William Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Weimar (19 October 1662 – 26 August 1728) was a duke of

Saxe-Weimar Saxe-Weimar () was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine branch of the Wettin dynasty in present-day Thuringia. The chief town and capital was Weimar. The Weimar branch was the most genealogically senior extant branch of the House of W ...

Life

He was born in

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 eldest son of Johann Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Weimar and Princess Christine Elisabeth of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg. When his father died in 1683, he succeeded him as duke; however, he was compelled to rule jointly with his younger brother Johann Ernst III. Because John Ernest III was an

alcoholic Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World Hea ...

, William Ernest took full control of the government of the duchy and permitted John Ernest the nominal title of co-duke (''Mitherr'') until his death in 1707. After the death of his brother he made John Ernest's son, Ernest August I, co-duke, but with no real power. Six months after the death of his father (2 November 1683), William Ernest married in

Eisenach Eisenach () is a Town#Germany, town in Thuringia, Germany with 42,000 inhabitants, west of Erfurt, southeast of Kassel and northeast of Frankfurt. It is the main urban centre of western Thuringia, and bordering northeastern Hesse, Hessian re ...

with Charlotte Marie, his cousin and eldest surviving daughter of his uncle

Bernhard II, Duke of Saxe-Jena Bernhard II, Duke of Saxe-Jena (Weimar, 14 October 1638 – Jena, 3 May 1678), was duke of Saxe-Jena. He was the seventh child but fourth surviving son of Wilhelm, Duke of Saxe-Weimar and Eleonore Dorothea of Anhalt-Dessau. Bernhard attended ...

, in order to secure the family lands. At that time, the guardian of Charlotte and his younger brother, the duke Johann William of Saxe-Jena, was the duke John George I of Saxe-Eisenach, their only surviving uncle. When he died in 1686, the guardianship of the duke of Saxe-Jena was taken by William Ernest, his cousin and brother-in-law. William Ernest was a strict

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

and commanded that only men who could read and comment on Lutheran theological writings be admitted to his armed forces. The composer

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...

worked for the duke from 1708, first as organist, then as ''Konzertmeister'' (leader of the orchestra) in Weimar. When Johann Samuel Drese died in 1716, Bach solicited his post of ''Kapellmeister'' (head of the court musical establishment), but William Ernest appointed Drese's incompetent son for the post instead; furious, Bach solicited his dismissal from the Duke's service. Annoyed at Bach's impertinence, William Ernest had Bach jailed for four weeks in a fortress before he accepted his dismissal. On 23 August 1690, William Ernest and Charlotte Marie were divorced after seven years of childless and extremely unhappy union. Two months later, on 4 November, duke John William of Saxe-Jena (Charlotte Marie's brother), died without heirs, and Wilhelm Ernst took possession of part of his duchy after a treaty was signed with the Saxe-Eisenach branch of his family. William Ernest never remarried and died at Weimar without heirs; his nephew Ernest August I became his successor.

Ancestry

References

* G. Lämmerhirt: '' Wilhelm Ernst''. In:

Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB; ) is one of the most important and comprehensive biographical reference works in the German language. It was published by the Historical Commission of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences between 1875 and 1912 in 56 volumes, printed in Lei ...

(ADB). Band 43, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1898, S. 195–201. , - {{DEFAULTSORT:William Ernest of Saxe-Weimar, Duke 1662 births 1728 deaths House of Wettin Nobility from Weimar Dukes of Saxe-Weimar