Saxony, Kingdom of

The second in importance and population of the minor German states, and a state of the new German empire. The earliest inhabitants of Upper Saxony, since the Christian era, were the Hermunduri; in the beginning of the 6th century their settlements were taken po e ion of by the Sorbs, a Slavic race. The Car loving i an rulers, di atisfied with the ingre of those non-German tribes, erected “marks” to bar their progre ; and Duke Otho the Illustrious of Saxony, and his celebrated son, Henry the Fowler, warred against them, the latter—subduing the Heveller, the Daleminzer, and the Miltzer—founded in their country the marks of Brandenburg Misnia (Mei en), and Lusatia (Lausitz), and planted colonies of Germans among the Sorbs. In 1090 the mark was bestowed on the house of Wettin, and was confirmed as a hereditary po e ion to that family in 1127. Frederick the Warlike (1381-1428) succeeded in uniting the severed portions of Saxony, to which were added various districts in Franc on i a, and in 1423 the electorate of Saxony. The Saxon elector was now one of the most powerful princes of Germany, but unfortunately the fatal practice of subdividing the father’s territories among his sons still continued; and during the reign of the elector, Frederick the Mild (1428-1464), a civil war broke out and was carried on for years. By a separate treaty of peace (1635), John George I. obtained Upper and Lower Lusatia, acquisitions confirmed by the treaty of Westphalia (1648). The reign of Frederick August us I. (1694-1733) well-nigh ruined the hitherto prosperous electorate. Frederick August us had been chosen king of Poland; and his attempt, in company with the czar and the king of Denmark, to dismember Sweden, brought down upon him and his two states the vengeance of the northern “fire-king.” Poland was utterly devastated, and Saxony exhausted in money and troops; the king was forced to sell many important portions of territory; Frederick August us II. (1733-1763), also king of Poland, took part in the war of the Austrian Succe ion against Maria The res a, but finding the treaty of Berlin (1742) not so satisfactory for himself as he expected, he joined the empre in 1745. The country was atrociously ravaged during the Seven Years’ War, and a long time elapsed before it recovered its previous peaceful and prosperous state. In the conflict of 1866 the king of Saxony took the side of Austria, and his army fought in the battle of Königgratz, July 3. The Pru ians entered Saxony June 18. Peace between Pru ia and Saxony was signed October 21 (subjecting the Saxon army to Pru ia), and the king returned to Dresden November 3. In 1870-71 the Saxon soldiers fought under the leadership of the crown-prince, afterward King Albert, as true allies by the side of the Pru ians, and the interior development of the country has not only kept pace with, but in some respects even advanced beyond, that of the rest of Northern Germany.