Saxe-Weimar (german: Sachsen-Weimar) was one of the
Saxon
The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic
*
*
*
*
peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
duchies held by the
Ernestine Ernestine is a feminine given name. Ernest is the male counterpart of this name. Notable people with the name include:
* Ernestine Anderson (1928–2016), American jazz and blues singer
* Ernestine Bayer (1909–2006), American athlete
* Ernestine ...
branch of the
Wettin dynasty in present-day
Thuringia. The chief town and capital was
Weimar. The Weimar branch was the most genealogically senior extant branch of the
House of Wettin.
History
Division of Leipzig
In the late 15th century much of what is now Thuringia, including the area around Weimar, was held by the Wettin
Electors of Saxony. According to the 1485
Treaty of Leipzig, the Wettin lands had been divided between Elector
Ernest of Saxony
Ernest (24 March 144126 August 1486) was Elector of Saxony from 1464 to 1486.
Ernst was the founder and progenitor of the ''Ernestine line'' of Saxon princes.
Biography
Ernst was born in Meissen, the second son (but fourth in order of birth) ...
and his younger brother
Albert III, with the western lands in Thuringia together with the
electoral dignity
The prince-electors (german: Kurfürst pl. , cz, Kurfiřt, la, Princeps Elector), or electors for short, were the members of the electoral college that elected the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
From the 13th century onwards, the prince ...
going to the Ernestine branch of the family.
Ernest's grandson Elector
John Frederick I of Saxony
John Frederick I (30 June 1503 in Torgau – 3 March 1554 in Weimar), called the Magnanimous, was the Elector of Saxony (1532–1547) and head of the Schmalkaldic League.
Early years
John Frederick was the eldest son of Elector John by his firs ...
forfeited the electoral dignity in the 1547
Capitulation of Wittenberg, after he had joined the revolt of the Lutheran
Schmalkaldic League against the
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...
emperor
Charles V, was defeated, captured and
banned
A ban is a formal or informal prohibition of something. Bans are formed for the prohibition of activities within a certain political territory. Some bans in commerce are referred to as embargoes. ''Ban'' is also used as a verb similar in meaning ...
. Nevertheless, according to the 1552
Peace of Passau he was pardoned and allowed to retain his lands in Thuringia. Upon his death in 1554, his son
John Frederick II succeeded him as "Duke of Saxony", residing at
Gotha. His attempts to regain the electoral dignity failed: in the course of the 1566 revolt instigated by the robber baron
Wilhelm von Grumbach, the duke was banned and imprisoned for life by Emperor
Maximilian II.
Division of Erfurt
John Frederick II was succeeded by his younger brother
John William at
Weimar, who in a short time also fell out of favour with the emperor by his alliance with King
Charles IX of France. In 1572 Maximilian II enforced the Division of
Erfurt
Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits in ...
, whereby the Ernestine lands were divided among Duke John William and the two surviving sons of imprisoned John Frederick II. John William retained the Duchy of Saxe-Weimar, while his minor nephews received the southern and western territories around
Coburg and
Eisenach.
This division was the first of numerous partitions; over the next three centuries the lands were divided when dukes had more than one son to provide for and re-combined when dukes died without direct heirs, but all of the lands stayed in the Ernestine branch of the Wettin family. As a result, the Duchy of Saxe-Weimar shrank and grew more than once. The Thuringian states throughout this period typically consisted of several non-contiguous parcels of territory of various sizes. Facing their lack of political power, the rulers of these petty states built up splendid monarchical households at their residences and pursued greater cultural achievements.
Duke John William, chafing under the loss, died in 1573, succeeded by his son
Frederick William I. Upon his death in 1602 Saxe-Weimar was again divided among his younger brother
John II and Frederick William's minor son
John Philipp, who received the territory of
Saxe-Altenburg. John's son Duke
Johann Ernst I of Saxe-Weimar on occasion of the burial of his mother
Dorothea Maria of Anhalt in 1617 established the literary
Fruitbearing Society.
Thirty Years' War
At the outbreak of the
Thirty Years' War, Duke Johann Ernst I supported the Protestant
Bohemian
Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to:
*Anything of or relating to Bohemia
Beer
* National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst
* Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors
Culture and arts
* Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origin ...
estates under the "Winter King"
Frederick V of the Palatinate
Frederick V (german: link=no, Friedrich; 26 August 1596 – 29 November 1632) was the Elector Palatine of the Rhine in the Holy Roman Empire from 1610 to 1623, and reigned as King of Bohemia from 1619 to 1620. He was forced to abdicate both r ...
, who were defeated at the 1620
Battle of White Mountain. Stripped of his title by Emperor
Ferdinand II, he remained a fierce opponent of the Catholic Habsburg dynasty and died on
Ernst von Mansfeld's Hungarian campaign in 1626.
His younger brother
Wilhelm, regent since 1620, assumed the dignities upon his death. At first also an advocate of Protestant concerns, after the death of King
Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden
Gustavus Adolphus (9 December Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">N.S_19_December.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Old Style and New Style dates">N.S 19 December">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="/now ...
he chose to accord with the 1635
Peace of Prague that his Albertine cousins had negotiated with the emperor – against the opposition of his younger brother General
Bernard of Saxe-Weimar
Bernard of Saxe-Weimar (german: Bernhard von Sachsen-Weimar; 16 August 160418 July 1639) was a German prince and general in the Thirty Years' War.
Biography
Born in Weimar within the Duchy of Saxe-Weimar, Bernard was the eleventh son of Johan ...
, who entered into the
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
service under
Cardinal Richelieu
Armand Jean du Plessis, Duke of Richelieu (; 9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a French clergyman and statesman. He was also known as ''l'Éminence rouge'', or "the Red Eminence", a term derived from the ...
. Nevertheless, like many German estates, the Weimar lands were devastated by combat actions as well as by
plague
Plague or The Plague may refer to:
Agriculture, fauna, and medicine
*Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis''
* An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural)
* A pandemic caused by such a disease
* A swarm of pes ...
epidemics.
When in 1638 the Ernestine
Saxe-Eisenach and
Saxe-Coburg branch became extinct upon the death of Duke
John Ernest
John Ernest (May 6, 1922 – July 21, 1994) was an American-born constructivist abstract artist. He was born in Philadelphia, in 1922. After living and working in Sweden and Paris from 1946 to 1951, he moved to London, England, where he lived and w ...
, Wilhelm of Saxe-Weimar inherited large parts of his estates. In 1640 however he had to involve his younger brothers
Ernest I and
Albert IV, thereby (re-)establishing the Duchies of
Saxe-Gotha and the short-lived
Saxe-Eisenach, which was again dissolved upon Duke Albert's death in 1644.
Another rearrangement of the Ernestine lands took place in 1672 after Duke
Frederick William III of Saxe-Altenburg, descendant of Duke John Phillip, had died without heirs and his cousin Duke
Johann Ernst II of Saxe-Weimar inherited parts of his duchy, which originally had been split off the Saxe-Weimar territory in 1602. Johann Ernst II immediately divided the enlarged Saxe-Weimar lands between himself and his younger brothers
John George I and
Bernhard II, who received the Duchies of
Saxe-Eisenach and
Saxe-Jena, which reverted to Saxe-Weimar upon the death of Bernhard's son Duke
Johann Wilhelm in 1690.
Weimar Classicism
Upon the death of John George's descendant
Wilhelm Heinrich in 1741, Duke
Ernest Augustus I of Saxe-Weimar also inherited the Duchy of Saxe-Eisenach. He then ruled both duchies in
personal union and decisively forwarded the development of his estates by the implementation of the
primogeniture
Primogeniture ( ) is the right, by law or custom, of the firstborn legitimate child to inherit the parent's entire or main estate in preference to shared inheritance among all or some children, any illegitimate child or any collateral relativ ...
principle.
His son Ernest Augustus II, who succeeded him in 1748, died in 1758, whereafter Empress
Maria Theresa
Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina (german: Maria Theresia; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was ruler of the Habsburg dominions from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position ''suo jure'' (in her own right). ...
appointed his young widow, Duchess
Anna Amalia, regent of the country and guardian of her infant son,
Charles Augustus.
[ The regency of energetic the Anna Amalia and the reign of Charles Augustus, who was raised by the writer ]Christoph Martin Wieland
Christoph Martin Wieland (; 5 September 1733 – 20 January 1813) was a German poet and writer. He is best-remembered for having written the first ''Bildungsroman'' (''Geschichte des Agathon''), as well as the epic ''Oberon'', which formed the ba ...
, formed a high point in the history of Saxe-Weimar.[ Both dedicated patrons of literature and art, Anna Amalia and Charles Augustus attracted to their court the leading ]German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
scholars, including Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Schiller
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, and philosopher. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller developed a productive, if complicated, friends ...
and Johann Gottfried Herder
Johann Gottfried von Herder ( , ; 25 August 174418 December 1803) was a German philosopher, theologian, poet, and literary critic. He is associated with the Enlightenment, ''Sturm und Drang'', and Weimar Classicism.
Biography
Born in Mohrun ...
, and made their residence in Weimar an important cultural center in an era referred to as Weimar Classicism.
In 1804, Duke Charles Augustus entered into European politics by marrying his son and heir Charles Frederick to Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, sister of Emperor Alexander I of Russia. However, at the same time he joined Prussia in the War of the Fourth Coalition against the French Empire
French Empire (french: Empire Français, link=no) may refer to:
* First French Empire, ruled by Napoleon I from 1804 to 1814 and in 1815 and by Napoleon II in 1815, the French state from 1804 to 1814 and in 1815
* Second French Empire, led by Nap ...
, and after the defeat at the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt, was forced to accede to the Napoleonic Confederation of the Rhine in 1806. In 1809, Saxe-Weimar and Saxe-Eisenach, which had been united only in the person of the duke, were formally merged into the Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach.
Dukes of Saxe-Weimar
* Johann Wilhelm (1554–73)
* Frederick William I (1573–1602), son of Johann Wilhelm
** Johann II Johann II may refer to:
* Johann II, Prince of Liechtenstein
* Johann II, Duke of Opava-Ratibor
* Johann II, Lord of Mecklenburg
* Johann II (Habsburg-Laufenburg)
See also
*John II (disambiguation) John II may refer to:
People
* John Cicero, El ...
(1602–05), brother
* Johann Ernest I (1605–20), son of Johann
** Wilhelm (1620–62), brother
* Johann Ernest II (1662–83), son of Wilhelm
* Wilhelm Ernest (1683–1728), son of Johann Ernest II
* Johann Ernest III (1683–1707), son of Johann Ernest II
* Ernest August I (1707–48), son of Johann Ernest III
* Ernest August II (1748–58), son of Ernest August I
* Karl August (1758–1809), son of Ernest August II
Merged with Saxe-Eisenach to form Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
See also
* Ernestine duchies
* History of Saxony
The history of Saxony began with a small tribe living on the North Sea between the Elbe and Eider River in what is now Holstein. The name of this tribe, the Saxons (Latin: ''Saxones''), was first mentioned by the Greek author Ptolemy. The name ' ...
* People from Saxe-Weimar
References
Saxe-Weimar
''The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia'', Sixth Edition, Columbia University Press (2001–2005), accessed December 22, 2005
External links
{{Authority control
1572 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire
1809 disestablishments in Europe
Weimar
History of Weimar
House of Wettin
States and territories established in 1572
States of the Confederation of the Rhine