John George IV, Elector of Saxony

Johann Georg IV ( born October 18, 1668 in Dresden, † April 27, 1694 ibid ) from the Albertine line of the Wettin was since 1691 Elector of Saxony.

Life

Johann Georg was the elder of the two sons of the Elector Johann Georg III. of Saxony (1647-1691) from his marriage to Anna Sophie (1647-1717), daughter of the Danish king Frederick III. The Crown Prince had been carefully trained, was considered gifted and was soon involved in the government business with. His grand tour took him to England, France and the Netherlands, and later to Italy. Unlike his younger brother, he was said to be sickly due to stomach and bladder. In the field, Johann Georg proven on the part of the Emperor during the campaign against France.

As a political consultant John George acted Hans Adam von Schöning, who attempted a political approach to Brandenburg. This purpose is also served the unhappy marriage of the Elector with Eleanor, that of the Margrave of Brandenburg -Ansbach widow. Domestically, an attempt was made to suppress the power of the nobility and the influence of the estates. Johann Georg continued the economic reform policy of his father and was built in 1692 in Leipzig a cadet school.

Schöning also kicked the Austria friendly policies Electoral Saxony, and when the Emperor ignored the Saxon Subsidienforderungen, Johann Georg IV pulled back its troops from the Rhine. Schöning was jailed in 1692 for staying at a spa in Teplitz by the Emperor. Johann Georg's wrath could be appeased tolerably about the Countess of Rochlitz with the collection of his mistress and the Elector renewed his alliance with Austria, though the negotiations concerning the release Schönings lasted on. At the head of 12,000 men moved the Elector, after the devastation of Heidelberg, personally to the Rhine.

Already in his Kurprinzenzeit Johann Georg began an affair with Magdalena Sibylla of Neitschuetz (1675-1694), which he kept not only on, when he became Elector of Saxony in 1691 after the death of his father, but also after the April 17, 1692 had married in Leipzig Eleonore of Saxe- Eisenach. The family Neitschuetz managed to win in the Electorate of influence, although Magdalene Sibylle held out itself from politics and government.

1693 he got his mistress, whom he was associated in impaired dependence, to the Countess of Rochlitz. In the summer of the same year she gave birth to a daughter, but died a year later; cause of death as the small-pox were reported. Shortly afterwards died the Elector. There have also been diagnosed with smallpox. However, nowadays there are doubts regarding this cause of death and there is a poisoning with similar disease for both people considered.

As Elector of Saxony succeeded by his brother Frederick Augustus I, of the environment of the Neitschuetz family ( around 100 people) made ​​the process given the negative sentiment in the population and in view of its finances. Under torture Magdalena Sibylla's mother was accused, the prince-elector " bewitched " and to have caused even the early end of his father.

Reception

The love affair of the elector to Magdalena Sibylla of Neitschuetz has incorporated in his 1705 novel, The European Courts of love and heroic history of writers Christian Friedrich Hunold.

Progeny

From its junction with Magdalena Sibylla of Neitschuetz Johann Georg had a daughter born out of wedlock:

• Friederike Wilhelmine Marie (* 1693, † after 1729 ), Countess of Rochlitz

Drive up

Elector Christian I of Saxony (1560-1591) ∞ 1582 Sophie of Brandenburg (1568-1622)

Duke Albrecht Friedrich of Prussia (1553-1618) ∞ 1573 Marie Eleonore von Jülich- Kleve -Berg (1550-1608)

Elector Johann Georg of Brandenburg (1525-1598) ∞ 1548 Sabina of Brandenburg- Ansbach (1529-1575)

Duke Albrecht Friedrich of Prussia (1553-1618) ∞ 1573 Marie Eleonore von Jülich- Kleve -Berg (1550-1608)

King Frederick II (1534-1588) ∞ 1572 Sophie of Mecklenburg (1557-1631)

Elector Joachim Frederick of Brandenburg (1546-1608) ∞ 1570 Catherine of Brandenburg- Kuestrin (1549-1602)

Duke William the Younger of Brunswick- Lüneburg (1535-1592) ∞ 1561 Dorothea of ​​Denmark and Norway (1549-1617)

Landgraf Louis V of Hesse- Darmstadt (1577-1626) ∞ 1598 Magdalena of Brandenburg (1582-1616)

Elector Johann Georg I of Saxony (1585-1656) ∞ 1607 Magdalene Sibylle of Prussia (1586-1659)

Margrave Christian of Brandenburg -Bayreuth (1581-1655) ∞ 1604 Marie of Prussia (1579-1649)

King Christian IV (1577-1648) ∞ 1597 Anna Catherine of Brandenburg (1575-1612)

Duke George of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1582-1641) ∞ 1617 Anna Eleonore of Hesse- Darmstadt (1601-1659)

Elector Johann Georg II of Saxony (1613-1680) ∞ 1638 Magdalena Sibylle of Brandenburg- Bayreuth (1612-1687)

King Frederick III. (1609-1670) ∞ 1643 Sophie Amalie of Brunswick- Lüneburg (1628-1685)

Elector Johann Georg III. of Saxony (1647-1691) ∞ 1666 Anna Sophie of Denmark and Norway (1647-1717)

Johann George IV of Saxony

Others

During his time as Elector Johann Georg IV was built in 1693 near the hunting castle Moritzburg to ensure an adequate game populations for the aristocratic hunts an animal garden. From this complex the game reserve Moritzburg developed.