Lachenburg
18-07-2006, 02:02
The Electorate of Saxony
Wählerschaften von Sachsen - Sakska
http://www.geocities.com/flagsofillbethisad/sx.gif
Flag Description: White and Green bi-color with the Royal Coat of Arms depicted on the foreground.
Population Information:
Population (1800): 1,190,000 citizens
Historical Information:
After the dissolution of the medieval Duchy of Saxony the name Saxony was first applied to a small part of the ancient duchy situated on the Elbe around the city of Wittenberg. This was given to Bernard of Ascania, the second son of Albert the Bear, who was the founder of the Mark of Brandenburg, from which has come the present Kingdom of Prussia. Bernard's son, Albert I, added to this territory the lordship of Lauenburg, and Albert's sons divided the possessions into Saxe-Wittenberg and Saxe-Lauenburg. When in 1356 the Emperor Charles IV issued the Golden Bull, the fundamental law of the empire which settled the method of electing the German emperor, the Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg was made one of the seven electorates. The duke as elector thereby received the right to elect, in company with the other six electors, the German emperor. In this way the country, though small in area, obtained an influential position. The electoral dignity had connected with it the obligation of primogeniture, that is, only the eldest son could succeed as ruler; this excluded the division of the territory among several heirs and consequently the disintegration of the country. The importance of this stipulation is shown by the history of most of the German principalities which were not electorates. The Ascanian line of Saxe-Wittenberg became extinct in 1422. The Emperor Sigismund bestowed the country and electoral dignity upon Margrave Frederick the Valiant of Meissen, a member of the Wettin line. As was mentioned above, the Margravate of Meissen had been founded by the Emperor Otto I. In 1089 it came into the possession of the Wettin family, who from 1247 also owned the eastern part of the Margravate of Thuringia. In 1422 Saxe-Wittenberg, and the Margravates of Meissen and Thuringia were united into one country, which gradually received the name of Saxony.
The Protestant revolt of the sixteenth century was effected under the protection of the electors of Saxe-Wittenberg. The Elector Frederick the Wise established a university at Wittenberg in 1502, at which the Augustinian monk Martin Luther was made professor of philosophy in 1508; at the same time he became one of the preachers at the castle church of Wittenberg. On 31 October, 1517, he posted up on this church the ninety-five theses against indulgences with which he began what is called the Reformation.
During the reigns of the Elector Augustus (d. 1586), and Christian (d. 1591), a freer form of Protestantism, called Crypto-Calvinism prevailed in the duchy. During the reign of Christian II (d. 1611) the chancellor, Crell, who had spread the doctrine, was overthrown and beheaded (1601) and a rigid Lutheranism was reintroduced and with it a religious oath. The great religious war called the Thirty Years' War (1618-48) occurred during the reign of Elector John George (1611-56). In this struggle the elector was at first neutral, and for a long time he would not listen to the overtures of Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden. It was until the imperial general Tilly advanced into Saxony that the elector joined Sweden. However, after the Battle of Nördlingen (1634) the elector concluded the Peace of Prague (1635) with the emperor. By this treaty Saxony received the Margravates of Upper and Lower Lusatia as a Bohemian fief, and the condition of the Church lands that had been secularized was not altered. The Swedes, however, revenged themselves by ten years of plundering. The Treaty of Westphalia of 1648 took from Saxony forever the possibility of extending its territory along the lower course of the Elbe, and confirmed the preponderance of Prussia.
A change followed when on 1 June, 1697, the Elector Frederick Augustus I (1694-1733) returned to the Catholic Faith and in consequence of this was soon afterwards elected King of Poland. The formation of a Catholic parish and the private practice of the Catholic Faith was permitted at least in Dresden. As the return of the elector to the Church aroused the fear among Lutherans that the Catholic religion would now be re-established in Saxony, the elector transferred to a government board, the Privy Council, the authority over the Lutheran churches and schools which, until then, had been exercised by the sovereign; the Privy Council was formed exclusively of Protestants.
A change followed when on 1 June 1697, the Elector Frederick Augustus I (1694-1733) returned to the Catholic Faith and in consequence of this was soon afterwards elected King of Poland. The formation of a Catholic parish and the private practice of the Catholic Faith was permitted at least in Dresden. As the return of the elector to the Church aroused the fear among Lutherans that the Catholic religion would now be re-established in Saxony, the elector transferred to a government board, the Privy Council, the authority over the Lutheran churches and schools which, until then, had been exercised by the sovereign; the Privy Council was formed exclusively of Protestants. Even after his conversion the elector remained the head of the Corpus Evangelicorum, as did his Catholic successors until 1806, when the Corpus was dissolved at the same time as the Holy Roman Empire. His son, Elector Frederick Augustus II (1733-63), was received into the Catholic Church on 28 November 1712, at Bologna, Italy, while heir-apparent. With this conversion, which on account of the excited state of feeling of the Lutheran population had to be kept secret for five years, the ruling family of Saxony once more became Catholic. Before this, individual members of the Albertine line had returned to the Church, but they had died without issue, as did the last ruler of Saxe-Weissenfels (d. 1746). Another collateral line founded in 1657 was that of Saxe-Naumburg-Zeitz, which became extinct in 1759. Those who became Catholics of this line were Christian Augustus, cardinal and Archbishop of Gran in Hungary (d. 1725), and Maurice Adolphus, Bishop of Leitmeritz in Bohemia (d. 1759). The most zealous promoter of the Catholic Faith in Saxony was the Austrian Archduchess Maria Josepha, daughter of the Emperor Joseph I, who in 1719 married Frederick Augustus, later the second elector of that name. The Court church of Dresden was built 1739-51 by the Italian architect, Chiaveri, in the Roman Baroque style; this is still the finest and most imposing church edifice in Saxony and is one of the most beautiful churches in Germany. Notwithstanding the faith of its rulers, however, Saxony remained entirely a Protestant country; the few Catholics who settled there remained without any political or civil rights.
Frederick Augustus III succeeded his father as Duke-Elector of Saxony in 1763 and assumed power after being declared of age in 1768. Regent Xaver had declared to, for the time being, to waiver a possible continuation of the Personal Union between Saxony and Poland in 1765. The Saxon government, in 1772 and again in 1793-1795, had to observe the Partition of Poland, a country the Duchy of Saxony had underheld close ties with between 1694 and 1763.
The last decades of the 18th century had seen a flourishing manufacture industry and the emergence of the first factories. The Saxon government had registered budget surplusses, public debt had been reduced. When the French Revolution erupted in 1789; Saxony was in a relatively good position. However, the last two years had brought misharvests, and the peasants were restless. News of the events in France were published in newspapers, such as Wieland's Teutscher Merkur, and in pamphlets. Peasants took matters in their own hands and, breaking the law, hunted deer, hares, wild boars that grazed on their fields, not only chasing them off, but hunting them on ground belonging to nobles, the church, the state. In May 1790 the administration had lost control of the situation; only when stern measures were undertaken in July, control was reestablished. In order to reduce tension, the stock of wildlife was drastically cut down.
Christian Benjamin Geisslerpublished a series of pamphlets critical of the feudal system. On July 22nd 1790 a group of peasants refused corvee; on August 3rd a peasant uprising began, quickly expanding over much of Saxony.By August 23rd they were 8,000 men strong, poorly armed and badly organized. General Heinrich Adolf von Boblick, in command of a force 5,600 men strong, suppressed the rebellion within a week; the ringleaders were arrested and severely punished. A law was passed in which antifeudal acts were descrbed as subversive and threatened by severe punishment. The ideas of the French Revolution, however, were discussed in publications.
In 1792, Saxony stayed out of the Prussian-Austrian alliance which aimed at the restoration of France's absolute monarchy. Friedrich August rejected the Polish crown, offered to him in 1792; on Oct. 19th 1792 Saxony joined the Imperial War against France, contributing a force of 6,000. Currently, Saxony, like her neighbor Prussia, retains a fragile state of neutrality in the wake of the Second Coalition.
Political Information:
Country Name:
Legal/Official: The Electorate of Saxony
Conventional: Saxony
Government Type: Royal Autocracy
Capital: Dresden
Constitution: N/A
Executive Branch:
Head of State: Duke-Elector Frederick-Augustus III
Head of Government: Duke-Elector Frederick-Augustus III
Legislative Branch: N/A
Judicial Branch: N/A
Military Information:
[Awaiting Statistics]
Wählerschaften von Sachsen - Sakska
http://www.geocities.com/flagsofillbethisad/sx.gif
Flag Description: White and Green bi-color with the Royal Coat of Arms depicted on the foreground.
Population Information:
Population (1800): 1,190,000 citizens
Historical Information:
After the dissolution of the medieval Duchy of Saxony the name Saxony was first applied to a small part of the ancient duchy situated on the Elbe around the city of Wittenberg. This was given to Bernard of Ascania, the second son of Albert the Bear, who was the founder of the Mark of Brandenburg, from which has come the present Kingdom of Prussia. Bernard's son, Albert I, added to this territory the lordship of Lauenburg, and Albert's sons divided the possessions into Saxe-Wittenberg and Saxe-Lauenburg. When in 1356 the Emperor Charles IV issued the Golden Bull, the fundamental law of the empire which settled the method of electing the German emperor, the Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg was made one of the seven electorates. The duke as elector thereby received the right to elect, in company with the other six electors, the German emperor. In this way the country, though small in area, obtained an influential position. The electoral dignity had connected with it the obligation of primogeniture, that is, only the eldest son could succeed as ruler; this excluded the division of the territory among several heirs and consequently the disintegration of the country. The importance of this stipulation is shown by the history of most of the German principalities which were not electorates. The Ascanian line of Saxe-Wittenberg became extinct in 1422. The Emperor Sigismund bestowed the country and electoral dignity upon Margrave Frederick the Valiant of Meissen, a member of the Wettin line. As was mentioned above, the Margravate of Meissen had been founded by the Emperor Otto I. In 1089 it came into the possession of the Wettin family, who from 1247 also owned the eastern part of the Margravate of Thuringia. In 1422 Saxe-Wittenberg, and the Margravates of Meissen and Thuringia were united into one country, which gradually received the name of Saxony.
The Protestant revolt of the sixteenth century was effected under the protection of the electors of Saxe-Wittenberg. The Elector Frederick the Wise established a university at Wittenberg in 1502, at which the Augustinian monk Martin Luther was made professor of philosophy in 1508; at the same time he became one of the preachers at the castle church of Wittenberg. On 31 October, 1517, he posted up on this church the ninety-five theses against indulgences with which he began what is called the Reformation.
During the reigns of the Elector Augustus (d. 1586), and Christian (d. 1591), a freer form of Protestantism, called Crypto-Calvinism prevailed in the duchy. During the reign of Christian II (d. 1611) the chancellor, Crell, who had spread the doctrine, was overthrown and beheaded (1601) and a rigid Lutheranism was reintroduced and with it a religious oath. The great religious war called the Thirty Years' War (1618-48) occurred during the reign of Elector John George (1611-56). In this struggle the elector was at first neutral, and for a long time he would not listen to the overtures of Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden. It was until the imperial general Tilly advanced into Saxony that the elector joined Sweden. However, after the Battle of Nördlingen (1634) the elector concluded the Peace of Prague (1635) with the emperor. By this treaty Saxony received the Margravates of Upper and Lower Lusatia as a Bohemian fief, and the condition of the Church lands that had been secularized was not altered. The Swedes, however, revenged themselves by ten years of plundering. The Treaty of Westphalia of 1648 took from Saxony forever the possibility of extending its territory along the lower course of the Elbe, and confirmed the preponderance of Prussia.
A change followed when on 1 June, 1697, the Elector Frederick Augustus I (1694-1733) returned to the Catholic Faith and in consequence of this was soon afterwards elected King of Poland. The formation of a Catholic parish and the private practice of the Catholic Faith was permitted at least in Dresden. As the return of the elector to the Church aroused the fear among Lutherans that the Catholic religion would now be re-established in Saxony, the elector transferred to a government board, the Privy Council, the authority over the Lutheran churches and schools which, until then, had been exercised by the sovereign; the Privy Council was formed exclusively of Protestants.
A change followed when on 1 June 1697, the Elector Frederick Augustus I (1694-1733) returned to the Catholic Faith and in consequence of this was soon afterwards elected King of Poland. The formation of a Catholic parish and the private practice of the Catholic Faith was permitted at least in Dresden. As the return of the elector to the Church aroused the fear among Lutherans that the Catholic religion would now be re-established in Saxony, the elector transferred to a government board, the Privy Council, the authority over the Lutheran churches and schools which, until then, had been exercised by the sovereign; the Privy Council was formed exclusively of Protestants. Even after his conversion the elector remained the head of the Corpus Evangelicorum, as did his Catholic successors until 1806, when the Corpus was dissolved at the same time as the Holy Roman Empire. His son, Elector Frederick Augustus II (1733-63), was received into the Catholic Church on 28 November 1712, at Bologna, Italy, while heir-apparent. With this conversion, which on account of the excited state of feeling of the Lutheran population had to be kept secret for five years, the ruling family of Saxony once more became Catholic. Before this, individual members of the Albertine line had returned to the Church, but they had died without issue, as did the last ruler of Saxe-Weissenfels (d. 1746). Another collateral line founded in 1657 was that of Saxe-Naumburg-Zeitz, which became extinct in 1759. Those who became Catholics of this line were Christian Augustus, cardinal and Archbishop of Gran in Hungary (d. 1725), and Maurice Adolphus, Bishop of Leitmeritz in Bohemia (d. 1759). The most zealous promoter of the Catholic Faith in Saxony was the Austrian Archduchess Maria Josepha, daughter of the Emperor Joseph I, who in 1719 married Frederick Augustus, later the second elector of that name. The Court church of Dresden was built 1739-51 by the Italian architect, Chiaveri, in the Roman Baroque style; this is still the finest and most imposing church edifice in Saxony and is one of the most beautiful churches in Germany. Notwithstanding the faith of its rulers, however, Saxony remained entirely a Protestant country; the few Catholics who settled there remained without any political or civil rights.
Frederick Augustus III succeeded his father as Duke-Elector of Saxony in 1763 and assumed power after being declared of age in 1768. Regent Xaver had declared to, for the time being, to waiver a possible continuation of the Personal Union between Saxony and Poland in 1765. The Saxon government, in 1772 and again in 1793-1795, had to observe the Partition of Poland, a country the Duchy of Saxony had underheld close ties with between 1694 and 1763.
The last decades of the 18th century had seen a flourishing manufacture industry and the emergence of the first factories. The Saxon government had registered budget surplusses, public debt had been reduced. When the French Revolution erupted in 1789; Saxony was in a relatively good position. However, the last two years had brought misharvests, and the peasants were restless. News of the events in France were published in newspapers, such as Wieland's Teutscher Merkur, and in pamphlets. Peasants took matters in their own hands and, breaking the law, hunted deer, hares, wild boars that grazed on their fields, not only chasing them off, but hunting them on ground belonging to nobles, the church, the state. In May 1790 the administration had lost control of the situation; only when stern measures were undertaken in July, control was reestablished. In order to reduce tension, the stock of wildlife was drastically cut down.
Christian Benjamin Geisslerpublished a series of pamphlets critical of the feudal system. On July 22nd 1790 a group of peasants refused corvee; on August 3rd a peasant uprising began, quickly expanding over much of Saxony.By August 23rd they were 8,000 men strong, poorly armed and badly organized. General Heinrich Adolf von Boblick, in command of a force 5,600 men strong, suppressed the rebellion within a week; the ringleaders were arrested and severely punished. A law was passed in which antifeudal acts were descrbed as subversive and threatened by severe punishment. The ideas of the French Revolution, however, were discussed in publications.
In 1792, Saxony stayed out of the Prussian-Austrian alliance which aimed at the restoration of France's absolute monarchy. Friedrich August rejected the Polish crown, offered to him in 1792; on Oct. 19th 1792 Saxony joined the Imperial War against France, contributing a force of 6,000. Currently, Saxony, like her neighbor Prussia, retains a fragile state of neutrality in the wake of the Second Coalition.
Political Information:
Country Name:
Legal/Official: The Electorate of Saxony
Conventional: Saxony
Government Type: Royal Autocracy
Capital: Dresden
Constitution: N/A
Executive Branch:
Head of State: Duke-Elector Frederick-Augustus III
Head of Government: Duke-Elector Frederick-Augustus III
Legislative Branch: N/A
Judicial Branch: N/A
Military Information:
[Awaiting Statistics]