 He decreed that the "Stadtschloss" in Berlin, erected at the behest of his uncle Frederick II, should serve as the permanent residence of the Brandenburg electors, the beginning of the city's history as a state capital.He also implemented an excise tax on beer in 1488, which sparked several disturbances, mainly in the towns of the Altmark region.In 1490 John was able to purchase the former Lusatian territory around Zossen, acknowledged by the Bohemian king Vladislaus II, and maintained the succession claims of the Hohenzollern dynasty to the Pomeranian lands held by the House of Griffins.