Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

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For other uses, see House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Herzogtum Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha
1826–1918
Flag of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Flag
Coat of arms of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Coat of arms
Anthem: Heil unserem Herzog, heil
"Hail to our Duke, hail"
Duke
 
• 1826–1844
Ernest I
• 1844–1893
Ernest II
• 1893–1900
Alfred
• 1900–1918
Charles Edward
History 
• Established
1826
• 
German Revolution
18 November 1918
Currency
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg
Free State of Coburg
Republic of Gotha
Free State of Gotha

Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (

Free State of Bavaria.[2]

The name Saxe-Coburg-Gotha also refers to the family of the ruling

United Kingdom, Belgium, Portugal, Bulgaria, and Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. In 1910, the Portuguese king was deposed, and the same thing occurred in Saxe-Coburg-Gotha in 1918 and in Bulgaria in 1946. As of 2024, a branch of the family still reigns in Belgium. The former Tsar of Bulgaria, Simeon II
(reigned 1943–46), kept his surname while serving as the Prime Minister of Bulgaria from 2001 to 2005.

History

Ducal standard of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

The Duchy was born when the arbitration of the King of Saxony, Frederick Augustus, produced the Treaty of Hildburghausen on 12 November 1826 for the Gothaische Teilung (Gothan Division), the extensive rearrangement of the Ernestine duchies. After the extinction of the Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg line, the Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen exchanged his Duchy for that of Saxe-Altenburg. The Saxe-Meiningen line became Saxe-Hildburghausen and got from Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld the Saalfelder territories as well as the District of Themar and the places of Mupperg, Mogger, Liebau and Oerlsdorf. The Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld received for that the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg, Districts of Königsberg and Sonnefeld from Saxe-Hildburghausen, and the properties of Callenberg and Gauerstadt from Saxe-Meiningen.

By then, the Principality of Lichtenberg, on the Nahe River, had already been a part of the Duchy of Coburg for ten years. Ernest III, the sovereign of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, had received it in 1816 from the Congress of Vienna for providing assistance to the Allies in their war against France. But, because of the great distance from Coburg and of the unrest caused by the Hambach Festival, the Duke sold the Principality in 1834 to Prussia.

Principality of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen (Sondershausen)
Surrounding states and their capitals
  Kingdom of Prussia (Berlin), Province of Saxony (Magdeburg), Region of Erfurt (Erfurt)
  Kingdom of Prussia, Province of Hesse-Nassau (Kassel), Region of Kassel (Kassel)
  Kingdom of Prussia, Province of Saxony, Region of Merseburg (Merseburg)
  Kingdom of Bavaria (Munich)
  Kingdom of Saxony (Dresden)
Not in the German Empire
  Austria-Hungary (Vienna), Cisleithania (Vienna), Kingdom of Bohemia (Prague
)

The newly created Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was initially a double duchy, ruled by Ernest III as Duke Ernest I in a

Bundesrat. The opportunity to unify the two duchies in 1826 was missed. After the Staatsgrundgesetz (House laws) of 1852, the duchies were bound in a political and real union.[3][4] They were then a quasi-federal unitary state.[5][6] Later attempts to merge the duchies failed in 1867 because the Landtag
of Gotha did not want to assume the higher state debts of Coburg and in 1872 because of the questions about the administration of the whole union.

The Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha received on 3 May 1852 a national constitution, which had taken substantial parts of the fundamental rights from the

Bundesrat in Berlin, where it had a seat, it kept its agents but, since 1913, like most of the other Thuringian states
, it had to defer to the Grand Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen for the representation.

Ernest I died in 1844. His elder son and successor, Ernest II, ruled until his own death in 1893. Because he had died childless, the throne of the two duchies would have passed to his late brother

Prince Albert's male descendants. But Prince Albert was the husband of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and his eldest son, Edward, the Prince of Wales, was already her heir apparent. Besides, he was prohibited by the Constitutions of both duchies from inheriting the throne if there were other eligible male heirs.[7] But he had already renounced his claim in favour of his next brother, Prince Alfred
, Duke of Edinburgh. So Alfred became the next Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

Republic of Saxe-Gotha then Free State of Saxe-Gotha
Free State of Coburg
Enclave of the Free State of Saxe-Coburg, Königsberg in Bavaria
The Principality of Lichtenberg, (1816–1834)

Alfred's only son, also named

First World War, he was stripped of his British titles in 1919.[8]

After the

Free State of Bavaria
.

Politics

In the German Empire, the Duchy had only one vote in the

Bundesrat and two votes (for the two Duchies of Coburg and Gotha) in the Reichstag.[9]

Each Duchy had its own Landtag, elected every four years by male taxpayers over 25 years of age. Only males 30 years or older were eligible to stand for the elections. The Coburger assembly had 11 members and its twin in Gotha had 19. The assemblies met every year but, every two years, they would combine, alternatively in Gotha and Coburg, for the matters and questions that involve both Duchies.[10]

For both duchies, however, there was a Ministry of State in Gotha but Coburg and Gotha had their own subordinate and almost independent ministries. The Minister of State directed Gotha's Ducal ministry but, for both Duchies, he was responsible for the state affairs, the economical and commercials policies, the judiciary and the conduct of Imperial laws. In Coburg, for state matters as such as community services, police duties, support of the state church, and education, as well as management of assets and finances, and also, until 1891, court matters, the local authorities could not interfere with the decisions from Gotha.

The finances of both Duchies remained basically disconnected. But, in their management, a distinction was always made between the Crown revenue from the domains and the State revenue from taxes and duties. Every four years, a common budget, especially in the financial dealings with the German Empire, was made, even if it interfered with the local and national operations of the two Duchies. Grants from the state budgets of both Duchies were made in the ratio of 7 to 3 between Gotha and Coburg.

Because of its size and finances, the Duchy did not have ambassadors but it did have trade consuls. They were for trade with Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, France, Great Britain, Italy, Mexico, Peru, Portugal, Prussia, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, and Turkey.[9] The United States had its own consul in Coburg from 1897 to 1918.[11]

During the American Civil War, Ernst Raven was assigned to the position of consul in the state of Texas. He applied to the Confederate Government for a diplomatic exequatur on 30 July 1861 and was accepted.[12]

Military

Before 1867, the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha had its own Army. But, on 26 June 1867, because of a treaty signed in 1866 with Prussia, its Army was added, for defending and recruiting purposes, to the 6th Thuringian Infantry Regiment No. 95 of the

Imperial Army with the draft.[14]

Miscellaneous

The capitals of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha were Coburg and Gotha. By 1914 the area and populations of the two duchies were:[15]

Duchy Area Population
km2 sq mi
Saxe-Coburg 562 217 74,818
Saxe-Gotha 1,415 546 182,359
Total 1,977 763 257,177

There are two

Friedenstein in Gotha and Ehrenburg in Coburg, the Ducal family also used the Schloss Reinhardsbrunn in Gotha as well as the Rosenau and Callenberg castles in Coburg and the hunting lodge Greinburg Castle, Grein, Austria (the latter two still today owned by the ducal branch of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
).

Only the Duchy of Gotha, along with nearby Duchies of Saxe-Meiningen and Saxe-Altenburg and especially the Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach – was able to be one of the sponsoring states of the University of Jena. Coburg did not have its own university. It did not have its court of law, either. Gotha had its own court of law while Coburg had to go to Meiningen for the legal administration.

Ruler

The children of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1917: Princess Sibylle and Prince Hubertus

Titles and styles of the Sovereign of the House

According to the Staatsgrundgesetz (House laws) of the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the full title of the Duke was:[16]

Wir, Ernst, Herzog zu Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha, Jülich, Cleve und Berg, auch Engern und Westphalen, Landgraf in Thüringen, Markgraf zu Meißen, gefürsteter Graf zu Henneberg, Graf zu der Mark und Ravensberg, Herr zu Ravenstein und Tonna usw.

Translation: We, Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha,

Princely Count of Henneberg, Count of the Mark and Ravensberg, Lord of Ravenstein and Tonna
, et cetera.

Titles and styles of other members of the House

The use of Ducal and Princely titles may be restricted if the marriage conflicts with the requirements of the Staatsgrundgesetz or if a member of the House renounces his claims for himself and his descendants.[16]

Dukes of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1826–1918)

Coat of arms of Saxe-Coburg
and Gotha
Heraldic shield
of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

State Ministers of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1824–1919)

  • 1824–1840 Christoph Anton Ferdinand von Carlowitz
  • 1840–1840 Dietrich [Carl August] Freiherr von Stein (first time)
  • 1840–1846 Georg Ferdinand von Lepel
  • 1846–1849 Dietrich [Carl August] Freiherr von Stein (second time)
  • 1849–1888 Camillo Freiherr von Seebach
  • 1888–1891 Gisbert von Bonin
  • 1891–1900 Office Vacant
  • 1900–1905 [Philipp Hermann] Otto von Hentig
  • 1905–1914 Ernst [Friedrich Hermann] von Richter
  • 1914–1919 Hans Barthold von Bassewitz

See also

References

  1. ISBN 9780143122951
    ).
  2. ISBN 978-1473845800
    .
  3. ^ a b (in German) Erdmann, Coburg, Bayern und das Reich 1918–1923, p. 2–3
  4. ISBN 3-7400-0077-5
    , p. 223
  5. ^ (in German) Dressel, Die Entwicklung von Verfassung und Verwaltung in Sachsen-Coburg 1800–1826 im Vergleich, p. 532
  6. ^ (in German) Jellinek, Georg, Die Lehre von den Staatenverbindungen [The Theory of the Unifications of States] (Berlin: Verlag von O. Haering 1882), p. 208 ff.
  7. ^ (in German) Sander, Harold. "II.1.4 Prinz Albert", Das Haus von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha 1826 bis 2001, page 86: "Der zukünftige König von England und der vorraussichtliche englische Thronfolger sind von der von Regierung im Herzogtum ausgeschlossen" ["The future King of England and the presumptive British Heir to the Throne are excluded from the government in the Duchy"]
  8. ^ Fitzroy, Almeric. Clerk of the Privy Council, "The Titles Deprivation Act, 1917", The London Gazette, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, England, 28 March 1919, Issue No 31255, page 4000
  9. ^ a b c Robinson, Janet and Joe Robinson, Handbook of Imperial Germany (Bloomington, Indiana: AuthorHouse, 2009), page 87
  10. ^ Martin, Frederick, ed., The Statesman's Yearbook: A Statistical, Genealogical, and Historical Account of the States and Sovereigns of the Civiised World for the Year 1866 (London and Cambridge: MacMillan and Co., 1866) page 173
  11. ^ Lawrence Kestenbaum, “U.S. consul officials in Germany”, The Political Graveyard, retrieved 10 December 2013.
  12. ^ 58th Congress, 2nd Session, Senate Document No. 234, Journal of the Congress of the Confederate States of America, 1861–1865, Volume 5 (Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1905), page 422
  13. ^ (in German) "Militar", Das Deutsche Schutzgebiete: Herzogtum Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha [The German Protectorates: The Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha]
  14. ^ Martin, Fredrick, ed., The Statesman's Yearbook 1866, page 174. "... the finances of the duchy do not allow the maintenance of a large force, the troops required for actual service are drawn by conscription, in the form of ballot."
  15. ^ (in German) Sander, Harold, “I.11 Herzogtum Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha”, Das Haus von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha 1826 bis 2001, page 27
  16. ^ a b (in English and German) Velde, François, "House Laws of the Saxe-Coburg and Gotha", posted 17 June 2008, Heraldica: Topics: Royalty, http://www.heraldica.org/topics/royalty/HGSachsen-CG.htm, retrieved 10 December 2013. The original source was: Paul Posener, Die staatsverfassungen des Erdballs; unter Mitwirkung von Gelehrten und Staatsmännern [The State Constitutions of the World, With Participation of Scholars and Statesmen]. (Charlottenburg: Fichtner, 1909).

Bibliography

External links

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