![Altenburg Castle 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Altenburg_Castle_1.jpg)
The Division of Altenburg (German: ''Altenburger Teilung'') was the plan for the division of the
Meissen lands agreed upon by the two hostile
Wettin brothers Elector
Frederick II of Saxony and
William III on 16 July 1445 at
Altenburg.
[Historische Commission bei der Königl. Akademie der Wissenschaften, p. 778.] The brothers had attempted to reconcile, but eventually the division led the
Saxon Fratricidal War
The Saxon Fratricidal WarThis translation is employed by the Museum Leuchtenburg in thei (German: ''Sächsischer Bruderkrieg'') was a war fought between the two brothers Frederick II, Elector of Saxony and Duke William III over Wettin ruled area ...
(German: ''Sächsischer Bruderkrieg''),
[Historische Commission bei der Königl. Akademie der Wissenschaften, p. 779.] which began in 1446 and lasted for five years, until the Peace of
Naumburg
Naumburg () is a town in (and the administrative capital of) the district Burgenlandkreis, in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, Central Germany. It has a population of around 33,000. The Naumburg Cathedral became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2018. ...
was negotiated in 1451.
Following the peace, the subsequent
Treaty of Eger
The Treaty of Eger (german: Vertrag von Eger), also called Main Compromise of Eger (''Hauptvergleich von Eger'') or Peace of Eger ( cs, Chebský mír) was concluded on 25 April 1459 in the Free imperial city, Imperial City of Cheb, Eger (''Cheb'') ...
in 1459,
[The Treaty of Eger in westernmost Bohemia, between elector Frederick II, William III and the king of Bohemia, George of Podebrady, fixed the borders between Bohemia and Saxony.] and the deaths of Frederick II and William III, the two sons of Frederick II eventually gained control of the land of both their father and William III.
Family situation
By the 15th century, the noble house of Wettin and its line of
Upper Saxon
Upper Saxon (german: Obersächsisch, ; ) is an East Central German language spoken in much of the modern German state of Saxony and in adjacent parts of southeastern Saxony-Anhalt and eastern Thuringia. As of the early 21st century, it's mostl ...
princes had gained a large amount of land over the years mainly through inheritance, including the
Margraviate of Meissen and the
Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg
The Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg () was a medieval duchy of the Holy Roman Empire centered at Wittenberg, which emerged after the dissolution of the stem duchy of Saxony. The Ascanian dukes prevailed in obtaining the Saxon electoral dignity u ...
, which was elevated to the
Electorate of Saxony according to the
Golden Bull of 1356
The Golden Bull of 1356 (, , , , ) was a decree issued by the Imperial Diet at Nuremberg and Metz ( Diet of Metz, 1356/57) headed by the Emperor Charles IV which fixed, for a period of more than four hundred years, important aspects of the con ...
. Margrave
Frederick IV of Meissen became
Saxon elector (as Frederick I) in 1423. Upon the death of his younger brother
William II in 1425, he ruled over all Wettin lands except for the
Landgraviate of Thuringia
The Duchy of Thuringia was an eastern frontier march of the Merovingian kingdom of Austrasia, established about 631 by King Dagobert I after his troops had been defeated by the forces of the Slavic confederation of Samo at the Battle of Wogastis ...
, held by his cousin
Frederick the Peaceful.
[Carlyle, p.308]
Elector Frederick ruled over his lands until his death in 1428. With his death, his four sons Frederick, William, Henry, and Sigismund took control. While Henry died in 1435 and Sigismund was forced to renounce his claims to become
Bishop of Würzburg
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
in 1440, only two sons, Frederick and William, now ruled over their family's land. As the eldest, Frederick II held the Electorate of Saxony and some land around
Wittenberg
Wittenberg ( , ; Low Saxon: ''Wittenbarg''; meaning ''White Mountain''; officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg (''Luther City Wittenberg'')), is the fourth largest town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Wittenberg is situated on the River Elbe, north o ...
in his own right, while he controlled the remainder of the land jointly with William. This continued peacefully and without serious incident until 1440, when their uncle Landgrave Frederick of Thuringia died childless and the two brothers inherited his extensive lands as well as the title of
Landgrave of Thuringia
This is a list of the rulers of Thuringia, a historical and political region of Central Germany.
Kings of Thuringia
*450–500 Bisinus
*500–530 Baderich
*500–530 Berthachar
*500–531 Herminafried
:''Conquered by the Franks. ...
.
[Carlyle, p.309]
Division
The brothers quarreled over the division of this new land in Thuringia and on 16 July 1445 the Saxon estates tried to reconcile them in the Division of Altenburg: Frederick II should retain the
electoral
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operat ...
dignity and the Margraviate of Meissen, while the younger William II should rule the –highly indebted– Landgrave of Thuringia up to the
Osterland region in the east. However, when Frederick chose the western part and not the Margraviate of Meissen on 26 September 1445 in
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...
, William furiously rejected the division. On December 11 of the same year the brothers again attempted to reconcile in the monastery of Neuwerk in
Halle in what was known as the ''Hallescher Machtspruch'' (Halle Dictum). Archbishop Frederick III of
Magdeburg
Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river.
Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebu ...
, Elector
Frederick II of Brandenburg
Frederick II of Brandenburg () (19 November 1413 – 10 February 1471), nicknamed "the Iron" (''der Eiserne'') and sometimes "Irontooth" (''Eisenzahn''), was a Prince-elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg from 1440 until his abdication in 14 ...
and Landgrave
Louis II of Hesse actively participated as judges. The division was even confirmed by the
Habsburg king
Frederick III, however the two brothers ultimately failed to reach a peaceful resolution.
In June 1446, one day after William's marriage with the Habsburg princess
Anne of Austria
Anne of Austria (french: Anne d'Autriche, italic=no, es, Ana María Mauricia, italic=no; 22 September 1601 – 20 January 1666) was an infanta of Spain who became Queen of France as the wife of King Louis XIII from their marriage in 1615 un ...
, the split led to a war between the two brothers known as the
Saxon Fratricidal War
The Saxon Fratricidal WarThis translation is employed by the Museum Leuchtenburg in thei (German: ''Sächsischer Bruderkrieg'') was a war fought between the two brothers Frederick II, Elector of Saxony and Duke William III over Wettin ruled area ...
(''Sächsischer Bruderkrieg'').
The brothers continued fighting until peace was reached in a meeting at
Naumburg
Naumburg () is a town in (and the administrative capital of) the district Burgenlandkreis, in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, Central Germany. It has a population of around 33,000. The Naumburg Cathedral became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2018. ...
on 27 January 1451.
Later, in the 1459
Treaty of Eger
The Treaty of Eger (german: Vertrag von Eger), also called Main Compromise of Eger (''Hauptvergleich von Eger'') or Peace of Eger ( cs, Chebský mír) was concluded on 25 April 1459 in the Free imperial city, Imperial City of Cheb, Eger (''Cheb'') ...
, Elector Frederick II, his brother Duke William III, and King
George of Poděbrady
George of Kunštát and Poděbrady (23 April 1420 – 22 March 1471), also known as Poděbrad or Podiebrad ( cs, Jiří z Poděbrad; german: Georg von Podiebrad), was the sixteenth King of Bohemia, who ruled in 1458–1471. He was a leader of the ...
fixed the borders between the
Kingdom of Bohemia
The Kingdom of Bohemia ( cs, České království),; la, link=no, Regnum Bohemiae sometimes in English literature referred to as the Czech Kingdom, was a medieval and early modern monarchy in Central Europe, the predecessor of the modern Czec ...
and the Saxon electorate. This border along the crest of the
Ore Mountains is still current and is one of the oldest existing borders in
Central Europe
Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the a ...
.
Aftermath
After Frederick's death in 1464,
[Sacher] his two sons
Ernest
Ernest is a given name derived from Germanic word ''ernst'', meaning "serious". Notable people and fictional characters with the name include:
People
* Archduke Ernest of Austria (1553–1595), son of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor
* Ernest, ...
and
Albert III inherited his land. When Duke William III died in 1482, Ernest
annexed Thuringia
Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million.
Erfurt is the capital and lar ...
and returned it to Frederick's original line. Ernest then shared many of his lands in a second division with his brother, Albert, because of the
Treaty of Leipzig
The Treaty of Leipzig or Partition of Leipzig (German ''Leipziger Teilung'') was signed on 11 November 1485 between Elector Ernest of Saxony and his younger brother Albert III, the sons of Elector Frederick II of Saxony from the House of Wettin ...
on 26 August 1485.
[Ganse] In this second division of the Wettin lands between Ernest and Albert, also known as the Division of Leipzig (''Leipziger Teilung''), Altenburg fell to Ernest, together with the electoral lands around Wittenberg, the
Grimma
Grimma ( hsb, Grima) is a town in Saxony, Central Germany, on the left bank of the Mulde, southeast of Leipzig. Founded in 1170, it is part of the Leipzig district.
Location
The town is in northern Saxony, southeast of Leipzig and south o ...
estates, the Mutschener Pflege,
Leisnig
Leisnig ( hsb, Lěsnik) is a small town in the district of Mittelsachsen, in the state of Saxony in Germany, 50 kilometers southeast of Leipzig.
History
A settlement in this location was first mentioned in 1046. The town features Mildenstein Ca ...
, large parts of Thuringia, and the
Vogtland
Vogtland (; cz, Fojtsko) is a region spanning the German states of Bavaria, Saxony and Thuringia and north-western Bohemia in the Czech Republic. It overlaps with and is largely contained within Euregio Egrensis. The name alludes to the former ...
region around
Plauen
Plauen (; Czech: ''Plavno'') is, with around 65,000 inhabitants, the fifth-largest city of Saxony, Germany after Leipzig, Dresden, Chemnitz and Zwickau, the second-largest city of the Vogtland after Gera, as well as the largest city in the S ...
. From this time on, Altenburg was historically connected with Thuringia.
Following the multiple divisions and the Saxon Fratricidal War, the Wettins lost much of their power among the leading German noble families and houses,
most notably in favour of the rising
Habsburg and
Hohenzollern dynasties.
Notes
References
*
*
*
*{{cite web , last = Sacher , first = Hermann , title = Saxony , publisher = Catholic Encyclopedia , date = 2008 , url = http://www.catholicity.com/encyclopedia/s/saxony.html , access-date = 2008-10-18
Electorate of Saxony
Duchy of Saxony
History of Thuringia
Altenburg
1445 in Europe