Bernhard I, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen (10 September 1649 – 27 April 1706) was a duke of
Saxe-Meiningen
Saxe-Meiningen ( ; ) was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine duchies, Ernestine line of the House of Wettin, located in the southwest of the present-day Germany, German state of Thuringia.
Established in 1681, by partition of the Ern ...
.
Biography
He was the sixth but third surviving son of
Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Altenburg and
Elisabeth Sophie of Saxe-Altenburg.
After the death of his father, in 1675, the duchy was jointly governed by him and his brothers; but the duchy was divided
five years later (in 1680); as a result of this divisionary treaty, Bernhard received
Meiningen
Meiningen () is a town in the southern part of the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in the region of Franconia and has a population of around 26,000 (2024). ,
Wasungen,
Salzungen,
Untermassfeld,
Frauenbreitungen and
Ichtershausen. Bernhard became the founder of the Saxe-Meiningen line.
The building of an official residence in Meiningen began immediately. The residence was finished in 1692 and was called
Schloss Elisabethenburg, in honor of Bernhard's second wife. Like his brother Ernst, Bernhard's financial stability in his duchy was remarkable. The sales of chamber goods and the additional charge of taxes to the population were the result.
Bernhard's will ordered the indivisibility of the duchy, but not ''
Primogeniture
Primogeniture () is the right, by law or custom, of the firstborn Legitimacy (family law), legitimate child to inheritance, inherit all or most of their parent's estate (law), estate in preference to shared inheritance among all or some childre ...
''. This allowed his sons to govern the duchy jointly after his death.
Issue
He married in ''
Schloss Friedenstein'',
Gotha
Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine Wettins from 1640 until the ...
, on 20 November 1671
Marie Hedwig of Hesse-Darmstadt. They had seven children:
#
Ernst Ludwig I, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen (b. Gotha, 7 October 1672 – d. Meiningen, 24 November 1724).
# Bernhard (b. Gotha, 28 October 1673 – d. Brussels, 25 October 1694) died age 20 without issue.
# Johann Ernst (b. Gotha, 29 December 1674 – d. Gotha, 8 February 1675) died in infancy.
# Marie Elisabeth (b. Ichtershausen, 11 August 1676 – d. Ichtershausen, 22 December 1676) died in infancy.
# Johann Georg (b. Ichtershausen, 3 October 1677 – d. Ichtershausen, 10 October 1678) died in infancy.
#
Frederick Wilhelm, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen (b. Ichtershausen, 16 February 1679 – d. Meiningen, 10 March 1746).
# Georg Ernst (b. Ichtershausen, 26 March 1680 – d. of smallpox, Meiningen, 1 January 1699) died age 18 without issue.
He married secondly in
Schöningen on 25 January 1681
Elisabeth Eleonore of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
Elisabeth Eleonore of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (30 September 1658, in Wolfenbüttel – 15 March 1729, in Meiningen) was the eldest daughter of Duke Anthony Ulrich of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and his wife Elisabeth Juliane of Schleswig-Holstein- ...
daughter of
Anthony Ulrich, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. They had five children:
# Elisabeth Ernestine (b. Meiningen, 3 December 1681 – d. Gandersheim, 24 December 1766), Abbess of
Gandersheim Abbey (1713–1766), never married or had issue.
# Eleonore Frederika (b. Meiningen, 2 March 1683 – d. Meiningen, 13 May 1739), a nun at Gandersheim, never married or had issue
# Anton August (b. Meiningen, 20 June 1684 – d. Meiningen, 7 December 1684) died in infancy.
# Wilhelmine Luise (b. Meiningen, 19 January 1686 – d.
Bernstadt, 5 October 1753), married on 20 December 1703 to
Charles, Duke of Württemberg-Bernstadt.
#
Anton Ulrich, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen (b. Meiningen, 22 October 1687 – d. Frankfurt, 27 January 1763).
Ancestry
References
* Hannelore Schneider, ''Das Herzogtum Sachsen-Meiningen unter seinen ersten Herzögen. In: 300 Jahre Schloss Elisabethenburg''. Südthüringer Research, vol. 27, Meiningen 1994.
* L. Hertel, ''Meiningische Geschichte von 1680 bis zur Gegenwart''. In: ''Schriften des Vereins für Sachsen-Meiningische Geschichte und Landeskunde'', vol. 47, Hildburghausen 1904.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bernhard 01 Of Saxe-Meiningen, Duke
1649 births
1706 deaths
House of Saxe-Meiningen
Dukes of Saxe-Meiningen
People from Gotha (town)