Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen

Ernest
Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen
Reign	1675–1715
Predecessor	New Creation
Successor	Ernest Frederick I
Born	(1655-06-12)12 June 1655 Gotha
Died	17 October 1715(1715-10-17) (aged 60) Hildburghausen
Spouse	Sophie of Waldeck
Issue among others...	Ernest Frederick I Prince Joseph
House	House of Saxe-Hildburghausen
Father	Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha
Mother	Elisabeth Sophie of Saxe-Altenburg
Religion	Lutheranism

Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen (Gotha, 12 June 1655 – Hildburghausen, 17 October 1715) was a duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen.

He was the ninth but sixth surviving son of Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha and Elisabeth Sophie of Saxe-Altenburg.

When his father died in 1675, Ernest and his six brothers jointly assumed the government of the duchy; five years later, in 1680, and under the treaty of division of the family lands, he received the towns of Hildburghausen, Eisfeld, Heldburg, Königsberg. Ernest became thereby founder and first duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen. After the death of his brothers Heinrich and Albrecht without male descendants, he took the towns of Sonnefeld and Behringen.

Ernest settled his official residence in Hildburghausen and began the building of his castle. In 1710 he approved the building in his lands of a new city of French Huguenot families, who were driven out after the Edict of Nantes from France.

As Master of Cavalry he fought in 1683 in the Battle of Vienna, and 1685 in the conquest of Gran and Neuhaeusel, after this he entered the Dutch States Army as a Colonel with the conquest of Kaiserswerth.

In the building of his new residence, Ernest acquired a serious indebtedness of the principality to his brothers, which could not be reduced even by ever larger taxations.

Issue

He was married in Arolsen on the 30 November 1680 to Sophie of Waldeck. They had five children:

1. Ernest Frederick I, Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen (b. Gotha, 21 August 1681 – d. Hildburghausen, 9 March 1724).
2. Sophie Charlotte (b. Arolsen, 23 December 1682 – d. Eisfeld, 20 April 1684).
3. Sophie Charlotte (b. Hildburghausen, 23 March 1685 – d. Hildburghausen, 4 June 1710).
4. Karl Wilhelm (b. Arolsen, 25 July 1686 – d. Arolsen, 2 April 1687).
5. Joseph Maria Frederick Wilhelm (b. Erbach, 5 October 1702 – d. Hildburghausen, 4 January 1787).

Ancestry

Family of Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen

16. John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony 8. Johann Wilhelm, Duke of Saxe-Weimar 17. Sybille of Cleves 4. John II, Duke of Saxe-Weimar 18. Frederick III, Elector Palatine 9. Dorothea Susanne of Simmern 19. Marie of Brandenburg-Kulmbach 2. Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha 20. John V, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst 10. Joachim Ernest, Prince of Anhalt 21. Margaret of Brandenburg 5. Dorothea Maria of Anhalt 22. Christoph, Duke of Württemberg 11. Eleonore of Württemberg 23. Anna Maria of Brandenburg-Ansbach 1. Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen 24. Johann Wilhelm, Duke of Saxe-Weimar (= 8) 12. Frederick Wilhelm I, Duke of Saxe-Weimar 25. Dorothea Susanne of Simmern (= 9) 6. Johann Philipp, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg 26. Philipp Ludwig of Pfalz-Neuburg 13. Anna Maria of the Palatinate-Neuburg 27. Anna of Cleves 3. Elisabeth Sophie of Saxe-Altenburg 28. Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg 14. Henry Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg 29. Hedwig of Brandenburg 7. Elisabeth of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel 30. Frederick II, King of Denmark 15. Elizabeth of Denmark 31. Sofie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

References

• Rudolf Armin Human, Chronik der Stadt Hildburghausen, Hildburghausen, 1886
• Heinrich Ferdinand Schoeppl, Die Herzoge von Sachsen-Altenburg, Bozen, 1917, Neudruck Altenburg, 1992.
• Johann Samuel Ersch, Allgemeine Encyclopädie der Wissenschaften und Künste, p. 300. (Digitalisat)