not happen at that time "due to moving reasons". For Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, had already enfeoffed the House of Wettin with the Electorate of Saxony on 1 August 1425.

In 1531 Magnus introduced the Reformation in his duchy and became Lutheran, as did most of his subjects. Magnus died and was buried in Ratzeburg.

Family and children He was married on 17–20 November 1509 with Catherine (1488 – 29 July 1563) in Wolfenbüttel, daughter of Duke Henry IV, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, and they had six children: Francis I, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg (1510 – 19 March 1581) Dorothea (9 July 1511 – 7 October 1571), married on 29 October 1525 to King Christian III of Denmark Catherine (24 September 1513 – 23 September 1535), married on 24 September 1531 to King Gustav I of Sweden Clara (13 December 1518 – 27 March 1576), married on 29 September 1547 to Francis, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Prince of Gifhorn Sophia (1521 – 13 May 1571), married on 1 January 1537 to Anthony I, Count of Oldenburg-Delmenhorst Ursula (ca. 1523 – 31 December 1577, Minden), married on 14 May 1551 to Henry V, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin