Saxe-Hildburghausen
| Duchy of Saxe-Hildburghausen | ||||||||||||
| Herzogtum Sachsen-Hildburghausen | ||||||||||||
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State of the Holy Roman Empire, State of the Confederation of the Rhine, State of the German Confederation |
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| Capital |
Heldburg (to 1684) Hildburghausen (from 1684) |
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| Government | Principality | |||||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | |||||||||||
| • | Partitioned from Saxe-Gotha |
1680 1680 |
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| • | Reichsunmittelbarkeit | 1702 | ||||||||||
| • | Passed to Saxe-Meiningen | 1826 | ||||||||||
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Saxe-Hildburghausen (German: Sachsen-Hildburghausen) was an Ernestine duchy in the southern side of the present State of Thuringia in Germany. It existed from 1680 to 1826 but its name and borders are currently used by the District of Hildburghausen.
After the Duke of Saxe-Gotha, Ernest the Pious, died on 26 March 1675 in Gotha, the Principality was divided on 24 February 1680 among his seven surviving sons. The lands of Saxe-Hildburghausen went to the sixth son, who became Ernest II, the first Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen. But the new Principality did not have complete independence. It had to depend on the higher authorities in Gotha for the matters of administration of its districts – the so-called “Nexus Gothanus” – because Gotha was the residence of Ernest II’s oldest brother, who ruled as Frederick I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. Saxe-Hildburghausen did not become fully sovereign until 1702.
In the beginning, the Principality had the District and city of Hildburghausen, the District and city of Heldburg, the District and city of Eisfeld, the District of Veilsdorf and the half of the District of Schalkau. Two more districts were added – Königsberg in 1683 and Sonnefeld in 1705. When Albert V, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg, died in 1699 without any surviving descendants, disputes arose over the inheritance but, eventually, in 1714, Saxe-Hildburghausen agreed to exchange the District of Schalkau for parts of Saxony – a piece of the former Duchy of Saxe-Römhild, the District of Behrungen, including the winery, and the monastery estate of Milz as well as the former properties of the Echter family of Mespelbrunn.
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