Ernest, Elector of Saxony

Ernest (Meissen, 24 March 1441 – 26 August 1486 in Colditz) was Elector of Saxony from 1464 to 1486.

Ernst was the founder and progenitor of the Ernestine line of Saxon princes, and a direct patrilineal ancestor of Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

Biography

Frederick I, Elector of Saxony (1381–1428), Ernest, Elector of Saxony (1464–1486) and Frederick II, Elector of Saxony (1428–1464); Fürstenzug, Dresden, Germany

He was the second son (but fourth in order of birth) of the eight children of Frederick II, Elector of Saxony and Margaret of Austria, sister of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor.

The death of his older brother Frederick (1451) made him the new heir apparent to the position of Elector of Saxony.

In 1455 Ernst was kidnapped, along with his brother Albert, by the knight Kunz von Kaufungen an episode famous in German history as the "Prinzenraub" (i. e. The Stealing of the Princes).

In 1464, he succeeded his father as Elector of Saxony, and annexed Thuringia in 1482, and three years later (Treaty of Leipzig, 1485) shared his territory with his brother Albert, until he arranged the division of the common possession.

According to the Treaty of Leipzig he received an area around Wittenberg, the southern Thuringian part, the Vogtland and parts of the Pleissnerland. As a residence he selected Wittenberg. He provided for the welfare of the country and introduced the constitution.

One year after the division elector Ernest died in Colditz, at the age of 46 years, the consequence of a fall from a horse.

Children

His wife Elisabeth of Bavaria.

In Leipzig on 19 November 1460 Ernst married Elisabeth of Bavaria. They had seven children:

1. Christina (b. Torgau, 25 December 1461 – d. Odense, 8 December 1521), married on 6 September 1478 to King John I of Denmark
2. Frederick III, Elector of Saxony (b. Torgau, 17 January 1463 – d. Lockau, 5 May 1525)
3. Ernest (b. Meissen, 26 June 1464 – d. Halle, 3 August 1513), Archbishop of Magdeburg (1476–1480), Bishop of Halberstadt (1480–1513)
4. Adalbert (b. Meissen, 8 May 1467 – d. Aschaffenburg, 1 May 1484), Administrator of Mainz
5. Johann, Elector of Saxony (b. Meissen, 30 June 1468 – d. Schweinitz, 16 August 1532)
6. Margarete (b. Meissen, 4 August 1469 – d. Weimar, 7 December 1528), married on 27 February 1487 to Henry I of Lüneburg
7. Wolfgang (b. Meissen, ca. 1473 – d. Torgau, ca. 1478).

Ancestry