Albrecht

Albrecht son of Casimir, margrave of Culmbach, was born March 28, 1522. He entered into the confederacy formed by Maurice, elector of Saxony, and other princes, against the emperor Charles V, and committed. many excesses in the war, burning towns and levying heavy contributions wherever he marched. Subsequently a league headed by Maurice himself was formed against him, and in 1553 a great battle was fought at Sivershausen, in which Maurice was slain and Albrecht wounded. He was afterwards put under theban of the empire, and deprived of his possession. While suffering exile he composed the hymn Was mems Gott will, gescheh' allzeit (Engl. transl. in the Monthly Religious Magazine [1864], 31, page 80, "Whate'er God will, let that be done"), and died as a penitent and believing Christian, January 8, 1557, at Pforzheim, in the house of his brother-in-law, the margrave Charles II, of Baden. See Koch, Geschichte des deutschen Kirchenliedes, 1:339 sq. (B.P.)