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Saxe-Weissenfels
Saxe-Weissenfels (german: Sachsen-Weißenfels) was a duchy of the Holy Roman Empire from 1656/7 until 1746 with its residence at Weißenfels. Ruled by a cadet branch of the Albertine House of Wettin, the duchy passed to the Electorate of Saxony upon the extinction of the line. John George I of Wettin, Saxon prince-elector from 1611 to 1656, had disposed in his testament that while his eldest son John George II would succeed him as elector, his younger brothers should be vested with secundogeniture duchies as an appanage. Therefore, upon his death the Duchies of Saxe-Zeitz, Saxe-Merseburg and Saxe-Weissenfels arose, the latter was granted to the second eldest son Augustus, who already served as the Protestant administrator of the Archbishopric of Magdeburg since 1638, then residing at Halle. From about 1660 he had the Baroque Neu-Augustusburg residence built at Weissenfels. Beside Weissenfels the duchy comprised the '' ämter'' of Freyburg, Sachsenburg (present-day Oldisleben ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Augustus, Duke Of Saxe-Weissenfels
Augustus of Saxe-Weissenfels (Dresden, 13 August 1614 – 4 June 1680, Halle), was a Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels-Querfurt of the House of Wettin and administrator of the Archbishopric of Magdeburg. He was the fourth (but second surviving) son of John George I, Elector of Saxony, and his second wife, Magdalene Sibylle of Prussia. Early life On 23 January 1628, at the age of 13, August was appointed administrator of the Archbishopric of Magdeburg by its Chapter to replace the current holder of that title, Christian Wilhelm of Brandenburg. By that time, August had already served three years as coadjutor. Nevertheless, he could not assume his post: on 20 May 1631, after seven months of siege and plundering during the Sack of Magdeburg, the city was taken by the Imperial troops; the Catholic competitor for the diocese, Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, assumed the title of archbishop and administrator of Magdeburg. The Peace of Prague (1635) confirmed his rule over the city, but thre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
August, Duke Of Saxe-Weissenfels
Augustus of Saxe-Weissenfels (Dresden, 13 August 1614 – 4 June 1680, Halle), was a Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels-Querfurt of the House of Wettin and administrator of the Archbishopric of Magdeburg. He was the fourth (but second surviving) son of John George I, Elector of Saxony, and his second wife, Magdalene Sibylle of Prussia. Early life On 23 January 1628, at the age of 13, August was appointed administrator of the Archbishopric of Magdeburg by its Chapter to replace the current holder of that title, Christian Wilhelm of Brandenburg. By that time, August had already served three years as coadjutor. Nevertheless, he could not assume his post: on 20 May 1631, after seven months of siege and plundering during the Sack of Magdeburg, the city was taken by the Imperial troops; the Catholic competitor for the diocese, Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, assumed the title of archbishop and administrator of Magdeburg. The Peace of Prague (1635) confirmed his rule over the city, but ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johann Adolf I, Duke Of Saxe-Weissenfels
Johann Adolf I, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels (2 November 1649, in Halle – 24 May 1697, in Weissenfels), was a duke of Saxe-Weissenfels-Querfurt and member of the House of Wettin. He was the first son of Augustus, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels, and his first wife, Anna Maria of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Accession to the Duchy and continuation of the patronage After the death of his father on 4 June 1680 and the loss of the Archbishopric of Magdeburg (which was secularised by Brandenburg and made over into the Duchy of Magdeburg), Johann Adolf dedicated his first efforts to finishing the still incomplete Schloss Neu-Augustusburg that was begun by his father in 1660; construction at the castle resumed on 18 August 1680. The consecration of the castle chapel took place on 1 November 1682 and the castle was finally paved in the year 1694. A large theatre had been built earlier that sponsored performances of opera in German beginning in 1685. At his estate, near the Guardhouses (''Kavaliers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johann Adolf II, Duke Of Saxe-Weissenfels
Johann Adolf II, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels ( Weissenfels, 4 September 1685 – Leipzig, 16 May 1746), was the last duke of Saxe-Weissenfels-Querfurt and a member of the House of Wettin. He was also a commander in the Saxon army. Johann Adolf was the youngest of the eleven children of Johann Adolf I, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels, and Johanna Magdalena of Saxe-Altenburg. His mother died five months after his birth, on 22 January 1686. Life In the War of the Polish Succession, Johann Adolf led Saxon troops into Poland (October 1733). For the next three years, the Saxon army remained mainly in southern Poland, until the coronation of the Elector Frederick August II of Saxony as King of Poland after the defeat of Stanisław Leszczyński, the rival candidate for the Polish throne. That same year, Johann Adolf inherited Saxe-Weissenfels when his brother Christian died without children. During the Second Silesian War, Prussian troops crossed the Saxon border, and Saxony and Austria a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johann Georg, Duke Of Saxe-Weissenfels
Johann Georg, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels (13 July 1677, in Halle – 16 March 1712, in Weissenfels), was a duke of Saxe-Weissenfels-Querfurt and a member of the House of Wettin. He was the third child and first surviving son of Johann Adolf I, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels, by his first wife, Johanna Magdalena of Saxe-Altenburg. Government of the Duchy Johann Georg succeeded his father in the duchy of Saxe-Weissenfels upon his death on 24 May 1697. Because he was still a minor, the Elector Frederick August I of Saxony briefly assumed a regency. Like his both predecessors, Johann Georg was interested in developing a flotilla, but he was also a great patron of the arts and sciences. Under his rule Weissenfels became the leading economical and cultural center in central Germany along with Dresden. To maintain order during civic celebrations, Johann George created the establishment of Citizen Companies (''Bürgerkompanien''), in whose service male inhabitants were conscripted. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christian, Duke Of Saxe-Weissenfels
Christian, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels (23 February 1682 in Weissenfels – 28 June 1736 in Sangerhausen), was a duke of Saxe-Weissenfels-Querfurt and member of the House of Wettin. He was the sixth (but second surviving) son of Johann Adolf I, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels, and Johanna Magdalena of Saxe-Altenburg. Government of the Duchy Christian inherited the Duchy of Saxe-Weissenfels after the death of his older brother Johann Georg without surviving male issue on 16 March 1712 and continued the policy of patronage and promotion of the sciences, education, and culture of his predecessors; in this tradition he created the ''Seminarium illustre'' in Weissenfels in 1716. His liberal spending, which far exceeded the resources of his small duchy, led to a complete financial collapse in 1719. To deal with the crisis, the Electorate of Saxony created a debit commission that controlled the finances of the duchy until its male line was extinct (both the duke and his brother had no male de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Weißenfels
Weißenfels (; often written in English as Weissenfels) is the largest town of the Burgenlandkreis district, in southern Saxony-Anhalt, central Germany. It is situated on the river Saale, approximately south of Halle. History Perhaps the first mention of the area, before the town itself was founded occurred in 806 CE, when Charles the Younger (''Karl der Jüngere''), King of the Franks, fought and killed two West Slavic '' Knezy'' (princes) nearby: duke Miliduch of the Sorbs and Nessyta (possibly also a Sorbian leader). Miliduch had led a Sorbian invasion of Austrasia. The settlement arose around a castle on a ford crossing the Saale and received municipal rights in 1185. During the Thirty Years' War, the town was badly damaged and the population fell from 2200 to 960. On 7 November 1632 the body of King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden was first laid out at Weißenfels after he had been killed the day before at the Battle of Lützen. Shortly afterwards however, the tow ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John George I, Elector Of Saxony
John George I (5 March 1585 – 8 October 1656) was Elector of Saxony from 1611 to 1656. He led Saxony through the Thirty Years' War, which dominated his 45 year reign. Biography Born in Dresden, John George was the second son of the Elector Christian I and Sophie of Brandenburg. He belonged to the Albertine line of the House of Wettin. John George succeeded to the electorate on 23 June 1611 on the death of his elder brother, Christian II. The geographical position of the Electorate of Saxony rather than her high standing among the German Protestants gave her ruler much importance during the Thirty Years' War. At the beginning of his reign, however, the new elector took up a somewhat detached position. His personal allegiance to Lutheranism was sound, but he liked neither the growing strength of Brandenburg nor the increasing prestige of the Palatinate; the adherence of the other branches of the Saxon ruling house to Protestantism seemed to him to suggest that the head of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Archbishopric Of Magdeburg
The Archbishopric of Magdeburg was a Roman Catholic archdiocese (969–1552) and Prince-Archbishopric (1180–1680) of the Holy Roman Empire centered on the city of Magdeburg on the Elbe River. Planned since 955 and established in 968, the Roman Catholic archdiocese had de facto turned void since 1557, when the last papally confirmed prince-archbishop, the Lutheran Sigismund of Brandenburg came of age and ascended to the see and the Magdeburg Cathedral chapter had adopted Lutheranism in 1567, with most parishioners having preceded in their conversion. All his successors were only administrators of the prince-archbishopric and Lutheran too, except the Catholic layman Leopold William of Austria (1631–1635). In ecclesiastical respect the remaining Catholics and their parishes and abbeys in the former archdiocese were put under supervision of the Archdiocese of Cologne in 1648 and under the jurisdiction of the Apostolic Vicariate of the Northern Missions in 1670. In politic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saxe-Zeitz
The Duchy of Saxe-Zeitz (german: Herzogtum Sachsen-Zeitz) was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire established in 1656–57 as a secundogeniture of the Electoral Saxon house of House of Wettin. Its capital was Zeitz. The territory fell back to the Wettin electoral line in 1718. History On 20 July 1652, the Saxon elector John George I stipulated in his will that, while the electoral dignity passes to his eldest son John George II, his three younger brothers should receive secundogeniture principalities upon his death. After the elector died on 8 October 1656, his sons concluded the "friend-brotherly main treaty" in the Saxon residence of Dresden on 22 April 1657 and a further treaty in 1663 delineating their territories and sovereign rights definitely. These treaties created three duchies: * Saxe-Zeitz, * Saxe-Weissenfels and * Saxe-Merseburg. Prince Maurice, the fourth-oldest son received the districts of Zeitz, Naumburg and Haynsburg in the former Bishopric of Naumburg-Z ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Secundogeniture
A secundogeniture (from la, secundus "following, second," and "born") was a dependent territory given to a younger son of a princely house and his descendants, creating a cadet branch. This was a special form of inheritance in which the second and younger son received more possessions and prestige than the apanage which was usual in principalities practising primogeniture. It avoided the generational division of the estate to the extent that occurred under gavelkind, and at the same time gave younger branches a stake in the stability of the house. Creation The creation of a secundogeniture was often regulated by a house law. The younger sons would receive some territory, but much less than the older brother, and they would not be sovereign. Examples of such house laws would be * the House Treaty of Gera in Brandenburg * the testament of John George I of Saxony and the of 1657, in which John George I's sons regulated the details. A secundogeniture is different from a partitio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saxe-Merseburg
The Duchy of Saxe-Merseburg was a duchy of the Holy Roman Empire, with Merseburg as its capital. It existed from 1656 or 1657 to 1738 and was owned by an Albertine secundogeniture of the Saxon House of Wettin. History The Wettin Elector John George I of Saxony stipulated in his will dated 20 July 1652 that his three younger sons should receive secundogeniture principalities. After the elector died on 8 October 1656, his sons concluded the "friend-brotherly main treaty" in the Saxon residence of Dresden on 22 April 1657 and a further treaty in 1663 delineating their territories and sovereign rights definitively. The treaties created three duchies: Saxe-Zeitz, Saxe-Weissenfels, and Saxe-Merseburg. Prince Christian, the third eldest son, received, among other properties, the estates of the former Bishopric of Merseburg, secularised in 1565: the castles, cities and districts of Merseburg, Plagwitz, Rückmarsdorf, Delitzsch (with Delitzsch Castle), Bad Lauchstädt, Schkeudit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
