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Duchy of Saxe-Merseburg | |||||||||
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1657–1738 | |||||||||
Status | State of the Holy Roman Empire Secundogeniture of Saxony | ||||||||
Capital | Merseburg | ||||||||
Government | Duchy | ||||||||
Duke | |||||||||
• 1657–1691 | Christian I | ||||||||
• 1691–1694 | Christian II | ||||||||
• 1694 | Christian III Maurice | ||||||||
• 1604–1731 | Maurice Wilhelm | ||||||||
• 1731–1738 | Heinrich | ||||||||
Historical era | Early modern Europe | ||||||||
• Death of Elector John George I | 1656 | ||||||||
• Split off from Saxony | 1657 | ||||||||
• Fell back to Saxony | 1738 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
Today part of | Germany |
The Duchy of Saxe-Merseburg was a duchy of the Holy Roman Empire, with Merseburg as its capital. It existed from 1656 or 1657 to 1738 and was owned by an Albertine secundogeniture of the Saxon House of Wettin.
The Wettin Elector John George I of Saxony stipulated in his will dated 20 July 1652 that his three younger sons should receive secundogeniture principalities. After the elector died on 8 October 1656, his sons concluded the "friend-brotherly main treaty" in the Saxon residence of Dresden on 22 April 1657 and a further treaty in 1663 delineating their territories and sovereign rights definitively. The treaties created three duchies: Saxe-Zeitz, Saxe-Weissenfels, and Saxe-Merseburg.
Prince Christian, the third eldest son, received, among other properties, the estates of the former Bishopric of Merseburg, secularised in 1565: the castles, cities and districts of Merseburg, Plagwitz, Rückmarsdorf, Delitzsch (with Delitzsch Castle), Bad Lauchstädt, Schkeuditz, Lützen, Bitterfeld, Zörbig, the County of Brehna as well as the Margraviate of Lower Lusatia, including the cities and castles of Lübben, Doberlug, Finsterwalde, Döbern, Forst and Guben. Many of these territories had belonged to the Diocese of Merseburg until it was secularized in 1562.
The area of Saxe-Merseburg stretched to the western city limits of Leipzig. The customs station was in what is now the inner city district of Lindenau.
After the death of the last male heir of the Saxon branch line in 1738, the Duchy of Saxe-Merseburg fell back to the Electorate of Saxony.
To supply his three younger sons with incomes befitting a duke, Duke Christian I created apanages for his younger sons during his lifetime. These territories remained dependent on the main line and their sovereignty was severely restricted. They were named after their owner's residences and disappeared with the death of their first duke, because none of them fathered surviving male heirs. Before it died out, the Saxe-Merseburg-Spremberg line inherited all of Saxe-Merseburg.
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.
Christian I of Saxe-Merseburg, was the first duke of Saxe-Merseburg and a member of the House of Wettin.
Christian II of Saxe-Merseburg, was a duke of Saxe-Merseburg and member of the House of Wettin.
Christian III Maurice, was a duke of Saxe-Merseburg and member of the House of Wettin.
Maurice Wilhelm, Duke of Saxe-Merseburg was a duke of Saxe-Merseburg and member of the House of Wettin.
August, Duke of Saxe-Merseburg-Zörbig, was a German prince and member of the House of Wettin.
Heinrich, Duke of Saxe-Merseburg, was a duke of Saxe-Merseburg and member of the House of Wettin.
Maurice of Saxe-Zeitz was a duke of Saxe-Zeitz and member of the House of Wettin.
Moritz Wilhelm, a member of the Saxon House of Wettin, was the second and last Duke of Saxe-Zeitz from 1681 until his death.
Saxe-Weissenfels was a Duchy of the Holy Roman Empire from 1656 until 1746 with its residence at Weißenfels. Ruled by a cadet branch of the Albertine House of Wettin, the duchy passed to the Electorate of Saxony upon the extinction of the line.
The Duchy of Saxe-Zeitz was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire established in 1656–57 as a secundogeniture of the Electoral Saxon house of House of Wettin. Its capital was Zeitz. The territory fell back to the Wettin electoral line in 1718.
Erdmuthe Dorothea of Saxe-Zeitz was the wife of Duke Christian II of Saxe-Merseburg, whom she married on 14 October 1679 at Moritzburg Palace in Zeitz.
Duke Christian Ulrich I of Württemberg-Oels was a German nobleman. He was the ruling Duke of Württemberg-Bernstadt from 1669 to 1697 and then the ruling Duke of Oels-Württemberg from 1697 until his death.
Dorothea Maria of Saxe-Weimar, was by birth Duchess of Saxe-Weimar from the Ernestine branch of the House of Wettin and by marriage Duchess of Saxe-Zeitz.
Johanna Magdalena of Saxe-Altenburg was a member of the House of Wettin. She was a Duchess of Saxe-Altenburg by birth and by marriage a Duchess of Saxe-Weissenfels-Querfurt.
Magdalena Sibylle of Holstein-Gottorp was a Duchess of Holstein-Gottorp by birth and by marriage Duchess of Mecklenburg-Güstrow. From 1654 to 1695, she was the consort of Duke Gustav Adolph of Mecklenburg-Güstrow.
Princess Christiana of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, often referred to as Christiane was the consort of Christian I, Duke of Saxe-Merseburg, who was the ruling Duke of Saxe-Merseburg from 1650 until his death.
Sophie Angelika of Württemberg-Oels, was a Duchess of Württemberg-Oels by birth and by marriage She became the Duchess of Saxe-Zeitz-Pegau-Neustadt.
Elisabeth of Mecklenburg-Güstrow, was a German noblewoman member of the House of Mecklenburg and by marriage Duchess of Saxe-Merseburg-Spremberg and Saxe-Merseburg.