Battle of Sievershausen

Schlacht bei Sievershausen, 19th century lithography

Date	9 July 1553
Location	Sievershausen, Principality of Lüneburg
Result	Defeat of the Margrave

Belligerents

Electorate of Saxony

Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel

Margraviate of Brandenburg-Kulmbach

Commanders and leaders

Maurice of Saxony †

Henry V of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel

Albert Alcibiades, Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach

Strength

15,500

18,000

The Battle of Sievershausen occurred on 9 July 1553 near the village of Sievershausen (today part of Lehrte in present-day Germany), where the forces of the Hohenzollern margrave Albert Alcibiades of Brandenburg-Kulmbach fought against the united troops of Elector Maurice of Saxony and Duke Henry V of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. With 4,000 men killed, including the Saxon elector and two of Henry's sons, it was one of the bloodiest battles on Lower Saxon territory. Margrave Albert was defeated.

Albert of Brandenburg-Kulmbach had sparked the Second Margrave War against the Franconian Prince-bishoprics in 1552, cutting a path of destruction with his plundering mercenary army on its way to Northern Germany. Arriving in the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg, he campaigned against Henry V of Wolfenbüttel, who gained support from Elector Maurice as well as from his Lüneburg cousins. The Saxon elector had just signed the Peace of Passau with Emperor Charles V as a leader of insurgent Protestant princes, and the turmoil caused by his former ally turned up at the wrong time.

The two sides first encountered on the Leine river near Sarstedt, though no action was taken. Margrave Albert headed for the city of Brunswick, when the enemy forces blocked his passage on the Fuhse creek near Sievershausen.

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