| Anna of Saxony | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Duchess consort of Saxe-Coburg-Eisenach | |
| Tenure | 1586-1593 |
| Born | 16 November 1567 Dresden |
| Died | 27 January 1613 (aged 45) Veste Coburg |
| Spouse | John Casimir, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Eisenach |
| House | House of Wettin |
| Father | Augustus, Elector of Saxony |
| Mother | Anna of Denmark |
Anna of Saxony (16 November 1567 - 27 January 1613), [1] was a Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Eisenach by marriage to John Casimir, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Eisenach.
Born in Dresden, she was the twelfth of fifteen children born from the first marriage of Augustus, Elector of Saxony and Anna, Princess of Denmark.
On 4 May 1584 and without the consent of her father, Anna became engaged to John Casimir, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Eisenach. The marriage finally took place in Dresden on 16 January 1586, and she received 30,000 Thalers as a dowry, as well as the city of Römhild as her Wittum (Dower land). [2] The cheerful and high-spirited Duchess soon produced magnificent festivities in her new court.
However, the marriage soon failed: John Casimir preferred hunting to marital life. By the end of September 1593, the Duchess was caught in adultery by her husband. John Casimir immediately ordered the arrest of Anna and her lover, Ulrich of Lichtenstein. Despite the letters which Anna wrote to her husband and her relatives asking for mercy, on 12 December the Schöppenstuhl (High Court Chamber) in Jena formally annulled her marriage and sentenced both lovers to beheading by sword. In the case of John Casimir, the death sentence was commuted, suddenly, to life imprisonment.
Anna was sent firstly to Eisenach, then to Kahlenberg Castle, in 1596 to the former Sonnefeld Monastery and finally (1603) to the Veste Coburg, where she died in 1613, aged 45. She was buried in the Klosterkirche, Sonnefeld. Ulrich of Lichtenstein died in prison twenty years later, on 8 December 1633, just three days after being granted his freedom.
In 1599 John Casimir contracted a second marriage with Anna's maternal first-cousin Margaret of Brunswick-Lüneburg; [3] to humiliate his first wife, he celebrated this occasion with the famous Coburg Taler: on the obverse showed a kissing couple with the inscription WIE KVSSEN SICH DIE ZWEY SO FEIN (A well kiss between two), while on the reverse, showed Anna dressed as a nun with the inscription: WER KVST MICH - ARMES NVNNELIN (who kiss you now, poor nun?).
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, or Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, was an Ernestine duchy in Thuringia ruled by a branch of the House of Wettin, consisting of territories in the present-day states of Thuringia and Bavaria in Germany. It lasted from 1826 to 1918. In November 1918, Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, was forced to abdicate. In 1920, the northern part of the duchy was merged with six other Thuringian free states to form the Free State of Thuringia: Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Saxe-Altenburg and Saxe-Meiningen, Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, as well as the People's State of Reuss. The southern part of the duchy, as southernmost of the Thuringian states, was the only one which, after a referendum, became part of the Free State of Bavaria.
The House of Wettin was a dynasty of German kings, prince-electors, dukes, and counts that once ruled territories in the present-day German states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. The dynasty is one of the oldest in Europe, and its origins can be traced back to the town of Wettin, Saxony-Anhalt. The Wettins gradually rose to power within the Holy Roman Empire. Members of the family became the rulers of several medieval states, starting with the Saxon Eastern March in 1030. Other states they gained were Meissen in 1089, Thuringia in 1263, and Saxony in 1423. These areas cover large parts of Central Germany as a cultural area of Germany.
Saxe-Coburg was a duchy held by the Ernestine branch of the Wettin dynasty in today's Bavaria, Germany.
Alfred, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, KG,, was the son and heir apparent of Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. He died aged 24 under circumstances still not entirely clear. He was a first cousin of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, King George V of the United Kingdom and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia.
Anna Maria of Mecklenburg-Schwerin was a German noblewoman, a member of the House of Mecklenburg and by marriage Duchess of Saxe-Weissenfels.
Augustus was Elector of Saxony from 1553 to 1586.
Alexander, Prince of Saxony, Margrave of Meissen, is the nephew, adopted son and heir of Maria Emanuel, Margrave of Meissen, and a businessman with Lebanese, Turkmen, Mexican, Portuguese, Italian, French, Polish, and German roots. Following the death of Maria Emanuel in July 2012 he assumed the headship of the Royal House of Saxony, based on a 1997 agreement that named him heir, but which was repudiated a few years later by a number of signatories. His claim is disputed by his cousin Prince Daniel of Saxony.
John Frederick II of Saxony, was Duke of Saxony (1554–1566).
John Casimir of Saxe-Coburg was the Duke of Saxe-Coburg. He was the descendant of the Ernestine branch of the House of Wettin. Under his rule, the residence town of Coburg prospered with many Renaissance buildings being erected that still remain today.
Prince Albert Joseph Maria Franz-Xaver of Saxony, Duke of Saxony, Margrave of Meissen was the head of the Royal House of Saxony and a German historian. The fourth child and youngest son of Friedrich Christian, Margrave of Meissen and his wife Princess Elisabeth Helene of Thurn and Taxis, he was the younger brother of Maria Emanuel, Margrave of Meissen, who was his predecessor as head of the Royal House of Saxony. Had he been King he would have been known as Albert II
Rüdiger von Sachsen was a claimant to the Headship of the Royal House of Saxony.
Princess Eleonore Erdmuthe Louise of Saxe-Eisenach was a member of the House of Wettin and through her two marriages became Margravine of Brandenburg-Ansbach and Electress of Saxony.
Anne of Denmark was a Danish princess from the House of Oldenburg. Through her marriage with Augustus of Saxony she became Electress of Saxony. She was renowned for her knowledge of plants and her skill in the preparation of herbal remedies, and contributed to the development of farming and horticulture in Saxony. She was a major influence in the introduction of orthodox Lutheranism and played a role in the decision to persecute Calvinists.
Maria of Saxony was a member of the Ernestine line of the house Wettin and a Princess of Saxony by birth and by marriage a Duchess of Pomerania.
Dorothea of Saxony was a Saxon princess from the House of Wettin and by marriage Duchess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.
Elisabeth of Saxony was a Saxon princess, and Countess Palatine of Simmern by marriage to John Casimir of the Palatinate-Simmern.
Elisabeth of the Palatinate was the second wife of John Frederick II, Duke of Saxony.
Sophie of Saxony was a member of the Albertine branch of the House of Wettin. She was a princess of Saxony by birth and by marriage a Duchess of Pomerania-Stettin.
The “Grumbach Feud”, in 1567, was a rather bizarre episode in the history of the Ernestine side of the House of Wettin, which led to life imprisonment for Elector John Frederick II “the Middle”, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Eisenach.
Margaret of Brunswick-Lüneburg, was a German noblewoman member of the House of Welf and by marriage Duchess of Saxe-Coburg.
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