Duchy of Magdeburg Herzogtum Magdeburg (German) | |||||||||||
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| 1680–1807 | |||||||||||
 Coat of arms | |||||||||||
 The Duchy of Magdeburg within Brandenburg-Prussia at the death ofthe Great Elector (1688) | |||||||||||
| Status | Fief ofBrandenburg (1680–1701) Fief ofPrussia (1701–1807) | ||||||||||
| Capital | Magdeburg,Halle | ||||||||||
| Religion | Roman Catholic | ||||||||||
| Government | Duchy | ||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||
• Archbishopric of Magdeburg secularised | 1680 | ||||||||||
• JoinedKingdom of Prussia | 1701 | ||||||||||
• Disestablished | 1807 | ||||||||||
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TheDuchy of Magdeburg (German:Herzogtum Magdeburg) was a province of theMargraviate of Brandenburg from 1680 to 1701 and a province of the GermanKingdom of Prussia from 1701 to 1807. It replaced theArchbishopric of Magdeburg after its secularization by Brandenburg, giving to the Elector another influential seat to theReichstag’s College of Princes. Theduchy's capitals wereMagdeburg andHalle, whileBurg was another important town. Dissolved during theNapoleonic Wars in 1807, its territory was made part of theProvince of Saxony in 1815.
TheArchbishopric of Magdeburg began to be administered by secular princes, mostlyLutheran, in 1545 during theProtestant Reformation. In the 1648Treaty of Westphalia, the archbishopric was promised to theHouse of Hohenzollern of theMargraviate of Brandenburg upon the death of its incumbent administrator,August, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels.[1] The city of Magdeburg was also required to pay homage to theprince-electors of Brandenburg.[2] In 1666, ElectorFrederick William used hisdeveloping army to install a permanent Brandenburger garrison in the city.[3]
Brandenburg-Prussia inherited the Archbishopric of Magdeburg upon the death of August of Saxe-Weissenfels in 1680 and reorganized the secularized territory as the Duchy of Magdeburg, with the electors of Brandenburg as hereditary dukes. The Halle region (Saalkreis), an exclave of the province, was surrounded by thePrincipality of Anhalt, theCounty of Mansfeld (acquired by Prussia in 1790), and theElectorate of Saxony.[4] Against the wishes of the duchy's Lutheran nobility, aCalvinist chancellor was appointed to govern the duchy.[5] Through the leadership ofAugust Hermann Francke, Halle became the center ofPietism in Brandenburg-Prussia.[5]
When Elector Frederick III crowned himselfFrederick I,King in Prussia, in 1701, the Duchy of Magdeburg became part of the newKingdom of Prussia. KingFrederick William I's 'allodification of the fiefs', or efforts to modernize feudal land ownership laws, was opposed by the duchy'sJunker nobility, which feared losing their tax-exempt status. The nobles received judgements from theimperial court inVienna protecting their rights in 1718 and 1725.[6]Justus Henning Böhmer became chancellor of the province in 1743.
With the creation of theGeneral Directory in 1723 by Frederick William I, the Duchy of Magdeburg, thePrincipality of Halberstadt, and the Margraviate of Brandenburg were administered by the second department of the General Directory.[7] A state-capitalized agriculturalcredit union (Landschaft) was created in the duchy in 1780 for the exclusive use of the nobility.[8] Control over the Magdeburg lands gave the monarchy a lucrativemonopoly over theStassfurt and Hallesalt deposits.[9]
The estates ofPomerania voluntarily raised 5,000 troops for the Prussian Army during theSeven Years' War; their initiative was duplicated by the nobility of Magdeburg and neighboring provinces.[10]
In the War of theFourth Coalition, Prussia was defeated byNapoleon in 1806. In theTreaty of Tilsit the following year, the Duchy of Magdeburg was dissolved. The ducal territory west of theElbe River, including the cities of Magdeburg and Halle, were made part of theKingdom of Westphalia, a client state of theFirst French Empire.[11] The ducal territory east of the Elbe remained in a drastically reduced Kingdom of Prussia.
Prussia reacquired the Magdeburg and Halle territories during theWar of the Sixth Coalition. In 1815, after theNapoleonic Wars, the territories of the Duchy of Magdeburg, theAltmark, and part of theKingdom of Saxony were coalesced to create the new PrussianProvince of Saxony.
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1 until 1648. 2 until 1701. 3 from 1648. 4 until 1731. 5 until 1705. 6 until 1596. 7 from 1708. 8 until 1773. 9 until 1640. 10 until 1695. 11 from 1701. 12 until 1734. Circles est. 1500:Bavarian,Swabian,Upper Rhenish,Lower Rhenish–Westphalian,Franconian,(Lower) Saxon Circles est. 1512:Austrian,Burgundian,Upper Saxon,Electoral Rhenish · Unencircled territories | ||
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