Phillip I.
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Under the rule of duke Phillip I., the castle Herzberg am Harz was almost completely destoyed in a fire in 1510. Furniture, clothes, armaments, treasure, documents, and feudal letters fell victim to a great, catastophic fire. During Phillip's period of rule, the Reformation was encouraged and established. Duke Phillip beonged to the first supporters of the new teaching. In 1526 duke Phillip I. joined the Torgau alliance of Evangelical princes and in 1531 joined the Schmalkaldic League. The peaceable duke Philip I. saw himself and his small principality threatened repeatedly by the Catholic rulers of Hohenstein, Kurmainz, and Brunswick - Wolfenbüttel. In 1551 the last representative of the House of Grubenhagen who took the title of duke of Brunswick. His three sons, who ruled in succession, were the first to take the title of "Duke of Brunswick and Lüneburg."
--Adapted from the website, Die Welfen
Sources
- Schloss Herzberg und seine Welfen, Herzberg am Harz 1993