Saxe-Eisenach

Duchy of Saxe-Eisenach
*Herzogtum Sachsen-Eisenach*
Duchy of Saxe-Eisenach Herzogtum Sachsen-Eisenach
1596 – 1638; 1640 – 1644; 1672 – 1809
	Saxe-Eisenach, shown amongst the other 18th-century Ernestine duchies
Status	State of the Holy Roman Empire; State of the Confederation of the Rhine
Capital	Eisenach
Government	Principality
Historical era	Middle Ages
• Division of Erfurt	1572
•	; 1596 1596
• Partitioned into Altenburg; and Weimar	; 1638
• Partitioned from Weimar	1640
• Partitioned into Gotha and; Weimar	; 1644
• Partitioned from Weimar	1662
•	1741 1809
• Merged to form; Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach	; 1809
Preceded by	Succeeded by
	Saxe-Coburg-Eisenach
	Saxe-Gotha
	Saxe-Weimar
Saxe-Altenburg
Saxe-Gotha
Saxe-Weimar
Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach

Saxe-Eisenach (German: Sachsen-Eisenach) was the name of three different Ernestine duchies that existed at different times in Thuringia. The chief town and capital of all three duchies was Eisenach.

History

The first Duchy of Saxe-Eisenach was created in 1596 for Johann Ernst, younger son of Johann Frederick II of Saxe-Coburg-Eisenach.

In 1633, the Wettin line died out, and Johann Ernst inherited it, but he died heirless in 1638, and the territories of Saxe-Gotha and Saxe-Eisenach were split between Saxe-Weimar and Saxe-Altenburg.

In 1640 Saxe-Eisenach was again separated off from Saxe-Weimar for Albert, son of John II of Saxe-Weimar, but after just four years he too died without an heir, and Saxe-Eisenach was then divided between Saxe-Gotha and Saxe-Weimar, ruled by his brothers Ernst and Wilhelm.

In 1662 Wilhelm, Duke of Saxe-Weimar died, leaving four children: Johann Ernst, Adolf Wilhelm, Johann Georg and Bernhard. Adolf Wilhelm, got Eisenach, but he had to share this with his younger brother Johann Georg. Johann Georg eventually took an allowance from the duchy instead of taking part in the government, and moved to live in the small town of Marksuhl. Adolf William’s first four sons died soon after birth. In 1668 he died, just before of the birth of his fifth child, Wilhelm August, who became the new Duke of Saxe-Eisenach from his birth, with Johann Georg as regent. A sickly boy, he died in 1671 at only two years old, and Johann Georg I became the duke of Saxe-Eisenach.

Saxe-Eisenach changed again in 1672. Frederick William III of Saxe-Altenburg died and his lands were split. The line of Johann Georg I ruled Saxe-Eisenach for 69 years, until Duke Wilhelm Heinrich died heirless in 1741. Ernst August I of Saxe-Weimar, Wilhelm's second cousin, inherited Saxe-Eisenach; he and his successors ruled Saxe-Weimar and Saxe-Eisenach in a personal union until 1809, when the duchies were formally merged into the Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach.