Эрнестинские герцогства: история саксонских владений в Тюрингии

Set of related states in Germany

The Ernestine duchies (Ernestinische Herzogtümer), also known as the Saxon duchies (Sächsische Herzogtümer, although the Albertine appanage duchies of Weissenfels, Merseburg and Zeitz were also "Saxon duchies" and adjacent to several Ernestine ones), were a group of small states whose number varied, which were largely located in the present day German state of Thuringia and governed by dukes of the Ernestine line of the House of Wettin.

The Saxon duchy began fragmenting in the 15th century as a result of the old German succession law that divided inheritances among all sons. In addition, every son of a Saxon duke inherited the title of duke. Brothers sometimes ruled the territory inherited from their father jointly, but sometimes they split it up. Some of the Ernestine duchies retained their separate existence until 1918. Similar practices in the houses of Reuss and Schwarzburg led to all of Thuringia becoming a tangle of small states from the late 15th century until the early 20th century.

Count Bernhard of Anhalt, youngest son of Albert "the Bear" (1106–1170), inherited parts of the old Saxon duchy, primarily around Lauenburg and Wittenberg, in 1180. He had two sons, Albert and Henry. Albert inherited the Duchy of Saxony. In 1260 Albert bequeathed the duchy to his sons John I and Albert II, who gradually divided Saxony into the duchies of Saxe Lauenburg and Saxe Wittenberg with definite effect of 1296. Saxe Wittenberg was recognized as the electorate of Saxony in the Golden Bull of 1356. When the last duke of Saxe Wittenberg died without heir in 1422, the Emperor Sigismund gave the duchy to Frederick IV of the house of Wettin, Margrave of Meissen and Landgrave of Thuringia, who thereby became Frederick I, Elector of Saxony. The name Saxony was then generally applied to all of the Wettin's domains, including those in Thuringia, because Saxony was a ducal title, the highest they possessed, and all house members used it, although many of them held lands only in Thuringia. Frederick I was succeeded by his son, Frederick II. After the death of Frederick II in 1464, his oldest son, Ernest, became elector, and Ernest and Duke Albert, the younger son, shared governance of the Wettin lands. In 1485, by the Leipziger division, the brothers split the Wettin possessions, with Ernest receiving northern Meissen, southern Thuringia, and Wittenberg, and Albert receiving northern Thuringia and southern Meissen. A study of the list of members of the House of Wettin will reveal many of the different strands of the ducal house and their possessions.

Saxe Weimar Eisenach, Saxe Coburg Gotha, Saxe Meiningen, and Saxe Altenburg were the only remaining duchies (Weimar Eisenach was the merger of the personal union of Weimar and Eisenach into one title since 1809, being raised to a Grand Duchy in 1815, and officially Grand Duchy of Saxony since 1903) at the time of the German Revolution of 1918. Their legal privileges and status as Dukes were abolished under the new republican regime and remain so. The four duchies became five constituent states of the Weimar Republic by splitting Gotha and Coburg. On 1 July 1920 the Free State of Coburg was joined into the Free State of Bavaria. The other four states were merged on 1 May 1920 alongside Schwarzburg Rudolstadt and Schwarzburg Sondershausen into the Free State of Thuringia. This reorganisation has remained to the present day, although it was de facto nonexistent during Nazi Rule, when the Reichsgau system was used instead and Gau Thuringia administered the Free State and Gau Bayreuth administered northern Bavaria. Between 1945 and 1990 Thuringia was in the Soviet Occupation zone and then East Germany while Bavaria was in the American Occupation zone and then West Germany.

On 13 February 1991 Georg Moritz, Hereditary Prince of Saxe Altenburg died and with him the line of Ernest, Duke of Saxe Hildburghausen and Saxe Altenburg went extinct. His claim passed to Michael, Prince of Saxe Weimar Eisenach (b. 15 November 1946). This line is also likely to go extinct soon as Michael only has a daughter and the only other male is his cousin Prince Wilhelm Ernst (b. 10 August 1946), whose son died childless in 2018. These two represent the last non morganatic descendants of William, Duke of Saxe Weimar. The remaining four males in this line are the Barons of Heygendorff. The situation is even worse for Konrad, Prince of Saxe Meiningen (b. 14 April 1952), who is the sole non morganatic male member of the Saxe Meiningens and unmarried. His nephew and grandnephew are morganatic as are the Barons von Saalfeld. They are the only remaining descendants of Bernhard I, Duke of Saxe Meiningen. In the very likely event of the extinction of these two senior branches, the sole representation of the Ernestine Wettins will pass to the descendants of Francis, Duke of Saxe Coburg Saalfeld, who are the present Saxe Coburg Gothas led by Andreas, Prince of Saxe Coburg and Gotha (b. 21 March 1943), the House of Windsor, the Royal Family of Belgium and the Royal Family of Bulgaria. Francis and his nephew Ludwig Frederick Emil von Coburg are also ancestors to morganatic lines. Prince Andreas has two sons and a grandson. The line of succession is usually presumed to then go to the former Tsar Simeon II of Bulgaria (b. 16 June 1937), who has three sons and seven grandsons, but his marriage to a daughter of a Marquess is possibly morganatic. When it became clear that Ernest II, Duke of Saxe Coburg and Gotha would die childless, Edward VII renounced his rights to Saxe Coburg and Gotha (but only to that duchy) to avert an undesirable personal union. The House of Windsor (whose original male line includes only the descendants of Edward's son George V since 26 April 1943) and the Royal Family of Belgium renounced their German titles in 1917 and 1920 respectively. Although whether this actually removed them from all Ernestine successions has been debated. All the surviving agnatic lines however include marriages that are (at least highly likely) morganatic. If only all the renounciations are ignored this adds Prince Richard, Prince Edward and Prince Michael before Simeon II and Albert II of Belgium after the Bulgarian line. If the equality of marriage is also ignored, this adds a further nine Britons before the Bulgarians and six Belgians after them to the list of Wettins. The most beneficial interpretations give the Saxe Coburg Gotha line 33 living non morganatic agnates and the most restrictive gives it only five, who were born in 1937, 1943, 1975, 1977 and 2015. The Mountbatten Windsors are not considered among the Ernestine Wettins at all due to both their cognatic descent and the fact Elizabeth II was likely a morganatic daughter due to her mother being the daughter of an earl.