Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach

SAXE-WEIMAR-EISENACH, formerly a grand duchy of Germany and a sovereign and constituent State of the German empire, and since 1918 amalgamated into Thuringia (q.v.).

History.

In early times Weimar and district belonged to the counts of Orlarniinde, and from the end of the loth century until 1067 it was the seat of the counts of Weimar. In the 14th century it passed to the elector of Saxony, falling at the partition of 1485 to the Ernestine branch of the Wettin family. It was not until 1641 that Saxe-Weimar emerged into an independent historical position. In this year, having just inherited Coburg and Eisenach, the three brothers William, Albert, and Ernest founded the three principalities of Saxe-Weimar, Saxe-Eisenach, and Saxe-Gotha. Eisenach fell to Saxe-Weimar in 1644, and although the enlarged principality of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach was temporarily split up into the lines Saxe-Weimar, Saxe-Eisenach, and Saxe-Jena, it was again united under Ernest Augustus, who began to reign in 1728. The reign of Charles Augustus, who assumed the government in 1775, is the most brilliant in the history of Saxe-Weimar. An intelligent patron of literature and

art, he attracted to his court the leading scholars in Germany; Goethe, Schiller, and Herder were members of this illustrious band, and the little state attracted the eyes of all Europe.

The Congress of Vienna in 1815 added about 66osq.m. to its area and gave its ruler the title of grand-duke. Charles Augustus was the first German sovereign to give a constitution to his state under Article XIII. of the Federal Act. Freedom of the press being secured under its constitution, Weimar became a focus of liberal agitation, which drew down upon the grand-duke the wrath of the reactionary powers (see GERMANY, History). He was thus forced to curtail some of the liberties granted. In 1866 the grand duchy joined Prussia against Austria and afterwards entered the North German Confederation and the new German empire. In 1919 the grand-duchy was absorbed in the new republican state of Thuringia, of which Weimar became the capital.