JOHN SIGISMUND, Ger. peon. (1572-1619). Elector of Branden burg, son of the Elector .Joachim Frederick. Dur ing his reign the dominions of the Electors of Brandenburg were increased by the acquisition of Cleves, Mark, and Ravensherg. and the Duchy of Prussia (East Prussia). The first three districts were part of the dominions of the Dukes of Cleves. Hell, and Berg, all of which the Elector claimed as grandson of the eldest daughter of Duke William the Rich, backed by a will executed in favor of the Hohenzollern by his great-grand father. A rival claimant appeared in the Count Palatine of Newberg, who bad married a younger daughter of Duke William. After years of dis pute which, early assuming a religious character, aroused the attention of all the Protestant and Catholic princes of Northern Europe. and led to the intervention of the Emperor with his Spanish soldiers on one side, and of the Dutch on the other, an intervention which caused the two Lutheran claimants such uneasiness that one, the Count Palatine, became a Catholic. and the other a Calvinist, the matter was finally arranged in 1630 by an amicable division of the territories. The acquisition of East Prussia was also accom panied by difficulties, though John Sigismund's father, not satisfied with the Polish King's promise that the Brandenburg Hohenzollerns should he the heirs of the Prussian dukes. had
sought to make assurance triply sure by marry ing his son to the eldest daughter of the last duke, while he himself took to wife a younger daughter. In spite of these precautions, the prize was near to slipping out of John Sigis mind's grasp, for the Prussian nobles preferred the unruly freedom enjoyed by their Slavic neigh hors to what they called 'the Brandenburg tyranny,' and the King of Poland was not un willing to listen to their petition, so that it was only by giving the greatest concessions, by doing homage, and promising tribute. and allowing him some right of veto. that the Elector finally per suaded the King to stand by his promise. John Sigismund was not a great man. What lie did, he did because of necessity; the new territories added to the Hohenzollern domains (luring his administration were secured not so much through his efforts as through those of his predecessors.