Treaty of Leipzig

The Treaty of Leipzig or Partition of Leipzig (German Leipziger Teilung) was signed on 11 November 1485 between Elector Ernest of Saxony and his younger brother Albert III, the sons of Elector Frederick II of Saxony from the House of Wettin. The agreement perpetuated the division of the Wettin lands into a Saxon and a Thuringian part, which in the long run obstructed the further development of a Central German hegemonic power in favour of Brandenburg-Prussia.

In 1423 Ernest's and Albert's grandfather, Margrave Frederick IV of Meissen had received the Saxon Electorate from the hands of the Luxembourg emperor Sigismund. The Electorate — formerly the Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg — together with the incorporated Margraviate of Meissen and the Thuringian landgraviate formed the united Wettin lands. After the death of Frederick in 1464, his lands were ruled jointly by his two sons, until 1485, when they were partitioned between them.

In the 1485 partition the elder, Ernest, as hereditary Elector of Saxony, necessarily received the Electoral lands around Wittenberg. The rest were partitioned on the " I'll cut, you choose " basis, with Ernest partitioning the lands into two sets, and Albert choosing one set for himself. Albert chose the eastern territory of the former Margraviate of Meissen, while Ernest acquired most of the Thuringian regions in the west. Ernest was said to be disappointed by this outcome, as he had hoped to rule the lands around Meissen, which had been ruled by the House of Wettin since the 12th century, rather than the newly acquired lands of southern Thuringia.

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