Ernst, Kurfürst von Sachsen

• Ernst, Elector of Saxony (b. Meissen, 24 March 1441 - d. Colditz, 26 August 1486) was Elector of Saxony from 1464 to 1486.
• Ernst was founder of the Ernestine line of Saxon princes, ancestor of George I of Great Britain, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, as well as his wife and cousin Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, and their cousins Leopold II of Belgium and Empress Carlota of Mexico.
• He was the second son (but fourth in order of birth) of the eight children of Frederick II, Elector of Saxony and Margarete of Austria, sister of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor.
• The death of his older brother Frederick (1451) made him the new heir apparent to the position of Elector of Saxony.
• In 1455 Ernst was kidnapped along with his brother Albert, an episode famous in German history as the "Prinzenraub" (i. e. The Stealing of the Princes).
• In 1464, he succeeded his father as Elector of Saxony, and annexed Thuringia in 1482, and three years later (Treaty of Leipzig, 1485) shared his territory with his brother Albert, until he arranged the division of the common possession.
• In the Division of Leipzig he received area around Wittenberg, the south Thuringian part, the Vogtland and parts of the Pleissnerland. As residence he selected Wittenberg. He provided for the welfare of the country and introduced the constitution.
• One year after the division elector Ernest died in Colditz, at the age of 46 years, the consequence of a fall off a horse.

Royal house

House of Wettin

Links:

• The Peerage
• Geneall
• Wikipedia: English Deutsch
• Elector of Saxony Reign 7 September 1464 – 26 August 1486

Predecessor: Frederick II Successor: Frederick III

• Landgrave of Thuringia Reign 17. September 1482 – 26. August 1486

Predecessor: William III Successor: Frederick VI

War Kurf¨rst von Sachen. Langgraf in Thüringen und Markgraf zu Meißen.

• Stamvater der ernestinischen Linie des Hauses Wettin. '* Ernst war der tweite sohn des Kurfürsten Friedrich ll. aus dessen Ehe mit Margarethe.