Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg(1602–1918) Herzogtum Sachsen-Altenburg Free State of Saxe-Altenburg(1918–1920) Freistaat Sachsen-Altenburg | |||||||||
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| 1602–1672 1826–1920 | |||||||||
 Flag[1]  Coat of arms | |||||||||
.svg) Saxe-Altenburg within theGerman Empire  TheErnestine duchies after 1825, with Saxe-Altenburg in orange | |||||||||
| Status | State of theHoly Roman Empire, State of theGerman Confederation, State of theNorth German Confederation, State of theGerman Empire, State of theWeimar Republic | ||||||||
| Capital | Altenburg | ||||||||
| Common languages | German | ||||||||
| Religion | Roman Catholicism | ||||||||
| Government | Duchy (1602–1918) Republic (1918–1920) | ||||||||
| Duke | |||||||||
• 1603–1613 | Johann Philipp(first) | ||||||||
• 1908–1918 | Ernst II(last) | ||||||||
| History | |||||||||
• Saxe-Weimar partitioned | 7 July 1602 | ||||||||
• Personal union withSaxe-Gotha* | 1672–1825 | ||||||||
• Ernestine duchies rearranged, duchy restored | 12 November 1826 | ||||||||
| November 1918 | |||||||||
• Merger ofThuringia‡ | 1920 | ||||||||
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| Today part of | Germany | ||||||||
*SeeSaxe-Gotha-Altenburg † As Free State of Saxe-Altenburg ‡ In 1920, theex-Imperial states of Saxe-Altenburg,Saxe-Meiningen,Saxe-Coburg-Gotha,Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach,Schwarzburg-Sondershausen,Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and the two principalities ofReuß all merged to form the Free State ofThuringia. | |||||||||
Saxe-Altenburg (German:Sachsen-Altenburg) was one of the Saxon duchies held by theErnestine branch of theHouse of Wettin in present-dayThuringia.[2] It was one of the smallest of the German states with an area of 1323 square kilometers and a population of 207,000 (1905) of whom about one fifth resided in the capital,Altenburg. The territory of the duchy consisted of two non-contiguous territories separated by land belonging to thePrincipality of Reuss-Gera. Its economy was based on agriculture, forestry, and small industry. The state had a constitutional monarchical form of government with a parliament composed of thirty members chosen by male taxpayers over 25 years of age.
Saxe-Altenburg had an area of 1,323 km2 (510 sq. mi.) and a population of 207,000 in 1905. Its capital wasAltenburg.
The duchy consisted of two separate areas: the Ostkreis, containing the cities ofAltenburg,Schmölln,Gößnitz,Lucka undMeuselwitz (including the exclave of Mumsdorf),Roschütz,Hilbersdorf,Neukirchen byWaldenburg and Rußdorf byChemnitz; and the Westkreis, which contained the cities ofEisenberg,Kahla,Orlamünde undRoda (including the exclave of Ammelstädt). The Ostkreis roughly corresponds to the modernAltenburger Land district of Thuringia, plus the area aroundRonneburg inGreiz. The Westkreis is now mostly inSaale-Holzland district, with small portions in neighbouring districts.The duchy contained thePleiße andSaale rivers.
The duchy had its origins in the medieval Burgraviate ofAltenburg in the ImperialPleissnerland(Terra Plisensis), a possession of the WettinMargraves of Meissen since 1243. Following thepartition of Leipzig in 1485, Altenburg fell toErnst, Elector of Saxony, the progenitor of theErnestine Wettins.[3] After theCapitulation of Wittenberg in 1547, the area around Altenburg went to theAlbertineElectorate of Saxony, but it was transferred to the ErnestineDuchy of Saxony [de] in theTreaty of Naumburg [de] in 1554, and then to the Duchy ofSaxe-Weimar following thePartition of Erfurt [de] in 1572.
When Johann Wilhelm's son and successorFriedrich Wilhelm I died in 1602, the Duchy of Saxe-Weimar passed to his younger brotherJohann II. In 1603 Frederick William's eldest sonJohann Philipp received the newly createdDuchy of Saxe-Altenburg as compensation. It was anImperial State in its own right, with a vote in theReichstag, for much of the 17th century until the extinction of its ruling line in 1672 when it was inherited byErnest I the Pious, the Duke ofSaxe-Gotha, who had married the heiress.
Saxe-Altenburg thereafter remained part ofSaxe-Gotha-Altenburg until the extinction of that house in 1825, when Gotha and Altenburg were divided up, with Gotha going to the Duke ofSaxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and Altenburg to the Duke ofSaxe-Hildburghausen, who in exchange gave up Hildburghausen to the Duke ofSaxe-Meiningen. This family ruled the duchy until the end of the monarchies in the course of theGerman Revolution of 1918–19. The succeedingFree State of Saxe-Altenburg was incorporated into the new state ofThuringia in 1920.
Line extinct, inherited bySaxe-Gotha, thereuponSaxe-Gotha-Altenburg
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Ernestine duchies after the Division of Erfurt (1572) | ||
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 Upper Saxon Circle (1512–1806) of the Holy Roman Empire | ||
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Circles est. 1500:Bavarian,Swabian,Upper Rhenish,Lower Rhenish–Westphalian,Franconian,(Lower) Saxon Circles est. 1512:Austrian,Burgundian,Upper Saxon,Electoral Rhenish · Unencircled territories See also:Ernestine duchies | ||
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