Johann George II (31 May 1613 – 22 August 1680) was 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 ...

from 1656 to 1680. He belonged to the Albertine line 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 ...

Biography

John George II, Elector of Saxony (1613–1680) - Order of the Garter stall plate - St George's Chapel

He was the third (fourth in order of birth) but eldest surviving son of the Elector Johann George I, Elector of Saxony and

Magdalene Sybille of Prussia Magdalene Sibylle of Prussia (31 December 1586 – 12 February 1659) was an Electress of Saxony as the spouse of John George I, Elector of Saxony. She is a 6th times matrilineal great grandmother to Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. Lif ...

, his second spouse. He succeeded his father as Elector of Saxony when John George I died on 8 October 1656. In 1657 John George made an arrangement with his three brothers with the object of preventing disputes over their separate territories, and in 1664 he entered into friendly relations with

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Ver ...

. He received money from the French king, but the existence of a strong anti-French party in Saxony induced him occasionally to respond to the overtures of the emperor Leopold I. The elector's primary interests were not in politics, but in music and art. He adorned

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

, which under him became the musical centre of Germany; welcoming foreign musicians and others he gathered around him a large and splendid court, and his capital was the constant scene of musical and other festivals. He commissioned the building of the first opera house, the

Opernhaus am Taschenberg The (Opera house at the Taschenberg) was a theatre in Dresden, Saxony, Germany, built from 1664 to 1667 by Wolf Caspar von Klengel. It was the first opera house of the capital of Saxony, Residenz of the Elector of Saxony. Seating up to 2000 peopl ...

. In 1658 John George was accepted into the

Fruitbearing Society The Fruitbearing Society (German Die Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft, lat. ''societas fructifera'') was a German literary society founded in 1617 in Weimar by German scholars and nobility. Its aim was to standardize vernacular German and promote it a ...

, through the patronage of Duke William of Saxe-Weimar. His enormous expenditure on the arts compelled John George in 1661 to grant greater control over monetary matters to the estates, a step which laid the foundation of the later system of finance in Saxony. Also, his government was less effective in establishing absolutist rule and a standing army than were Bohemia or

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

. John George's reign saw the slow

economic reconstruction Economic reconstruction is a process for creating a proactive vision of economic change. The most basic idea is that problems in the economy, such as deindustrialization, environmental decay, outsourcing, industrial incompetence, poverty and ...

of Saxony after 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 ...

. New trades and manufactures developed, such as textiles, hard coal and glass. Locally mined silver filled the Electorate's empty treasury, and the Leipzig Trade Fair and the Bohemian ''Exulanten'' of 1654 also stimulated economic activity. John George died in

Freiberg Freiberg is a university and former mining town in Saxony, Germany. It is a so-called ''Große Kreisstadt'' (large county town) and the administrative centre of Mittelsachsen district. Its historic town centre has been placed under heritage c ...

on 22 August 1680.

Family

on 13 November 1638 John George married Magdalene Sibylle of Brandenburg-Bayreuth. They had three children: #Sibylle Marie (16 September 1642 – 27 February 1643) #Erdmuthe Sophie (25 February 1644 – 22 June 1670), married on 29 October 1662 to

Christian Ernst, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth Christian Ernst of Brandenburg-Bayreuth (6 August 1644 in Bayreuth – 20 May 1712 in Erlangen) was a member of the House of Hohenzollern and Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth. He was the only son of Erdmann August, Hereditary Margrave (''E ...

# John George III (20 June 1647 – 12 September 1691), his successor as Elector.

Ancestors

Notes

References

* Mary E. Frandsen: ''Crossing Confessional Boundaries. The Patronage of Italian Sacred Music in 17th Century Dresden.'' New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. ;Attribution * {{DEFAULTSORT:John George 02 Of Saxony, Elector Prince-electors of Saxony House of Wettin Knights of the Garter 1613 births 1680 deaths Nobility from Dresden Imperial vicars Electoral Princes of Saxony Albertine branch Burials at Freiberg Cathedral

Biography

Family

Ancestors

See also

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References