History
Despite its tiny territory, this was an autonomous duchy from 1680 to 1826; in 1684 the capital was moved from Heldburg to Hildburghausen, and the mini-state became known as Saxe-Hildburghausen. The dukes built a palace, a French-style park and other pompous buildings in Hildburghausen.
In 1810, a princess of Saxe-Hildburghausen, Therese, was married to Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria, who became king of Bavaria 15 years later; this event is the reason for the Oktoberfest, held annually in Munich.
In 1826, the states of Thuringia were reorganised: the last ruler of Saxe-Altenburg died without an heir; the duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen became his successor, but he had to cede his own realm to Saxe-Meiningen.
In 1868, four districts were established in the Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen. Hildburghausen was one of these districts, with boundaries very similar to those of the former duchy. It remained almost unchanged until 1993, when the former district of Suhl was dissolved and most of its municipalities joined the district.
Read more about this topic: Saxe-Hildburghausen
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“The thing that struck me forcefully was the feeling of great age about the place. Standing on that old parade ground, which is now a cricket field, I could feel the dead generations crowding me. Here was the oldest settlement of freedmen in the Western world, no doubt. Men who had thrown off the bands of slavery by their own courage and ingenuity. The courage and daring of the Maroons strike like a purple beam across the history of Jamaica.”
—Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960)
“Hence poetry is something more philosophic and of graver import than history, since its statements are rather of the nature of universals, whereas those of history are singulars.”
—Aristotle (384–322 B.C.)
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—Johan Huizinga (1872–1945)