Ernest, Elector of Saxony
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Ernest | |
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Elector of Saxony | |
Reign | 7 September 1464 – 26 August 1486 |
Predecessor | Frederick II |
Successor | Frederick III |
Landgrave of Thuringia | |
Reign | 17 September 1482 – 26 August 1486 |
Predecessor | William II |
Successor | Frederick VI |
Born | Meissen, Electorate of Saxony, Holy Roman Empire | 24 March 1441
Died | 26 August 1486 Colditz, Electorate of Saxony, Holy Roman Empire | (aged 45)
Spouse | Elisabeth of Bavaria-Munich |
Issue among others... | Christina, Queen of Denmark Frederick III, Elector of Saxony Johann, Elector of Saxony Margarete, Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg |
House | House of Wettin |
Father | Frederick II, Elector of Saxony |
Mother | Margaret of Austria-Styria |
Religion | Roman Catholicism |
Ernest (Meissen, 24 March 1441 – 26 August 1486 in Colditz) was Elector of Saxony from 1464 to 1486.
Ernst was the founder and progenitor of the Ernestine line of Saxon princes,[1] and a direct patrilineal ancestor of Queen Elizabeth II (United Kingdom), Michael, Prince of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach), Konrad, Prince of Saxe-Meiningen (Saxe-Meiningen) and Andreas, Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Saxe-Coburg and Gotha) and Duchess Donata of Mecklenburg (Saxe-Altenburg: since she is a matrilineal descendant of the last reigning duke of Saxe-Altenburg even if the Saxe-Altenburg line became extinct (in the male line) but since the duke had 2 daughters Princess Charlotte of Saxe-Altenburg (Donata's maternal grandmother) and princess Princess Elisabeth, the Saxe-Altenburg line isn't technically "extinct" since the duke's descendants are still living (in this case, Duchess Donata and her children).
Biography
He was the second son (but fourth in order of birth) of the eight children of Frederick II, Elector of Saxony and Margaret of Austria, sister of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor.
The death of his older brother Frederick (1451) made him the new heir apparent to the position of Elector of Saxony.
In 1455 Ernst was kidnapped, along with his brother Albert, by the knight Kunz von Kaufungen an episode famous in German history as the "Prinzenraub"[2] (i.e. The Stealing of the Princes).
In 1464, he succeeded his father as Elector of Saxony, and annexed Thuringia in 1482, and three years later (Treaty of Leipzig, 1485) shared his territory with his brother Albert, until he arranged the division of the common possession.
According to the Treaty of Leipzig he received an area around Wittenberg, the southern Thuringian part, the Vogtland and parts of the Pleissnerland. As a residence he selected Wittenberg. He provided for the welfare of the country and introduced the constitution.
One year after the division elector Ernest died in Colditz, at the age of 46 years, the consequence of a fall from a horse.
Children
In Leipzig on 19 November 1460 Ernst married Elisabeth of Bavaria. They had seven children:
- Christina (b. Torgau, 25 December 1461 – d. Odense, 8 December 1521), married on 6 September 1478 to King John I of Denmark
- Frederick III, Elector of Saxony (b. Torgau, 17 January 1463 – d. Lockau, 5 May 1525)
- Ernest (b. Meissen, 26 June 1464 – d. Halle, 3 August 1513), Archbishop of Magdeburg (1476–1480), Bishop of Halberstadt (1480–1513)
- Adalbert (b. Meissen, 8 May 1467 – d. Aschaffenburg, 1 May 1484), Administrator of Mainz
- Johann, Elector of Saxony (b. Meissen, 30 June 1468 – d. Schweinitz, 16 August 1532)
- Margarete (b. Meissen, 4 August 1469 – d. Weimar, 7 December 1528), married on 27 February 1487 to Henry I of Lüneburg
- Wolfgang (b. Meissen, ca. 1473 – d. Torgau, ca. 1478).
Ancestry
References
- ^ Trim 2003, p. 214.
- ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 11 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 60.
Sources
- Trim, David J. B. (2003). The Chivalric Ethos and the Development of Military Professionalism. BRILL. ISBN 978-9004120952.
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