Johann Wilhelm (11 March 1530 – 2 March 1573) was a duke of Saxe-Weimar.

Life

He was the second son of Johann Frederick I, Elector of Saxony, and Sibylle of Cleves. At the time of his birth, his father still carried the title Elector of Saxony, but he lost it in 1547 after his defeat and capture by the Emperor

Charles V Charles V may refer to: * Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558) * Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain * Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise * Charles V, Duke of Lorraine (1643–1690) * Infant ...

due to his support of the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

. Johann Frederick was released and forced to adopt the lesser title of duke of Saxony in an area substantially smaller than his former lands in

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and lar ...

. In 1554, after the death of his father, Johann Wilhelm inherited the duchy of Saxony with his older brother, Johann Friedrich II, and his younger brother, Johann Friedrich III. The three brothers divided the duchy: Johann Friedrich II as head of the family took

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, sit ...

and

Coburg Coburg () is a town located on the Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only in 1920. Until the revolution of 1918, it ...

; Johann Wilhelm received

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state (Germany), state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg an ...

; and Johann Friedrich III inherited

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 ...

. In 1565, however, when Johann Frederick III died without heirs, the two surviving brothers drew up a new treaty that divided his lands. The older brother retained his original lands and occupied Gotha, whereas Johann William retained his lands in Weimar. The partition plan also stipulated that the two brothers should exchange their regions among themselves every three years. This provision was never carried out, however. The political policies of Johann Friedrich II were directed towards recovering the lands and title of elector lost by his father in 1547. He did briefly recover the electorate during the period 1554–1556, but his involvement in political intrigues angered the Emperor Maximilian II. The Emperor finally imposed the '' Reichsacht'' (Imperial ban) on him, which made him the object of a ''

Reichsexekution In German history, a ''Reichsexekution'' (sometimes "Reich execution" in English) was an imperial or federal intervention against a member state, using military force if necessary. The instrument of the ''Reichsexekution'' was constitutionally a ...

'' (Imperial police action) in which Johann Wilhelm participated. After a siege of his castle in Gotha, Johann Friedrich was finally defeated in 1566 and spent the rest of his life as an Imperial prisoner. His possessions were confiscated by the Emperor and handed over to Johann Wilhelm, who thereby became the only ruler of the entire duchy of Saxony. Johann Wilhelm soon fell into disfavor with the Emperor, however, when he entered the service of the King

Charles IX of France Charles IX (Charles Maximilien; 27 June 1550 – 30 May 1574) was King of France from 1560 until his death in 1574. He ascended the French throne upon the death of his brother Francis II in 1560, and as such was the penultimate monarch of the ...

as a general in his campaign against the

Huguenots The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Bez ...

(the French kings were the enemies of the Habsburg emperors). This also alienated his Protestant subjects. Johann Wilhelm was a member of the

House of Wettin The House of Wettin () is a dynasty of Germany, German monarch, kings, Prince Elector, 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 ...

, which had served as the

protecting power A protecting power is a country that represents another sovereign state in a country where it lacks its own diplomatic representation. It is common for protecting powers to be appointed when two countries break off diplomatic relations with e ...

Protestantism Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

in Germany since the time of

Frederick the Wise Frederick III (17 January 1463 – 5 May 1525), also known as Frederick the Wise (German ''Friedrich der Weise''), was Elector of Saxony from 1486 to 1525, who is mostly remembered for the worldly protection of his subject Martin Luther. Freder ...

, yet he allied himself with the Catholic King of France against the Protestants Huguenots. The Emperor played off the two surviving sons of Johann Friedrich II against Johann Wilhelm, and in 1572 the Division of Erfurt was concluded. The duchy of Saxony was divided into three parts. The older of the two sons of Johann Friedrich II,

Johann Casimir John Casimir, Count Palatine of Simmern (German: ''Johann Casimir von Pfalz-Simmern'') (7 March 1543 – Brockhaus Geschichte Second Edition) was a German prince and a younger son of Frederick III, Elector Palatine. A firm Calvinist, he was a lea ...

, received

, and the younger,

Johann Ernst Johann, typically a male given name, is the German form of ''Iohannes'', which is the Latin form of the Greek name ''Iōánnēs'' (), itself derived from Hebrew name ''Yochanan'' () in turn from its extended form (), meaning "Yahweh is Gracious" ...

, received

. Johann Wilhelm retained only the smaller part of the duchy, the region around

, but he added the districts of Altenburg,

, and

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 25,000 (2021).

to his territories. As a result of the Division of Erfurt, all of the territorial possessions of the House of Wettin, no matter which branch ruled the individual components, became contiguous. The house of Saxe-Weimar and the first house 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 ...

, which later separated from Saxe-Weimar (see also the

Ernestine duchies The Ernestine duchies (), also known as the Saxon duchies (, although the Albertine appanage duchies of Weissenfels, Merseburg and Zeitz were also "Saxon duchies" and adjacent to several Ernestine ones), were a group of small states whose n ...

), both descend from Johann Wilhelm.

Marriage and issue

Dorothea Susanna von Sachsen-Weimar@20150927a

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

on 15 June 1560 Johann Wilhelm married Dorothea Susanne of Simmern, daughter of

Frederick III, Elector Palatine Frederick III of Simmern, the Pious, Elector Palatine of the Rhine (14 February 1515 – 16 October 1576) was a ruler from the house of Wittelsbach, branch Palatinate-Simmern-Sponheim. He was a son of John II of Simmern and inherited the Pala ...

. They had five children: # Friedrich Wilhelm I, Duke of Saxe-Weimar (b. Weimar, 25 April 1562 – d. Weimar, 7 July 1602) #Sibylle Marie (b. Weimar, 7 November 1563 – d. Altenburg, 20 February 1569) #stillborn son (Weimar, 9 October 1564) # Johann II, Duke of Saxe-Weimar (b. Weimar, 22 May 1570 – d. Weimar, 18 July 1605) # Maria (b. Weimar, 7 October 1571 – d. Quedlinburg, 7 March 1610), Abbess of

Quedlinburg Quedlinburg () is a town situated just north of the Harz mountains, in the district of Harz in the west of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. As an influential and prosperous trading centre during the early Middle Ages, Quedlinburg became a center of in ...

(1601–1610).

Ancestry

References

* Ernst Wülcker
''Johann Wilhelm, Herzog zu Sachsen''
In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie. Band 14, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1881, pp. 343–350. * * Justus Lipsius: ''Oratio In funere illustrißimi principis ac Dn. D. Johannis Guilielmi Ducis Saxoniae Lantgravii Thuringiae, Marchionis Misniae, habita Ienae ad XII. Calend. April: Anno 1573'', ohne Ort 1601
Digitalisat der ULB Sachsen-Anhalt
, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Johann Wilhelm, Duke of Saxe-Weimar 1530 births 1573 deaths House of Wettin People from Torgau Dukes of Saxe-Weimar