Ernest, Elector of Saxony

Elector of Saxony from 1464 to 1486

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Ernest

Portrait by Lucas Cranach the Younger

Elector of Saxony
Reign| 7 September 1464 - 26 August 1486
Predecessor| Frederick II
Successor| Frederick III
Landgrave of Thuringia
Reign| 17 September 1482 - 26 August 1486
Predecessor| William II
Successor| Frederick VI

Born| 24 March 1441
Meissen, Margravate of Meissen, Electorate of Saxony, Holy Roman Empire
Died| 26 August 1486(1486-08-26) (aged 45)
Colditz Castle, Margravate of Meissen, Electorate of Saxony, Holy Roman Empire
Burial|

Meissen Cathedral

Spouse|

Elisabeth of Bavaria-Munich

(m. 1460; died 1484)​

Issue
among others...| Christina, Queen of Denmark
Frederick III, Elector of Saxony
Johann, Elector of Saxony
Margarete, Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg
House| House of Wettin
Father| Frederick II, Elector of Saxony
Mother| Margaret of Austria-Styria

Ernest (24 March 1441 - 26 August 1486), known as Ernst in German, was Elector of Saxony from 1464 to 1486.

Ernst was the founder and progenitor of the Ernestine line of Saxon princes.[1]

## Biography[edit]

Frederick I, Elector of Saxony (1381–1428), Ernest, Elector of Saxony (1464–1486) and Frederick II, Elector of Saxony (1428–1464); Fürstenzug, Dresden, Germany

Ernst was born in Meissen, the second son (but fourth in order of birth) of the eight children of Frederick II, Elector of Saxony and Margaret of Austria, sister of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor. The death of his older brother Frederick (1451) made him the new heir apparent to the position of Elector of Saxony.

In 1455 Ernst was briefly kidnapped, along with his brother Albert, by the knight Kunz von Kaufungen an episode famous in German history as the Prinzenraub[2] (i.e. The Stealing of the Princes).

In 1464, he succeeded his father as Elector of Saxony, and annexed Thuringia in 1482, and three years later (Treaty of Leipzig, 1485) shared his territory with his brother Albert, until he arranged the division of the common possession.

According to the Treaty of Leipzig he received an area around Wittenberg, the southern Thuringian part, the Vogtland and parts of the Pleissnerland. As a residence he selected Wittenberg. He provided for the welfare of the country and introduced the constitution.

One year after the division, Ernest died in Colditz, at the age of 46 years, the consequence of a fall from a horse.

## Children[edit]

His wife Elisabeth of Bavaria

In Leipzig on 19 November 1460 Ernst married Elisabeth of Bavaria. They had seven children:

1. Christina (25 December 1461, Torgau - 8 December 1521, Odense), married on 6 September 1478 to King John I of Denmark
2. Frederick III, Elector of Saxony (17 January 1463, Torgau - 5 May 1525, Lockau)
3. Ernest (26 June 1464, Meissen - 3 August 1513, Halle), Archbishop of Magdeburg (1476–1480), Bishop of Halberstadt (1480–1513)
4. Adalbert (8 May 1467, Meissen - 1 May 1484, Aschaffenburg), Administrator of Mainz
5. Johann, Elector of Saxony (30 June 1468, Meissen - 16 August 1532, Schweinitz)
6. Margarete (4 August 1469, Meissen - 7 December 1528, Weimar), married on 27 February 1487 to Henry I of Lüneburg
7. Wolfgang (c. 1473, Meissen - c. 1478, Torgau).

## Ancestry[edit]

Ancestors of Ernest, Elector of Saxony

|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | 8\. Frederick III, Landgrave of Thuringia

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| 4\. Frederick I, Elector of Saxony|

|  |  |
| 9\. Catherine of Henneberg-Schleusingen

| 2\. Frederick II, Elector of Saxony|

|  |  |  |  |
| 10\. Henry the Mild, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg

| 5\. Catherine of Brunswick|

|  |  |
| 11\. Sofie of Pomerania-Wolgast

| 1\. Ernest, Elector of Saxony|
|  |  |  |  |  |  |
| 12\. Leopold III, Duke of Austria

| 6\. Ernest, Duke of Austria|

|  |  |
| 13\. Viridis Visconti

| 3\. Margaret of Austria|

|  |  |  |  |
| 14\. Siemowit IV, Duke of Masovia

| 7\. Cymburgis of Masovia|

|  |  |
| 15\. Alexandra of Lithuania

|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |

## References[edit]

1. ^ Trim 2003, p. 214.
2. ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Frederick II., Elector of Saxony" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 11 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 60.

## Sources[edit]

* Trim, David J. B. (2003). The Chivalric Ethos and the Development of Military Professionalism. BRILL. ISBN 978-9004120952.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ernest, Elector of Saxony.

Ernest, Elector of Saxony

House of Wettin

Born: 24 March 144126 August

Preceded by

Frederick II

|  Elector of Saxony
1464–1486  | Succeeded by

Frederick III

Preceded by

William II

|  Landgrave of Thuringia
1482–1486  | Succeeded by

Frederick VI

* v
* t
* e

Electors of Saxony

* Rudolf I
* Rudolf II
* Wenceslaus I
* Rudolf III
* Albert III
* Frederick I
* Frederick II
* Ernest
* Frederick III
* John
* John Frederick I
* Maurice
* Augustus
* Christian I
* Christian II
* John George I
* John George II
* John George III
* John George IV
* Frederick Augustus I
* Frederick Augustus II
* Frederick Christian
* Frederick Augustus III

* v
* t
* e

Princes of Saxony

The generations are numbered from the ascension of Frederick I as Elector of Saxony in 1423.

1st generation|

* Frederick II
* William III, Landgrave of Thuringia

2nd generation|

* Ernest
* Albert III

3rd generation|

* Frederick III
* Ernest, Archbishop of Magdeburg
* Albert, Administrator of Mainz
* John
* George
* Henry IV
* Prince Frederick, Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights

4th generation|

* John, Hereditary Prince of Saxony
* Frederick, Hereditary Prince of Saxony
* John Frederick I
* Maurice
* Severinus
* John Ernest
* Augustus

5th generation|

* John Frederick II
* Johann Wilhelm
* John Frederick III
* Christian I

6th generation|

* Christian II
* John George I
* August

7th generation|

* John George II
* Augustus of Saxe-Weissenfels
* Christian I of Saxe-Merseburg
* Maurice of Saxe-Zeitz

8th generation|

* John George III

9th generation|

* John George IV
* Frederick Augustus I

10th generation|

* Frederick Augustus II1

11th generation|

* Frederick Christian1
* Prince Francis Xavier1
* Charles, Duke of Courland1
* Albert, Duke of Teschen1
* Clemens Wenceslaus, Archbishop of Trier1

12th generation|

* Frederick Augustus I
* Anthony I
* Maximilian, Crown Prince

13th generation|

* Frederick Augustus II
* John

14th generation|

* Albert
* George

15th generation|

* Frederick Augustus III
* Prince Johann Georg
* Prince Maximilian
* Prince Albert

16th generation|

* Georg, Crown Prince of Saxony
* Friedrich Christian, Margrave of Meissen
* Prince Ernst Heinrich

17th generation|

* Maria Emanuel, Margrave of Meissen
* Albert, Margrave of Meissen

18th generation|

* Prince Rüdiger
* Prince Alexander

19th generation|

* Prince Daniel

1 also królewicz of Poland and Lithuania

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF

National|

* Germany
* Czech Republic
* Poland
* Vatican

People|

* Deutsche Biographie

*[m.]: married
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