Almanach de Saxe Gotha - Kingdom of Saxony - Online Royal Genealogical Reference Handbook - Annual Genealogical, Diplomatic, and Statistical summary of European Royalty and Nobility - © 1995-2025. The Almanach de Saxe Gotha - Online Genealogical Reference for Reigning and non-Reigning Royal Houses and the Princely and Ducal Families of Europe and South America, and the Diplomatic and Statistical G
uide to the World. The Kingdom of Saxony, lasting between 1806 and 1918, was an independent member of a number of historical confederacies in Napoleonic through post-Napoleonic Germany. It became a Free state in the era of Weimar Republic in 1918 after the end of World War I and the abdication of King Frederick Augustus III of Saxony. Before 1806 Saxony was part of the Holy Roman Empire, a thousand-year-old entity which had once aspired to be a single state, but had become highly decentralised over the centuries. The rulers of Electorate of Saxony had held the title of elector for several centuries. When the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved following the defeat of Emperor Francis II by Napoleon at the Battle of Austerlitz, the electorate was raised to the status of an independent kingdom with the support of France, then the dominant power in Central Europe. The last elector of Saxony became King Frederick Augustus I. Following the defeat of Saxony's ally Prussia at the Battle of Jena in 1806, Saxony joined the Confederation of the Rhine, and remained within the Confederation until its dissolution in 1813 with Napoleon's defeat at the Battle of Leipzig. Following the battle, in which Saxony - virtually alone of the German states - had fought alongside the French, King Frederick Augustus I was deserted by his troops, taken prisoner by the Prussians and considered to have forfeited his throne by the allies, who put Saxony under Russian occupation and administration. This was probably more due to the Prussian desire to annex Saxony than to any crime on Frederick Augustus's part, and the fate of Saxony would prove to be one of the main issues at the Congress of Vienna. In the end, 40% of the Kingdom, including the historically significant Wittenberg, home of the Protestant Reformation, was annexed by Prussia, but Frederick Augustus was restored to the throne in the remainder of his kingdom, which still included the major cities of Dresden and Leipzig. The Kingdom also joined the German Confederation, the new organization of the German states to replace the Holy Roman Empire. During the 1866 Austro-Prussian War, Saxony sided with Austria, and the Saxon army was generally seen as the only ally to bring substantial aid to the Austrian cause, having abandoned the defense of Saxony itself to join up with the Austrian army in Bohemia. This effectiveness probably allowed Saxony to escape the fate of other north German states which allied with Austria (notably the Kingdom of Hanover), which were annexed by Prussia after the war. The Austrians insisted as a point of honour that Saxony must be spared, and the Prussians acquiesced. Saxony nevertheless joined the Prussian-led North German Confederation the next year. With Prussia's victory over France in the Franco-Prussian War of 1871, the members of the Confederation were organised by Otto von Bismarck into the German Empire, with Wilhelm I as its Emperor. John I, as Saxony's incumbent king, was subordinate and owed allegiance to the Emperor, although he, like the other German princes, retained some of the prerogatives of a sovereign ruler, including the ability to enter into diplomatic relations with other states. Wilhelm I's grandson Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated in 1918 as a result of Germany's defeat in the First World War. King Frederick Augustus III of Saxony followed him into abdication and the erstwhile Kingdom of Saxony became the Free State of Saxony within the newly-formed Weimar Republic, thus ceasing a somewhat brief history as a kingdom. The House of Wettin is a dynasty of German counts, dukes, prince-electors (Kurfürsten) and kings that once ruled the area of today's German states of Saxony, the Saxon part of Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia 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, and Belgium; of these, only the British and Belgian lines retain their thrones today. 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. 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. The family divided into two ruling branches in 1485 when the sons of Frederick II, Elector of Saxony divided the territories hitherto ruled jointly. The elder son Ernest, who had succeeded his father as Prince-elector, 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 under the title of "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. Although itself Protestant, the Albertine branch rallied to the Empire's cause; Charles V rewarded them by forcing the Ernestines to sign away their rights to the Electoral title and lands to the Albertines. The Ernestine line was thereafter restricted to Thuringia, and its dynastic unity swiftly crumbled. The Albertine Wettin 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, few of which survived for significant lengths of time. The Ernestine Wettin, on the other hand, repeatedly subdivided their territory, creating an intricate patchwork of small duchies and counties in Thuringia. The junior Albertine branch ruled as Electors (1547-1806) and Kings of Saxony (1806-1918) and also played a role in Polish history: two Wettin 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 Royal Family Titles and Styles - The members of this family bear the titles Prince or Princess and Duke or Duchess of Saxony toghter with the formal appellation of His or Her Royal Highness. The Website of Royal House of Saxony:
http://www.haus-wettin.de/
The Website of the Late HRH Prince Albert of Saxony:
http://www.prinz-albert-von-sachsen.de/index2.html
Almanach de Saxe Gotha Page:
http://www.almanachdegotha.org/id34.html
