Saxe-Weimar

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Saxe-Weimar (1572—1809)

Thuringia, showing the territory of Saxe-Weimar in the 17th Century, with Saxe-Jena, which was joined to Saxe-Weimar in 1690

Preceded by: Electoral Saxony

Succeeded by: Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach

Saxe-Weimar (German Sachsen-Weimar) was a Duchy in Thuringia, Germany. The chief town and capital was Weimar.

In the 15th century much of what is now Thuringia, including the area around Weimar, was in the hands of the Wettin dynasty, the Electors of Saxony. In 1485 the Wettin lands were divided, with the lands in Thuringia going to the Ernestine branch of the family. The Ernestines also retained the title of Elector. When John Frederick the Magnanimous was defeated and captured by Holy Roman Emperor Charles V in 1547 and deprived of the electorate, he was allowed to retain the lands in Thuringia. In 1572 the Ernestine lands were divided by his sons into the duchies of Saxe-Weimar and Saxe-Gotha.

For 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 a result, the Duchy of Saxe-Weimer shrank and grew more than once. The duchies of Thuringia throughout this period typically consisted of several non-contiguous parcels of territory of various sizes. In 1741 Duke Ernest Augustus I of Saxe-Weimar inheritated the Duchy of Saxe-Eisenach. Ernest Augustus II, who succeeded in 1748, died in 1758, and his young widow, Anna Amalia, was appointed regent of the country and guardian of her infant son, Charles Augustus. The regency of Anna Amalia and the reign of Charles Augustus formed a high point in the history of Saxe-Weimar. Both intelligent patrons of literature and art, Anna Amalia and Charles Augustus attracted to their court the leading scholars in Germany, including Goethe, Schiller and Herder, and made Weimar an important cultural center.

Charles Augustus joined Prussia in the War of the Third Coalition against France and after the loss to France in the Battle of Jena, he was forced to join the Confederation of the Rhine in 1806. In 1809 Saxe-Weimar and Saxe-Eisenach, which had been united only in the person of the duke, were formally merged into the Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach.