Last modified: 2004-01-09 by santiago dotor
Keywords: thuringia | thüringen | saxe-weimar-eisenach | saxe-meiningen | saxe-altenburg | saxe-coburg-gotha | reuss-gera | reuss-greiz | schwarzburg-rudolstadt | schwarzburg-sondershausen |
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After World War One, the various duchies and principalities in the Thuringian region were merged [in 1920] to form the State of Thuringia [except Saxe-Coburg which joined Bavaria].
Norman Martin, March 1998
The small Ernestine Saxon Duchies and other nearby states (eg. People's Republic of Reuss) were merged into a new republic named Thuringia. White over red flag was adopted.
Jaume Ollé, 24 August 1998
The later duchy of (Upper) Saxony was formed out of the Saxon palatinate after the duchy of Saxony proper (nowadays Lower Saxony or Niedersachsen) was liquidated in 1180. In 1243 the counts of Meissen were made landgraves of Thuringia. In 1423 margrave Frederick of Meissen, count of Wettin, received the duchy and the electoral dignity of Upper Saxony. His grandsons however partitioned the territories in 1485. The elder line derives from duke Ernst of Saxony, landgrave of Thuringia, lord of Coburg. It inherited Thuringia but had to give up the electoral dignity by order of emperor Charles V in 1547 to the younger branch of the house, the Albertine line of the later kings of Saxony. The Ernestine line divided itself further in later centuries.
Theo van der Zalm, 15 June 2001
From the Infoplease website:
[The] Wettin [were a] German dynasty, which ruled in Saxony, Thuringia, Poland, Great Britain, Belgium and Bulgaria. It takes its name from a castle on the Saale near Halle. The family gained prominence in the 10th cent. as leaders in the German drive to the east, which made Saxony and Lusatia German. It acquired (c.1100) the margravate of Meissen and soon expanded its domains to include most of Saxony and Thuringia. In 1423, Frederick the Warlike of Meissen was granted Saxony and became (1425) elector of Saxony as Frederick I.The Wettin holdings were repeatedly subdivided. The most important division (1485) established the Ernestine line and the Albertine line, named for Frederick II's sons Ernest and Albert. The electoral title and most of Saxony passed in 1547 from the Ernestine to the Albertine line. The Ernestine line retained its possessions in Thuringia but split into several collateral branches. In 1918, when the house of Wettin was deposed in Thuringia and Saxony, its Thuringian holdings consisted of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, a grand duchy, and of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (see under Saxe-Coburg), Saxe-Meiningen, and Saxe-Altenburg, which were duchies.
From the branch of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha the Belgian, the English, and the Bulgarian dynasties were descended through, respectively, Leopold I of the Belgians, Prince Albert (consort of Queen Victoria), and Czar Ferdinand of Bulgaria. The English house changed its name to Windsor; the Bulgarian branch was deposed in 1946. A cousin of Prince Albert married Queen Maria II of Portugal and became king consort as Ferdinand II of Portugal.
The Albertine line ruled in Saxony, obtaining hereditary royal rank in 1806; it also ruled Poland from 1697 to 1763 (...).
Santiago Dotor, 15 July 2002