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[English Version] Sachsen, Land. I. Der Freistaat S. wurde unter Anknüpfung an die Namensgebung von 1920 am 3.10.1990 neu begründet. Die einschneidende Grenzziehung von 1815 (Verlust von zwei Dritteln des Gebietes und einem Drittel der Bevölkerung) veränderte sich 1945 durch Angliederung der westlich von Oder/Neiße gelegenen Gebiete der ehem. preußischen Provinz Niederschlesien (Hoyerswerda, Weißwasser, Niesky, Görlitz) und 1990 mit der Erweiterung durch die Kreise Delitzsch, Eilenburg und Torgau, so daß 2003 auf 17 713 km 2 4 334 300 Einwohner lebten. In einem his…

[English Version] . Im Frühjahr 1528 bedrohte die erste religionspolit. Konfrontation im Reich ernsthaft den Frieden. Otto v. Pack (um 1484–1537), Vizekanzler in Dresden, berichtete Landgraf Philipp von Hessen über ein angeblich im Mai 1527 in Breslau geschlossenes Bündnis altgläubiger Fürsten und Bischöfe (Erzherzog Ferdinand, Herzog Georg von Sachsen, Bayern, Brandenburg, Mainz, Bamberg, Salzburg, Würzburg) mit dem Ziel, Kurfürst Johann den Beständigen und Philipp zu vertreiben und die »Ketzerei…

[English Version] . I. Die thüringischen Kleinstaaten bildeten 1920 das Land Th. mit Weimar als Hauptstadt. Das Herzogtum Coburg schloß sich Bayern an. Die preußischen Gebiete (Regierungsbezirk Erfurt, Kreis Schmalkalden) kamen erst 1944 zum Reichsgau Th., der sich 1945 territorial im Land Th. fortsetzte, 1948 wurde Erfurt Landeshauptstadt. 1952 aufgelöst, zerfiel Th. in die Bezirke Erfurt, Gera und Suhl. Das Altenburger Gebiet wurde dem Bezirk Leipzig angegliedert und kehrte 1990 nach Th. zurück, …

[English Version] Thüringer, Stamm. Während der Völkerwanderung als »Toringi« erstmals Ende des 4.Jh. erwähnt (Vegetius), verschmolzen vermutlich Hermunduren, Angeln und Warnen zu diesem Stamm, von dem Teile zw. Maas und Schelde siedelten. Im 5.Jh. im Machtbereich der Hunnen, entstand später zw. Ohre/Aller im Norden, Elbe im Osten und Werra/Main im Westen ein Königreich, das im Süden kaum über den Thüringer Wald hinausging und sich um 500 zum mächtigen antifränkischen Partner entwickelte. So verhei…

[German Version] (Feb 24, 1580, Vienna – Mar 4, 1645, Dresden). Höe von Höenegg studied law and theology in Wittenberg from 1597 onward, became third court chaplain in Dresden in 1602, and superintendent of Plauen in 1603. From 1611 to 1613 he reorganized the Lutheran church and school system in Prague. A highly esteemed first court chaplain of Johann Georg I from 1613 onward, Höe von Höenegg advocated a strict Concord Lutheranism (Concord, Formula of) in deep distrust of Reformed Protestants and in resolute rejection of the papacy ( Evangelisches Handbüchlein wider das Papsttum, 1603 e…

[German Version] First mentioned during the Migration period by Vegetius as Toringi at the end of the ¶ 4th century, this tribe was probably an amalgamation of Hermunduri, Angles, and Varni; portions of it lived between the Meuse and Scheldt. In the 5th century, it was in the sphere of influence of the Huns. Later there emerged a Thuringian kingdom bounded by the Ohre/Aller in the north, the Elbe in the east, and the Werra/Main in the west, barely extending beyond the Thuringian Forest in south; around 500 it had…

[German Version] In the spring of 1528, a political confrontation over religion seriously threatened the peace of the Empire. Otto v. Pack ¶ (c. 1484–1537), vice-chancellor in Dresden, reported to Landgrave Philip of Hesse concerning an alleged alliance of Catholic princes and bishops (Archduke Ferdinand, Duke George the Bearded of Saxony, Bavaria, Brandenburg, Mainz, Bamberg, Salzburg, Würzburg) formed in Breslau (today Wrocław) in May of 1527 with the goal of ousting Philip and Elector John the Constant and crushing…

[German Version] (Jun 24, 1504, Rochlitz, Saxony – Oct 7, 1565, St. Joachimsthal, Bohemia). After attending school in Rochlitz, Mittweida and Nuremberg, Mathesius studied in 1524/1525 in Ingolstadt. As a house tutor in Schloss Odelzhausen near Augsburg, he read Luther and turned to the Reformation; in 1529 he went to Wittenberg. Lectures, sermons and personal experience reinforced his independent decision in favor of the Wittenberg Reformers. As their student he became a teacher in Altenburg in 15…

[German Version] The Grumbach Feud was sparked in 1558 by the murder of Melchior Zobel, bishop of Würzburg, at the hands of confidants of Wilhelm of Grumbach (1503–1567). The Grumbach Feud intensified the crisis between princes and knights of the realm and constituted the conclusion of the military disputes in the realm that began with the Schmalkaldic War (Schmalkaldic League), in which Frankish and central German (after 1564) phases can be distinguished. Grumbach, from a lower Frankish noble fam…

[German Version] (Feb 7, 1620, Gellershau- sen, Coburg – 1662, Austria), studied in Helmstedt (G. Calixtus, K. Horneius). During the 1645 Conference of Thorn, he joined C. Dreier and M. Behm from Königsberg. Latermann represented their concerns consistently and, in a vigorous disagreement with the Lutheran clergy of the city under C. Myslenta, sparked the “Latermann Affair” that culminated in the Syncretistic Controversy. Sponsored by Elector Frederick William I, he became associate professor at t…

[German Version] (Jun 6, 1598, Breslau – Sep 29, 1671, Hamburg). Müller studied in Wittenberg (1641 Dr.theol.) and then in Leipzig, where he became professor of practical philosophy in 1623. In 1625 he was appointed pastor in Lüneburg, and in 1626 senior pastor at St. Petri in Hamburg. As Senior ministerii (1648) and school inspector (1650) he imbued churches and schools with the spirit of Wittenberg. By strengthening teaching and the clergy (with the establishment of a clerical consistory of which he became superintendent), with intensified po…

[German Version] I. In 1920 the several small Thuringian states joined to form the Land of Thuringia with Weimar as its capital. The duchy of Coburg joined Bavaria. In 1944 the Prussian territories (administrative districts of Erfurt and Schmalkalden) became part of the Reich District of Thuringia, the territory that became the Land Thuringia in 1945; in 1948 Erfurt became its capital. In 1952 Thuringia was replaced with the administrative districts of Erfurt, Gera, and Suhl. The Altenburg territory was annexed to the Leipzig district and returne…

[German Version] The rising commercial city of Leipzig was shaped by the development of the land by the Wettins, with recognition as a city c. 1165, as well as by the founding of St. Thomas, a seminary of Augustinian Canons, in 1212 and of the Dominican monastery in 1229. The establishment of the University of Leipzig on Dec 2, 1409 (confirmed by Pope Alexander V on Sep 9, 1409), as a consequence of the Western Schism of 1378, bundled the interests of the masters of the Prague Schools of Arts and …

[German Version] from 1547 (May 21, 1521, Freiberg – Jul 7, 1553, near Sievershausen), one of the Protestant princes of the 16th century who succeeded in combining dynastic, territorial, and church-political aims. After his accession in 1541, Maurice, continuing the work of George the Bearded and strongly influenced by his councillors, sought to establish connections with the Habsburgs and avoided membership of the Schmalkaldic League. Increasing his distance from the Ernestines, he supported Char…

[German Version] I. The Free State of Saxony was reconstituted on Oct 3, 1990, using the name given it in 1920. The radical redrawing of the boundaries of Saxony in 1815 (loss of two-thirds of its territory and a third of its population) was altered in 1945 by the incorporation of territories of the former Prussian province of Lower Silesia west of the Oder-Neisse line (Hoyerswerda, Weißwasser, Niesky, Görlitz) and in 1990 by an expansion that included the districts of Delitzsch, Eilenburg, and Torgau, so that in 2003 it had a territory of 17,713 km2 and a population of 4,334,300. Throug…

[German Version] (Jan 17, 1463, Torgau – May 5, 1525, Lochau), Elector of Saxony. Influenced by humanism, he succeeded his father Ernest in Ernestine Saxony in 1486. Disposing only of limited political possibilities as a result of the Leipzig Division of 1485, he was faced with the difficult task of holding his own in the context of imperial politics, but also of asserting himself with respect to the Albertines. In spite of a strong personal involvement and a clear determination to increase his ow…