Electorate of Saxony - Wettin Rule

Wettin Rule

The Ascanian line of Saxe-Wittenberg became extinct with the death of Elector Albert III in 1422, whereafter Emperor Sigismund bestowed the country and electoral dignity upon Margrave Frederick IV of Meissen, who had been a loyal supporter in the Hussite Wars. Late Albert's Ascanian relative Duke Eric V of Saxe-Lauenburg protested in vain. Frederick, now one of the seven Prince-electors, was a member of the House of Wettin, which since 1089 had ruled over the adjacent Margraviate of Meissen up the Elbe river, established under Emperor Otto I in 965, and since 1242 also over the Landgraviate of Thuringia. Thus, in 1423, Saxe-Wittenberg, the Margraviate of Meissen and Thuringia were united under one ruler, and the unified territory gradually received the name of (Upper) Saxony.

When Elector Frederick II died in 1464, his two surviving sons despite the primogeniture principle divided his territories by the Treaty of Leipzig on 26 August 1485, bringing about the still existing separation of the Wettin dynasty into the Ernestine and Albertine lines. The elder Ernest, founder of the Ernestine line, received large parts of the former Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg and the electoral dignity united with it, as well as the southern Landgraviate of Thuringia; while younger Albert, founder of the Albertine line, received northern Thuringia and the lands of the former Margraviate of Meissen. Thus, the Ernestine line at first had the greater authority, until in the 16th century the electoral dignity and territory fell to the Albertine line, which, when Saxony was proclaimed a kingdom in the 19th century, became a royal house. The partition decisively enfeebled the Wettin dynasty in the rivalry with the rising House of Hohenzollern, who had also achieved the electoral dignity as Margraves of Brandenburg since 1415.