Magnus II, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg


Magnus, called Magnus with the Necklace or Magnus II, was Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, ruling the Brunswick-Lüneburg principalities of Wolfenbüttel and, temporarily, Lüneburg.

Biography

Magnus was the son of Magnus the Pious, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg. In 1362 Magnus and his brother Louis I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg helped their brother Prince-Archbishop Albert II of Bremen to assert himself against the incumbent diocesan administrator Morris of Oldenburg, who claimed the see for himself. Magnus, Louis and the latter's father-in-law William II, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, and their troops beleaguered Morris in the prince-archiepiscopal castle in Vörde and forced him to sign his resignation.
After the death of his brother Louis in 1367, Magnus became the designated heir of both ducal principalities, Wolfenbüttel and Celle. When both his father and William II, who ruled over Celle, died in 1369, Magnus gained both ducal principalities. But already in 1370, he lost Celle to the Ascanian dukes of Saxe-Wittenberg, who had been given the principality by Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, who had also banned Magnus. Several cities, including Lüneburg, Uelzen, and Hanover switched allegiance to the Ascanians; Magnus managed to keep the City of Braunschweig among his allies only with difficulties. The Lüneburg War of Succession continued for several years after Magnus died in the Battle of Leveste, near the Deister, on 25 July 1373.

Family

Magnus married Catherine, daughter of Bernhard III, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg, who married Magnus' enemy, Albert, Duke of Saxe-Wittenberg, after his death. They had the following children: