Duchy of Saxe-Hildburghausen Herzogtum Sachsen-Hildburghausen (German) | |||||||||||
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| 1680–1826 | |||||||||||
.svg) Saxony-Hildburghausen (around 1680) | |||||||||||
| Status |
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| Capital | Heldburg (to 1684) Hildburghausen (from 1684) | ||||||||||
| Government | Duchy | ||||||||||
| Duke | |||||||||||
• 1680–1715 | Ernest(first) | ||||||||||
• 1780–1826 | Frederick(last) | ||||||||||
| Historical era | Early modern period | ||||||||||
• Partitioned fromSaxe-Gotha | 1680 | ||||||||||
| 1702 | |||||||||||
• Passed toSaxe-Meiningen | 1826 | ||||||||||
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Saxe-Hildburghausen (German:Sachsen-Hildburghausen) was anErnestine duchy andImperial Estate of theHoly Roman Empire in the southern side of the present State ofThuringia inGermany. It existed from 1680 to 1826 but its name and borders are currently used by theDistrict of Hildburghausen.
After the duke ofSaxe-Gotha,Ernest the Pious, died on 26 March 1675 inGotha, the duchy was divided on 24 February 1680 among his seven surviving sons. The lands of Saxe-Hildburghausen went to the sixth son, who becameErnest II, the first duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen. But the new duchy did not have complete independence. It had to depend on the higher authorities in Gotha for the matters of administration of its districts – the so-called "Nexus Gothanus" – because Gotha was theresidence of Ernest II's oldest brother, who ruled asFrederick I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. Saxe-Hildburghausen did not become fully separate until 1702.
In the beginning, the duchy had the district and city ofHildburghausen, the district and city ofHeldburg, the district and city ofEisfeld, the district ofVeilsdorf and the half of the district ofSchalkau. Two more districts were added –Königsberg in 1683 andSonnefeld in 1705. WhenAlbert V, the duke of Saxe-Coburg, died in 1699 without any surviving descendants, disputes arose over the inheritance but, eventually, in 1714, Saxe-Hildburghausen agreed to exchange the district of Schalkau for parts of the other Saxon duchies – a piece of the former Duchy ofSaxe-Römhild, the District ofBehrungen, including the winery, and the monastery estate ofMilz as well as the former properties of the Echter family ofMespelbrunn.
In 1684 the city of Hildburghausen became theresidence of the duke so it was developed to reflect its new status. However, the elaborate buildings and courtyards of the princes strained the finances of the duchy so much that, in 1769, a forced management of debts by an ImperialDebit commission had to be ordered. It was placed under the direction of the Regent,Charlotte Amalie of Saxe-Meiningen.
With the dissolution of theHoly Roman Empire in 1806, Saxe-Hildburghausen gained its full sovereignty as the Duchy of Saxe-Hildburghausen. A few months later, on 15 December 1806, it, along with the other Ernestine duchies, entered theConfederation of the Rhine. In 1815, it joined theGerman Confederation. In 1818, it was one of the first German states to receive aconstitution.
The extinction of the oldest line, Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg in 1825 again led to inheritance disputes among the other lines of the Ernestine family. On 12 November 1826 the decision, from the arbitration of the supreme head of the family, KingFrederick Augustus I of Saxony, resulted in the extensive rearrangement of the Ernestine duchies. Saxe-Hildburghausen lost the Districts ofKönigsberg andSonnefeld to the new Duchy ofSaxe-Coburg and Gotha and the rest of its territories to the Duchy ofSaxe-Meiningen. But the last duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen,Frederick, became the new duke ofSaxe-Altenburg.
In 1868, four districts were established in the Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen. One of them was Hildburghausen, with boundaries very similar to those of the former duchy. It remained almost unchanged until 1993, when the District ofSuhl was dissolved and most of its municipalities joined the District of Hildburghausen.
Ernestine duchies after the Division of Erfurt (1572) | ||
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 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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