Duke Johann Wilhelm of Saxe-Altenburg (born 13 April 1600 in

Torgau Torgau () is a town on the banks of the Elbe in northwestern Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district Nordsachsen. Outside Germany, the town is best known as where on 25 April 1945, the United States and Soviet Armies forces first ...

; died: 2 December 1632 outside

Brzeg Brzeg (; Latin: ''Alta Ripa'', German: ''Brieg'', Silesian German: ''Brigg'', , ) is a town in southwestern Poland with 34,778 inhabitants (December 2021) and the capital of Brzeg County. It is situated in Silesia in the Opole Voivodeship on t ...

) was a member of the Ernestine branch of the

House of Wettin The House of Wettin () is a dynasty of German kings, prince-electors, dukes, and counts that once ruled territories in the present-day German states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. The dynasty is one of the oldest in Europe, and its ori ...

and a titular Duke of

Saxe-Altenburg Saxe-Altenburg (german: Sachsen-Altenburg, links=no) was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine branch of the House of Wettin in present-day Thuringia. It was one of the smallest of the German states with an area of 1323 square kilomete ...

and of Jülich-Cleves-Berg.

Life

Johann Wilhelm was the second son of Duke Friedrich Wilhelm I of Saxe-Weimar (1562–1602) from his second marriage to Anna Maria (1575–1643), daughter of

Philipp Ludwig, Count Palatine of Neuburg Philipp Ludwig of Neuburg (2 October 1547 – 22 August 1614) was the Duke of Palatinate-Neuburg from 1569 until 1614. Life Philipp Ludwig was born in Zweibrücken in 1547 as the eldest son of Wolfgang, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken. After his ...

. After the death of his father Johann Wilhelm inherited the Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg jointly with his brothers Johann Philipp,

Friedrich Friedrich may refer to: Names * Friedrich (surname), people with the surname ''Friedrich'' * Friedrich (given name), people with the given name ''Friedrich'' Other * Friedrich (board game), a board game about Frederick the Great and the Seven Year ...

and

Friedrich Wilhelm II Frederick William II may refer to: * Frederick William II, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg (1603–1669) * Frederick William II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck (1687–1749) * Frederick William II, Prince of Nassau-Siegen (1706–1734) * Frede ...

. Initially, the guardianship of the princes was taken up by the

Elector of Saxony The Electorate of Saxony, also known as Electoral Saxony (German: or ), was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire from 1356–1806. It was centered around the cities of Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz. In the Golden Bull of 1356, Emperor Charles ...

and their uncle

John II John II may refer to: People * John Cicero, Elector of Brandenburg (1455–1499) * John II Casimir Vasa of Poland (1609–1672) * John II Comyn, Lord of Badenoch (died 1302) * John II Doukas of Thessaly (1303–1318) * John II Komnenos (1087–1 ...

. After John II died in 1605, the Elector was their sol guardian. After the

War of the Jülich Succession The War of the Jülich Succession was a war of succession in the United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg. It lasted between 10 June 1609 and 24 October 1610, resumed in May 1614 and finally ended on 13 October 1614. The first round of the conflict ...

, the brothers had been invested with Jülich, Cleves and Berg. However, they were only nominally Dukes and took the coat of arms. In 1612, the brothers went to the University of Leipzig to complete their education. In 1618, the eldest brother Johann Philipp came of age and began to rule independently. The younger brothers agreed that he would rule alone, in exchange for a financial compensation. Initially, the agreement was for a limited number of years. In 1624, however, it was extended indefinitely. Johann Wilhelm made his

Grand Tour The Grand Tour was the principally 17th- to early 19th-century custom of a traditional trip through Europe, with Italy as a key destination, undertaken by upper-class young European men of sufficient means and rank (typically accompanied by a tut ...

to Italy, Holland, France, England and Hungary together with his brother Frederick William. In the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battle ...

Johann Wilhelm served as a colonel in the Saxon army. In 1632, he died of a fever in an army camp outside

. He was buried in the St. Sophia Church in Dresden.

References

* Dukes of Saxe-Altenburg House of Wettin 1600 births 1632 deaths 17th-century German people Burials at Freiberg Cathedral {{Germany-duke-stub