Alexander of Saxony
Alexander von Sachsen (born February 21, 1554 in Dresden ; † October 8, 1565 ibid) was Prince Elector of Saxony and nominally administrator of the Naumburg and Merseburg monasteries from the house of the Albertine Wettins .
Life
Alexander was the second son of the Elector August von Sachsen (1526–1586) from his marriage to Anna (1532–1585), daughter of King Christian III. from Denmark . The eldest son of the electoral couple, Johann Heinrich, had died shortly after his birth in 1550 and Alexander was therefore considered the presumptive successor in Electoral Saxony after his birth. The court preacher Nikolaus Selnecker was appointed to his education in 1560 .
At the age of seven, at the instigation of his father, Alexander was elected administrator of the secularized diocese of Merseburg and, in 1564, also that of Naumburg - the government for the still underage electoral prince continued to exercise the Electorate of Saxony and the cathedral chapter . With the unanimous election of the Naumburg chapter, the election of bishops was also repealed forever. However, the selection decision in favor of Alexander influenced additional 100 indented electoral Saxon arquebusiers .
When Alexander died at the age of only eleven, his brother Christian became electoral prince. His father August took over the monastery government in both dioceses directly, but also transferred it to Christian in 1585 for Merseburg, who in turn transferred the diocese of Naumburg to his son Prince August after he took office as elector in 1591 .
Alexander was long mourned by his father. A Cranach painting from that time shows the Elector with his head slightly bowed. The prince was buried in the princely crypt of St. Mary's Cathedral in Freiberg .
ancestors
literature
- Georg May : The German bishops in view of the religious schism in the 16th century , Mediatrix-Verlag, 1983
- Wolfgang Sommer : The Lutheran court preachers in Dresden: basics of their history and ..., p. 49
- Heinrich Joseph Wetzer : Encyclopedia of Catholic Theology and its auxiliary sciences, p. 76
- Carl Wilhelm Böttiger : History of the European States, p. 58
Individual evidence
- ↑ August Schumann , Albert Schiffner : Complete State, Post and Newspaper Lexicon of Saxony: containing ..., p. 451
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Michael Helding |
Administrator of the diocese of Merseburg 1561 - 1565 |
August, Elector of Saxony |
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Julius von Pflug |
Administrator of the Diocese of Naumburg 1564 - 1565 |
August, Elector of Saxony |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Alexander of Saxony |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Elector Prince of Saxony as well as nominal administrator of the Hochstifte Naumburg and Merseburg |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 21, 1554 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Dresden |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 8, 1565 |
| Place of death | Dresden |