German Monarchies Before 1918: Kingdom Of Saxony & All The Little Saxes 2/3

THE GERMAN MONARCHIES ABOLISHED IN 1918 PART 2. SAXONY AND ALL THE LITTLE SAXES When studying European history, the various German monarchies come up a lot. They were figuratively and literally in the middle of everything – the Protestant Reformation, various wars and revolutions, and they married their offspring to royals across the continent. To the extent that most modern monarchs have more German heritage than local. But to call these many German monarchies a Gordian Knot is an understatement. They were constantly shifting borders, merging, dividing, and changing names, because of battles, treaties, and dynastic developments. And their allegiance to the Holy Roman Empire and then to Prussia shifted over time. So let's slice through the Gordian Knot and take a closer look at all of the German monarchies that existed at a single point in time, when they were abolished following Germany's defeat in World War I. Over three episodes, we'll examine the four kingdoms, five grand duchies, five duchies, and six principalities that existed in 1918, look back at the dynasties that founded them, and notable family members along the way, find out which monarch was in the hot seat when the revolution came, and meet their modern descendants, who no longer rule, but still have plenty of clout, cash, and castles. In the last episode, we explored the three kingdoms of Prussia, Bavaria, and Württemberg. Now let's hear from the Sax section. Not those Saxes! The Kingdom of Saxony and the other Sax monarchies, as the name suggests, are all related. And although they were small states, their names ring loudly in European history. Major monarchs were not always keen to see their offspring pair off with Austrian, Russian, or French princesses. They usually came with powerful fathers, who demanded that their in-laws join them in the latest war. However, the smaller German monarchies had very little political weight to throw around. But their offspring still carried the exalted titles of prince and princess, so they were seen as ideal matches on the royal marriage market, royal titles without all the political strings attached. The Saxes, in particular, became known as the breeding pens of European royalty. Let's visit the Alpine ancestral land of Prince Albert and so many other modern European royals. The Saxon people originally occupied northern Germany and southern Denmark. Their name came from the small knives they carried. The Romans wrote of them as raiders and settlers. Much like the later Vikings, they worshipped Odin, Frigg, and Thor. In the 400s, many Saxons immigrated to Britannia and became the Anglo-Saxons. In the late 700s, the Saxons on the continent were conquered by Charlemagne and forced to convert to Christianity. After Charlemagne's death, five Stem Duchies, the Bavarians, Franks, Lotharingians, Saxons, and Swabians joined together to form the Kingdom of Germany. They each got to vote on who among them would be the next king of the Germans. The Saxons conquered Slavic people and expanded their land to the southeast. Their original homeland on the coast became known as Lower Saxony, while their new territory near the Alps was Upper Saxony. The names were based on elevation rather than cardinal direction. Over the centuries, dynastic divisions fragmented Lower Saxony. As various noble houses and prince-bishops cut it into pieces, they renamed it and its original name faded into obscurity. Meanwhile, Upper Saxony remained strong and became known simply as Saxony, even though it was not part of the original Saxon homeland. In 1356, this was cemented when Emperor Karl IV granted Duke Rudolf II the dignity of Prince Elector. In 1422, his line died out, so Emperor Sigismund granted Saxony to one of his favorite soldiers, Friedrich the Belligerent. His dynasty, the House of Wettin, would control Saxony for the 500 years. His grandsons, Ernst and Albrecht, divided the land between themselves. As the eldest, Ernst kept the title Prince-Elector of Saxony, while Albrecht was merely the Duke of Saxony. In 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses onto the door of Wittenberg Castle Church, the home of Prince-Elector Friedrich III. He was swayed by Luther's arguments and embraced the Protestant Reformation. He even protected Luther from the fury of the Pope. His cousin, Duke Maurice, remained loyal to the Catholic Emperor Charles V. The cousins went to war, and Maurice came out victorious. So the Emperor rewarded him by stripping the senior family of the title Prince-Elector and granting it to the junior family. Over the centuries, they passed their half of Saxony down the dynasty in a single chunk. The electorate had a diversified economy and was one of the most populous and prosperous regions of Germany. Elector Augustus II built his capital, Dresden, into a major cultural center. In 1697, he managed to get himself elected King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. He allied with Russia and led Poland and Saxony into the Great Northern War. They won, but Augustus used Russian influence to suppress his Polish people. They rebelled and put Stanislaw I on the throne instead for three years. Augustus managed to regain his throne and ruled for another 23. When he died, his body was interred in Krakow, but his heart was returned to Saxony. His death sparked the War of Polish Succession between his son Augustus III and Stanislaw I. As usual, the other European powers jumped into the fray to further their own ambitions. King Augustus III emerged victorious, but he owed his allies Prussia, Russia, and Austria big time, and they increased their influence in Poland. When he died, Catherine the Great took the to put her old boyfriend, Stanislaw Poniatowski, on the Polish throne, and Augustus' son, Friedrich Christian, was sent back to Saxony with his tail between his legs. The electors of Saxony continued to claim Poland for a few generations, but they managed to turn Napoleon's defeat of the Holy Roman Empire to their advantage. In 1806, Friedrich Augustus I of Saxony bent the knee to the French by joining the Confederation of the Rhine. He was rewarded by being elevated to king, and Saxony became a kingdom. Friedrich Augustus III inherited the throne in 1904. He was a military hero, and well-liked by his subjects, who didn't want to force him out. But the revolution made his position untenable, and he voluntarily abdicated. He spent his final years in his family's Sibylenort Palace in Poland, and died in 1932, age 66. The palace was bombed into oblivion during World War II. Today, the headship of the House of Saxony is in dispute between Prince Alexander, who comes from an older but female line of the family, and Prince Rudiger, from a younger but all-male line. Now let's go back to the 1400s, and big brother Ernst, Elector of Saxony. His land was repeatedly divided amongst his descendants, who named their various fragments, Sox, whatever their capital was. By 1918, there was one Sox Grand Duchy, and three duchies. The Grand Duchy of Sox Weimar Eisenach In 1741, Ernst Augustus I, Duke of Weimar, inherited Sox Eisenach from his childless cousin. In 1901, Wilhelm Ernst became Grand Duke. He was the closest living relative to Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, through their mutual grandmother, Princess Sophie. The Dutch queen suffered several miscarriages, and her people feared that Germany would try to take control by forcing Wilhelm Ernst onto the throne. But when Wilhelmina delivered her only child, Juliana, in 1909, the crisis was averted. Wilhelm's marriage was arranged to Princess Caroline Reuss of Greiz. There were rumors that he was a sadist, and she tried to back out, but she was forced down the aisle by the Kaiser. The marriage was unhappy, and Caroline ran away to Switzerland. Wilhelm followed and persuaded her to return, but she fell into a depression and her health declined. Caroline died at the age of 20, officially of pneumonia, but it has long been suspected that she took her own life. This incident, and the Grand Duke's generally cold demeanor, meant that he was the most unpopular prince in all of Germany. When the revolution came, his people were eager to get him out. He fled to Poland, and died four years later at 46. After the fall of the monarchies in 1918, revolutionary leaders met in the city of Weimar to write a new constitution and establish the Weimar Republic. The government was plagued with post-war economic problems, and only lasted until Adolf Hitler took over Germany in 1933. Prince Michael is the current most senior member of the House of Wettin. He is not fond of aristocracy and thinks Germany should be done with it. He withdrew his family's claim for the restoration of their castle and works of art, and granted them to the state in exchange for forest land. Back in 1636, Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha, wed his cousin, Elisabeth Sophie of Saxe-Altenberg. When all of her male relatives died, Ernst got Saxe-Altenberg as well. Together, they had 18 children. Ernst divided up his land amongst his seven surviving sons, creating several new duchies. Three of his sons died with that issue, passing their portions on to their brothers. Eldest brother Friedrich I ended up with Saxe-Gotha-Altenberg. But when his descendant, Friedrich IV, died without an heir, the duchy was divided again amongst his cousins. The Duchy of Saxe-Altenberg was created under Friedrich. He and his beautiful wife, Charlotte Georgine of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, were intelligent and popular. They brought a great deal of art and culture to Altenberg. Duke Ernst II was a general during World War I. He refused promotion based on his lineage and climbed the ranks on merit. When the war was nearly lost, he was one of the few monarchs who fully grasped the situation and willingly negotiated an amicable abdication deal with his subjects. He was allowed to stay in his palace at Wolfsdorf. Ernst was the longest surviving of the former German monarchs. He died in 1955, age 83. His only son never had children, so his claim has passed to his cousin, Prince Michael of Saxe-Weimar-Innach. The Duchy of Saxe-Mainenen was inherited by Prince Bernhard. He had a good head for business and helped his duchy prosper. His great-granddaughter, Adelaide of Saxe-Mainenen, married King William IV and became Queen of Great Bernhard III married Princess Charlotte of Prussia, Kaiser Wilhelm's little sister. She found him deadly dull and left him and their daughter, Theodora, to socialize and travel. When World War I broke out, he expected his brother-in-law to put him in charge of the army, but he was disappointed and went off sulking. After the war, he spent the rest of his life in Mainenen as a private citizen. His only child, Theodora, was a lonely woman. After she failed to conceive, her husband, Prince Heinrich of Reuss, sent her to a sanitarium, where she took her own life. The claim to Saxe-Mainenen now belongs to her cousin, Prince Friedrich Conrad. Johann Ernst got Saxe-Saalfeld from his father, then Saxe-Coburg and Saxe-Rumhild from his childless brothers. His descendant, Franz, was well-educated and joined the army to defend his duchy from Napoleon. His first wife, Princess Sophie, died of influenza just seven months after the wedding. His second bride, Countess Augusta Reuss, gave birth to ten children. Franz married his brood into some of the highest royal houses in Europe. They warrant a full episode in the future. But the highlights are their daughter, Victoria, who married Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, and became the mother of Queen Victoria, ancestor of the modern British royal family and several others. Prince Ferdinand, whose descendants became kings of Portugal and Tsars of Bulgaria, and Leopold, who married Princess Charlotte of Wales, and would have been consort of the UK, had she not died in childbirth. Instead, he was elected the first king of the Belgians, and founded the dynasty which remains on that throne today. Franz's eldest son, Ernst I, got Saxe-Coburg from his father and Saxe-Gotha from his childless cousin. He defended his duchy from Napoleon on the battlefield. Then he returned to Coburg to build a fabulous theater and bring culture to the city. He married his cousin, Princess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. But the duke was perpetually unfaithful. When Louise found a lover of her own, Ernst was outraged. He divorced her and sent her away. She never saw her two sons, Ernst and Albert, again. Albert married his first cousin, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. They had a famously happy marriage and nine children. When their son became King Edward VII, the British royal house was briefly named Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. But when World War I broke out and all things German became unpopular, King George V decided to rename the dynasty Windsor, after his favorite English castle. Prince Albert's big brother, Ernst, inherited Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, but he died childless. The duchy passed to Albert's second son, Alfred. His only son, Alfred, ended his own life at 24. So his nephew, Charles Edward, whose father Leopold had died of hemophilia before his birth, was granted the German duchy. The impressionable, fatherless 16-year-old was taken under the wing of his cousin Kaiser Wilhelm, and he became intensely loyal to him. Charles Edward was fascinated by the new inventions of zeppelins and airplanes, and he supported the aircraft industry in Gotha. He married Princess Adelaide of Schleswig-Holstein. During World War I, Charles Edward served in the German army and broke off relations with his mother and sister back in the UK. He was stripped of his British titles and was thus title-less after 1918. He put his faith in Hitler to restore his monarchy. He joined the Nazi party as one of the Fuhrer's top aides. He spied on his British relatives at the funeral of his cousin, King George V. Following the defeat of the Nazis, Charles Edward was imprisoned and put on trial for war crimes. He was sentenced to pay heavy fines and was left impoverished. In 1954, Charles Edward died of cancer at 69. His daughter, Sibylla, had married Crown Prince Gustav Adolf of Sweden and was the mother of the current king, Karl XVI Gustav. Charles Edward's eldest son married a commoner and was forced to renounce the duchy. His second son was killed in a plane crash during the war. His youngest son, Friedrich Josiah, claimed the title, then passed it to his son, Prince Andreas. After his parents' divorce, he was raised in New Orleans. At 22, he moved back to Germany to prepare for his role as duke. He still owns and runs the family's estates, Kallenberg and Greinborg castles. Finally, let's answer the question that's on everybody's mind. Do the German saxes have anything to do with the saxiest instrument in history, the saxophone? Well, no, and maybe. The saxophone was invented and named after Adolf Sax in 1846. He wanted to create an instrument with the projection of brass and the agility of woodwind. He was from Belgium and made his invention while living in Paris. So, no direct link to the German sax monarchies. But it is possible, even likely, that his sax ancestors were Saxons and moved to the Low Country from Lower Saxony, just like the German sax monarchies. In the final episode, we'll complete the puzzle of historic German monarchies, with a jaunt through the other four grand duchies, two duchies, and six principalities. Among their ranks, we'll find many familiar names and faces, including Queen Charlotte of the UK, Tsarina Alexandra of Russia, several of Queen Victoria's in-laws, Prince Philip, and more. Want even more tea on history? Check out the History Tea Time podcast. Don't want to wait to see the next episode? Patrons get exclusive early access to all of my multi-part series. If you would like to join my Patreon and help me make more fascinating videos, click on the link in the description. Thank you for watching!