Treaty of Leipzig

The Leipzig division - recorded in the so-called Präliminärvertrag to Leipzig on 26 August 1485 - was an important story for Central Germany division of the state of the Saxon territories in the 15th century.

The Leipzig division is considered the most crucial mistake of Saxon history. In the long term allowed the weakening of the Saxon Principality of the rise of Brandenburg-Prussia to the hegemonic power.

History

On June 17, 1485 The Wettin dukes of Saxony, the brothers Ernst and Albrecht preconceived III. , The decision to divide their empire. On November 11, 1485, the corresponding partition treaty was signed after the parliament in Leipzig. On February 24, 1486 confirmed the Emperor Frederick III. the division in Frankfurt. The division should be such that the older brother, Ernst, the parts firmly laid, whereupon Albert should choose his territory between them. From the outset Ernst stood to the Electorate, which he had held since 1464, and associated with it Duchy of Saxe -Wittenberg.

The two sub-regions based on the country county Thuringia and the Margraviate of Meissen, the most important addition to the Electorate kingdom principalities of Wettin. Albrecht finally chose the Mark Meissen and was given to the northern part of the splicing and Easter country ( near Leipzig ), a strip of territory in the north of Thuringia, the advocacy of the bishopric of Merseburg and the Quedlinburg Abbey, and the suzerainty over some Thuringian counts. Thus remained for Ernst next to the electorate, most of the land County and to one half of the Palatinate Saxony, Vogtland, the Wettin territories Franc of Coburg, the southern part of the splicing and Easter country (around Altenburg ), the advocacy of the bishopric of Naumburg and the suzerainty over the Thuringian Count of Reuss, peers and Kirchberg.

The advocacy of the bishopric of Meissen, the income from the shelf mining and the debt, the principality of Sagan, the Bieberstein 's dominions, and the patronage of the cities of Mühlhausen, Nordhausen and Erfurt should both brothers continue to have in common.

On the basis of the Leipzig division finally emerged with the Ernestinians and Alberti formers two lines of the House of Wettin, which were caught in a growing opposition to one another (see also Saxon coin separation ). In the course of the Smalcald War was in 1547 the Wittenberg surrender the electoral dignity of the Ernestinians to the Albertine in the person of Duke Moritz of Saxony over. In addition, the Albertine line received contained until then jointly owned Bohemian fief and the sole disposal of the shelf rights in mining.