Saxe-Coburg

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Banner of the Holy Roman Emperor with haloes (1400-1806) .svg
Territory in the Holy Roman Empire
Saxe-Coburg
coat of arms
Coat of arms of Saxony.svg



Consist 1572-1826
Arose from Franconian Circle in the Electorate of Saxony
Form of rule Duchy
Ruler / government duke
Today's region / s DE-BY , DE-TH


Reichskreis Upper Saxon Imperial Circle
Capitals / residences Coburg
Dynasties Wettiner
Denomination / Religions Lutheran
Language / n Itzgründisch


Incorporated into Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha


Saxony-Coburg (around 1680)

Saxe-Coburg was an Ernestine principality with the Upper Franconian Coburg as the royal seat .

history

Coat of arms of Sachsen-Coburg on the Veste Coburg with the motto "Fideliter et constanter" (loyal and steadfast)
Coat of arms on the town hall of Coburg

Ernestine line

When Heinrich VIII von Henneberg-Schleusingen died in 1347, the property of the House of Henneberg-Schleusingen was divided between the widow Jutta von Brandenburg and Heinrich's younger brother Johann, with Jutta being awarded the so-called new rule, including with Coburg. Six years later, after Jutta's death, the new rule was finally divided among three of her daughters. The second daughter Katharina von Henneberg was awarded the south-eastern part with the Coburg region.

Margrave Friedrich III. von Meißen from the House of Wettin , husband of Katharina von Henneberg , asked for his wife's dowry after the marriage in 1346, the so-called Coburg care , which, however, met with resistance from his father-in-law. So Friedrich III. von Meißen only enfeoffed the property after Jutta's death in 1353. Thus the Coburg care formed the southernmost part of the Saxon territories. With the great Saxon division in 1485 into an Albertine and an Ernestine line, the maintenance of Coburg, along with the greater part of the Landgraviate of Thuringia and the Vogtland possessions, fell to Ernst von Sachsen and was thus assigned to the Ernestine line.

Duke Johann Ernst

Ehrenburg Castle in Coburg, part from the 16th century

After the Schmalkaldic War , which was lost in 1547, the Ernestines' territorial holdings in Thuringia were greatly reduced (see also History of Thuringia ). Since the offices of the Coburg care department were assigned to Duke Johann Ernst as equipment, they remained unaffected by the measures taken against the outlawed elector. Johann Ernst had the Ehrenburg built as a new residential palace in the city , which was later used and expanded by the various dukes of Saxe-Coburg. When Johann Ernst died childless in 1553, the former Elector Johann Friedrich I, now only Duke of Saxony, had just been released from prison and died in 1554.

Joint government

The care of Coburg was given to Duke Johann Friedrich II. The Middle as part of his inheritance. He ruled from Gotha together with his brothers Johann Wilhelm (residing in Weimar) and Johann Friedrich , the younger. After the early death of the youngest brother there was a provisional division of the entire Ernestine property, with the brothers agreeing to mutsch , every three years a change in government. Johann Friedrich II ruled Gotha, Eisenach and Coburg, but in his endeavor to regain the electoral dignity for himself and his house, he came into conflict with the emperor ( Grumbachsche Handel ) and was eventually ostracized and imprisoned for the rest of his life. His property initially fell to his brother Johann Wilhelm, who had participated in the Reich execution on the side of Elector August von Sachsen, but was returned to his sons in the partition of Erfurt in 1572.

Duke Johann Casimir

Johann Casimir Duke of Saxe-Coburg, 1597, oil on panel; Callenberg Castle , Coburg

With the Erfurt partition treaty of 1572, the remaining land was forcibly divided between the sons of the inferior Elector Johann Friedrich ( see also: Johann Ernst I. von Coburg ). The younger son Johann Wilhelm received Saxony-Weimar , including the cities of Jena , Altenburg and Saalfeld . Since the older son Johann Friedrich II. (The middle one) was in lifelong captivity in Austria , the underage grandchildren Johann Casimir and Johann Ernst were assigned the new principality of Saxe-Coburg with Coburg as the royal seat. The principality consisted of areas in the south and west of today's Free State of Thuringia , u. a. with the cities of Eisenach , Gotha , Hildburghausen and Sonneberg . The children's guardian was, among others, Elector August von Sachsen , who provided for an upbringing under his supervision and in his interest and installed a corrupt guardianship government in Coburg.

Only after the death of Elector August of Saxony in 1586 was Duke Johann Casimir able to take over the government of the principality together with his brother Johann Ernst. In 1596 the principality of Saxony-Eisenach was split off for Johann Ernst and Casimir continued to rule Coburg alone. His territory consisted of the offices of Coburg with the courts of Lauter , Rodach and Gestungshausen , Heldburg with the court of Hildburghausen , Römhild , Eisfeld , Schalkau , Sonneberg , Neustadt , Neuhaus , Mönchröden , Sonnefeld and Tenneberg . Under him there was brisk construction activity in Coburg. Above all, he established an administrative apparatus as the core of the Coburg statehood, which lasted long after his death and survived many political upheavals. In 1633 Casimir, the founder of the Coburg State, died childless. The principality of Saxe-Coburg fell to Saxe-Eisenach of the likewise childless brother Johann Ernst. During this time, the Coburg Land was badly affected by the Thirty Years' War as a transit station for numerous armies. The population fell from 55,000 to 22,000.

Inheritance divisions

In 1638 the Coburg-Eisenach line of the Ernestines expired and the territory was divided between Saxe-Weimar and Saxe-Altenburg . By drawing lots in 1640, the Coburg , Sonnefeld , Sonneberg , Neuhaus , Neustadt , Hildburghausen and Römhild offices went to Duke Friedrich Wilhelm II of Saxe-Altenburg. The principalities of Altenburg and Coburg were ruled by the duke in personal union and kept their own state authorities. Duke Friedrich Wilhelm II. Died in 1669, three years later Hereditary Prince Friedrich Wilhelm III., With which the Sachsen-Altenburg line became extinct. Three quarters of the Altenburg area, including the Coburg area, was secured in the Gotha Partition Treaty in 1672 by the new sovereign Duke Ernst I the Pious of Saxe-Gotha , who died in 1675. The affairs of state of Saxony-Gotha were taken over by the eldest son Friedrich at the request of the father, together with his other six brothers.

Since the attempt to hold court together at Friedenstein Castle in Gotha failed, the inheritance was divided between the seven brothers in 1680. The second eldest son of Ernst I the Pious of Saxe-Gotha Albrecht received the principality of Saxe-Coburg. Like Saxe-Gotha under Duke Friedrich and Saxe-Meiningen under Duke Bernhard I , the third eldest son, the principality received full state sovereignty in the Imperial Union. With the offices of Coburg, Neustadt / Sonneberg , Mönchröden , Sonnefeld and Neuhaus, however, it was now considerably smaller than before, since Römhild and Hildburghausen were separated to provide for the younger Albrecht brothers.

Duke Albrecht

The giant hall in the Ehrenburg bears witness to Albrecht's splendid building program in the 1690s

Under Duke Albrecht , the expansion of Coburg into a baroque residence began. In doing so, he followed the customs of his royal and princely contemporaries and tried to imitate their court rulings in Coburg in miniature. His court library comprises 4,757 volumes. His intention to raise the high school Casimirianum to a university failed because of the tight finances. The reconstruction of the Ehrenburg Palace , which burned down in 1690 as a baroque palace, ultimately led to the financial ruin of the principality, which could not prevent the minting of inferior coins. The baroque prince Duke Albrecht died in 1699 without any surviving descendants. The usual inheritance disputes followed. In 1705 Sachsen-Hildburghausen received the office of Sonnefeld . The dispute between Bernhard von Sachsen-Meiningen and the youngest brother Johann Ernst von Sachsen-Saalfeld lasted three and a half decades and only ended with several interventions by the emperor in Vienna in 1735. Sachsen-Meiningen received the Neuhaus office and the Sonneberg court , while Sachsen-Saalfeld merged with the remaining part to form the Principality of Sachsen-Coburg-Saalfeld , to which a third was awarded by Sachsen-Römhild in 1753 .

Duke Franz Josias

Duke Johann Ernst von Sachsen-Saalfeld died in 1729. After that, his sons Christian Ernst and Franz Josias ruled the country together, but from different places of residence. Christian Ernst stayed in Saalfeld while Franz Josias chose Coburg as his royal seat, which remained so until the end of the monarchy in 1918. In 1745 Duke Franz Josias inherited the Saalfeld part of the country from his brother. In 1747 he was able to legally enshrine the right of birthright ( primogeniture ) at the succession to the throne and, together with a rapidly growing family, ensured the long-term survival of the small Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld , which was raised to a duchy in 1806 , and from 1826 as the double duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha .

Regents of Saxe-Coburg

  • Saxe-Coburg 1681–1735
    • 1681–1699 Albrecht , son of Ernst I of Saxe-Gotha (1648–1699)
    • 1699–1729 Johann Ernst , Duke of Saxe-Saalfeld, son of Ernst I of Saxe-Gotha (1658–1729)
    • 1729–1735 Christian Ernst , Duke of Saxony-Saalfeld, together with his brother Franz Josias
  • Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
    • 1735–1745 Christian Ernst, together with his brother Franz Josias
    • 1745–1764 Franz Josias (1697–1764), son of Johann Ernst
    • 1764–1800 Ernst Friedrich (1724–1800), son of Franz Josias'
    • 1800–1806 Franz Friedrich (1750–1806), son of Ernst Friedrich
    • 1806–1826 Ernst (1784–1844), son of Franz Friedrich

See also

literature

Web links

Wikisource: Zedler: Coburg, a principality  - sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bachmann, Harald: Ehrenburg Castle in Coburg. In: The residence castles of the Ernestines. Ed. V. Roswitha Jacobsen. Bucha near Jena 2009, p. 44.
  2. ↑ Harald Bachmann: “… I will chase away all these little princes!” In: Stefan Nöth (Ed.): Coburg 1056–2006, A foray through 950 years of the history of town and country. ISBN 3-86652-082-4 , p. 181.