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HENRY II

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Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 293 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HENRY II . (1489-1568), See also:duke of See also:Brunswick-Wolfenbiittel, was a son of Duke Henry I., and was See also:born on the loth of See also:November 1489. He began to reign in 1514, but his See also:brother See also:William objected to the indivisibility of the duchy which had been decreed by the See also:elder Henry, and it was only in 1535, after an imprisonment of eleven years, that William recognized his brother's See also:title. Sharing in an attack on See also:John, See also:bishop of See also:Hildesheim, Henry was defeated at the See also:battle of Soltau in See also:June 1519, but afterwards he was more successful, and when See also:peace was made received some lands from the bishop. In 1525 he assisted See also:Philip, See also:landgrave of See also:Hesse, to crush the rising of the peasants in See also:north See also:Germany, and in 1528 took help to See also:Charles V. in See also:Italy, where he narrowly escaped See also:capture. As a pronounced opponent of the reformed doctrines, he joined the See also:Catholic princes in concerting See also:measures for See also:defence at See also:Dessau and elsewhere, but on the other See also:hand promised Philip of Hesse to aid him in restoring his own brother-in-See also:law See also:Ulrich, duke of See also:Wurttemberg, to hisduchy. However he gave no assistance when this enterprise was undertaken in 1534, and subsequently the hostility between Philip and himself was very marked. Henry was attacked by See also:Luther with unmeasured violence in a See also:writing Wider Hans Worst ; but more serious was his See also:isolation in north Germany. The duke soon came into collision with the See also:Protestant towns of See also:Goslar and Brunswick, against the former of which a See also:sentence of restitution had been pronounced by the imperial See also:court of See also:justice (Reichskammergericht). To conciliate the Protestants Charles V. had suspended the See also:execution of this sentence, a proceeding which Henry declared was ultra vires. The See also:league of See also:Schmalkalden, led by Philip of Hesse and John See also:Frederick, elector of See also:Saxony, then took up arms to defend the towns; and in 1542 Brunswick was overrun and the duke forced to flee. In See also:September 1545 he made an See also:attempt to regain his duchy, but was taken prisoner by Philip, and only released after the victory of Charles V. at See also:Muhlberg in See also:April 1547.

Returning to Brunswick, where he was very unpopular, he soon quarrelled with his subjects both on See also:

political and religious questions, while his duchy was ravaged by See also:Albert See also:Alcibiades, See also:prince of See also:Bayreuth. Henry was among the princes who banded themselves together to crush Albert, and after the See also:death of See also:Maurice, elector of Saxony, at Sievershausen in See also:July 1553, he took command of the allied troops and defeated Albert in two engagements. In his later years he became more tolerant, and was reconciled with his Protestant subjects. He died at Wolfenbiittel on the rrth of June 1568. The duke was twice married, firstly in 1515 to Maria (d. 15421), See also:sister of Ulrich of Wurttemberg, and secondly in 1556 to See also:Sophia (d. 1575) daughter of See also:Sigismund I., See also:king of See also:Poland. He attained some notoriety through his romantic See also:attachment to Eva von Trott, whom he represented as dead and afterwards kept concealed at Staufenburg. Henry was succeeded by his only surviving son, See also:Julius (1528-1589). See F. Koldewey, Heinz von Wolfenbiittel (See also:Halle, 1883) ; and F. Bruns, See also:Die Vertreibung See also:Herzog Heinrichs von Braunschweig durch den Schmalkaldischen Bund (See also:Marburg, 1889).

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