engaged when he died at
Tunbridge Wells on the 11th of February 1866.

BRANDENBURG, the name of a margraviate and electorate which played an
important part in German history, and afterwards grew into the kingdom
of Prussia. During the early years of the Christian era, the district
was inhabited by the Semnones, and afterwards by various Slavonic
tribes, who were partially subdued by Charlemagne, but soon regained
their independence. The history of Brandenburg begins when the German
king, Henry the Fowler, defeated the Havelli, or Hevelli, and took their
capital, Brennibor, from which the name Brandenburg is derived. It soon
came under the rule of Gero, margrave of the Saxon east mark, who
pressed the campaign against the Slavs with vigour, while Otto the Great
founded bishoprics at Havelberg and Brandenburg. When Gero died in 965,
his mark was divided into two parts, the northern portion, lying along
both banks of the middle Elbe, being called the north or old mark, and
forming the nucleus of the later margraviate of Brandenburg. After Otto
the Great died, the Slavs regained much of their territory, Brandenburg
fell again into their hands, and a succession of feeble margraves ruled
only the district west of the Elbe, together with a small district east
of that river.

Albert the Bear.

A new era began in 1106 when Lothair, count of Supplinburg, became duke
of Saxony. Aided by Albert the Bear, count of Ballenstadt, he renewed
the attack on the Slavs, and in 1134 appointed Albert margrave of the
north mark. The new margrave continued the work of Lothair, and about
1140 made a treaty with Pribislaus, the childless duke of Brandenburg,
by which he was recognized as the duke's heir. He took at once the
title margrave of Brandenburg, but when Pribislaus died in 1150, a
stubborn contest followed with Jazko, a relation of the late duke, which
was terminated in 1157 in Albert's favour. Albert was the real founder
of Brandenburg. Under his rule Christianity and civilization were
extended, bishoprics were restored and monasteries founded. The country
was colonized with settlers from the lower Rhineland, land was brought
under cultivation, forts were built, German laws and customs introduced,
and gradually the woods and marshes were converted into lands of
comparative fertility.

Otto III.

When Albert died in 1170, Brandenburg fell to his eldest son, Otto I.
(c. 1130-1184), who compelled the duke of Pomerania t