Towards the end of the 15th century it passed to Brandenburg, and, in 1684, after a great conflagration which laid it in ruins, was handsomely rebuilt by the electress Dorothea.
Besides several children who died in infancy she had Henry, prince of Wales, who died in 1612, Charles, afterwards King Charles anct Elizabeth, electress palatine and queen of Bohemia.
In addition to those descended from these two marriages there are also the descendants of Edward, a brother of the electress Sophia.
In October 1585 the electress Anna died, and a few weeks later Augustus married Agnes Hedwig, a daughter of Joachim Ernest, prince of Anhalt.
Marlborough's successive victories, and especially the factious conduct of the Tories, who in November 1705 moved in parliament that the electress Sophia should be invited to England, drove Anne farther to the side of the Whigs.