Duces Saxoniae electores ex Marchionibus Misniae

Title

Duces Saxoniae electores ex Marchionibus Misniae

Description

Double page from the family tree of the Saxon emperors from 1156 - 1695, with beautiful decorated with coat of arms and floral elements. On the botom tree a total view of Meissen.

ca. 1626

Artist

Albizzi (1547-1626)

Antonio Albizzi (1547 - 1626 ). Writer, jurist and genealogist from a noble Florentine family. Albizzi was born in Florence. Little is known about his life. In 1576 he was in the service of Cardinal Archduke Andrew of Austria. In 1585 he converted to Lutheranism. From 1608 he spent the rest of his life in the Protestant imperial city of Kempten (Bavaria), where he died in 1626.

Historical Description

Saxony-Wittenberg, in modern Saxony-Anhalt, became subject to the margravate of Meissen, ruled by the Wettin dynasty in 1423. This established a new and powerful state, occupying large portions of the present Free State of Saxony, Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt and Bavaria (Coburg and its environs). Although the centre of this state was far to the southeast of the former Saxony, it came to be referred to as Upper Saxony and then simply Saxony, while the former Saxon territories were now known as Lower Saxony. In 1485, Saxony was split. A collateral line of the Wettin princes received what later became Thuringia and founded several small states there (see Ernestine duchies). The remaining Saxon state became still more powerful and was known in the 18th century for its cultural achievements, although it was politically weaker than Prussia and Austria, states which oppressed Saxony from the north and south, respectively.