Maurice, Duke of Saxe-Zeitz
Encyclopedia
Saxe-Zeitz
The Duchy of Saxe-Zeitz was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire of German Nation from 1656/57 to 1718. Its capital was Zeitz. It was owned by the Albertine branch of the House of Wettin.- History :...
and member of the House of Wettin.
Born in 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....
, he was the youngest surviving son of Johann Georg I, Elector of Saxony
John George I, Elector of Saxony
John George I was Elector of Saxony from 1611 to 1656.-Biography:Born in Dresden, he was the second son of the Elector Christian I and Sophie of Brandenburg....
, and his second wife Magdalene Sibylle of Prussia
Magdalene Sibylle of Prussia
Magdalene Sibylle of Prussia was an Electress of Saxony as the spouse of John George I, Elector of Saxony.-Life:...
.
Life
Together with his brothers, Maurice was educated in the Hofe (Electoral Official Residence) in DresdenDresden
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....
. Among his teachers, Field Marshal Kurt of Einsiedel took an outstanding role. From August 1642 until September 1645, Maurice and his brother Christian
Christian I, Duke of Saxe-Merseburg
Christian I of Saxe-Merseburg , was the first duke of Saxe-Merseburg and a member of the House of Wettin....
took a Grand Tour
Grand Tour
The Grand Tour was the traditional trip of Europe undertaken by mainly upper-class European young men of means. The custom flourished from about 1660 until the advent of large-scale rail transit in the 1840s, and was associated with a standard itinerary. It served as an educational rite of passage...
through northern Germany and the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
.
In 1645, shortly after his return home, Maurice was selected by Prince Ludwig I of Anhalt-Köthen
Louis I, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen
Louis I of Anhalt-Köthen , was a German prince of the House of Ascania and ruler of the unified principality of Anhalt. From 1603, he was ruler of the principality of Anhalt-Köthen...
to be a member of the Fruitbearing Society
Fruitbearing Society
The Fruitbearing Society was a German literary society founded in 1617 in Weimar by German scholars and nobility to emulate the idea of the Accademia della Crusca in Florence and similar groups already thriving in Italy, to be followed in later years also in France and Britain...
.
In 1650, he was appointed Bailiwick
Bailiff
A bailiff is a governor or custodian ; a legal officer to whom some degree of authority, care or jurisdiction is committed...
of Thuringia
Thuringia
The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....
by the Teutonic Knights
Teutonic Knights
The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem , commonly the Teutonic Order , is a German medieval military order, in modern times a purely religious Catholic order...
. He selected as his chancellor and Konsistorialpraesidenten the noted state scientist and theologian Veit Ludwig von Seckendorff
Veit Ludwig von Seckendorff
Veit Ludwig von Seckendorf , German statesman and scholar, was a member of a German noble family, which took its name from the village of Seckendorf between Nuremberg and Langenzenn....
. As Hofprediger he chose the dramatist Johann Sebastian Mitternacht.
The Elector Johann Georg I, in his will 20 July 1652, ordered a division of the Albertine territories that was carried out on 22 April 1657 in Dresden. Maurice inherited the town of Zeitz
Zeitz
Zeitz is a town in the Burgenlandkreis district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated on the river Weiße Elster, in the middle of the triangle of the federal states Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia and Saxony.-History:...
and became its first duke.
In order to have an appropriate official residence, Maurice decided to renove the old bishop's castle and build a splendid new residence in baroque style that was called Schloss Moritzburg
Schloss Moritzburg
Schloss Moritzburg is a Baroque castle in Moritzburg, in the German state of Saxony, about northwest of the Saxon capital, Dresden. The castle has four round towers and lies on a symmetrical artificial island. It is named after Duke Moritz of Saxony, who had a hunting lodge built there between...
. The construction began in 1657 and was finished in 1678. The duke died there.
Marriages and Issue
In DresdenDresden
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....
on 19 November 1650, Maurice married Sophie Hedwig of Schleswig-Holstein-Glücksburg. They had two sons:
- Johann Philipp (b. Dresden, 12 November 1651 - d. Dresden, 24 March 1652).
- Maurice (b. Dresden, 26 September 1652 - d. Dresden, 10 May 1653).
In Weimar
Weimar
Weimar is a city in Germany famous for its cultural heritage. It is located in the federal state of Thuringia , north of the Thüringer Wald, east of Erfurt, and southwest of Halle and Leipzig. Its current population is approximately 65,000. The oldest record of the city dates from the year 899...
on 3 July 1656, Maurice married for a second time to Dorothea Maria of Saxe-Weimar, daughter of the Duke Wilhelm
Wilhelm, Duke of Saxe-Weimar
Wilhelm, Duke of Saxe-Weimar , was a duke of Saxe-Weimar.Wilhelm was the fifth son of Johann, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, and Dorothea Maria of Anhalt...
. They had ten children:
- Eleonore Magdalene (b. Weimar, 30 October 1658 - d. Dresden, 26 February 1661).
- Wilhelmine Eleonore (b. and d. Dresden?, September? 1659).
- Erdmuthe DorotheaErdmuthe Dorothea of Saxe-ZeitzErdmuthe Dorothea of Saxe-Zeitz was the wife of Duke Christian II of Saxe-Merseburg, whom she married on 14 October 1679 at Moritzburg Palace in Zeitz.- Regent of the duchy of Saxe-Merseburg :...
(b. NaumburgNaumburgNaumburg is a town in Germany, on the Saale River. It is in the district Burgenlandkreis in the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt. It is approximately southwest of Leipzig, south-southwest of Halle, and north-northeast of Jena....
, 13 November 1661 - d. MerseburgMerseburgMerseburg is a town in the south of the German state of Saxony-Anhalt on the river Saale, approx. 14 km south of Halle . It is the capital of the Saalekreis district. It had a diocese founded by Archbishop Adalbert of Magdeburg....
, 29 April 1720), married on 14 October 1679 to Duke Christian II of Saxe-MerseburgChristian II, Duke of Saxe-MerseburgChristian II of Saxe-Merseburg , was a duke of Saxe-Merseburg and member of the House of Wettin....
. - Maurice Wilhelm, Duke of Saxe-Zeitz (b. Moritzburg, 12 March 1664 - d. WeidaWeidaWeida can refer to the following:*Weida, Thuringia, a town in Thuringia, Germany*Weida , a river in Eastern Thuringia*Weida , a creek in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany*Weida-Land, a Verwaltungsgemeinschaft in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany...
, 15 November 1718). - Johann Georg (b. Moritzburg, 27 April 1665 - d. Moritzburg, 5 September 1666).
- Christian AugustChristian August of Saxe-ZeitzChristian August of Saxe-Zeitz , was a German prince of the House of Wettin.Christian August of Saxe-Zeitz was a Teutonic Knight, the Primas of Hungary and finally a cardinal...
(b. Moritzburg, 9 October 1666 - d. RegensburgRegensburgRegensburg is a city in Bavaria, Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, at the northernmost bend in the Danube. To the east lies the Bavarian Forest. Regensburg is the capital of the Bavarian administrative region Upper Palatinate...
, 23 August 1725), Cardinal, Archbishop of GranGran-Places:*Gran, the historical German name for Esztergom, a city and primatial seat of Hungary.*Gran, Norway-Other:*Widely used, predominantly British abbreviation for grandmother*Gran children's animation from the early 80's...
and PrimatePrimateA primate is a mammal of the order Primates , which contains prosimians and simians. Primates arose from ancestors that lived in the trees of tropical forests; many primate characteristics represent adaptations to life in this challenging three-dimensional environment...
of HungaryHungaryHungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
. - Frederick Heinrich (b. Moritzburg, 21 July 1668 - d. Neustadt an der OrlaNeustadt an der OrlaNeustadt an der Orla is a town in Saale-Orla-Kreis district, in Thuringia. It is situated at the small river Orla, 17 km north of Schleiz, and 25 km southeast of Jena.-Setting:...
, 18 December 1713), inherited PegauPegauPegau is a town in the Leipzig district in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, situated in a fertile country, on the Weiße Elster, 18 m. S.W. from Leipzig by the railway to Zeitz....
and Neustadt. - Marie Sophie (b. Moritzburg, 3 November 1670 - d. Moritzburg, 31 May 1671).
- Magdalene Sibylle (b. Moritzburg, 7 April 1672 - d. Moritzburg, 20 August 1672)
- Wilhelmine Sophie (b and d. Moritzburg?, 11 June? 1675).
In Wiesenburg on 14 June 1676 Maurice married for a third time to Sophie Elisabeth of Schleswig-Holstein-Wiesenburg. This union was childless.