House of Wettin

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House of Wettin
Saxony, Meissen and Thuringia
Country: Saxony
Titles: Margrave of Meissen, Landgrave of Thuringia, Duke of Saxony, Grand Duke of Saxony, Elector of Saxony, King of Saxony
Founder: Thiedericus
Final ruler: Multiple sovereigns until 1918
Current head: Prince Michael, titular Grand Duke of Saxony
Founding year: 900s A.D.
Dissolution: 1918
Ethnicity: German
Cadet branches: In order of seniority:
Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (Grand Duchy of Saxony)
Saxe-Meiningen
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Saxony (Kingdom of Saxony)

The House of Wettin was a dynasty of German counts, dukes, prince-electors (Kurfürsten) and kings that ruled the area of today's German state of Saxony for more than 800 years as well as holding at times the kingship of Poland. Agnates of the House of Wettin have, at various times, ascended the thrones of Great Britain, Portugal, Bulgaria, Poland, Saxony, and Belgium; of these, only the British and Belgian lines retain their thrones today. (See list of members.)

Contents

The oldest member of the House of Wettin who is known for certain was Thiedericus (died 982), who was probably based in the Liesgau (located at the western edge of the Harz). Around 1000, as part of the German conquest of Slavic territory, the family acquired Wettin Castle, after which they named themselves. Wettin Castle is located in Wettin in the Hosgau on the Saale River. Around 1030, the Wettin family received the Eastern March as a fief. [1]

The prominence of the Wettin family in the Slavic marches caused Emperor Henry IV to invest them with the March of Meissen as a fief in 1089. The family advanced over the course of the Middle Ages: in 1263 they inherited the landgraviate of Thuringia (though without Hesse), and in 1423 they were invested with the Duchy of Saxony, centred at Wittenberg, thus becoming one of the prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire.

The family divided into two ruling branches in 1485 when the sons of Frederick II, Elector of Saxony divided the territories hithero ruled jointly.

The elder son Ernest, who had succeeded his father as Prince-elector, received the territories assigned to the Elector (Electoral Saxony) and Thuringia, while his younger brother Albert obtained the March of Meissen, which he ruled from Dresden. As Albert ruled under the title of "Duke of Saxony", his possessions were also known as Ducal Saxony.

The older, Ernestine branch remained predominant until 1547 and played an important role in the beginnings of the Protestant reformation. Their predominance ended in the Schmalkaldic War, which pitted the Protestant Schmalkaldic League against Emperor Charles V. Although itself Protestant, the Albertine branch rallied to the Empire's cause; Charles V rewarded them by forcing the Ernestines to sign away their rights to the Electoral title and lands to the Albertines. The Ernestine line was thereafter restricted to Thuringia, and its dynastic unity swiftly crumbled.

The Albertine Wettins maintained most of the territorial integrity of Saxony, preserving it as a significant power in the region, and using small appanage fiefs for their cadet branches, few of which survived for significant lengths of time. The Ernestine Wettins, on the other hand, repeatedly subdivided their territory, creating an intricate patchwork of small duchies and counties in Thuringia.

The junior Albertine branch ruled as Electors (1547–1806) and Kings of Saxony (1806–1918) and also played a role in Polish history: two Wettins were Kings of Poland (between 1697–1763) and a third ruled the Duchy of Warsaw (1807–1814) as a satellite of Napoleon. After the Napoleonic Wars, the Albertine branch lost about 40% of its lands, including the old Electoral Saxony, to Prussia, restricting it to a territory coextensive with the modern Saxony),

Main article: Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

The senior Ernestine branch lost the electorship to the Albertine in 1547, but retained its holdings in Thuringia, dividing the area into a number of smaller states. One of the resulting Ernestine houses, that of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, went on to contribute kings of Belgium (from 1831) and Bulgaria (1908 - 1946), as well as furnishing consorts to queens regnant of Portugal (Ferdinand II of Portugal) and the United Kingdom (Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria), as well as to Maximilian I of Mexico (Carlota of Mexico, the first Belgian princess). As such, the British, Portuguese, and for a time, Mexican, thrones became a possession of persons who belonged to the House of Wettin.

Although the British Royal Family's Royal House name was Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, in the late 19th century Queen Victoria charged her College of Heralds to determine her correct personal surname; after extensive research they concluded that it was Wettin. In 1917, the male-line descendants of Victoria and Albert had their House name as well as their personal surnames changed to Windsor by an Order-in-Council of King George V.

Queen Elizabeth II will be the last British monarch agnatically descended from the House of Wettin. As a result of her marriage to Prince Philip of Greece, the throne will pass to his House, agnatic descendants of the House of Oldenburg. However, they will probably continue using the name Windsor as a house name and Mountbatten-Windsor as a personal surname, as prescribed by Queen Elizabeth. Mountbatten is an Anglicisation of Battenberg, the family name of Prince Philip's mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg.

  1. ^ Lexikon des Mittelalters, vol. IX, col. 50, Munich 1969-1999

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