Duke of Saxe-Altenburg
| Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg (1602–1918) Herzogtum Sachsen-Altenburg Free State of Saxe-Altenburg (1918–20) |
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| Freistaat Saxe-Altenburg | ||||||||||
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State of the Holy Roman Empire, State of the German Confederation, State of the North German Confederation, State of the German Empire, State of the Weimar Republic |
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Anthem Heil unserm Herzog, heil (Hail to our Duke, hail!) |
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.svg) Saxe-Altenburg within the German Empire
 Ernestine duchies after 1825, showing Saxe-Altenburg in orange |
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| Capital | Altenburg | |||||||||
| Government | Principality | |||||||||
| Duke of Saxe-Altenburg | ||||||||||
| • | 1603–13 | Christian II, Elector of Saxony (regent for Johann Philipp) | ||||||||
| • | 1669–72 | Johann Georg II, Elector of Saxony (regent for Friedrich Wilhelm III) | ||||||||
| • | 1826–34 | Friedrich | ||||||||
| • | 1908–18 | Ernst II | ||||||||
| History | ||||||||||
| • | Saxe-Weimar partitioned | 7 July 1602 | ||||||||
| • | Personal union with Saxe-Gotha* | 1672–1825 | ||||||||
| • | Ernestine duchies rearranged, duchy restored | 12 November 1826 | ||||||||
| • | German Revolution | November 1918 | ||||||||
| • | Merger of Thuringia‡ | 1920 | ||||||||
| Area | ||||||||||
| • | 1905 | 1,323 km² (511 sq mi) | ||||||||
| Population | ||||||||||
| • | 1905 est. | 207,000 | ||||||||
| Density | 156.5 /km² (405.2 /sq mi) | |||||||||
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| * See Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg † As Free State of Saxe-Altenburg ‡ In 1920, the ex-Imperial states of Saxe-Altenburg, Saxe-Meiningen, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and the two principalities of Reuß all merged to form the Free State of Thuringia. |
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Saxe-Altenburg (German: Sachsen-Altenburg) was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine branch of the House of Wettin in present-day Thuringia. It was one of the smallest of the German states with an area of 1323 square kilometers and a population of 207,000 (1905) of whom about one fifth resided in the capital, Altenburg. The territory of the duchy consisted of two non-contiguous territories separated by land belonging to the Principality of Reuss. Its economy was based on agriculture, forestry, and small industry. The state had a constitutional monarchical form of government with a parliament composed of thirty members chosen by male taxpayers over 25 years of age.
The duchy had its origins in the medieval Burgraviate of Altenburg in the Imperial Pleissnerland (Terra Plisensis), a possession of the Wettin Margraves of Meissen since 1243. Upon a partition treaty of 1485, Altenburg fell to Ernst, Elector of Saxony, the progenitor of the Ernestine Wettins. After the Division of Erfurt in 1572 among Duke Johann Wilhelm of Saxony and his nephews, Altenburg fell to his Duchy of Saxe-Weimar.
When Johann Wilhelm's son and successor Friedrich Wilhelm I died in 1602, the Duchy of Saxe-Weimar passed to his younger brother Johann II. In 1603 Frederick William's eldest son Johann Philipp received the newly created Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg as compensation. It was an Imperial State in its own right, with a vote in the Reichstag, for much of the 17th century until the extinction of its ruling line in 1672 when it was inherited by Ernest I the Pious, the Duke of Saxe-Gotha, who had married the heiress.
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