Saxe-Altenburg

   

Saxe-Altenburg (German Sachsen-Altenburg) was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine branch of the Wettin dynasty. Altenburg was its own state, with a vote in the diet, for much of the 17th century until the extinction of its ruling line in 1675, when it was inherited by the Duke of Saxe-Gotha, who married the heiress. It remained part of Saxe-Gotha until the extinction of that house in 1825, when Gotha and Altenburg were split up, with Gotha going to the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and Altenburg to the Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen, who in exchange gave up Hildburghausen to the Duke of Saxe-Meiningen. This line ruled in the duchy until the end of the monarchies in 1918. Saxe-Altenburg was incorporated into the new state of Thuringia in 1920.

Saxe-Altenburg had an area of 1,323 kmē and a population of 207,000 (1905). Its capital was Altenburg.

Retrieved from "http://www.mywiseowl.com/articles/Saxe-Altenburg"

This page has been accessed 57 times. This page was last modified 05:05, 25 Jun 2004. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License (see Copyrights for details).