Duchy of Saxe-Weimar Herzogtum Sachsen-Weimar (German) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1572–1809 | |||||||||
 Flag  Coat of arms | |||||||||
 | |||||||||
| Status | State of theHoly Roman Empire, then State of theConfederation of the Rhine | ||||||||
| Capital | Weimar | ||||||||
| Common languages | |||||||||
| Government | Feudal monarchy | ||||||||
| Historical era | Early modern period | ||||||||
• Division of Erfurt | 1572 | ||||||||
| 1602 | |||||||||
| 1640 | |||||||||
| 1672 | |||||||||
| 1741 | |||||||||
| 1809 | |||||||||
| Area | |||||||||
| 1800[1] | 1,612 km2 (622 sq mi) | ||||||||
| Population | |||||||||
• 1800[1] | 79,000 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | Germany | ||||||||
Saxe-Weimar (German:Sachsen-Weimar) was one of theSaxon duchies held by theErnestine branch of theWettin dynasty in present-dayThuringia. The chief town and capital wasWeimar. The Weimar branch was the most genealogically senior extant branch of theHouse of Wettin.
In the late 15th century much of what is now Thuringia, including the area around Weimar, was held by the WettinElectors of Saxony. According to the 1485Treaty of Leipzig, the Wettin lands had been divided between ElectorErnest of Saxony and his younger brotherAlbert III, with the western lands in Thuringia together with theelectoral dignity going to the Ernestine branch of the family.[2]
Ernest's grandson ElectorJohn Frederick I of Saxony forfeited the electoral dignity in the 1547Capitulation of Wittenberg, after he had joined the revolt of the LutheranSchmalkaldic League against theHabsburg emperorCharles V, was defeated, captured andbanned. Nevertheless, according to the 1552Peace of Passau he was pardoned and allowed to retain his lands in Thuringia. Upon his death in 1554, his sonJohn Frederick II succeeded him as "Duke of Saxony", residing atGotha. His attempts to regain the electoral dignity failed: in the course of the 1566 revolt instigated by the robber baronWilhelm von Grumbach, the duke was banned and imprisoned for life by EmperorMaximilian II.
John Frederick II was succeeded by his younger brotherJohn William atWeimar, who in a short time also fell out of favour with the emperor by his alliance with KingCharles IX of France. In 1572 Maximilian II enforced the Division ofErfurt, 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 aroundCoburg andEisenach.
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 sonFrederick William I. Upon his death in 1602 Saxe-Weimar was again divided among his younger brotherJohn II and Frederick William's minor sonJohn Philipp, who received the territory ofSaxe-Altenburg. John's son DukeJohann Ernst I of Saxe-Weimar on occasion of the burial of his motherDorothea Maria of Anhalt in 1617 established the literaryFruitbearing Society.
At the outbreak of theThirty Years' War, Duke Johann Ernst I supported the ProtestantBohemian estates under the "Winter King"Frederick V of the Palatinate, who were defeated at the 1620Battle of White Mountain. Stripped of his title by EmperorFerdinand II, he remained a fierce opponent of the Catholic Habsburg dynasty and died onErnst von Mansfeld's Hungarian campaign in 1626.
His younger brotherWilhelm, regent since 1620, assumed the dignities upon his death. At first also an advocate of Protestant concerns, after the death of KingGustavus Adolphus of Sweden he chose to accord with the 1635Peace of Prague that his Albertine cousins had negotiated with the emperor – against the opposition of his younger brother GeneralBernard of Saxe-Weimar, who entered into theFrench service underCardinal Richelieu. Nevertheless, like many German estates, the Weimar lands were devastated by combat actions as well as byplague epidemics.
When in 1638 the ErnestineSaxe-Eisenach andSaxe-Coburg branch became extinct upon the death of DukeJohn Ernest, Wilhelm of Saxe-Weimar inherited large parts of his estates. In 1640 however he had to involve his younger brothersErnest I andAlbert IV, thereby (re-)establishing the Duchies ofSaxe-Gotha and the short-livedSaxe-Eisenach, which was again dissolved upon Duke Albert's death in 1644.
Another rearrangement of the Ernestine lands took place in 1672 after DukeFrederick William III of Saxe-Altenburg, descendant of Duke John Phillip, had died without heirs and his cousin DukeJohann 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 brothersJohn George I andBernhard II, who received the Duchies ofSaxe-Eisenach andSaxe-Jena, which reverted to Saxe-Weimar upon the death of Bernhard's son DukeJohann Wilhelm in 1690.
Upon the death of John George's descendantWilhelm Heinrich in 1741, DukeErnest Augustus I of Saxe-Weimar also inherited the Duchy of Saxe-Eisenach. He then ruled both duchies inpersonal union and decisively forwarded the development of his estates by the implementation of theprimogeniture principle.
His son Ernest Augustus II, who succeeded him in 1748, died in 1758, whereafter EmpressMaria Theresa appointed his young widow, DuchessAnna Amalia, regent of the country and guardian of her infant son,Charles Augustus.[2] The regency of the energetic Anna Amalia and the reign of Charles Augustus, who was raised by the writerChristoph Martin Wieland, formed a high point in the history of Saxe-Weimar.[2] Both dedicated patrons of literature and art, Anna Amalia and Charles Augustus attracted to their court the leadingGerman scholars, includingJohann Wolfgang von Goethe,Friedrich Schiller andJohann Gottfried Herder, and made their residence in Weimar an important cultural center in an era referred to asWeimar Classicism.
In 1804, Duke Charles Augustus entered into European politics by marrying his son and heirCharles Frederick to Grand DuchessMaria Pavlovna, sister of EmperorAlexander I of Russia. However, at the same time he joinedPrussia in theWar of the Fourth Coalition against theFrench Empire, and after the defeat at theBattle of Jena-Auerstedt, was forced to accede to the NapoleonicConfederation of the Rhine 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 ofSaxe-Weimar-Eisenach.
8 of his sons would co-govern the duchy
Merged with Saxe-Eisenach to formSaxe-Weimar-Eisenach
Ernestine duchies after the Division of Erfurt (1572) | ||
|---|---|---|
|  | |
 Upper Saxon Circle (1512–1806) of the Holy Roman Empire | ||
|---|---|---|
| Electorates |  | |
| Ecclesiastical | ||
| Secular | ||
| Prelates | ||
| Counts /Lords | ||
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 | ||
States of theConfederation of the Rhine (1806–1813) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank elevated byNapoleon |
|  | ||||||
| States created |
| |||||||
| Pre-existing states |
| |||||||
| ||||||||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
