Ernestine division
The Ernestine division - according to the Altenburger inheritance agreement of February 13, 1640 - describes one of the numerous land divisions that the Ernestine Wettins carried out in Thuringia .
The division was carried out between the Duke of Saxe-Weimar Wilhelm IV and his younger brothers Albrecht , who later became Duke of Saxe-Eisenach, and Ernst I, the pious , who later became Duke of Saxe-Gotha . In addition to Saxe-Weimar, the new duchies of Saxe-Eisenach and Saxe-Gotha emerged.
prehistory
Duke Johann Wilhelm I of Saxe-Weimar was the last Ernestine who, even if only briefly, had the entire Ernestine possessions, i.e. all the lands and possessions that remained to the Ernestines after the Wittenberg surrender . In 1572, however, he was forced against his will to share his property with his nephews Johann Casimir and Johann Ernst ( partition of Erfurt ). In addition to Saxe-Weimar, the new duchies of Saxe-Coburg and Saxe-Eisenach came into being. In 1603, the older line of the dukes of Saxony-Altenburg also split off from Sachsen-Weimar .
The division of Ernestine
Saxony-Coburg died out in 1633, which then fell temporarily to Saxony-Eisenach, which, however, also died out in 1638. The holdings of this line, i.e. mainly Coburg , Gotha and Eisenach , were then divided between the two remaining Ernestine lines, i.e. Saxe-Weimar and Saxe-Altenburg, with Saxe-Weimar receiving the lion's share. This reversed the division of Erfurt and Saxony-Weimar administered most of the entire Ernestine property (with the exception of the areas belonging to the older line of Saxony-Altenburg), so it had again reached a size that made a division possible.
In Saxe-Weimar, Duke Wilhelm IV had ruled since 1620 , but he had to involve his younger brothers in the government. In 1639/40 only two of Wilhelm's younger brothers lived, so that now a division of the Saxon-Weimar property into three parts was justifiable. Wilhelm therefore divided his possessions with his two brothers in the partition of Erfurt: Saxe-Weimar was divided into Saxe-Gotha and Saxe-Eisenach. Saxe-Eisenach fell to Duke Albrecht , Saxe-Gotha to Duke Ernst I the Pious .
meaning
With the Ernestine division, the division of the former Ernestine property in Thuringia was cemented and another important step was taken on the way to the emergence of small states in Thuringia (see Ernestine duchies ). The Sachsen-Eisenach line was short-lived; it died out again in 1644. Saxony-Eisenach fell back to Saxony-Weimar, was separated from it several times, but remained permanently with Saxony-Weimar (Duchy, later (1815) Grand Duchy of Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach ) from 1741 . The Sachsen-Gotha line, on the other hand, has continued to flourish today. It was divided several times later (see Gothaer Hauptreceß ), on it, i.e. on Ernst the Pious, the lines of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha , Saxe-Meiningen and Saxe-Altenburg emerged, which were their respective countries until the abolition of the monarchy in 1918 ruled. The division of Ernestine was not overcome until the state of Thuringia was created in 1920.
Footnotes
- ^ Georg Wilhelm Sante (ed.): History of the German Lands - "Territories Ploetz". Vol. 1: The territories until the end of the old empire . A.-G.-Ploetz-Verlag, Würzburg 1964, p. 468.