The Saxon duchies succeeded, at the 16th century, the Landgraviat of Thuringe.

January 1st 1249, the office of landgrave of Thuringe is conferred, by the Germanic Emperor, with the prince Henri of Saxony.

Formation of the duchy of Saxony

In 1485, the 2 wire of Friedrich II, Electeur of Saxony divide the territories acquired with the wire of the centuries: the first, Ernst, Voter of Saxony , take Thuringe, Magdeburg and Saxony, the second, Albrecht, Margrave de Meissen , takes Meissen; from these two princes the two branches will go down from the Maison of Saxony, or Maison of Wettin:

- the first branch will give the families Saxony-Weimar, of Saxony-Altenbourg, Saxony-Eisenach, Saxony-Meiningen, Saxony-Saalfeld, of Saxony-Hildburghausen, Saxony-Cobourg-Gotha;

- the second branch will give to the Voters then Kings de Saxe, and the families of Saxony-Weissenfels, Saxony-Merseburg and Saxony Zeitz.

Successive divisions

In 1554, the territories which remained with the Ernestine branch were divided into 5 States: Saxony-Weimar, Saxony-Gotha, Saxony-Altenbourg, Saxony-Poesneck and Franconie, which was then joined together in 1566 under the aegis of the duchies of Saxony-Weimar and Saxony-Cobourg; these two duchies, in 1567, were finally placed under the only government of Johann Wilhelm of Saxony (1530 - 1573).

Its nephews Johann Kasimir (1564-1633) and Johann Ernst (1566-1638) made a division in 1572 and were the founders of the lines of Saxony-Cobourg and Saxony-Eisenach.

The line of Saxony-Weimar, resulting from Johann Wilhelm was divided in 1603 in lines of Weimar elder, Altenbourg and Weimar junior.

The line of Saxony-Cobourg died out in 1603, that of Saxony-Eisenach in 1638 and that of Saxony-Altenbourg in 1672:

Preeminence of the duchies of Saxony-Weimar and Saxony-Gotha

The duchies of Saxony-Gotha of Saxony-Eisenach échurent in 1640 with the line of Weimar, thus forming the lines of Saxony-Weimar , Saxony-Eisenach and of Saxony-Gotha :

- the Saxony-Eisenach line died out in 1644: the duchy of Saxony-Eisenach was then divided between the lines Saxony-Weimar and Saxony-Gotha;

- in 1672, the extinction of the line of Saxony-Altenbourg involves the attribution of its territories to the Saxony-Gotha line, thus forming the duchy of Saxony-Gotha-Altenbourg . The line of Gotha will be divided, in 1680, in seven different branches: Saxony-Gotha, Saxony-Cobourg, Saxony-Meiningen, Saxony-Roemhild, Saxony-Eisenberg, Saxony-Hildburghausen and Saxony-Saalfeld ;

- the line of Saxony-Weimar divided in 1672 between the branches of Weimar, Eisenach and Iena: the two last being itself extinct in 1690 and 1741, the branch of Weimar join together their territories in only one Grand Duchy of Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach .

In 1710, the branches of Saxony-Cobourg, Saxony-Hildburghausen and Saxony-Saalfeld being itself extinct, their possessions were divided between the four other branches. At the end of XVIIIe thus remained five Saxon Grand-Duchies:

• the Grand Duchy of Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach ;

• the Grand Duchy of Saxony-Meiningen ;
• the duchy of Saxony-Gotha-Altenbourg ;
• the duchy of Saxony-Saalfeld ;
• the duchy of Saxony-Hildburghausen.

Divide of 1825

In 1825, the branch of Saxony-Gotha-Altenbourg died out.

A new division took place then, under the terms of which Frederic Ier of Saxony-Hildburghausen gave up its duchy with Bernard IV of Saxony-Meiningen - which thus constituted a Grand Duchy of Saxony-Meiningen-Hildburghausen - in exchange of the reconstitution, with its profit, duchy of Saxony-Altenbourg while the duchy of Saxony-Gotha was joined to the duchy of Saxony-Cobourg, to form the duchy of Saxony-Cobourg-Gotha.

Disappearance

In November 1918, the German defeat led to the fall of the principalities saxones; the Saxon duchies then became free States, built-in 1920 with the Land of Thuringe.

See too

• medieval Period under the Holy roman Empire: the Duchy of Saxony