Wettin

 

(vĕt'ĭn) , German dynasty, which ruled in Saxony, Thuringia, Poland, Great Britain, Belgium, and Bulgaria. It takes its name from a castle on the Saale near Halle. The family gained prominence in the 10th cent. as leaders in the German drive to the east, which made Saxony and Lusatia German. It acquired (c.1100) the margravate of Meissen and soon expanded its domains to include most of Saxony and Thuringia. In 1423, Frederick the Warlike of Meissen was granted Saxony and became (1425) elector of Saxony as Frederick I. The Wettin holdings were repeatedly subdivided. The most important division (1485) established the Ernestine line and the Albertine line, named for Frederick II's sons Ernest and Albert. The electoral title and most of Saxony passed in 1547 from the Ernestine to the Albertine line. The Ernestine line retained its possessions in Thuringia but split into several collateral branches. In 1918, when the house of Wettin was deposed in Thuringia and Saxony, its Thuringian holdings consisted of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, a grand duchy (see under Saxe-Weimar), and of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (see under Saxe-Coburg), Saxe-Meiningen, and Saxe-Altenburg, which were duchies. From the branch of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha the Belgian, the English, and the Bulgarian dynasties were descended through, respectively, Leopold I of the Belgians, Prince Albert (consort of Queen Victoria), and Czar Ferdinand of Bulgaria. The English house changed its name to Windsor; the Bulgarian branch was deposed in 1946. A cousin of Prince Albert married Queen Maria II of Portugal and became king consort as Ferdinand II of Portugal. The Albertine line ruled in Saxony, obtaining hereditary royal rank in 1806; it also ruled Poland from 1697 to 1763 (see Augustus II; Augustus III).

House of Wettin Saxony, Meissen and Thuringia
Country:	Saxony
Titles:	Margrave of Meissen, Landgrave of Thuringia, Duke of Saxony, Grand Duke of Saxony, Elector of Saxony, King of Saxony
Founder:	Thiedericus
Final Ruler:	Multiple sovereigns until 1918
Current Head:	Prince Michael, titular Grand Duke of Saxony
Founding Year:	900s A.D.
Dissolution:	1918
Ethnicity:	German
Cadet Branches:	In order of seniority: Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (Grand Duchy of Saxony) Saxe-Meiningen Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Saxony (Kingdom of Saxony)

The House of Wettin was a dynasty of German counts, dukes, prince-electors (Kurfürsten) and kings that ruled the area of today's German state of Saxony for more than 800 years as well as holding at times the kingship of Poland. Agnates of the House of Wettin have, at various times, ascended the thrones of Great Britain, Portugal, Bulgaria, Poland, Saxony, Mexico, and Belgium; of these, only the British and Belgian lines retain their thrones today.

Origins: Wettins of Saxony

The oldest member of the House of Wettin who is known for certain was Thiedericus (died 982), who was probably based in the Liesgau (located at the western edge of the Harz). Around 1000, as part of the German conquest of Slavic territory, the family acquired Wettin Castle, after which they named themselves. Wettin Castle is located in Wettin in the Hosgau on the Saale River. Around 1030, the Wettin family received the Eastern March as a fief. ^[1]

The prominence of the Wettin family in the Slavic marches caused Emperor Henry IV to invest them with the March of Meissen as a fief in 1089. The family advanced over the course of the Middle Ages: in 1263 they inherited the landgraviate of Thuringia (though without Hesse), and in 1423 they were invested with the Duchy of Saxony, centred at Wittenberg, thus becoming one of the prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire.

Ernestine and Albertine Wettins

The family divided into two ruling branches in 1485 when the sons of Frederick II, Elector of Saxony divided the territories hithero ruled jointly.

The elder son Ernest, who had succeeded his father as Prince-elector, basically received the territories assigned to the Elector (Electoral Saxony and Thuringia, while his younger brother Albert obtained the March of Meissen, which he ruled from Dresden. As Albert ruled as Duke of Saxony, his possessions were also known as Ducal Saxony.

The older, Ernestine branch remained predominant until 1547 and played an important role in the beginnings of the Protestant reformation. Their predominance ended in the Schmalkaldic War, which pitted the Protestant Schmalkaldic League against Emperor Charles V. Though Protestant as well, the Albertine branch rallied to the Empire's cause and was rewarded with the dignity of Elector as well as the Electorate territories, restricting the Ernestine line to Thuringia.

After this, the Ernestine branch quickly disintegrated, not the least because the different inheritance patterns:

The Albertine Wettins maintained most of the territorial integrity of Saxony, preserving it as a significant power in the region, and using small appanage fiefs for their cadet branches, which a bit surprisingly did not survive really many generations.

The Ernestine Wettins, on the other hand, repeatedly subdivided their territory, creating an intricate patchwork of small duchies and counties in Thuringia.

In the end, the Albertine branch held, in one hands (as one country), approximately three fourths of the House's patrimony, and the Ernestine branch had altogether approximately one fourth (southern Thuringia) as a bunch of small principalities.

The junior Albertine branch ruled as Electors (1547–1806) and Kings of Saxony (1806–1918) and also played a role in Polish history: two Wettins were Kings of Poland (between 1697–1763) and a third ruled the Duchy of Warsaw (1807–1814) as a satellite of Napoleon. After the Napoleonic Wars, the Albertine branch lost about 40% of its lands, including the old Electoral Saxony, to Prussia, restricting it to a territory coextensive with the modern Saxony),

The House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

Main article: Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

The senior Ernestine branch lost the electorship to the Albertine in 1547, but retained its holdings in Thuringia, dividing the area into a number of smaller states. One of the resulting Ernestine houses, that of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, went on to contribute kings of Belgium (from 1831) and Bulgaria (1908 - 1946), as well as furnishing consorts to queens of Portugal (Ferdinand II of Portugal) and the United Kingdom (Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria), as well as the Emperor of Mexico (Carlota of Mexico). As such, the British, Portuguese, and for a time, Mexican, thrones became a possession of persons who belonged to the House of Wettin.

Although the British Royal Family's Royal House name was Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, in the late 19th century Queen Victoria charged her College of Heralds to determine her correct personal surname; after extensive research they concluded that it was Wettin. In 1917, the male-line descendants of Victoria and Albert had their House name as well as their personal surnames changed to Windsor by an Order-in-Council of King George V.

Queen Elizabeth II will be the last British monarch agnatically descended from the House of Wettin. As a result of her marriage to Prince Philip of Greece, the throne will pass to his House, agnatic descendants of the House of Oldenburg. However, they will probably continue using the name Windsor as a house name and Mountbatten-Windsor as a personal surname, as prescribed by Queen Elizabeth. Mountbatten is an Anglicisation of Battenberg, the family name of Prince Philip's mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg.

List of branches of the House of Wettin and its agnatic descent

• Margraves of Meissen
• Dukes of Saxony, Landgraves of Thuringia
• Electors of Saxony
• Dukes of Saxe-Coburg
• Dukes of Saxe-Altenburg (first line of Altenburg)
• Dukes of Saxe-Weimar
• Dukes of Saxe-Eisenach
• Dukes of Saxe-Gotha
• Dukes of Saxe-Gotha and Altenburg (second line of Altenburg)
• Dukes of Saxe-Meiningen
• Dukes of Saxe-Hildburghausen, then Dukes of Saxe-Altenburg (third line of Altenburg)
• Dukes of Saxe-Coburg (Gotha later added)
• Kings and Queen of the United Kingdom (House of Windsor)
• Princes of Saxe-Coburg-Kohary
• Kings of Portugal (Saxe-Coburg-Braganza, last reigning Royal House of Portugal)
• Kings of Bulgaria (sometimes had been known as "Kohary" and as "Sakskoburggotski")
• Kings of Belgium
• Dukes of "Saxe-Dresden"
• Electors of Saxony
• Kings of Saxony, currently Prinz/ Prinzessin von Sachsen
• Saxe-Zeitz
• Saxe-Merseburg
• Saxe-Weissenfels
• Dukes of Saxony, Landgraves of Thuringia, Dukes of Luxembourg
• Saxe-Landsberg

See also

• Rulers of Saxony, a list containing many Wettins
• Wettin, Saxony-Anhalt, the city from which the Wettin dynasty originated

References

1. ^ Lexikon des Mittelalters, vol. IX, col. 50, Munich 1969-1999

External links

• The House of Wettin
• Genealogy of the Wettin dynasty from Genealogy.eu
• Genealogical tables of the Saxony families from An Online Gotha

Donate to Wikimedia