John George II, Elector of Saxony

John George (31 May 1613 – 22 August 1680) was the Elector of Saxony from 1656 to 1680.

He was the third (fourth in order of birth) but eldest surviving son of the Elector John George I of Saxony and Magdalene Sybille of Prussia, his second spouse.

John George succeeded his father as Elector when he died on 8 October 1656.

His reign was marked by the economic reconstruction of Saxony after the Thirty Years' War. The economy animated itself slowly again, to which established and also new trades and manufacture contributed (textile industry, promotion of hard coal and glass, among other things). The silver extracted from his mountains filled the empty arcs of the Electorate, and the Leipzig Trade Fair gained new income. Also the bohemian Exulanten (1654) contributed new income to the economics.

Thanks to Duke William of Saxe-Weimar, John George was accepted into the Fruitbearing Society (1658).

In 1657 he made an arrangement with his three brothers with the object of preventing disputes over their separate territories, and in 1664 he entered into friendly relations with Louis XIV. He received money from the French king, but the existence of a strong anti-French party in Saxony induced him occasionally to respond to the overtures of the emperor Leopold I.

The elector's primary interests were not in politics, but in music and art. He adorned Dresden, which under him became the musical centre of Germany; welcoming foreign musicians and others he gathered around him a large and splendid court, and his capital was the constant scene of musical and other festivals. His enormous expenditure compelled him in 1661 to grant greater control over monetary matters to the estates, a step which laid the foundation of the later system of finance in Saxony. Also, his government activity was inferior in the development of the Absolutism and a Standing army in comparison with Bohemia and Prussia.

In Dresden on 13 November 1638 John George married Magdalene Sibylle of Brandenburg-Bayreuth. They had three children:

1. Sibylle Marie (16 September 1642 - 27 February 1643).
2. Erdmuthe Sophie (25 February 1644 - 22 June 1670), married on 29 October 1662 to Christian Ernst, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth.
3. John George III (20 June 1647 - 12 September 1691), his successor as Elector.

Ancestors

References

• Mary E. Frandsen: Crossing Confessional Boundaries. The Patronage of Italian Sacred Music in 17th Century Dresden. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. ISBN 0-19-517831-9
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). "John George II". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/JEE_JUN/JOHN_GEORGE_II.html.