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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-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-Zei ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saxe-Merseburg
The Duchy of Saxe-Merseburg was a duchy of the Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ..., with Merseburg as its capital. It existed from 1656 or 1657 to 1738 and was owned by an Albertine secundogeniture of the Electorate of Saxony, Saxon House of House of Wettin, Wettin. History The Wettin Elector John George I, Elector of Saxony, 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-Ze ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brandenburg-Schwedt
Brandenburg-Schwedt was a secundogeniture of the Hohenzollern margraves of Brandenburg, established by Prince Philip William who took his residence at Schwedt Castle in 1689. By appanage, they administered the manors of Schwedt and Vierraden on the Oder river (Uckermark and Neumark) as well as Wildenbruch in Pomerania (present-day Swobnica, Poland). Though prosperous, the cadet branch never obtained Imperial immediacy. History 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). Dorothea dedicated ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
House Treaty Of Gera
The House Treaty of Gera was a House law of the House of Hohenzollern on the succession in Brandenburg and in the Franconian territories at the end of the sixteenth century binding rules. The Treaty and came about because Elector John George of Brandenburg had violated the requirements made in Dispositio Achillea in his will. In these provisions, the indivisibility of the Mark of Brandenburg has been prescribed as a mandatory principle of succession. John George, however, had stipulated his will that part of the Neumark and Krosno Odrzańskie should be separated from the Mark and given to his two younger sons. History Immediately after John George's death in 1598, his eldest son and successor, Elector Joachim Frederick contested the will and consulted with Margrave George Frederick I. He was the last descendant of the elder branch of the Franconian Hohenzollerns and ruled the two margraviates of Brandenburg-Ansbach and Brandenburg-Kulmbach. George Frederick had no offsprin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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] |
Hesse
Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are Darmstadt and Kassel. With an area of 21,114.73 square kilometers and a population of just over six million, it ranks seventh and fifth, respectively, among the sixteen German states. Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Germany's second-largest metropolitan area (after Rhine-Ruhr), is mainly located in Hesse. As a cultural region, Hesse also includes the area known as Rhenish Hesse (Rheinhessen) in the neighbouring state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Name The German name '':wikt:Hessen#German, Hessen'', like the names of other German regions (''Schwaben'' "Swabia", ''Franken'' "Franconia", ''Bayern'' "Bavaria", ''Sachsen'' "Saxony"), derives from the dative plural form of the name of the inhabitants or German tribes, eponymous tribe, the Hes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cadet Branch
In history and heraldry, a cadet branch consists of the male-line descendants of a monarch's or patriarch's younger sons ( cadets). In the ruling dynasties and noble families of much of Europe and Asia, the family's major assets— realm, titles, fiefs, property and income—have historically been passed from a father to his firstborn son in what is known as primogeniture; younger sons—cadets—inherited less wealth and authority to pass to future generations of descendants. In families and cultures in which this was not the custom or law, as in the feudal Holy Roman Empire, equal distribution of the family's holdings among male members was eventually apt to so fragment the inheritance as to render it too small to sustain the descendants at the socio-economic level of their forefather. Moreover, brothers and their descendants sometimes quarreled over their allocations, or even became estranged. While agnatic primogeniture became a common way of keeping the family's wealth int ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inheritance
Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, Title (property), titles, debts, entitlements, Privilege (law), privileges, rights, and Law of obligations, obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Officially bequest, bequeathing private property and/or debts can be performed by a testator via will (law), will, as attested by a notary or by other lawful means. Terminology In law, an ''heir'' is a person who is entitled to receive a share of the decedent, deceased's (the person who died) property, subject to the rules of inheritance in the jurisdiction of which the deceased was a citizen or where the deceased (decedent) died or owned property at the time of death. The inheritance may be either under the terms of a will or by intestate laws if the deceased had no will. However, the will must comply with the laws of the jurisdiction at the time it was created or it will be declared invalid ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Partitioned-off Duke
thumb , upright , John II was the first of the partitioned-off dukes. After his death his territory was divided into several partitioned off microstates In the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, the term "partitioned-off duke" (''German'': Abgeteilte Herren) was used to denote a series of dukes whose territories were not recognized by the estates of the realm. Background The background for this phenomenon was the Treaty of Ribe of 1460, in which King Christian I of Denmark, after his election as Duke of Schleswig and Count of Holstein, had laid down that Schleswig and Holstein should forever be ruled by a joint sovereign, in a personal union with Denmark. The promise was broken in 1544, when King Christian III of Denmark divided the territories between himself and his half-brothers John II the Elder and Adolf. However, when Christian's son, Frederick II of Denmark, tried to divide the territory with his brother, John II the Younger, the Estates refused to pay John II homa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg
Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg was the name of a branch line of the House of Oldenburg as well as the name of their land. It existed from 1564 until 1668 and was a titular duchy under the King of Denmark, rather than a true territorial dukedom in its own right. The seat of the duke was Sønderborg. Parts of the domain were located in Denmark (in the Duchy of Schleswig), mainly on the islands of Als and Ærø and around Glücksburg, whilst other lands were part of the Holy Roman Empire (in the Duchy of Holstein), including the ''Ämter'' of Plön, Ahrensbök, and Reinfeld. As a result of various inheritance arrangements it fragmented into numerous small territories which were eventually absorbed into Greater Denmark in the 18th century. History Background The ducal family was related to the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp; both belonged to the House of Oldenburg. The duchy was created in the 16th century when King Frederick II of Denmark shared his part of the duchies of Schl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palatinate-Sulzbach
Palatinate-Sulzbach was the name of two separate states of the Holy Roman Empire located in modern Amberg-Sulzbach, Bavaria, Germany, ruled by a branch of the House of Wittelsbach. Palatinate-Sulzbach (1569–1604) Palatinate-Sulzbach was partitioned from Palatinate-Zweibrücken upon the death of Wolfgang, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken in 1569. His will provided that Palatinate-Sulzbach should be created out of Palatinate-Zweibrücken and ruled by his younger son Otto Henry, Count Palatine of Sulzbach, Otto Henry. Otto Henry died in 1604 without any heirs so Palatinate-Sulzbach passed to Palatinate-Neuburg. Palatinate-Sulzbach (1614–1742) In 1614, Palatinate-Sulzbach was partitioned from Palatinate-Neuburg following the death of Count Palatine Philip Louis, Count Palatine of Neuburg, Philip Louis for his son Augustus, Count Palatine of Sulzbach, Augustus. It consisted of two noncontiguous areas separated by the Electorate of Bavaria. It was bordered on the west by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palatinate-Birkenfeld
The House of Palatinate-Birkenfeld (German: ''Pfalz-Birkenfeld''), later Palatinate-Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld, was the name of a collateral line of the Palatine Wittelsbachs. The Counts Palatine from this line initially ruled over only a relatively unimportant territory, namely the Palatine share of the Rear County of Sponheim; however, their importance steadily grew. All living members of the House of Wittelsbach descend from Palatinate-Birkenfeld, which thus became the parent branch of the Kings of Bavaria. History The patriarch of the line was Charles I, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld. He was a son of Wolfgang, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken, who when he died in 1569, bequeathed the Palatine share of the Rear County of Sponheim to Charles. Charles chose Birkenfeld as his residence and in 1595, through the Treaty of Kastellaun with his joint ruler the Margrave of Baden, Edward Fortunatus, secured exclusive rule in the districts of Birkenfeld and Allenbach (until 167 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
