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

Elector of Saxony The Electorate of Saxony, also known as Electoral Saxony ( or ), was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire from 1356 to 1806 initially centred on Wittenberg that came to include areas around the cities of Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz. It was a ...

from 1656 to 1680. He belonged to the

Albertine branch The Albertine branch is a German princely family of the House of Wettin. The name derives from the progenitor of the line, Albert III, Duke of Saxony. The Albertine branch ruled from 1485 to 1918 as dukes, electors and kings in Saxony. History o ...

of the

House of Wettin The House of Wettin () was a dynasty which included Saxon monarch, kings, Prince Elector, prince-electors, dukes, and counts, who once ruled territories in the present-day German federated states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. The dynas ...

Biography

He was the third but eldest surviving son of

John George I, Elector of Saxony John George I (5 March 1585 – 8 October 1656) was Elector of Saxony from 1611 to 1656. He led Saxony through the Thirty Years' War, which dominated his 45-year reign. Biography Born in Dresden, John George was the second son of the Elector C ...

and Magdalene Sibylle of Prussia, his second spouse. He succeeded his father as

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 LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

. 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 German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

, 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, of the Elector of Saxony. Seating up to 2000 people, it was ...

. 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 ...

, 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 A standing army is a permanent, often professional, army. It is composed of full-time soldiers who may be either career soldiers or conscripts. It differs from army reserves, who are enrolled for the long term, but activated only during wars ...

than were

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

. 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 a ...

of Saxony after the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

. New trades and

manufacture Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a r ...

s developed, such as textiles, hard coal and glass. Locally mined silver filled the electorate's empty treasury, and the

Leipzig Trade Fair The Leipzig Trade Fair () is a major trade fair, which traces its roots back for nearly a millennium. After the Second World War, Leipzig fell within the territory of East Germany, whereupon the Leipzig Trade Fair became one of the most importan ...

and the Bohemian ''Exulanten'' of 1654 also stimulated economic activity.Just Coins And Medals website
/ref> John George died in

Freiberg Freiberg () is a university and former mining town in Saxony, Germany, with around 41,000 inhabitants. The city lies in the foreland of the Ore Mountains, in the Saxon urbanization axis, which runs along the northern edge of the Elster and ...

on 22 August 1680.

Family

on 13 November 1638 John George married his cousin Magdalene Sibylle of Brandenburg-Bayreuth. They had at least two children; #Erdmuthe Sophie (25 February 1644 - 22 June 1670), married on 29 October 1662 to Christian Ernst, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth #

John George III Johann George III (20 June 1647 – 12 September 1691) was Elector of Saxony from 1680 to 1691. He belonged to the Albertine branch of the House of Wettin. Early life Johann Georg III was born in Dresden, the only son of Johann George II and M ...

(20 June 1647 - 12 September 1691), his successor as Elector. A third child, Sibylle Marie, is believed to have died in childhood.

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

Notes

References