Dorothea was born between 1430 and 1431 in Brandenburg. Her parents were John, Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach and Barbara of Saxe-Wittenberg. (Dorothea picture below).
At first, when she was 15 or 14 years old, she married with Christopher of Bavaria (also known as Christopher III of Denmark) and became queen consort of Denmark, Norway and Sweeden until his death in 5 January 1448. During this marriage Dorothea she had no children with her husband. (Christopher of Bavaria picture bellow).
Despite the fact that she got proposal of mariage from Casimir IV Jagiellon, she married with new king of Denmark, Norway and Sweden-Christian I of Denmark in 1449 and again became queen consort of Denmark, Norway and Sweden (Christian I picture bellow).
During the second marriage Dorothea gave birth five children but only three lived a long time: John, Margaret and Frederick I of Denmark.
It is known that queen Dorothea had started a lifelong campaign to have her spouse (and later her son) again elected king of Sweden, to restore the Kalmar Union of the three Kingdoms and to retrieve her Swedish dower lands and it is believed that this led to the final Sweden's secession and independence in 1501 when swedish nobility elected Gustav Vasa from noble family of Vasa as Sweden king Gustav I.
In Denmark Dorothea was granted the Slotsloven, which gave her the right to command all the castles in Denmark, and she served as regent whenever the king was absent. Her personal wealth also gave her influence. When king Christian acquired Holstein and Schleswig in 1460 and was unable to pay, she loaned him the amount necessary to buy these domains and incorporate them into Denmark. By 1470, she had de facto seized control over Holstein and Schleswig: when Christian was unable to pay back the loan she had given him to buy the domains, she took over the rule of Holstein (1479) and Schleswig (1480) herself and ruled them as her own fiefs. After the death of her father in 1464, she battled her uncle Frederick II, Elector of Brandenburg, over the inheritance.
After death of her second husband death she he remained politically active in the reign of his son until her death in 10 November 1495 when she was 65 or 64 years old. She was burried in Roskilde Cathedral, in Denmark.
