Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach

(Grand) Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
(Groß-)herzogtum Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach
State of the Confederation of the Rhine
State of the German Confederation
State of the North German Confederation
State of the German Empire
State of the Weimar Republic

 

1809–1920
Flag (1813–1897) Coat of arms
Anthem
Weimars Volkslied
Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach within the German Empire
Capital Weimar
Government Principality
Grand Duke
 - 1809–28 Charles Augustus (first)
 - 1901–18 William Ernest (last)
Historical era Middle Ages
 - Saxe-Eisenach and
    Saxe-Weimar held in
    personal union
 
1741
 - Merger of Eisenach
    and Weimar
1809
 - Raised to
    grand duchy
1815
 - German Revolution 1918
 - Joined Thuringia 1920
Area
 - 1905 3,617 km2 (1,397 sq mi)
Population
 - 1905 est. 388,000 
     Density 107.3 /km2  (277.8 /sq mi)

The Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (German: Herzogtum Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach) was created in 1809 by the merger of the Ernestine duchies of Saxe-Weimar and Saxe-Eisenach. It was raised to a Grand duchy in 1815 by resolution of the Vienna Congress. In 1877, it officially changed its name to the Grand Duchy of Saxony (German: Großherzogtum Sachsen), but this name was rarely used. The Grand Duchy came to an end in the German Revolution of 1918–19 with the other monarchies of the German Empire. It was succeeded by the Free State of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, which was merged into the new state of Thuringia two years later.

The full grand ducal style was Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Landgrave in Thuringia, Margrave of Meissen, Princely Count of Henneberg, Lord of Blankenhayn, Neustadt and Tautenburg.

Contents

History

The duchies of Saxe-Weimar and Saxe-Eisenach had been ruled in personal union by the House of Wettin since 1741, after the Eisenach line had died out upon the death of Duke Wilhelm Heinrich. In 1804 Duke Charles Augustus' eldest son and heir Charles Frederick married Maria Pavlovna Romanova, sister of Emperor Alexander I of Russia, a conjugal union which decisively promoted the rise of the Ernestine Saxe-Weimar dynasty. Though at first an ally of Prussia in the Napoleonic War of the Fourth Coalition, Duke Charles Augustus escaped his deposition by joining the Confederation of the Rhine on 15 December 1806.

After the official merger in 1809, the Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach consisted of the separate districts around the capital Weimar in the north and Eisenach in the west, further enlarged in 1815 by the district of Neustadt an der Orla in the east.

Princes of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach

Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, 1809–1815

Grand Dukes of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, 1815–1918

Heads of the House of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, 1918–present

See also

External links