See Acta Sanctorum, Boll. (May), vii. 94-112; W. Preger in Abhandl. der kgl. Akad. der Wissenschaften, hist, sect., vol. xii., pt. 3 (Munich, 1874); idem, Gesch. d. deutschen Mystik im Mittelalter, vol. i. (Leipzig, 1874); E. Renan, “Joachim de Flore et l’Évangile éternel” in Nouvelles études d’histoire religieuse (Paris, 1884); F. Tocco, L’Eresia nel medio evo (Florence, 1884); H. Denifle, “Das Evangelium aeternum und die Commission zu Anagni” in Archiv für Literatur- und Kirchengesch. des Mittelalters, vol. i.; Paul Fournier, “Joachim de Flore, ses doctrines, son influence” in Revue des questions historiques, t. i. (1900); H. C. Lea, History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, vol. iii. ch. i. (London, 1888); F. Ehrle’s article “Joachim” in Wetzer and Welte’s Kirchenlexikon. On Joachimism see E. Gebhardt, “Recherches nouvelles sur l’histoire du Joachimisme” in Revue historique, vol. xxxi. (1886); H. Haupt, “Zur Gesch. des Joachimismus” in Briegers Zeitschrift für Kirchengesch., vol. vii. (1885).
(P. A.)
[1] Preger is the only writer who has maintained that the three books in their primitive form date from 1254.
JOACHIM I. (1484-1535), surnamed Nestor, elector of Brandenburg, elder son of John Cicero, elector of Brandenburg, was born on the 21st of February 1484. He received an excellent education, became elector of Brandenburg on his father’s death in January 1499, and soon afterwards married Elizabeth, daughter of John, king of Denmark. He took some part in the political complications of the Scandinavian kingdoms, but the early years of his reign were mainly spent in the administration of his electorate, where by stern and cruel measures he succeeded in restoring some degree of order (see [Brandenburg]). He also improved the administration of justice, aided the development of commerce, and was a friend to the towns. On the approach of the imperial election of 1519, Joachim’s vote was eagerly solicited by the partisans of Francis I., king of France, and by those of Charles, afterwards the emperor Charles V. Having treated with, and received lavish promises from, both parties, he appears to have hoped for the dignity for himself; but when the election came he turned to the winning side and voted for Charles. In spite of this step, however, the relations between the emperor and the elector were not friendly, and during the next few years Joachim was frequently in communication with the enemies of Charles. Joachim is best known as a pugnacious adherent of Catholic orthodoxy. He was one of the princes who urged upon the emperor the necessity of enforcing the Edict of Worms, and at several diets was prominent among the enemies of the Reformers. He was among those who met at Dessau in July 1525, and was a member of the league established at Halle in November 1533. But his wife adopted the reformed faith, and in 1528 fled for safety to Saxony; and he had the mortification of seeing these doctrines also favoured by other members of his family. Joachim, who was a patron of learning, established the university of Frankfort-on-the-Oder in 1506. He died at Stendal on the 11th of July 1535.
See T. von Buttlar, Der Kampf Joachims I. von Brandenburg gegen den Adel (1889); J. G. Droysen, Geschichte der Preussischen Politik (1855-1886).
JOACHIM II. (1505-1571), surnamed Hector, elector of Brandenburg, the elder son of Joachim I., elector of Brandenburg, was born on the 13th of January 1505. Having passed some time at the court of the emperor Maximilian I., he married in 1524 a daughter of George, duke of Saxony. In 1532 he led a contingent of the imperial army on a campaign against the Turks; and soon afterwards, having lost his first wife, married Hedwig, daughter of Sigismund I., king of Poland. He became elector of Brandenburg on his father’s death in July 1535, and undertook the government of the old and middle marks, while the new mark passed to his brother John. Joachim took a prominent part in imperial politics as an advocate of peace, though with a due regard for the interests of the house of Habsburg. He attempted to make peace between the Protestants and the emperor Charles V. at Frankfort in 1539, and subsequently at other places; but in 1542 he led the German forces on an unsuccessful campaign against the Turks. When the war broke out between Charles and the league of Schmalkalden in 1546 the elector at first remained neutral; but he afterwards sent some troops to serve under the emperor. With Maurice, elector of Saxony, he persuaded Philip, landgrave of Hesse, to surrender to Charles after the imperial victory at Mühlberg in April 1547, and pledged his word that the landgrave would be pardoned. But, although he felt aggrieved when the emperor declined to be bound by this promise, he refused to join Maurice in his attack on Charles. He supported the Interim, which was issued from Augsburg in May 1548, and took part in the negotiations that resulted in the treaty of Passau (1552), and the religious peace of Augsburg (1555). In domestic politics he sought to consolidate and strengthen the power of his house by treaties with neighbouring princes, and succeeded in secularizing the bishoprics of Brandenburg, Havelberg and Lebus. Although brought up as a strict adherent of the older religion, he showed signs of wavering soon after his accession, and in 1539 allowed free entrance to the reformed teaching in the electorate. He took the communion himself in both kinds, and established a new ecclesiastical organization in Brandenburg, but retained much of the ceremonial of the Church of Rome. His position was not unlike that of Henry VIII. in England, and may be partly explained by a desire to replenish his impoverished exchequer with the wealth of the Church (see [Brandenburg]). After the peace of Augsburg the elector mainly confined his attention to Brandenburg, where he showed a keener desire to further the principles of the Reformation. By his luxurious habits and his lavish expenditure on public buildings he piled up a great accumulation of debt, which was partly discharged by the estates of the land in return for important concessions. He cast covetous eyes upon the archbishopric of Magdeburg and the bishopric of Halberstadt, both of which he secured for his son Frederick in 1551. When Frederick died in the following year, the elector’s son Sigismund obtained the two sees; and on Sigismund’s death in 1566 Magdeburg was secured by his nephew, Joachim Frederick, afterwards elector of Brandenburg. Joachim, who was a prince of generous and cultured tastes, died at Köpenick on the 3rd of January 1571, and was succeeded by his son, John George. In 1880 a statue was erected to his memory at Spandau.