Albert II, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg

Who was Albert II, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg?

Albert, called the Fat, was duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg.

The second son of Albert the Tall, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Albert was a boy when his father died in 1279. He was first under guardianship of his uncle, Conrad, Prince-Bishop of Verden, and then of his elder brother, Henry I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg. In 1286 the three brothers divided their father's Principality of Wolfenbüttel; Albert received the areas around Göttingen, Minden, Northeim, Calenberg, and Hanover. He made Göttingen his residence, thus Principality of Göttingen. In 1292, the third brother, William, died childless, and Albert and Henry, who had received the Principality of Grubenhagen, quarrelled about William's share, the remaining belittled areas around Brunswick and Wolfenbüttel; Albert finally prevailed.