Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach George

1484-1543. German prince and patron of the Reformation, also known as “George the Pious.” A younger son in the Franconian branch of the Hohenzollern family, he had little prospect of succession and spent a long period of involvement in military ventures and family squabbles. In 1523 he gained possession of the principality of Jägerndorf in Silesia, where he brought in settlers and encouraged economic development. George also introduced the Reformation into both Jägerndorf and Ansbach, which he inherited in 1527 because of the unexpected death of his elder brother. He resisted the efforts of the Catholic king, Ferdinand I of Bohemia, to expel him from Silesia, and he stood firmly for Protestantism at the Diets of Speyer (1529) and Augsburg (1530).