Renaissance and Reformation

As Electoral Prince, Joachim met the reformer Martin Luther in Wittenberg. His mother was an early supporter of the Reformation and therefore had to flee to Electoral Saxony. She only returned to Spandau in 1545.

The father Joachim I was a strict opponent of Luther. In his will he committed his sons to the old faith. He died in July 1535.

While his brother Hans von Küstrin confessed to Protestantism shortly after taking office, Joachim II only took this step in 1563. His church policy was conservative and aimed at a good relationship with the emperor and the Catholic princes in the empire.

Joachim I began to transform the electoral court on the Spree into a Renaissance court. In 1506 he founded the university in Frankfurt an der Oder together with his brother Albrecht. This development continued under his son. The Berlin court now also attracted princes' sons from neighboring and related families, who perfected their education here. Joachim II had the Berlin Palace redesigned in the early Renaissance style. The model was Hartenfels Castle in Torgau. Joachim II awarded contracts to the Cranach workshop for the furnishing of the cathedral and the castle.