Electorate of Saxony
Electoral Principality | |||||
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 during the Peace of Westphalia, 1648. | |||||
| Capital | Wittenberg (1356-1547) Meissen (1423-1464) Dresden (1464-1806) | ||||
| Official language | Latin | ||||
| Other languages | Central | ||||
| Government | Principality | ||||
| Elector | |||||
| • 1356 | Rodolfo I (first) | ||||
| • 1419-1422 | Alberto III (Casa de Ascania) | ||||
| • 1423-1428 | Federico I (Wettin House) | ||||
| • 1763-1806 | Federico Augusto III (last) | ||||
| Historical period | Middle Ages, Modern Age | ||||
| • Gold Bull | 10 January 1356 | ||||
| • Elevated to kingdom | 20 December 1806 | ||||
Member of: Sacro German Roman Empire | |||||
The Electorate of Saxony (German: Kurfürstentum Sachsen) was a former German state formed from the duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg after the Diet of Nuremberg, in the which the German Emperor Charles IV established the organization of the Holy Roman Empire by means of the Golden Bull of 1356. This document granted the Ascanian dukes of Saxe-Wittenberg the electoral privilege, that is, they would have a vote in the Imperial Diet to elect to the new emperors.
Historical sketch
The Ascanians held the dukedom until Albert IV's death without issue in 1423, so Emperor Sigismund III granted it to Frederick IV of Meissen, of the house of Wettin, for his help in the wars against the Hussites, and he added it to his extensive domains making the Electorate of Saxony an important State. In the division of the Wettin's territories in 1485 (Leipzig Division), the Electorate was framed in Ernest's inheritance (Ernestine line). However, the territory passed to the Albertine line when John Frederick I the Magnanimous joined the Schmalkaldic League against Emperor Charles V, who defeated the league at the Battle of Mühlberg (1547), wresting the Electorate from John Frederick. and handed it over to his ally Duke Maurice of Saxe-Meissen by the Wittenberg Capitulation.
The Elector Augustus was an uncompromising Lutheran who developed the local economy and promulgated the Constitutions of 1572, Germany's first constitutional legislation. However, his successors became closer in the 17th century to the Catholic party and, therefore, to Austria. Although at first the elector John George I allied himself with Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, he soon changed sides and reached an agreement with Emperor Ferdinand II, who ceded Lusatia to him in the Prague treaty of 1635. The Electorate became the scene of the Thirty Years' War, ending up devastated and depopulated.
By the early 18th century, the Electorate had returned to prosperity, and Elector Frederick Augustus I rivaled Brandenburg for dominance of Germany. Converted to Catholicism, he faced Charles XII of Sweden in the Northern War for the throne of Poland, which led to the conquest of Saxony by the Swedes in 1706. Frederick Augustus made the capital, Dresden, one of the most important cities in the world. beauties of Europe and introduced the porcelain industry to Meissen. Frederick Augustus II sided with Austria against Prussia, which led to the disasters of the Seven Years' War in the capitulation of Pirna, 1756, and the loss of the Polish throne.
Saxony recovered again with Frederick Augustus III; the army went from 18,000 to 30,000 soldiers, and generally participated in Prussian politics. He was forced to join the Fourth anti-French Coalition during the French Revolution, but after the defeat in the battle of Jena (1806) against Napoleon, he made peace with France and was granted the royal title by the emperor, forming the Kingdom of Saxony.
List of Electors of Saxony
- Saxony voters (1356-1806)
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