Duchy of Saxe-Zeitz Herzogtum Sachsen-Zeitz (German) | |||||||||
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| 1657–1718 | |||||||||
.svg) Saxe-Zeitz territories within the Wettin lands, about 1680 | |||||||||
| Status | Secundogeniture ofSaxony | ||||||||
| Capital | Zeitz | ||||||||
| Government | Duchy | ||||||||
| Historical era | Early modern Europe | ||||||||
• Established | 1657 | ||||||||
• Fell back toSaxony | 1718 | ||||||||
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TheDuchy of Saxe-Zeitz (German:Herzogtum Sachsen-Zeitz) was a territory of theHoly Roman Empire established in 1656–57 as asecundogeniture of theElectoral Saxon house ofHouse of Wettin. Its capital wasZeitz. The territory fell back to the Wettin electoral line in 1718.
On 20 July 1652, the Saxon electorJohn George I stipulated in his will that, while the electoral dignity passes to his eldest sonJohn George II, his three younger brothers should receive secundogeniture principalities upon his death. After the elector died on 8 October 1656, his sons concluded the "friend-brotherly main treaty" in the Saxon residence ofDresden on 22 April 1657 and a further treaty in 1663 delineating their territories and sovereign rights definitely. These treaties created three duchies:
Prince Maurice, the fourth-oldest son received the districts of Zeitz,Naumburg andHaynsburg in the formerBishopric of Naumburg-Zeitz which in 1562 had beensecularized in the course of theProtestant Reformation.
He also received the city ofSchleusingen in 1660, which had once been the residence of the extinctCounts of Henneberg, together with the districts ofSuhl andKühndorf. Duke Maurice resided in the city castle atNaumburg until his new seat atMoritzburg Palace in Zeitz had been completed.
The only rulers wereDuke Maurice of Saxe-Zeitz and his sonDuke Moritz Wilhelm of Saxe-Zeitz. This line was the first of the three Saxon secundogenitures to die out in 1718, when the only male heir,Prince Christian August, joined the clergy.[1] Zeitz was merged into the Electorate of Saxony in accordance with the will of Elector Johann Georg I.[2][3]
 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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