![]() If Brandenburg is to be made a durable state it must also remain united, avoiding squabbles like those among the Wettin heirs in Electoral Saxony to the south. The difficulty in asserting state power is amply demonstrated by the Kalmar Union kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden and Norway, where a king attempting to achieve similar goals was recently deposed and replaced by a Bavarian Wittelsbach. He has also sent out feelers to the Teutonic Order for the reclamation of Neumark, a land originally part of Brandenburg, but pawned by his predecessors. In many ways Friedrich II, 'the Iron', has proven to be his father's son, resuming the policies intended to crush the power of local potentates and greedy burghers. Friedrich I spent his entire reign wearing down the influence of the Brandenburg estates and fighting the prevalent lawlessness, sending his armies against the castles of the many robber barons that have for long had a free reign over the region. With the ascendence of the Hohenzollern Dynasty things have slowly begun to change. ![]() With poor soils, swamps and wild forests Brandenburg is not the richest lands of the Holy Roman Empire and under Wittelsbach and Luxemburg rule the region has been treated as a source of quick income. The recent history of the March of Brandenburg has been a sad state of affairs.
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