Henry IV, Duke of Saxony
Encyclopedia
Henry IV the Pious, Duke of Saxony (Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....

, 16 March 1473 – Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....

, 18 August 1541) was a Duke of Saxony from the House of Wettin.

Biography

Heinrich was the second son of Albert, Duke of Saxony
Albert, Duke of Saxony
Albert III was a Duke of Saxony. He was nicknamed Albert the Bold or Albert the Courageous and founded the Albertine line of the House of Wettin....

 and his wife Sidonie Podiebrad, princess of Bohemia. When Albert died in 1500, his eldest son Georg
George, Duke of Saxony
George the Bearded, Duke of Saxony , was duke of Saxony from 1500 to 1539.Duke George was a member of the Order of the Golden Fleece.-Early life:...

 succeeded to the Duchy of Saxony, and Heinrich became Lord of Friesland
Friesland
Friesland is a province in the north of the Netherlands and part of the ancient region of Frisia.Until the end of 1996, the province bore Friesland as its official name. In 1997 this Dutch name lost its official status to the Frisian Fryslân...

.

Saxon rule of Friesland was disturbed by constant revolts. Consequently Heinrich, who was of a rather inert disposition, gave up his title there. In 1505 Heinrich ceded Friesland to Georg, in return for an annuity and the districts of Wolkenstein
Wolkenstein
Wolkenstein is a town in the district Erzgebirgskreis, in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It is situated in the Ore Mountains, on the Zschopau River, 22 km southeast of Chemnitz....

 and Freiberg
Freiberg, Saxony
Freiberg is a city in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, administrative center of the Mittelsachsen district.-History:The city was founded in 1186, and has been a center of the mining industry in the Ore Mountains for centuries...

, where Heinrich made his residence.

In 1517, Martin Luther
Martin Luther
Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...

 started the Protestant Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...

 in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, and a few years later Heinrich converted to Lutheranism
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...

. Georg remained a devout Catholic. Both of Georg's sons predeceased him without issue.

When Georg's second son died in 1539, Heinrich (a Protestant) became heir presumptive
Heir Presumptive
An heir presumptive or heiress presumptive is the person provisionally scheduled to inherit a throne, peerage, or other hereditary honour, but whose position can be displaced by the birth of an heir or heiress apparent or of a new heir presumptive with a better claim to the position in question...

 to the Duchy under the Act of Settlement of 1499. To prevent a Protestant succession, Georg tried to override his father's will, disinherit Heinrich, and bequeath the Duchy to Ferdinand
Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor
Ferdinand I was Holy Roman Emperor from 1558 and king of Bohemia and Hungary from 1526 until his death. Before his accession, he ruled the Austrian hereditary lands of the Habsburgs in the name of his elder brother, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.The key events during his reign were the contest...

, brother of Charles V
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...

. But Georg died only two months later, and Heinrich succeeded to the Duchy.

He was then 66 years old, and reigned for only two years. Heinrich made Lutheranism the state religion of the Duchy of Saxony.

Marriage and children

In Freiberg
Freiberg, Saxony
Freiberg is a city in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, administrative center of the Mittelsachsen district.-History:The city was founded in 1186, and has been a center of the mining industry in the Ore Mountains for centuries...

, on 6 July 1512, Heinrich married Catherine of Mecklenburg
Catherine of Mecklenburg
Catherine of Mecklenburg , Duchess of Saxony, was the daughter of the Duke Magnus II of Mecklenburg and Sophie of Pomerania-Stettin. She married on 6 July 1512 in Freiberg Duke Henry the Pious of Saxony...

, daughter of Duke Magnus II of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. They had six children:
  • Sybille (b. Freiberg, 2 May 1515 - d. Buxtehude, 18 July 1592), married on 8 February 1540 to Duke Francis I of Saxe-Lauenburg.
  • Emilie
    Emilie of Saxony
    Emilie of Saxony was the third wife of Margrave George the Pious of Brandenburg-Ansbach. Since his two earlier wives died before his accession, she was the only one to enjoy the title Margravine.- Life :...

     (b. Freiberg, 27 July 1516 - d. Ansbach, 9 March 1591), married on 25 August 1533 to Georg, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach.
  • Sidonie
    Sidonie of Saxony
    Sidonie of Saxony was a princess of the House of Wettin and by marriage Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Princess of Calenberg-Göttingen.- Family :...

     (b. Meissen, 8 March 1518 - d. Kloster Weissenfels, 4 January 1575), married on 17 May 1545 to Eric II, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Calenberg)
    Eric II, Duke of Calenberg
    Eric II, Duke of Brunswick and Lunenburg was duke in the Brunswick-Lunenburgian Principality of Calenberg from 1545 to 1584. Since 1495 the Principality of Göttingen was incorporated in Calenberg....

    .
  • Maurice
    Maurice, Elector of Saxony
    Maurice was Duke and later Elector of Saxony. His clever manipulation of alliances and disputes gained the Albertine branch of the Wettin dynasty extensive lands and the electoral dignity....

     (b. Freiberg, 21 March 1521 - d. of wounds received in action at Sievershausen, 11 July 1553), later Elector of Saxony.
  • Severinus
    Severinus of Saxony
    Severinus of Saxony was a Saxon prince of the Albertine line of the House of Wettin.- Life :Severinus was the second son of the Duke Henry of Saxony from his marriage to Catherine , daughter of Duke Magnus II of Mecklenburg...

     (b. Freiberg?, 28 August 1522 - d. Innsbruck, 10 October 1533).
  • Augustus
    Augustus, Elector of Saxony
    Augustus was Elector of Saxony from 1553 to 1586.-First years:Augustus was born in Freiberg, the youngest child and third son of Henry IV, Duke of Saxony, and Catherine of Mecklenburg. He consequently belonged to the Albertine branch of the Wettin family...

     (b. Freiberg, 31 July 1526 - d. Dresden, 11 February 1586).

Ancestry



External links

Article in the ABD
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