Ernest, Elector of Saxony

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Ernest (24 March 1441 – 26 August 1486), known as Ernst in German, was

Ernst was the founder and progenitor of the Ernestine line of

Ernst was born in Meissen, the second son (but fourth in order of birth) of the eight children of Frederick II, Elector of Saxony and Margaret of Austria, sister of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor. The death of his older brother Frederick (1451) made him the new heir apparent to the position of Elector of Saxony.

In 1455 Ernst was briefly kidnapped, along with his brother Albert, by the knight

In 1464, he succeeded his father as Elector of Saxony, and annexed Thuringia in 1482, and three years later (Treaty of Leipzig, 1485) shared his territory with his brother Albert, until he arranged the division of the common possession.

According to the Treaty of Leipzig he received an area around Wittenberg, the southern Thuringian part, the Vogtland and parts of the Pleissnerland. As a residence he selected Wittenberg. He provided for the welfare of the country and introduced the constitution.

One year after the division, Ernest died in Colditz, at the age of 46 years, the consequence of a fall from a horse.

Children

In Leipzig on 19 November 1460 Ernst married Elisabeth of Bavaria. They had seven children:

1. Christina (25 December 1461, Torgau – 8 December 1521, Odense), married on 6 September 1478 to King John I of Denmark
2. Frederick III, Elector of Saxony (17 January 1463, Torgau – 5 May 1525, Lockau)
3. Bishop of Halberstadt
   (1480–1513)
4. Adalbert
   (8 May 1467, Meissen – 1 May 1484, Aschaffenburg), Administrator of Mainz
5. Johann, Elector of Saxony (30 June 1468, Meissen – 16 August 1532, Schweinitz)
6. Henry I of Lüneburg
7. Wolfgang (c. 1473, Meissen – c. 1478, Torgau).

Ancestry

References

Sources

• Trim, David J. B. (2003). The Chivalric Ethos and the Development of Military Professionalism. BRILL.
  ISBN 978-9004120952
  .

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