because of a lack of money in the late days of the disastrous thirty years' war (1618–1648), the "great elector frederick william of brandenburg in about 1640 mortgaged the schwedt region to the baltic german noble gustav adolf von (varrensback, varensbeke) for the sum 25,000 thalers. his second wife, electress sophia dorothea, daughter of duke philip of schleswig-holstein-sonderburg-glücksburg, personally re-acquired the territory for 26,500 thalers shortly after the birth of her first son prince philipp william (1669–1711).