Brandenburg-Schwedt his dominions and furnishing his castle in a Baroque style at great expense. His younger brother Albert Frederick (1672–1731) became a general lieutenant and Grand Master of the Order of Saint John; the third-born, Charles Philip (1673–1695) likewise became an officer and shortly before his death secretly married the Piemontese noblewoman Caterina di Balbiano, who called herself "Madame de Brandebourg" as a widow. The youngest of Dorothea's sons was Margrave Christian Ludwig (1677–1734), officer and administrator of Halberstadt, the honoree of Bach's "Brandenburg Concertos". The brisk building activity was continued by Philipp William's son and successor, Margrave Frederick William (1700-1771).
Province of Brandenburg the Bear, another Saxon count from the noble House of Ascania, who established the Margraviate of Brandenburg in 1157. His son Margrave Otto I already achieved the dignity of an Arch-Chamberlain of the Holy Roman Empire in 1177. Emperor Charles IV by the Golden Bull of 1356 confirmed the electoral dignity of the Brandenburg margraves and in 1373 assigned the electorate to his son Wenceslaus in 1373. The Elector of Brandenburg held the seventh rank among the electors of the Empire and had five votes in the Council of Princes. In 1415 Brandenburg was acquired by Burgrave Frederick of Nuremberg,