Christian I (Saxony-Merseburg)
Christian I of Saxony-Merseburg (born October 27, 1615 in Dresden , † October 18, 1691 in Merseburg ) was the founder of a sideline of the Albertine Wettins and first duke of the Saxon secondary school principality of Saxony-Merseburg . To distinguish him from his son, he is also called " Christian the Elder ".
family
Christian was the third son of Elector Johann Georg I of Saxony and his second wife Magdalena Sibylle , a daughter of Duke Albrecht Friedrich of Prussia .
Life
Government in the Merseburg principality
Christian, who as a later son could hardly hope for his father's inheritance, was appointed in 1650 - after a four-week double wedding that had been arranged for him and his brother Moritz - to take care of the administration of the old monastery in Merseburg , entrusted to it by the electors in the course of the Reformation and postulated as administrator after his election by the cathedral chapter .
In his will of July 20, 1652, his father decreed the division of Albertine territory, which was carried out by the brothers who traveled to Dresden for the funeral of the electoral father on January 27, 1657 in the "Fraternal Friendship Main Comparison" against the resistance of the estates on April 22, 1657 in Dresden . The Stiftslande of the Hochstift Merseburg with the "Kitchen Office" as well as the offices, towns and castles Bad Lauchstädt , Schkeuditz , Lützen and Zwenkau as well as an erbländischen part with Brehna, Zörbig, Dobrilugk and Finsterwalde and the margraviate Niederlausitz , including the towns and castles Lübben came , Doberlug , Finsterwalde , Guben , Luckau , Calau and Spremberg , as Wettin secondary school to Christian, who thus became the first Duke of Saxe-Merseburg . After the Bibersteiner died out on October 16, 1667, the forest rulership, along with the town, castle and all chamber and vassal villages south of it, including Döbern on Electoral Saxony, which in the course of the division process of August 11, 1668, these areas also fell to Saxony -Merseburg resigned.
Duke Christian moved into Merseburg on September 30, 1653 with his wife, who was eight months pregnant, and his eldest daughter, who was barely two years old, and began to set up his own court. His court soon comprised 150 people.
As with the new residences of his brothers, a lot of building activity soon developed under Duke Christian, which led to a great economic boom in Merseburg. The Neumarktbrücke, which was destroyed in the course of the Thirty Years' War , was rebuilt, the Renaissance moated castle in Merseburg was renovated from 1689 and expanded according to the early Baroque taste of the time, and in 1661 the castle garden was laid out on the site of the old royal palace, separated by walls and moats . He also had the hunter's farm, the fishing yard, a pheasantry, a post office and the fish house built on the Gotthard pond. Christian also founded his own court chapel, had a library built and helped art and culture to flourish again. The important theologian Paul Gerhardt and Christoph Spätner also worked as Christian's court painters in the dwarf state. Delitzsch Castle was converted and expanded as a travel residence.
The legal and administrative system was also reorganized, the mill system, the police and the town order were changed. In 1679 the Neumarktmühle in Merseburg was repaired.
Between 1683 and 1685 he had the Fuhnedamm renewed and fortified between Zörbig and the Anhalt region of Radegast , making the marshland of the Fuhneaue accessible. The Theurer Christian road monument was therefore erected in 1688 in Christian's honor .
In Lower Lusatia he had Lübben Castle built as the administrative seat. In September 1673, however, he confirmed the guild articles of the shopkeeper's guild, which made it considerably more difficult for traveling merchants, especially Jews, to conduct trade in Niederlausitz.
On November 25, 1659, he granted Count Erdmann Leopold von Promnitz permission to accept Protestant religious refugees from Silesia , mainly from the principalities of Sagan and Glogau , in his possession of Neudorf, and granted them city rights. It was renamed Christianstadt in his honor .
Difficult relationship with course Saxons
After the new Albertine supply principalities on Electoral Saxon soil had already caused irritation to the eldest brother Johann Georg II of Saxony , who saw the primogeniture and the power-political unity of the electoral state in danger with these splits and therefore was reluctant to approve sovereignty rights to his brothers now also his son and successor, Christian's nephew, Elector Johann Georg III. To bring Saxony-Merseburg back under Electoral Saxon suzerainty. So Johann Georg III. Revoked previous agreements, which had subjected the Merseburg duke to several country residents, which led to open conflict under Christian's successor.
In the fruitful society
In 1655, Duke Christian I was accepted into the Fruitful Society by Duke Wilhelm IV of Saxe-Weimar . This gave him the company name of the coroner and the motto the praise of honor . As an emblem he was given ivy wrapped around a pyramid . Duke Christian's entry can be found in the Koethen Society Register under no.643.
Death and burial
Duke Christian I died on October 18, 1691 at the age of 75 and was buried in a pewter coffin in the princely crypt of Merseburg Cathedral . His eldest son Christian succeeded him on the throne. Like his father, however, Christian I had given apanages to his three later sons before his death and assigned them their own residences.
Marriage and offspring
His only marriage was on November 19, 1650 in Dresden with Christiana von Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg , the daughter of Philip, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg from his marriage to Sophie Hedwig von Sachsen-Lauenburg .
He had the following children with his wife:
- Magdalena Sophia (born October 19, 1651 in Dresden, † March 29, 1675 in Merseburg), Princess of Saxony-Merseburg
- Johann Georg (born December 4, 1652 in Merseburg, † January 3, 1654 in Merseburg), Hereditary Prince of Saxony-Merseburg
- Christian II (born November 19, 1653 in Merseburg, † October 20, 1694 in Merseburg), Duke of Saxony-Merseburg ⚭ Erdmuth Dorothea of Saxony-Zeitz
- August (born February 15, 1655 in Merseburg, † March 27, 1715 in Zörbig), Duke of Saxony-Merseburg-Zörbig ⚭ Hedwig Eleonore of Mecklenburg-Güstrow
- stillborn son (* / † February 1, 1656 in Merseburg), Prince of Saxony-Merseburg
- Philipp (born October 26, 1657 in Merseburg, † July 1, 1690 in Fleurus), Duke of Saxe-Merseburg-Lauchstädt ⚭ (I) Eleonore Sophie of Saxe-Weimar ; ⚭ (II) Luise Elisabeth von Württemberg-Oels
- Christiane (born June 1, 1659 in Merseburg, † March 13, 1679 in Eisenberg), Princess of Saxony-Merseburg ⚭ Christian, Duke of Saxony-Eisenberg
- Sophie Hedwig (born August 4, 1660 in Merseburg, † August 2, 1686 in Saalfeld), Princess of Saxe-Merseburg ⚭ Johann Ernst, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
- Heinrich (born September 2, 1661 in Merseburg, † July 28, 1738 in Doberlug), Duke of Saxony-Merseburg-Spremberg (later of all of Saxony-Merseburg) ⚭ Elisabeth of Mecklenburg-Güstrow
- Moritz (born October 29, 1662 in Merseburg, † April 21, 1664 in Merseburg), Prince of Saxony-Merseburg
- Sibylle Marie (born October 28, 1667 in Merseburg, † October 9, 1693 in Bernstadt), Princess of Saxony-Merseburg ⚭ Christian Ulrich I, Duke of Württemberg-Oels-Bernstadt
In addition, recent research confirms a not insignificant number of illegitimate children from his connections to mistresses , which, however, was by no means unusual.
ancestors
| Pedigree of Christian I of Saxony-Merseburg | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great-great-grandparents |
Duke |
King |
Elector |
Duke |
Margrave |
Prince |
Duke |
Emperor |
| Great grandparents |
Elector August of Saxony (1526–1586) |
Elector Johann Georg von Brandenburg (1525–1598) |
Duke Albrecht of Prussia (1490–1568) |
Duke Wilhelm V (1516–1592) |
||||
| Grandparents |
Elector Christian I of Saxony (1560–1591) |
Duke Albrecht Friedrich of Prussia (1553–1618) |
||||||
| parents |
Elector Johann Georg I of Saxony (1585–1656) |
|||||||
|
Christian I of Saxe-Merseburg |
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literature
- Heinrich Theodor Flathe : Christian I (Duke of Saxony-Merseburg) . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 4, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1876, p. 174.
- Andreas Hanslok: The imaginary and reified symbolism of power of Duke Christian I of Saxony-Merseburg in the baroque planned and residential town of Dobrilugk . In: Niederlausitzer Studien , Heft 40 (2014), pp. 29–40.
Web links
- Publications by and about Christian I in VD 17 .
- Johann Hübners ... three hundred and three and thirty genealogical tables, tab. 170
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Administration by the Electorate of Saxony |
Proposed Administrator of Merseburg 1650 / 53 - 1691 |
risen in the duchy of Saxony-Merseburg |
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| emerged from Kursachsen and Merseburg |
Duke of Saxe-Merseburg 1656 / 57 - 1691 |
Christian II |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Christian I. |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Christian I of Saxe-Merseburg |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Duke of Saxe-Merseburg, Prince of the House of Wettin |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 27, 1615 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Dresden |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 18, 1691 |
| Place of death | Merseburg |