William Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Weimar (19 October 1662 – 26 August 1728) was a duke of

Saxe-Weimar Saxe-Weimar (german: Sachsen-Weimar) was one of the Saxon duchies held by the 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 bra ...

Life

He was born in

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouri ...

, the eldest son of

Johann Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Weimar John Ernest II (11 September 1627, in Weimar – 15 May 1683, in Weimar), was a duke of Saxe-Weimar. He was the second but eldest surviving son of William, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, and Eleonore Dorothea of Anhalt-Dessau. Life After the death of ...

and

Princess Christine Elisabeth of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg Princess Christine Elisabeth of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg (23 June 1638 – 7 June 1679), was a German noblewoman member of the House of Oldenburg and by marriage Duchess of Saxe-Weimar. Born in Sonderburg, she was the second of the four ch ...

. When his father died in 1683, he succeeded him as duke; however, he was compelled to rule jointly with his younger brother Johann Ernst III. Because John Ernest III was

alcoholic Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomin ...

, William Ernest took full control of the government of the duchy and permitted John Ernest the nominal title of co-duke (''Mitherr'') until his death in 1707. After the death of his brother he made John Ernest's son, Ernest August I, co-duke, but with no real power. Six months after the death of his father (2 November 1683), William Ernest married in

Eisenach Eisenach () is a town in Thuringia, Germany with 42,000 inhabitants, located west of Erfurt, southeast of Kassel and northeast of Frankfurt. It is the main urban centre of western Thuringia and bordering northeastern Hessian regions, situat ...

with Charlotte Marie, his cousin and eldest surviving daughter of his uncle

Bernhard II, Duke of Saxe-Jena Bernhard II, Duke of Saxe-Jena (Weimar, 14 October 1638 – Jena, 3 May 1678), was duke of Saxe-Jena. He was the seventh child but fourth surviving son of Wilhelm, Duke of Saxe-Weimar and Eleonore Dorothea of Anhalt-Dessau. Bernhard attended ...

, in order to secure the family lands. At that time, the guardian of Charlotte and his younger brother, the duke Johann William of Saxe-Jena, was the duke John George I of Saxe-Eisenach, their only surviving uncle. When he died in 1686, the guardianship of the duke of Saxe-Jena was taken by William Ernest, his cousin and brother-in-law. Wilhelm Ernst, Herzog von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach

Wilhelm Ernst, Herzog von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach

William Ernest was a strict

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

and commanded that only men who could read and comment on Lutheran theological writings be admitted to his armed forces. The composer

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...

worked for the duke from 1708, first as organist, then as ''Konzertmeister'' (leader of the orchestra) in Weimar. When

Johann Samuel Drese Johann Samuel Drese (c. 1644 – 1 December 1716) was a German composer. In 1683 he was appointed ''Kapellmeister'' of the ducal court in Weimar. He held this post until his death which meant that he was in charge of music at court during almost a ...

died in 1716, Bach solicited his post of ''Kapellmeister'' (head of the court musical establishment), but William Ernest appointed Drese's incompetent son for the post instead; furious, Bach solicited his dismissal from the Duke's service. Annoyed at Bach's impertinence, William Ernest had Bach jailed for four weeks in a fortress before he accepted his dismissal. On 23 August 1690, William Ernest and Charlotte Marie were divorced after seven years of childless and extremely unhappy union. Two months later, on 4 November, duke John William of Saxe-Jena (Charlotte Marie's brother), died without heirs, and Wilhelm Ernst took possession of part of his duchy after a treaty was signed with the Saxe-Eisenach branch of his family. William Ernest never remarried and died at Weimar without heirs; his nephew Ernest August I became his successor.

Ancestry

References

* G. Lämmerhirt: ''

Wilhelm Ernst Wilhelm Ernst (25 August 1905, in Gelsenkirchen – 23 July 1952, in Gelsenkirchen) was a German chess master. Biography He was a winner at Weidenau 1937. He played several times in German Chess Championship; took second, behind Kurt Richter, at ...

''. In:

Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' (ADB, german: Universal German Biography) is one of the most important and comprehensive biographical reference works in the German language. It was published by the Historical Commission of the Bavarian Aca ...

(ADB). Band 43, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1898, S. 195–201. , - {{DEFAULTSORT:William Ernest of Saxe-Weimar, Duke 1662 births 1728 deaths House of Wettin Nobility from Weimar Dukes of Saxe-Weimar