ALBERT THE BEAR (so called, not from any peculiarity of character or appearance, but from the heraldic cognizance that he assumed), margrave of Brandenburg, one of the most remarkable princes of his age, was b. 1106. He was the son and successor of Otho, the.rich count of Ballenstitdt, and of Ellen, eldest daughter of Magnus, duke of Saxony. Having proved faithful to the emperor Lothario, he received from the latter Lusace, to be held as a fief of the empire • but the duchy of Saxony, to which he had the best claim, was given to Henry of Bavaria (1127), the son of the youngest daughter of the duke. As a compensation, A. was made margrave (markgraf) of the northern march or marck (Salzwedel) ; but in the year 1138, Henry having been put under the imperial ban, the duchy reverted to the former, when he took the title of duke of Saxony. Henry, however, again got the upper hand, and A. was compelled to fly, and to content himself with the margraviate of northern Saxony, and the government of Swabia, which was given him as an indemnity. Returning to his own country, he got himself invested with
the lands which he had conquered from the Wends as a hereditary fief of the empire, and thus became the founder and first margrave of the new state of Brandenburg. Under A. the margravedom was afterwards raised to be an electorate, and he himself became elector of Brandenburg. After he had quelled a revolt of the Wends in 1157, he deter mined to take extreme measures against the vanquished. He almost depopulated their country, and then colonized it with Flemings. On his return from a pilgrimage to Pal estine in company with his wife in 1159, he exerted himself to suppress the language and paganism of the 'Wends, and to introduce Christianity amongst them. Ile died in 1170, at 13allenstitdt, where he was buried. Brandenburg continued in the possession of his descendants for two centuries, and finally (1415) fell to the house of Hohenzollern (q.v.).