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24-694: In 1640 the sons of the late Ernestine duke John II of Saxe-Weimar divided their paternal heritage ( Ernestinische Teilung ) whereby Duke Ernest the Pious , a younger son, received the newly established Duchy of Saxe-Gotha . In 1636 Ernest had married Elisabeth Sophie , the only child of Duke John Philip of Saxe-Altenburg . Upon her father's death in 1639, the Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg passed to her uncle Duke Frederick William II and her cousin Frederick William III . The Duchy of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg

48-594: A lavish Baroque style and supported the religious refugees of the Moravian Church in Neudietendorf . His sister Augusta married Prince Frederick of Wales in 1736, their first-born son George III was crowned King of Great Britain and Ireland in 1760. Frederick made his court a centre of the Enlightenment ( Aufklärung ), continued by his son and successor Ernest II , who ruled from 1772. At

72-406: 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

96-494: A treaty dividing the duchy: Altenburg was taken by the sons of Frederick William I, and Weimar - Jena was retained by Johann. This line of Saxe-Altenburg became extinct in 1672, and all the inheritance passed to the line of Saxe-Weimar, Johann's descendants. In Altenburg on 7 January 1593, Johann married Dorothea Maria of Anhalt (2 July 1574 - 18 July 1617). They had twelve children in just twelve years: Saxe-Weimar Saxe-Weimar ( German : Sachsen-Weimar )

120-549: The Habsburg emperor Charles V , was defeated, captured and banned . Nevertheless, according to the 1552 Peace of Passau he was pardoned and allowed to retain his lands in Thuringia. Upon his death in 1554, his son John Frederick II succeeded him as "Duke of Saxony", residing at Gotha . His attempts to regain the electoral dignity failed: in the course of the 1566 revolt instigated by the robber baron Wilhelm von Grumbach ,

144-524: The Duchy of Saxe-Weimar, while his minor nephews received the southern and western territories around Coburg and Eisenach . 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

168-593: The Weimar lands were devastated by combat actions as well as by plague epidemics. When in 1638 the Ernestine Saxe-Eisenach and Saxe-Coburg branch became extinct upon the death of Duke John Ernest , Wilhelm of Saxe-Weimar inherited large parts of his estates. In 1640 however he had to involve his younger brothers Ernest I and Albert IV , thereby (re-)establishing the Duchies of Saxe-Gotha and

192-518: The Wettin lands had been divided between Elector Ernest of Saxony and his younger brother Albert III , with the western lands in Thuringia together with the electoral dignity going to the Ernestine branch of the family. Ernest's grandson Elector John Frederick I of Saxony forfeited the electoral dignity in the 1547 Capitulation of Wittenberg , after he had joined the revolt of the Lutheran Schmalkaldic League against

216-723: The completion of this division and the accession of his eldest son, Frederick to the subdivision centered on the towns of Gotha and Altenburg . Frederick had already served as regent in Saxe-Altenburg since 1672 and assumed responsibility for government affairs from his diseased father two years later. His residence remained at Friedenstein Castle in Gotha, he also had the Baroque palace of Friedrichswerth built nearby. Frederick I decisively secured his family's possessions with

240-411: The development of his estates by the implementation of the primogeniture principle. His son Ernest Augustus II, who succeeded him in 1748, died in 1758, whereafter Empress Maria Theresa appointed his young widow, Duchess Anna Amalia , regent of the country and guardian of her infant son, Charles Augustus . The regency of the energetic Anna Amalia and the reign of Charles Augustus, who was raised by

264-483: The dignities upon his death. At first also an advocate of Protestant concerns, after the death of King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden he chose to accord with the 1635 Peace of Prague that his Albertine cousins had negotiated with the emperor – against the opposition of his younger brother General Bernard of Saxe-Weimar , who entered into the French service under Cardinal Richelieu . Nevertheless, like many German estates,

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288-434: The duchy, including Weimar . However, he died in 1602 and the full duchy was inherited by Johann, because Frederick William's sons were underage. Johann was more interested in natural sciences and art than politics, and therefore only against his will took over the regency of the duchy on behalf of his nephews. But when they demanded their own inheritance in 1603, he resisted their demands. Finally, Johann and his nephews made

312-532: The duke was banned and imprisoned for life by Emperor Maximilian II . John Frederick II was succeeded by his younger brother John William at Weimar , who in a short time also fell out of favour with the emperor by his alliance with King Charles IX of France . In 1572 Maximilian II enforced the Division of Erfurt , whereby the Ernestine lands were divided among Duke John William and the two surviving sons of imprisoned John Frederick II. John William retained

336-489: The enlarged Saxe-Weimar lands between himself and his younger brothers John George I and Bernhard II , who received the Duchies of Saxe-Eisenach and Saxe-Jena , which reverted to Saxe-Weimar upon the death of Bernhard's son Duke Johann Wilhelm in 1690. Upon the death of John George's descendant Wilhelm Heinrich in 1741, Duke Ernest Augustus I of Saxe-Weimar also inherited the Duchy of Saxe-Eisenach. He then ruled both duchies in personal union and decisively forwarded

360-406: The implementation of the primogeniture in 1685. His son and successor Duke Frederick II gained further Ernestine territories upon the death of Duke Albert V of Saxe-Coburg in 1699 and Duke Christian of Saxe-Eisenberg in 1707. Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg remained one of the mightiest Ernestine duchies under the rule of Duke Frederick III from 1732. He had the palaces and gardens in Gotha rebuilt in

384-538: The instigation of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , he promoted the painting oeuvre of Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein ; he also appointed Franz Xaver von Zach director of the Gotha Observatory established in 1787. Nevertheless, when the last dukes Emil August , a fervent admirer of the rise of Napoleon , and his brother Frederick IV had both died without male heirs, the house of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg finally became extinct in 1825 and quarrels arose between

408-431: The loss, died in 1573, succeeded by his son Frederick William I . Upon his death in 1602 Saxe-Weimar was again divided among his younger brother John II and Frederick William's minor son John Philipp , who received the territory of Saxe-Altenburg . John's son Duke Johann Ernst I of Saxe-Weimar on occasion of the burial of his mother Dorothea Maria of Anhalt in 1617 established the literary Fruitbearing Society . At

432-712: The outbreak of the Thirty Years' War , Duke Johann Ernst I supported the Protestant Bohemian estates under the "Winter King" Frederick V of the Palatinate , who were defeated at the 1620 Battle of White Mountain . Stripped of his title by Emperor Ferdinand II , he remained a fierce opponent of the Catholic Habsburg dynasty and died on Ernst von Mansfeld 's Hungarian campaign in 1626. His younger brother Wilhelm , regent since 1620, assumed

456-590: The short-lived Saxe-Eisenach , which was again dissolved upon Duke Albert's death in 1644. Another rearrangement of the Ernestine lands took place in 1672 after Duke Frederick William III of Saxe-Altenburg , descendant of Duke John Phillip, had died without heirs and his cousin Duke Johann 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

480-601: The three remaining Ernestine lines about the succession. As a result of an arbitration issued by King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony in 1826, the Ernestine duchies were rearranged and Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg was again split: After the abolition of German monarchies in the course of the German Revolution of 1918–1919 , all former duchies became part of the newly created state of Thuringia in 1920. Johann II, Duke of Saxe-Weimar Johann II, Duke of Saxe-Weimar ( Johann Maria Wilhelm ; 22 May 1570 – 18 July 1605)

504-685: The writer Christoph Martin Wieland , formed a high point in the history of Saxe-Weimar. Both dedicated patrons of literature and art, Anna Amalia and Charles Augustus attracted to their court the leading German scholars, including Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , Friedrich Schiller and Johann Gottfried Herder , and made their residence in Weimar an important cultural center in an era referred to as Weimar Classicism . In 1804, Duke Charles Augustus entered into European politics by marrying his son and heir Charles Frederick to Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna , sister of Emperor Alexander I of Russia . However, at

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528-447: Was a Duke of Saxe-Weimar and Jena . Johann was the second son of Johann Wilhelm, Duke of Saxe-Weimar and Dorothea Susanne of Simmern . Johann Wilhelm died in 1573 when his son was only three years old. Since at the time Johann's older brother Frederick William I was also under age, the duchy of Saxe-Weimar (originally awarded to Johann) was governed by a regency. In 1586 Frederick William reached adulthood and took full control of

552-471: Was nominally created in 1672, when Duke Frederick William III of Saxe-Altenburg died at the age of 14 and Ernest the Pious, by his marriage with Elisabeth Sophie, inherited the major part of his possessions. It was common for the Ernestine duchies to merge and split; Ernest's combined duchy was divided again after his death in 1675, and the Duchy of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg proper came into existence in 1680 with

576-646: Was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine branch of the Wettin dynasty in present-day Thuringia . The chief town and capital was Weimar . The Weimar branch was the most genealogically senior extant branch of the House of Wettin . In the late 15th century much of what is now Thuringia, including the area around Weimar, was held by the Wettin Electors of Saxony . According to the 1485 Treaty of Leipzig ,

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