Wettinian Germany

The House of Wettin dates to the 10th century. It’s earliest major acquisitions were the Margraviate of Meissen in 1089 and the Landgraviate of Thüringia in 1247. In 1423, those two countries were being held in personal union when the ruler acquired the Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg when the ruling Ascanian line died out. That country had the status of an Electorate and the three countries in the personal union were quickly unified into the Electorate of Saxony.

 

Two generations later, in 1485, the Electorate was partitioned between two grandsons of the original Wittenian elector. The elder of the two (Ernst, founder of the Ernestine line) retained the title of Elector and received the territory of the former Saxe-Wittenberg and most of southern Thüringia. The younger of the two (Albrecht, founder of the Albertine line) was recognized as a duke and received the territory of Meissen and northern Thüringia. However, the two lines fought on different sides during the Schmalkalden War and the Albertine side won, conquering Wittenberg in the process. As a result, the title of Elector shifted to the Albertine line and the Ernestines were reduced to dukes.

 

A major distinction between the lines was that the Albertine line adopted primogeniture (inheritance by the eldest surviving son) and the Ernestine line did not. The implication of that was that the Electorate remained united and politically strong, while Ernestine territory became fragmented and politically weak. I start the database for the Albertine line in 1547, when the Duchy became an Electorate. The Electorate of Saxony survived until the end of the Holy Roman Empire, at which time it was elevated to a Kingdom. During that time, it generated three nonsovereign spin-off countries (Mersefeld, Weißenfels, and Zeitz) and one of those generated three additional second-order spin-offs. All of those spin-offs had been absorbed back into the Electorate by 1738.

 

Although the English convention is to use the prefix “Saxe-” in front of the names of the spin-off duchies, I reserve that prefix for Ernestine entities and use the fully-spelled-out “Saxony-” as the prefix for the Albertine spin-offs to exactly match the name of the parent country. (Most of the Ernestine duchies were not spin-offs—they were fully sovereign and had no parent country to be matched to. Thus, it is convenient to use the “Saxe-” prefix for Ernestine countries, not just because that is the convention, but because it creates an easy signal that those are Ernestine entities, in contrast to the Albertine entities with the spelled-out “Saxony-” prefix.)

 

At various times certain subdivisions were administered by outside parties. The simplified names of those entities are modified so that “Saxony” is followed by the last term in the administering country. For example,  when the neighboring County of Solms-Wildenfels gave up its sovereignty to Saxony, it nevertheless continued administering the territory. I place it in the country of Saxony-Wildenfels to capture both the sovereignty and administration. Finally, in 1635, the Electorate entered into personal unions with the previously Bohemian Margraviates of Upper and Lower Lusatia, which persisted until the end of the Holy Roman Empire (although Lower Lusatia was temporarily assigned to one of the spin-off duchies).

 

The first partition of the Ernestine line occurred in 1572, resulting in the Duchies of Saxe-Weimar and Saxe-Coburg-Eisenach. Over the years, Ernestine duchies were partitioned and reunited, with their constituent parts being shuffled around among one another. Coburg and Eisenach split up in 1596, Saxe-Altenburg was created in 1603, and Saxe-Gotha was created in 1640. The only instance of nonsovereign spin-offs being created was between 1672 and 1680, when Saxe-Gotha and Saxe-Altenburg (which were in personal union at the time), spun off five new Duchies, two of which eventually achieved sovereignty. By the end of the Holy Roman Empire, there were seven identifiable Ernestine duchies, although personal unions (Weimar-Eisenach and Gotha-Altenburg) and administrative condominia (Coburg-Saalfeld & Meiningen) reduce that number to four in some sources. After the end of the Holy Roman Empire, there was additional consolidation and reorganization such that by the time the German Empire was established in 1871, the number of Ernestine duchies was definitively four.

 

In 1583, the ruling line of the neighboring County of Henneburg died out. Both the Albertine and Ernestine lines had claims to the territory, as did Hesse-Kassel. In general, however, it was Ernestines who administered the territory. The Hessians gradually asserted administrative control over the territory it claimed and in 1660, a formal territorial partition was implemented, settling the sovereignty questions. Both Hesse-Kassel and Saxony received some territory, but the bulk of it was distributed among the Ernestine duchies of Saxe-Altenburg and Saxe-Weimar. The Duchies of Saxe-Meiningen and Saxe-Hildburghausen, both created in 1680, emerged from Henneburg territory.

 

As in the Electorate, some portions of the Ernestine duchies was administered by outside parties. For example, when the Gleichen lines dies out, Saxe-Gotha asserted sovereignty over much of the territory. Administration, however, fell to outside parties and I recognize those parties in the simplified country names. Also, when the nonsovereign spin-off country of Saxe-Altenburg-Römhild was terminated in 1710, it did not simply revert to Altenburg. Instead, two condominia were created: one for Amt Themar, between Altenburg and Saxe-Saalfeld, and the other for Amt Römhild, between Saxe-Meiningen and Saxe-Saalfeld. Within the town of Themar, the condominium persisted until 1826. Finally, the village of Oldisleben (well to the north of any other Ernestine territory) was given “Seniorat” status in 1642, meaning that the senior Ernestine duke was responsible for administering the territory for the benefit of all of the Ernestine entities. (Otherwise, Seniorat status was used only in Anhalt).

 

In the following list of countries in Wettinian Germany, countries and dates outside the chronological scope of the database are shown in italics.

 

  • Margraviate of Meissen (1089-1423)
  • Landgraviate of Thüringia (1247-1423)
  • Electorate of Saxony (1423-1485)
    • (Ernestine) Electorate/Duchy of Saxony (1485-1572)
      • Duchy of Saxe-Coburg (1541-1553; 1572-1735)
        • in personal union with Saxe-Eisenach (1633-1638)
        • in personal union with Saxe-Altenburg (1638-1672)
        • in personal union with Saxe-Gotha (1672-1680)
        • in personal union with Saxe-Saalfeld (1699-1735)
      • Duchy of Saxe-Eisenach (1572-1638; 1640-1644; 1662-1809)
        • in personal union with Saxe-Coburg (1572-1596)
        • portions administered by Saxe-Weimar (1690-1741)
        • in personal union with Saxe-Weimar (1741-1809)
      • Duchy of Saxe-Weimar (1572-1809)
        • portions administered by Hatzfeldt (1631-1640)
        • portions administered by Hohenlohe-Neuenstein (1631-1657)
        • portions administered by Saxe-Eisenach (1640-1644; 1662-1741)
        • portions administered by Saxe-Gotha (1640-1672)
        • Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Jena (1672-1690)
        • Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenberg (1680-1707)
      • Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg (1603-1815-1918)
        • in personal union with Saxe-Gotha (1672-1815-1826)
        • Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg-Römhild (1680-1710)
      • Duchy of Saxe-Gotha (1640-1815-1826)
        • portions administered by Schwarzburg-Sondershausen (1631-1815-1826)
        • portions administered by Hatzfeldt (1640-1815-1826)
        • portions administered by Waldeck-Eisenberg (1640-1677)
        • portions administered by Hohenlohe-Neuenstein (1657-1701)
        • portions administered by Hohenlohe-Langenburg (1701-1815-1826)
      • Seniorat of the Ernestine Duchies (1642-1741)
      • County of Sayn-Altenkirchen (in personal union with Saxe-Eisenach) (1662-1741)
      • Duchy of Saxe-Hildburghauen (1680-1815-1826)
      • Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen (1680-1815-1918)
        • adm. share with Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (1735-1815-1826)
      • Duchy of Saxe-Saalfeld (1680-1735)
      • Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (adm. shared with Saxe-Meiningen) (1735-1815-1826)
      • Duchy/Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (1809-1815-1903)
      • Duchy of Saxe-Coburg & Gotha (1826-1918)
    • (Albertine) Duchy/Electorate/Kingdom of Saxony (1485-1547-1806-1918)
      • portions administered by Schönburg (1543-1806)
      • portions administered by Rudolstadt & Stolberg (1599-1706)
      • Duchy of Saxony-Weißenfels (1656-1746)
      • Duchy of Saxony-Zeitz (1657-1718)
        • portions administered by Saxe-Gotha (1660-1718)
        • portions administered by Saxe-Meiningen (1680-1718)
      • Duchy of Saxony-Mersefeld (1657-1738)
        • Duchy of Saxony-Mersefeld-Lauchstädt (1684-1690)
        • Duchy of Saxony-Mersefeld-Zörbig (1691-1715)
        • Duchy of Saxony-Merseburg-Spremberg (1694-1731)
      • portions administered by Solms-Wildenfeld (1706-1806)
      • portions administered by Rudolstadt & Stolberg-Roßla (1706-1806)
      • portions administered by Saxe-Gotha (1718-1806)
      • portions administered by Saxe-Meiningen (1718-1806)
  • Margraviate of Upper Lusatia (in personal union with Saxony) (1635-1806)
  • Margraviate of Lower Lusatia (1635-1806)
    • in personal union with Saxony (1635-1657; 1738-1806)
    • in personal union with Saxony-Mersefeld (1657-1738)