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Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg Herzogtum Sachsen-Wittenberg (German) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1296–1423 | |||||||||
.jpg) Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg (green, centred on the town of Wittenberg) | |||||||||
| Status | Duchy of theHoly Roman Empire | ||||||||
| Capital | Wittenberg | ||||||||
| Religion | Roman Catholic | ||||||||
| Dukes | |||||||||
• 1296–1298 | Albert II of Ascania‹ThetemplateSmallsup is beingconsidered for deletion.› [a] | ||||||||
• 1298–1356 | Rudolf I of Ascania | ||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | ||||||||
• Definite partition fromSaxony | 1296 | ||||||||
| 1356 | |||||||||
| 1423 | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | Germany | ||||||||
a: Albert II was co-ruler of undivided Saxony, withJohn I, from 1260 | |||||||||
TheDuchy of Saxe-Wittenberg (German:Herzogtum Sachsen-Wittenberg) was a medievalduchy of theHoly Roman Empire centered atWittenberg, which emerged after the dissolution of thestem duchy ofSaxony. TheAscanian dukes prevailed in obtaining the Saxonelectoral dignity until their duchy was finally elevated to theElectorate of Saxony by theGolden Bull of 1356.
TheEastphalian countOtto of Ballenstedt (d. 1123), ancestor of the House of Ascania, had marriedEilika, a daughter of DukeMagnus of Saxony from theHouse of Billung. As the Billung male line became extinct upon Magnus's death in 1106, Otto hoped to succeed him, however KingHenry V of Germany enfeoffed CountLothair of Supplinburg. During the following long-term dispute between Henry and Lothair, Otto was able to gain the title of a Saxon (anti-)duke, though only for a short time in 1122.
Lothair was electedKing of the Romans in 1125 and in 1134 he vested Otto's sonAlbert the Bear with the SaxonNorthern March. Upon his death in 1137, Albert once again strived for the Saxon duchy, which however fell to Lothair's son-in-lawHenry the Proud from the BavarianHouse of Welf. Albert concluded a deal with the risingHouse of Hohenstaufen: He backed the succession ofConrad of Hohenstaufen as German king, who in turn deprived his Welf rival Henry the Proud of the Saxonian Duchy in 1138 and gave it to Albert. However, his rule was strongly contested by the local nobility and in 1142 Albert finally had to resign as duke in favour of Henry the Proud's sonHenry the Lion. Albert later took part in theWendish Crusade of 1147 and in 1157 established theMargraviate of Brandenburg. He died in 1170.
The third chance for the Ascanians came, when in 1180 ambitious Henry the Lion was deposed as Saxon Duke by EmperorFrederick Barbarossa. Frederick partitioned Saxony among his allies into more than a dozenimmediate territories. Among the supporters, ArchbishopPhilip of Cologne received the largest share as the newly createdDuchy of Westphalia. The Saxon ducal title at least passed to late Albert's youngest son, CountBernhard of Ballenstedt, who nevertheless only ruled over small, mostly Eastphalian fringes of the old duchy.
Duke Bernard died in 1212 and his two surviving sons divided the Saxon heritage: the elderHenry took the old Ascanianallodial possessions aroundBallenstedt where he established the AscanianCounty of Anhalt, while his younger brotherAlbert I inherited the title of a Duke of Saxony and retained three territorially unconnected Eastphalian estates on theElbe river around the towns ofWittenberg andBelzig as well as the northern lordship ofLauenburg withAmt Neuhaus andLand Hadeln at the Elbeestuary.
After Albert I's death in 1260, his two heirs,John I and his younger brotherAlbert II ruled jointly. In 1269, 1272, and 1282, they gradually divided their governing competences within the then three territorially unconnected Saxon areas (Hadeln, Lauenburg, and Wittenberg), thus preparing a partition, whereby Albert II,Burgrave ofMagdeburg since 1269, concentrated on the Wittenberg territory. He consolidated his position by marryingAgnes, daughter ofRudolph of Habsburg, whom he elected King of the Romans in 1273. After Duke John I had resigned in 1282 in favour of his three minor sonsEric I,John II andAlbert III, followed by his death three years later, the three brothers and their uncle Albert II continued the joint rule as Saxon dukes.
Upon the death of MargraveHenry III of Meissen in 1288, Duke Albert II applied at his father-in-lawKing Rudolph I for the enfeoffment of his son and heirRudolph with the SaxonCounty palatine on theUnstrut river, which ensued a long lasting dispute with the eager clan of theHouse of Wettin. Albert's attempts to secure the succession in the lands of the extinct Counts ofBrehna were more successful: when their fiefs were reverted to the Empire in 1290, the king enfeoffed his son Rudolph. After King Rudolph had died, Albert II with his nephews still minor, wielded the Saxonelectoral vote, electingAdolph of Nassau, the brother-in-law of ArchbishopSiegfried II of Cologne on 27 April 1292. The bishop, together with KingWenceslaus II of Bohemia, had succeeded in bringing Albert II in favour of electing Adolph (Albert II had signed an elector pact on 29 November 1291 that he would vote the same as Wenceslaus). In 1295, Albert II would again enlarge his Saxon territory when he acquired the County ofGommern.
The last document, mentioning the joint government of Albert II with his nephews as Saxon fellow dukes dates back to 1295.[1] The definite partitioning of the Duchy of Saxony intoSaxe-Lauenburg (German:Herzogtum Sachsen-Lauenburg), jointly ruled by the brothers Albert III, Eric I and John II and Saxe-Wittenberg (German:Herzogtum Sachsen-Wittenberg), ruled by Albert II took place before 20 September 1296. TheVierlande, Sadelbande (Land of Lauenburg), the Land ofRatzeburg, the Land of Darzing (today'sAmt Neuhaus), and the Land of Hadeln are mentioned as the separate territory of the brothers.[1] Duke Albert II received the Wittenberg lands around the eponymous city, Brehna and Gommern. He thus became the founder of the Ascanian line of Saxe-Wittenberg.
When Rudolph succeeded his father Albert II as Duke of Saxe-Wittenberg in 1298, he and the Dukes of Saxe-Lauenburg rivallingly claimed the Saxonelectoral privilege. Upon the assassination of his brother-in-law KingAlbert I in 1308, he voted for CountHenry of Luxembourg. In 1314 both duchies participated in the double election of the German kings,Frederick III,the Fair from theHouse of Habsburg and hisWittelsbach cousinLouis IV,the Bavarian. Louis received five of the seven votes, to wit Archbishop-ElectorBaldwin ofTrier, the legitimate KingJohn of Bohemia, DukeJohn II of Saxe-Lauenburg, claiming the Saxon prince-electoral power, ArchbishopPeter of Mainz, and Albert's Ascanian cousin MargraveWaldemar of Brandenburg. Frederick the Fair received in the same election four of the seven votes, with the deposed KingHenry of Bohemia, illegitimately assuming electoral power, ArchbishopHenry II of Cologne, Louis' brother CountRudolph I of the Palatinate, and Duke Rudolph I of Saxe-Wittenberg, equally exercising the Saxon electoral dignity.
However, only Louis the Bavarian, co-elected with Saxe-Lauenburg's vote, finally asserted himself as emperor after the 1322Battle of Mühldorf by theTreaty of Trausnitz on March 13, 1325. As an obvious opponent, Duke Rudolph I failed with his claims to Brandenburg after the line of his Ascanian cousins became extinct in 1319: King Louis IV seized the margraviate and enfeoffed his sonLouis V instead. Rudolph I in turn allied with the rivalingHouse of Luxembourg. He supported CountCharles IV of Luxembourg asanti-king to Louis IV and on that account exclusively received the Saxon electoral dignity with theGolden Bull of 1356, thus slighting Saxe-Lauenburg. Saxe-Wittenberg thereupon came to be known as theElectorate of Saxony (Kursachsen).
When the Ascanian line in theElectorate of Saxony died out in 1422, the Ascanian DukeEric V of Saxe-Lauenburg failed to assert his succession in Wittenberg. KingSigismund granted the Electorate to MargraveFrederick IV of Meissen from theHouse of Wettin, who united theMeissen and the Saxon lands of Wittenberg under his rule. He assumed the electoral title and thereby transferred the state ofSaxony up the Elbe river to hisMeissen residence. His lands were also called "Upper Saxony" (see:Upper Saxon Circle) to distinguish them from the territory of the medieval stem duchy, the laterLower Saxony. The territory of former Saxe-Wittenberg became known as theKurkreis ("Electoral District"). By the division of the Saxon Electorate according to the 1485Treaty of Leipzig, the Wittenberg lands including the electoral dignity fell toErnest of Wettin.
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