Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg
Duchy of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg Herzogtum Sachsen-Gotha-Altenburg | |||||||||||||
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1680–1826 | |||||||||||||
Gotha | |||||||||||||
Government | Duchy | ||||||||||||
Duke | |||||||||||||
• 1680–1691 | Frederick I (first) | ||||||||||||
• 1822–1825 | Frederick IV (last) | ||||||||||||
Historical era | Early modern Europe | ||||||||||||
1672 | |||||||||||||
• Duchy established | 1680 | ||||||||||||
• Partitioned between Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and Saxe-Hildburghausen | 1826 | ||||||||||||
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Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (German: Sachsen-Gotha-Altenburg) was a duchy ruled by the Ernestine branch of the House of Wettin in today's Thuringia, Germany. The extinction of the line in 1825 led to a major re-organisation of the Thuringian states.
History
In 1640 the sons of the late Ernestine duke
The Duchy of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg was nominally created in 1672, when Duke Frederick William III of Saxe-Altenburg died at the age of 14 and Ernest the Pious, by his marriage with Elisabeth Sophie, inherited the major part of his possessions. It was common for the
Frederick had already served as
Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg remained one of the mightiest Ernestine duchies under the rule of Duke
Nevertheless, when the last dukes Emil August, a fervent admirer of the rise of Napoleon, and his brother Frederick IV had both died without male heirs, the house of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg finally became extinct in 1825 and quarrels arose between the three remaining Ernestine lines about the succession. As a result of an arbitration issued by King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony in 1826, the Ernestine duchies were rearranged and Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg was again split:
- Saxe-Gotha passed to the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, which had to cede Saxe-Saalfeld to Saxe-Meiningen. The territories constituted the newly created Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
- Saxe-Altenburg was given to the Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen, who in turn passed his own domain to Saxe-Meiningen and again assumed the title of a Duke of Saxe-Altenburg.
After the abolition of German monarchies in the course of the German Revolution of 1918–1919, all former duchies became part of the newly created state of Thuringia in 1920.
Dukes of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg
- Ernest I the Pious (1640–1675), inherited Saxe-Altenburg in 1675
- Frederick I (1675–1691), son of previous; first to bear the title Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg
- Frederick II (1691–1732), son
- Frederick III (1732–1772), son
- Ernest II (1772–1804), son
- Emil August (1804–1822), son
- Frederick IV (1822–1825), brother, line extinct
See also
References
- Handbook of Imperial Germany AuthorHouse, Sep 1, 2009 pg. 87