Julius Francis of Saxe-Lauenburg
| Julius Francis | |
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Caption: IULIUS FRANCISCUS, Sax., Angriae et Westphaliae Dux
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| Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg | |
| Reign | 1666 – 1689 |
| Predecessor | Francis Erdmann |
| Successor | George William |
| Born |
16 September 1641 Prague |
| Died | 30 September 1689 (aged 48) Reichstadt |
| Consort | Hedwig of the Palatinate-Sulzbach |
| Issue more... |
Anna Maria Franziska, Grand Duchess of Tuscany Sibylle, Margravine of Baden-Baden |
| House | House of Ascania |
| Father | Julius Henry, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg |
| Mother | Anna Magdalena of Lobkowicz |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
Julius Francis (Prague, 16 September 1641 – 30 September 1689, Reichstadt) was duke of Saxe-Lauenburg between 1666 and 1689. He was a son of Duke Julius Henry and his third wife Anna Magdalena of Lobkowicz (1606 – 1668), daughter of Baron William the Younger Popel of Lobkowicz. He was officially known as Julius Franz von Sachsen, Engern und Westfalen.
His father Julius Henry had acquired sprawling estates around and a castle in Ploschkowitz (Ploskovice) and Schlackenwerth (Ostrov), Kingdom of Bohemia. Julius Francis had inherited more estates from his Bohemian mother, which is why the dukes of Saxe-Lauenburg had been adopted into the Bohemian nobility, however, not as imperially immediate aristocrats, as in their homeland.
Having no sons Julius Francis provided for the legal grounds of female succession in Saxe-Lauenburg. With his death the Lauenburg line of the House of Ascania was extinct in the male line. So Julius Francis' two daughters Anna Maria Franziska and Sibylle fought for the succession of the former, the elder sister. Also Julius Francis' cousin, Eleonore Charlotte of Saxe-Lauenburg-Franzhagen, claimed the succession.
Their weakness was abused by George William, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, who invaded Saxe-Lauenburg with his troops, thus inhibiting the ascension of the legal heiress.
Also other monarchies claimed the succession, resulting in a conflict involving further the neighboring duchies of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and of Danish Holstein, as well as the five Ascanian-ruled Principalities of Anhalt, the Electorate of Saxony, which had succeeded the Dukes of Saxe-Wittenberg in 1422, Sweden and Brandenburg.
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