Saxony

history of the country now known as Saxony.—The earliest inhabitants of upper Sax ony, since the Christian era, were the Hermunduri (see THURINGIA), and on the destruc tion of the great Thuringian kingdom in the beginning of the 6th c., their settlements were taken possession of by the Sorbs,- a Slavic race, who practiced agriculture and cattle-breeding. The Carlovingian rulers, dissatisfied with the ingress of those non German tribes, erected "marks" to bar their progress; and duke Otho the illustrious of Saxony, and his celebrated son, Henry the fowler, warred against them, the latter— subduing the Hevener, the Daleminzer, and the 31iltzer—founded in their country the marks of Brandenburg (q.v.), Misnia (Meissen), and Lusatia (Lausitz), and planted col onies of Germans among the Sorbs. In 1090 the mark was bestowed on the house of Wettin (a supposed off-shoot of the race of Wittekind), and was confirmed as a heredi tary possession to that family in 1127; and the markgraf, Henry the illustrious (1221-88), whose mother was heiress to the laudgrafdom of Thuringia, with its appendages, com bined the whole into a powerful state. Business, commerce, and mining industry now flourished; great roads for commercial purposes were constructed throughout the coun try, and the Leipsie fairs were established; and, in spite of much internal discord, and frequent partitions of Saxony, its prosperity increased. At last FREDERICK Tut: Wan LIKE (1381-1428) succeeded in uniting the several portions of Saxony, to which were added, by purchase and marriage, various districts in Franconia; and in 1423 the elec torate of Saxony (see above). The Saxon elector was now one of the most powerful princes of Germany; but unfortunately the fatal practice of subdividing the father's ter ritories among his sons still continued, and during the reign of the elector FREDERICK THE MILD (1428-64), whose brother William had obtained Thuringia, a civil war broke out, and was carried on for years. ERNEST (1464-86) and ALBERT (1464-1500), the sons of Frederick, in accordance with the will of their father, reigned conjointly over the hereditary domains of the family (the duchy of Saxony with the electoral dignity, being reserved always to the eldest) till the death of their uncle (1485), when Ernest obtained Thuringia, and Albert, Meissen, while Osterland was equally divided between them. Ernest, the founder of the Ernestine, which was also the elder or electoral line, was succeeded by his son, FREDRICK TILE WISE (1486-1525), who favored the reforma tion, and firmly supported and protected Luther against the overwhelming power of the Catholic party, which he was enabled to do, from his personal influence with the emperors Maximilian and Charles V. His brother and successor, Jour THE CONSTANT (1525-32), was still more a partisan of the new doctrines, as was also his son and succes sor, JOHN FREDERICK THE MAGNANIMOUS (1532-47); but the latter, by the defeat of Muldberg (q.v.) (see SCIIMALKALD), was forced to resign both his electoral dignity and' his states. Albert, the founder of the younger, ducal, or Albertine line, was succeeded by his sons, George the bearded (q.v.) (1500-39), a rabid Catholic, and HENRY Tin: PIOUS (1539-41), a no less zealous Protestant; after whom came the the celebrated MAunicE (1541-47) who was a professed Protestant, but joined the Catholic party against the league of Sehmalkald, obliged the Protestant army to retreat from th6 Danube, and took possession of the estates of the elector John Frederick, who, however, speedily drove him out, and took possession of ducal Saxony in his turn. After the rout of the Protestants at Muhlberg, Maurice received the electoral title (1547-53), and the greater portion of the estates of his vanquished cousin. But the arbitrary political measures and religious severities which were either instituted or promoted by the emperor, induced Maurice to join the Protestants, and, by a sudden march on Innspruck, he forced the emperor to agree to the peace of Passau. New tyrannical measures of the emperor caused him to look to an alliance with France, but the scheme was frustrated by his death, July 11, 1553, near Sievershausen, where two days before he had totally defeated the markgraf Albert of Kulmbach, a secret agent of the emperor's. his brother, August I. (q.v.)' (1553-86), the first economist of the age, has left a memory dear to Saxony, from the numerous excellent institutions which he established; he considerably increased his territories by purchase and otherwise, and restored Altenburg to the Ernestine line. CHRISTIAN I. (1586-91), a weak prince, surrendered the reins of government to his chan cellor, ere11, who was sacrificed, in the succeeding reign of CHRISTIAN II. (1591-1611), to the revenge of the offended nobility. Christian II. weakly neglected to assert his

claims to Jailers, on the death of its last duke, and allowed it to become a prey to Bran denburg and the palatine house of Neuberg; but his brother, JOHN GEORGE I. (1611-56), in revenge for this spoliation, allied himself to Austria, and conquered upper and lower Lusatia and Silesia. Subsequently the good understanding between these powers was destroyed, and the; elector allied himself with Gustavus Adolphus (1631), and took part in the thirty years' war. But on the death of Gustavus the elector separated from the Swedes, and made a separate peace (1635) with Austria, by which he obtained upper and lower Lusatia, acquisitions confirmed by the general treaty of Westphalia (1648). This was the period of the electorate's greatest pointer. His sons, JOHN GEORGE II. (1656-80), Aogust, Christian, and Maurice, divided the estates, the three latter founding cadet lines. all of which became extinct before 1750. The reigns of his successors, JOHN GEORGE III. (1680-91) and J9aN GEORGE IV. (1691-94), are unimportant, but .that of Frederick August I. (q.v.) (1694-1733) well-nigh ruined the hitherto prosperous elector ate. Frederick August had been chosen king of Poland; and his attempt, in company with the czar and the king of Denmark, to dismember Sweden brought down upon him and his two states the vengeance of the northern, " fire-king." 'Poland was utterly devastated, and Saxony exhausted of money and troops. Besides, the king's habits were most extravagant, and to maintain his lavish magnificence, he was forced to sell many important portions of territory. Frederick August 11. (q.v.) (1733-63), also king of Poland, took part in the war of the Austrian succession (q.v.) against Maria Theresa, but finding the treaty of Berlin (1742) not so satisfactory for himself as he expected, he joined the empress m 1745. The country was atrociously ravaged during the seven years' war (q.v:), and a long time elapsed before it recovered its previous peaceful-and prosperous state. FREDERICK CHRISTIAN (1763-63) and FREDERICK AUGUST I. (1763 1827), labored zealously for4the good of their subjects; and under the reign of the latter, agriculture, manufacturing, and industrial enterprise progressed with rapid strides. In spite of his love for peace the elector was led into the quarrel 'respecting,the Bavarian succession (q.v.); but he refused the crown of Poland in 1791, and declined to take part in the convention of Pilnitz, though he joined the Prussian confederation of German princes, and had an army of 22,000 Saxons at the battle of Jena. But the pressure of the French compelled him to join the confederation of the Rhine in 1806, and from this time his army fought side by side with the French. He obtained the union to Saxony of the duchy of 1Varsaw (see Poi.n.rin)•; but fearing that the disasters of the French, in 1812, wouhlthe fatal to their supremacy, and to the interest of Saxony, he withdrew to Bavaria, and thence to Prague, renounced the duchy of Warst.w, and made every attempt to come to amicable terms with the allies. But he was again compelled to join the French, between the battle of Lutzen (May 2, 1813) and that of Leipsic (Oct. 16-19, 1813), after which he became the prisoner of the allies, and his army was joined to theirs., For his support of Napoleon he was deprived of the great6r portion of Saxony, whieh was handed over to Prussia, but lie retained the title of king, which had been conferred upon him in 1806, The rest of his reign was occupied with internal reforms. ANTONY (1827-36) reformed the entire legislation of the country, and granted a liberal constitu tion, being urged thereto by a popular outbreak in the autumn of 1831.. The constitution was proclaimed Sept. 4, 1831, and the state's representativeS first assembled, Jan. 27, 1833. FREDERICK AUGUST II. (1836-54), his nephew, who had been regent for several years, now succeeded, and though favorable to constitutionalism, he was unable to obtain the smooth and harmonious working of the new system. In 1842 violent contests commenced, accompanied by occasional riots in the principal towns, on the subject of the liberty of the press, and the publicity of legal proceedings. Sometimes the consth tutionalists, and sometimes their opponents, gained the supremacy, and for a long time the efforts of the two parties counteracted each other. Toward the close of the king's teign he was a mere tool in the hands of the reactionary party, headed by his brother JouN, who succeeded in 1854. John, however, supported constitutionalism, and estab lished courts of justice throughout the kingdom. For the hostile attitude assumed by Saxony toward Prussia before 1866, and its subsequent history, see GERMARY.