Saxe-Weimar () was one of the
Saxon
The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...
duchies held by the
Ernestine branch of the
Wettin dynasty in present-day
Thuringia
Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area.
Er ...
. The chief town and capital was
Weimar
Weimar is a city in the state (Germany), German state of Thuringia, in Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany between Erfurt to the west and Jena to the east, southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together w ...
. The Weimar branch was the most genealogically senior extant branch 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 ...
.
History
Division of Leipzig
In the late 15th century much of what is now Thuringia, including the area around Weimar, was held by the Wettin
Electors of Saxony. According to the 1485
Treaty of Leipzig, the Wettin lands had been divided between Elector
Ernest of Saxony and his younger brother
Albert III, with the western lands in Thuringia together with the
electoral dignity going to the Ernestine branch of the family.

Ernest's grandson Elector
John Frederick I of Saxony
John Frederick I (, 30 June 1503 – 3 March 1554), called the Magnanimous (), was the Elector of Saxony (1532–1547) until he was deprived of this title in the Capitulation of Wittenberg by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. He was leading the Sch ...
forfeited the electoral dignity in the 1547
Capitulation of Wittenberg, after he had joined the revolt of the Lutheran
Schmalkaldic League against the
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...
emperor
Charles V, was defeated, captured and
banned. Nevertheless, according to the 1552
Peace of Passau he was pardoned and allowed to retain his lands in Thuringia. Upon his death in 1554, his son
John Frederick II succeeded him as "Duke of Saxony", residing at
Gotha. His attempts to regain the electoral dignity failed: in the course of the 1566 revolt instigated by the robber baron
Wilhelm von Grumbach, the duke was banned and imprisoned for life by Emperor
Maximilian II.
Division of Erfurt
John Frederick II was succeeded by his younger brother
John William at
Weimar
Weimar is a city in the state (Germany), German state of Thuringia, in Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany between Erfurt to the west and Jena to the east, southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together w ...
, who in a short time also fell out of favour with the emperor by his alliance with King
Charles IX of France
Charles IX (Charles Maximilien; 27 June 1550 – 30 May 1574) was List of French monarchs, King of France from 1560 until his death in 1574. He ascended the French throne upon the death of his brother Francis II of France, Francis II in 1560, an ...
. In 1572 Maximilian II enforced the Division of
Erfurt
Erfurt () is the capital (political), capital and largest city of the Central Germany (cultural area), Central German state of Thuringia, with a population of around 216,000. It lies in the wide valley of the Gera (river), River Gera, in the so ...
, whereby the Ernestine lands were divided among Duke John William and the two surviving sons of imprisoned John Frederick II. John William retained the Duchy of Saxe-Weimar, while his minor nephews received the southern and western territories around
Coburg
Coburg ( , ) is a Town#Germany, town located on the Itz (river), Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Ernestine duchies, Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only ...
and
Eisenach.
This division was the first of numerous partitions; over the next three centuries the lands were divided when dukes had more than one son to provide for and re-combined when dukes died without direct heirs, but all of the lands stayed in the Ernestine branch of the Wettin family. As a result, the Duchy of Saxe-Weimar shrank and grew more than once. The Thuringian states throughout this period typically consisted of several non-contiguous parcels of territory of various sizes. Facing their lack of political power, the rulers of these petty states built up splendid monarchical households at their residences and pursued greater cultural achievements.
Duke John William, chafing under the loss, died in 1573, succeeded by his son
Frederick William I. Upon his death in 1602 Saxe-Weimar was again divided among his younger brother
John II and Frederick William's minor son
John Philipp, who received the territory of
Saxe-Altenburg. John's son Duke
Johann Ernst I of Saxe-Weimar on occasion of the burial of his mother
Dorothea Maria of Anhalt in 1617 established the literary
Fruitbearing Society.
Thirty Years' War
At the outbreak of 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 ...
, Duke Johann Ernst I supported the Protestant
Bohemian estates under the "Winter King"
Frederick V of the Palatinate, who were defeated at the 1620
Battle of White Mountain
The Battle of White Mountain (; ) was an important battle in the early stages of the Thirty Years' War. It led to the defeat of the Bohemian Revolt and ensured Habsburg control for the next three hundred years.
It was fought on 8 November 16 ...
. Stripped of his title by Emperor
Ferdinand II, he remained a fierce opponent of the Catholic Habsburg dynasty and died on
Ernst von Mansfeld's Hungarian campaign in 1626.
His younger brother
Wilhelm, regent since 1620, assumed the dignities upon his death. At first also an advocate of Protestant concerns, after the death of King
he chose to accord with the 1635
Peace of Prague that his Albertine cousins had negotiated with the emperor – against the opposition of his younger brother General
Bernard of Saxe-Weimar
Bernard of Saxe-Weimar (; 16 August 160418 July 1639) was a German prince and general in the Thirty Years' War.
Biography
Born in Weimar in the Duchy of Saxe-Weimar, Bernard was the eleventh son of Johann, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, and Dorothea ...
, who entered into the
French service under
Cardinal Richelieu
Armand Jean du Plessis, 1st Duke of Richelieu (9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), commonly known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a Catholic Church in France, French Catholic prelate and statesman who had an outsized influence in civil and religi ...
. Nevertheless, like many German estates, the Weimar lands were devastated by combat actions as well as by
plague epidemics.
When in 1638 the Ernestine
Saxe-Eisenach and
Saxe-Coburg branch became extinct upon the death of Duke
John Ernest, Wilhelm of Saxe-Weimar inherited large parts of his estates. In 1640 however he had to involve his younger brothers
Ernest I and
Albert IV, thereby (re-)establishing the Duchies of
Saxe-Gotha
Saxe-Gotha () was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine duchies, Ernestine branch of the House of Wettin, Wettin dynasty in the former Landgraviate of Thuringia. The ducal residence was erected at Gotha (town), Gotha.
History
The duch ...
and the short-lived
Saxe-Eisenach, which was again dissolved upon Duke Albert's death in 1644.
Another rearrangement of the Ernestine lands took place in 1672 after Duke
Frederick William III of Saxe-Altenburg, descendant of Duke John Phillip, had died without heirs and his cousin Duke
Johann Ernst II of Saxe-Weimar inherited parts of his duchy, which originally had been split off the Saxe-Weimar territory in 1602. Johann Ernst II immediately divided the enlarged Saxe-Weimar lands between himself and his younger brothers
John George I and
Bernhard II, who received the Duchies of
Saxe-Eisenach and
Saxe-Jena, which reverted to Saxe-Weimar upon the death of Bernhard's son Duke
Johann Wilhelm in 1690.
Weimar Classicism

Upon the death of John George's descendant
Wilhelm Heinrich in 1741, Duke
Ernest Augustus I of Saxe-Weimar also inherited the Duchy of Saxe-Eisenach. He then ruled both duchies in
personal union
A personal union is a combination of two or more monarchical states that have the same monarch while their boundaries, laws, and interests remain distinct. A real union, by contrast, involves the constituent states being to some extent in ...
and decisively forwarded the development of his estates by the implementation of the
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 ...
principle.
His son Ernest Augustus II, who succeeded him in 1748, died in 1758, whereafter Empress
Maria Theresa
Maria Theresa (Maria Theresia Walburga Amalia Christina; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was the ruler of the Habsburg monarchy from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position suo jure, in her own right. She was the ...
appointed his young widow, Duchess
Anna Amalia, regent of the country and guardian of her infant son,
Charles Augustus
Karl August, sometimes anglicised as Charles Augustus (3 September 1757 – 14 June 1828), was the sovereign Duke of Saxe-Weimar and of Saxe-Eisenach (in personal union) from 1758, Duke of Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach ...
.
[ The regency of the energetic Anna Amalia and the reign of Charles Augustus, who was raised by the writer ]Christoph Martin Wieland
Christoph Martin Wieland (; ; 5 September 1733 – 20 January 1813) was a German poet and writer, representative of literary Rococo. He is best-remembered for having written the first ''Bildungsroman'' (''Geschichte des Agathon''), as well as the ...
, formed a high point in the history of Saxe-Weimar.[ Both dedicated patrons of literature and art, Anna Amalia and Charles Augustus attracted to their court the leading German scholars, including ]Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...
, Friedrich Schiller
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, philosopher and historian. Schiller is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright.
He was born i ...
and Johann Gottfried Herder, and made their residence in Weimar an important cultural center in an era referred to as Weimar Classicism.
In 1804, Duke Charles Augustus entered into European politics by marrying his son and heir Charles Frederick to Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, sister of Emperor Alexander I of Russia
Alexander I (, ; – ), nicknamed "the Blessed", was Emperor of Russia from 1801, the first king of Congress Poland from 1815, and the grand duke of Finland from 1809 to his death in 1825. He ruled Russian Empire, Russia during the chaotic perio ...
. However, at the same time he joined 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, ...
in the War of the Fourth Coalition
The War of the Fourth Coalition () was a war spanning 1806–1807 that saw a multinational coalition fight against Napoleon's First French Empire, French Empire, subsequently being defeated. The main coalition partners were Kingdom of Prussia, ...
against the French Empire, and after the defeat at the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt, was forced to accede to the Napoleonic Confederation of the Rhine
The Confederated States of the Rhine, simply known as the Confederation of the Rhine or Rhine Confederation, was a confederation of German client states established at the behest of Napoleon some months after he defeated Austrian Empire, Austria ...
in 1806. In 1809, Saxe-Weimar and Saxe-Eisenach, which had been united only in the person of the duke, were formally merged into the Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach.
Dukes of Saxe-Weimar
* Johann Wilhelm (1554–73)
* Frederick William I (1573–1602), son of Johann Wilhelm
** Johann II (1602–05), brother
''8 of his sons would co-govern the duchy''
** Johann Ernest I (1605–20)
** Frederick (1605-1622)
** Wilhelm (1605–62)
** Albert (1606-40)
** Johann Frederick(1606-1628)
** Ernest
Ernest is a given name derived from the Germanic languages, Germanic word ''ernst'', meaning "serious", often shortened to Ernie.
Notable people and fictional characters with the name include:
People
*Archduke Ernest of Austria (1553–1595), ...
(1606-1640)
** Frederick Wilhelm (1606-1619)
** Bernard (1606-1639)
* Johann Ernest II (1662–83), son of Wilhelm
* Wilhelm Ernest (1683–1728), son of Johann Ernest II
* Johann Ernest III (1683–1707), son of Johann Ernest II
* Ernest August I (1707–48), son of Johann Ernest III
* Ernest August II (1748–58), son of Ernest August I
* Karl August (1758–1809), son of Ernest August II
Merged with Saxe-Eisenach to form Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
See also
* 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 numb ...
* History of Saxony
The history of Saxony began with a small tribe living on the North Sea between the Elbe and Eider River in what is now Holstein. The name of this tribe, the Saxons (Latin: ''Saxones''), was first mentioned by the Greek author Ptolemy. The name ' ...
* People from Saxe-Weimar
References
Saxe-Weimar
''The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia'', Sixth Edition, Columbia University Press (2001–2005), accessed December 22, 2005
External links
{{Authority control
1572 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire
1809 disestablishments in Europe
Weimar
Weimar is a city in the state (Germany), German state of Thuringia, in Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany between Erfurt to the west and Jena to the east, southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together w ...
History of Weimar
House of Wettin
States and territories established in 1572
States of the Confederation of the Rhine
States and territories disestablished in 1809