Saxon Duchies

Saxon Duchies, a group of sovereign states in the centre of Germany, lying W. of the kingdom of Saxony, N. of Bavaria, E. of Hesse-Nassau, and S. of the province of Prussian Saxony.

In no one of these states do the territories form a compact mass. Altenburg and Coburg-Gotha each consists of two principal portions, with smaller fragments; Weimar-Eisenach embraces three large divisions; and Meiningen, in addition to a long narrow crescentic piece of territory, has some detached parcels. Except the easternmost part of Altenburg, they are all generally hilly, embracing the Thuringian Highlands and their valleys, and are watered by the tributary streams of the Elbe—the Saale, Unstrut, Ilm, and Elster—and by the Werra. In all the duchies the chief occupations are agriculture and fruit and vegetable growing. Cattle, sheep, and horses are bred with care; poultry are reared in large numbers in Coburg and Meiningen. Various minerals are mined, as iron, coal, and marble in Gotha and Meiningen, lignite, turf, limestone, and sandstone in Altenburg, and kaolin and slates in Meiningen. There is a good deal of industrial activity displayed in all the duchies, especially in the manufacture of glass; and the people of Altenburg make bricks, porcelain, woollens, linen, wooden articles, beer, toys, cottons, chemicals, tobacco-pipes, cloth, machinery, and metal instruments, &c. Education reaches a high level in all the duchies, which maintain in common the university of Jena. The government in each state is framed on the model of a constitutional monarchy. At the head of each is a duke (in Weimar a grand-duke), controlled and assisted by an assembly chosen for three years, and embracing in Altenburg thirty members, in Coburg-Gotha thirty, in Meiningen twenty-four, in Weimar thirty-one members. The representatives are chosen in part directly, in part indirectly. Each state has a ministry (three members in Altenburg, two in Coburg-Gotha, five in Meiningen, and four in Weimar); and each has one vote in the council of the empire. To the imperial parliament Altenburg sends one representative, Coburg-Gotha and Meiningen two each, and Weimar three. The several ducal houses, which have a common ancestor (see SAXONY), are united by family compacts and agreements; the Grand-duke of Weimar ranks as senior, and is the heir to the crown of Saxony in case that royal family dies out.

History.—Saxe-Altenburg was ruled by imperial burgraves from the 12th to the 14th century; in 1485 it became subject to the ruling house of the Saxons, and has continued to be governed by a member of that house ever since. From 1672 to 1825 it was united (for the most part) with Gotha; since then it has formed an independent duchy. Saxe-Coburg has been ruled over by the Saxon house since 1553, as an independent duchy from 1680. In 1826 its duke became duke of Gotha too, but the two duchies were not constitutionally united until 1873. Saxe-Gotha was made a duchy in 1641, was united with Altenburg 1672-1825, and then joined to Coburg. As Duke Ernest II., brother of our Prince Albert, died childless (1893), the succession passed to the Duke of Edinburgh, and at his death (July 1900) to his nephew, the young Duke of Albany. Saxe-Meiningen is a separate duchy since 1681. Saxe-Weimar has been under the rule of the Saxon house since 1376. Bernhard (q.v.), a brother of the reigning duke, distinguished himself as a Protestant general in the Thirty Years' War. Duke Karl August (1758-1828) made Weimar (q.v.) the centre of the intellectual and artistic life of Germany by gathering round him Goethe, Schiller, Herder, Wieland, &c., and by encouraging the theatre, the university of Jena, and the fine arts.