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| Maurice | |
|---|---|
 Portrait byLucas Cranach the Younger | |
| Elector of Saxony | |
| Reign | 24 April 1547 – 9 July 1553 |
| Predecessor | John Frederick I |
| Successor | Augustus |
| Duke of Saxony | |
| Reign | 18 August 1541 – 24 April 1547 |
| Predecessor | Henry IV |
| Successor | John Frederick I |
| Margrave of Meissen | |
| Reign | 18 August 1541 – 9 July 1553 |
| Predecessor | Henry IV |
| Successor | Merged into the Electorate |
| Born | 21 March 1521 Freiberg,Electorate of Saxony,Holy Roman Empire |
| Died | 9 July 1553(1553-07-09) (aged 32) Sievershausen (nearLehrte),Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Holy Roman Empire |
| Burial | |
| Spouse | Agnes of Hesse |
| Issue | Anna, Princess of Saxony and Orange-Nassau Prince/Duke Albrecht of Saxony |
| House | Wettin(Albertine line) |
| Father | Henry IV, Duke of Saxony |
| Mother | Catherine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin |
| Religion | Roman Catholic (1521–1536) Lutheran (1536–1553) |
| Signature | .PNG) |
Maurice (German:Moritz; 21 March 1521 – 9 July 1553) wasduke of Saxony from 1541 to 1553 and became elector in 1547.Through shrewd political maneuvering, skillfully exploiting alliances and rivalries, he secured extensive territories and the electoral title for theAlbertine branch of theWettin dynasty.[1]
Maurice succeeded his father as duke of Saxony in 1541. Though a Protestant, he initially backedEmperor Charles V in several wars, then in 1545 accepted the Emperor's promise of the Saxon electorship and turned against the rivalErnestine branch—helping seizeElectoral Saxony. AfterJohn Frederick's defeat atMühlberg (1547), Maurice was rewarded with the electoral title and large new lands.
He soon broke with Charles, angered by plans to restore Catholicism in Protestant territories and by the continued imprisonment of his father-in-law,Philip I of Hesse. Although sent to subdue Magdeburg in 1550, Maurice used the mission to raise an army and forge alliances with France and Protestant princes. In 1552, their campaign forced the Emperor to flee and Philip to be released, and theTreaty of Passau (1552) temporarily safeguarded Lutheran interests. Maurice later returned to the imperial side, but was killed in 1553 after defeatingAlbert Alcibiades at theBattle of Sievershausen.
Maurice was the fourth child but first son of the futureHenry IV, Duke of Saxony, then a Catholic, and hisProtestant wife,Catherine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Henry was the younger brother ofGeorge, Duke of Saxony.[citation needed]
In December 1532, Maurice, aged 11, came to live at the castle of his godfather,CardinalAlbert of Brandenburg, Archbishop of Magdeburg and Mainz. For two years, he lived a contemplative life until his uncle Duke George demanded his return to Saxony. George began the training of the future duke and educated him as a Catholic.[citation needed] But in 1536 Maurice's father converted to Protestantism, and when he succeeded George as Duke in 1539, he made the duchy Protestant.
Henry and Catherine took the education of their son into their hands. In 1539 Maurice, now 18 years old, went to live inTorgau with his older cousinJohn Frederick I, Elector of Saxony, whom he despised; this led to a strong hatred between them. With another cousin, however,Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, whom he met inDresden, Maurice struck up a lifelong friendship.[citation needed]
With Maurice now of age, his parents began to look for a wife for him. The favorite was Philip's eldest daughter,Agnes. The marriage plans threatened to fail, however, because of the illegal double marriage of the Landgrave. Without the knowledge of his parents, Maurice remained committed to his engagement with Agnes. The wedding, particularly disapproved of by his mother, took place inMarburg on 9 January 1541. Letters from that time illustrate the strong mutual devotion of the couple. Together they had two children:
On 18 August 1541 Henry died, and Maurice, as the eldest son, succeeded him as duke of Saxony and head of the Albertine Line. He replaced most of his advisors, because they had been opposed to his marriage with Agnes from the very start. George von Carlowitz, one of the new confidants of the Duke, advised Maurice (in order to prevent a war with EmperorCharles V and his brotherFerdinand, at the same timeKing of the Romans and his neighbour asKing of Bohemia) not to endanger the survival of the Protestant Movement.
Thus he participated in the emperor's army in thewar against the forces ofSuleiman the Magnificent of theOttoman Empire (1542),William ofJülich-Cleves-Berg (1543), andFrancis I of France (1544). At the same time, the duke confiscated the properties of the Catholic Church in his lands. From the wealth of dissolved monasteries in his country Maurice founded the princes' schools (Fürstenschulen) ofSchulpforta (100 places),Meissen (60 places) andGrimma (70 places). The legal basis for this was the "New National Order" (Neue Landesordnung) of 1543.
Later, Maurice refused to join the ProtestantSchmalkaldic League, althoughPhilip of Hesse, his friend and father-in-law, was its leader. The principal reason for his refusal to do so is generally regarded as his hate for hisErnestine cousin John Frederick I and theImperial promise of the Saxon electorship, then held by John Frederick. In theHoly Week of 1542, in the process of the Wurzener Feud (Wurzener Fehde) it nearly came to afratricidal war, because John Frederick occupied the jointly administered "Wurzener Country". There had previously been a controversy between Maurice and John Frederick over the use of tax funds from this area. The intervention of the Landgrave Philip of Hesse andMartin Luther prevented the war.
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Due to the energetic persistence of the Elector John Frederick in establishing the Protestant Faith, the Emperor Charles V, on 20 July 1546, imposed theImperial Ban (Reichsacht) on him, with the agreement of the CatholicImperial Estates, the enforcement of which was laid on Maurice after the Wurzener Feud. The emperor tried in this way to drive a still deeper wedge into the Protestant camp in order to prevent a further propagation of the Protestant Faith. In the case of a successful enforcement, Maurice hoped to be invested by the emperor with the electorship. Maurice hesitated for a long time, since by this punitive action his father-in-law Philip of Hesse would have been affected also. But when the brother of the emperor, Ferdinand I, himself wanted to initiate a campaign against theElectorate of Saxony, he had to call it off, in order not to lose the initiative in his own lands to the Habsburgs.
Maurice returned to Charles's camp. After initial successes — he occupied the Electorate of Saxony nearly without a fight — Maurice with his army was driven back by the Schmalkaldic League and retreated towards Bohemia. In the crucialBattle of Mühlberg on theElbe, the Emperor and his brother Ferdinand, as well as Maurice, were able to defeat the Schmalkaldic League by capturing Landgrave Philip and John Frederick. According to contemporary chronicles, all of this happened on the same day, 24 April 1547. In order to escape being beheaded, John Frederick ceded the electorate and sizable lands to Maurice in theCapitulation of Wittenberg. In a brief ceremony in the field camp after the battle on 4 June 1547 Duke Maurice of Saxony was raised to the dignified position of elector of Saxony. The official appointment took place later, but at a high price: He had betrayed the Protestant Faith and had brought his father-in-law, Philip of Hesse, into a hopeless situation. Maurice assured him that he would not be imprisoned, if he would surrender to the emperor. However, Philip was taken prisoner and exiled, after he had fallen on his knees before Charles V.
Maurice, insulted after these incidents by his compatriots and called a "Judas", was also disappointed by the emperor's attitude (because now Charles V tried to reintroduce Catholicism into the Empire's Protestant territories and continued the imprisonment of his father-in-law, Landgrave Philip of Hesse, whose freedom Charles V had guaranteed), he hid his feelings from him up to theDiet of Augsburg on 25 February 1548, where the ceremony of the formal inauguration of Maurice as elector of Saxony took place.
Charles V hoped that, with Maurice's appointment as the elector of Saxony, with the signing of the agreement known as theAugsburg Interim, and with his own assistance, they could put an end to the religious strife that was splitting his empire.
When commissioned to capture the rebellious Lutheran city ofMagdeburg (1550), Maurice seized the opportunity to raise an army and signed anti-Habsburg compacts withFrance and Germany's Protestant princes.
In theTreaty of Chambord signed with the French KingHenry II in January 1552 Maurice promised the King money and weapons to assist him in his campaign against Charles V. In return, Henry was able to take four Imperial cities (Metz,Toul,Verdun andCambrai) as well as their bishoprics, although Maurice had no right to them.
In March 1552 the rebels overran the southern German states, including parts ofAustria, forcing the Emperor to flee and release Philip of Hesse. While Henry advanced up to theRhine and occupied the promised Imperial lands, the emperor surprised by the attack fled over the Alps toVillach in the AustrianDuchy of Carinthia. During 1552, Maurice of Saxony led a Protestant revolt to conserve princely freedoms. This revolt was initiated by the imprisonment of John Frederick I of Saxony and by tensions surrounding the will of Charles V. Ultimately, Maurice was successful as he enlisted the help of Henry II of France in order to force Charles' forces to flee.[2]
In view of this success, Maurice abandoned his alliance with Henry II and negotiated a treaty with Charles's brother King Ferdinand I, to which Charles willingly agreed. When thePeace of Passau, was signed in August 1552, the Lutheran position was provisionally guaranteed.
As part of the Peace, his former opponents from the Schmalkaldic War, John Frederick I of Saxony and the Landgrave Philipp of Hesse were released. The war was terminated in 1556 by Ferdinand I; the Imperial cities remained in possession of the French.
When Maurice returned to Saxony after the Peace of Passau, he was no longer seen as a traitor; both Protestants and Catholics rendered him equal respect. In addition the emperor in correspondence to both parties exhorted them to maintain peace in his empire; shortly after, he campaigned against the Ottomans inHungary.
The MargraveAlbert Alcibiades of Brandenburg-Kulmbach (who had rejected the Passau armistice) soon afterwards conquered the bishoprics ofWürzburg andBamberg — which had been under his control for eleven years previously, after their former owner, John Frederick had ceded them to him. This was the beginning of theSecond Margrave War, which only ended with thePeace of Augsburg of 1555.
In 1552, Maurice, with thearmy of the Holy Roman Empire (11,000 men), marched into Hungary. The Ottomansbesieged Eger, but theBlack Death broke out in Hungary, and Maurice did not dare to move up his forces.[3]
Albert Alcibiades was a former ally of Maurice, who had fought in the Schmalkaldic War on his side. But now Maurice, involved in an alliance of princes, with Ferdinand I amongst others, was compelled to fight against Albert Alcibiades. On 9 July 1553 theBattle of Sievershausen took place atLehrte. Maurice won this battle, but was badly wounded in the stomach by a shot from the rear and succumbed two days later in the field camp at the age of 32. He was buried inFreiberg Cathedral. In 1853, 300 years after the battle, the place of his death was commemorated by a monument erected to his memory. The 7.5 ton heavy granite monument came from his native Saxony. The original monument is now in theRustkammer museum in Dresden, with a simplified version being recreated in its outer location.[4]
Because Maurice died without a surviving male heir, his brotherAugustus succeeded him as Elector. InDresden, shortly after the death of Maurice, he erected the Maurice Monument (Moritzmonument), the first historical monument to be erected in Saxony.
| Ancestors of Maurice, Elector of Saxony |
|---|
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Maurice, elector of Saxony".Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Maurice, Elector of Saxony Born: 21 March 1521 Died: 9 July 1553 | ||
| Regnal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Duke of Saxony 1541–1547 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Elector of Saxony 1547–1553 | Succeeded by |
