fwo_418942 - GERMANY - SAXONY - JEAN-GEORGES I 1 Ducat (Sophiendukat) 1616 Dresde

GERMANY - SAXONY - JOHN-GEORGE I

(1615-1656)

Jean-Georges I succeeded his brother Christian II in 1611, but with the title of august. He was initially an ally of Emperor Ferdinand II, then he married the Protestant party in 1631 to return on May 30, 1635, after the Peace of Prague, to the imperial party. This period of the Thirty Years' War was one of the most troubled in Saxony which was ravaged by the Imperials and the Swedes. In 1648, peace signed, Saxony obtained Lusatia. The duchy, considerably weakened, however lost its predominance over the Germanic Protestant powers to the benefit of Brandenburg. The will of John George I detached from Saxony the duchies of Saxe-Weissenfels, Saxe-Merseburg and Saxe-Zeitz. These duchies were not again united with Saxony until 1718 and 1746.