Christian von Sachsen-Weißenfels (1652–1689)

Christian von Sachsen-Weißenfels (born January 25, 1652 in Halle ; † August 24, 1689 in front of Mainz ) was a born prince and (titular) duke of Sachsen-Weißenfels as well as an electoral general and came from a sideline of the Albertine Wettins .

family

Christian was the third son of Duke August von Sachsen-Weißenfels and his wife Anna Maria von Mecklenburg-Schwerin , daughter of Duke Adolf Friedrich I. von Mecklenburg-Schwerin .

Life

Christian, who as the third son could hardly hope for his father's inheritance, devoted himself to the military as befits his rank .

During the Great Turkish War in 1686, Duke Christian led the Electoral Saxon contingent of 4,200 men at the siege of Ofen (1684/1686) and distinguished himself together with his brother Heinrich there.

In the subsequent War of the Palatinate Succession , an imperial war against expanding France , he took part from 1688 on the side of Elector Johann Georg III. from Saxony . As a general he was very successful, as evidenced by his appointment as General Field Marshal Lieutenant in Saxony .

Prince Christian was accepted into the Fruitful Society by his father, who was its head . He was given the company name of the friendly .

Prince Christian was mortally wounded on August 24, 1689 at the age of 37 during the siege of Mainz by a musket ball and buried in a pewter coffin in the palace church of Neu-Augustusburg . Since the body had to be embalmed before its long transport to Weißenfels, the removed entrails were buried separately in an urn in the castle church.

literature

• Heinrich Theodor Flathe :  Christian (Duke of Saxony-Weissenfels) . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 4, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1876, p. 175.
• Hans-Joachim Böttcher : The Turkish Wars in the Mirror of Saxon Biographies , Gabriele Schäfer Verlag Herne 2019, ISBN 978-3-944487-63-2 , pp. 76,102,128.

Web links

• Publications from and about Christian von Sachsen-Weißenfels in VD 17 .