The Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen (German pronunciation: [ˈzaksə ˈmaɪnɪŋən]; English pronunciation: /ˈsæks ˈmaɪnɪŋən/) was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine line of the Wettin dynasty, located in the southwest of the present-day German state of Thuringia.
Schloss Elisabethenburg, Meiningen
Established in 1681,[1] by partition of the Ernestine duchy of Saxe-Gotha among the seven sons of deceased Duke Ernest the Pious, the Saxe-Meiningen line of the House of Wettin lasted, without much distinction, until the end of the German monarchies in 1918.
[edit] History
Upon the 1680 partition, the former Franconian lands of the extinct House of Henneberg fell to Ernest's third son, Bernhard, who chose the town of Meiningen as his residence and thereby became the first Duke of Saxe-Meiningen. From 1682 Duke Bernhard I had the Schloss Elisabethenburg built and in 1690 established a court orchestra (Hofkapelle), whose later Kapellmeister was Johann Ludwig Bach.
Ernestine duchies: Saxe-Meiningen territories from 1826
In the reshuffle of Ernestine territories that occurred following the extinction of the Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg line upon the death of Duke Frederick IV in 1825, Duke Bernhard II of Saxe-Meiningen received the lands of the former Duchy of Saxe-Hildburghausen as well as the Saalfeld territory of the former Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld duchy. As Bernhard II had supported Austria in the 1866 Austro-Prussian War, the prime minister of victorious Prussia, Otto von Bismarck enforced his resignation in favour of his son Georg II, after which Saxe-Meiningen was admitted to join the North German Confederation.
In the German Revolution after World War I Duke Bernhard III, brother-in-law of Emperor Wilhelm II, on 10 November 1918 was forced to abdicate. The succeeding Free State of Saxe-Meiningen was merged into the new state of Thuringia in 1920.
In 1905 the capital Meiningen had an area of 2,468 km² and a population of 269,000. The summer residence was at Altenstein Castle. Since 1868 the duchy comprised the Kreise (districts) of Hildburghausen, Sonneberg and Saalfeld as well as the northern exclaves of Camburg and Kranichfeld.
The present head of the Ducal House of Saxe-Meiningen is Prince Frederick Konrad (born 1952). Since he has no heir, the representation of his house, after its extinction, will pass to the Head of the Grand Ducal House of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach.
[edit] Dukes of Saxe-Meiningen
- Bernhard I (1680–1706)
- Ernst Ludwig I (1706–24), son of Bernhard I
- Ernst Ludwig II (1724–29), son of Ernst Ludwig I
- Karl Frederick (1729–43), son of Ernst Ludwig I
- Frederick Wilhelm (1743–46), son of Bernhard I
- Anton Ulrich (1746–63), son of Bernhard I
- Karl Wilhelm (1763–82), son of Anton Ulrich
- Georg I (1782–1803), son of Anton Ulrich
- Bernhard II (1803–66), son of Georg I
- Georg II (1866–1914), son of Bernhard II
- Bernhard III (1914–18), son of Georg II
Dukedom abolished in 1918
[edit] Heads of the Ducal House of Saxe-Meiningen, post-monarchy
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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"Saxe-Meiningen". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913.
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