Electorate of Saxony

Electorate of Saxony Saxonia Electoralis (Latin) Kurfürstentum Sachsen (German)
1356–1806
Top: Electoral flag Bottom: State flag Coat of arms[a]
Electoral Saxony within the Holy Roman Empire at the 1648 Peace of Westphalia The Holy Roman Empire at the 1648 Peace of Westphalia
Status	State of the Holy Roman Empire and Imperial Electorate Personal union with Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1697–1706 and 1709–1763)
Capital	Wittenberg (1356–1547) Dresden (1547–1806)
Religion	Dominant confession: Roman Catholic (until 1520s), Lutheran (from 1520s) Elector: Roman Catholic until 1525, then Lutheran until 1697, then again Roman Catholic since 1697
Government	Feudal monarchy
Prince-Elector
• 1356	Rudolph I (first)
• 1419–1422	Albert III (last Ascanian)
• 1423–1428	Frederick I (first Wettin)
• 1763–1806	Frederick Augustus III (last)
Historical era	Early modern Europe
• Golden Bull	10 January 1356
• Merged with Meissen and Thuringia	6 January 1423
• Treaty of Leipzig	26 August 1485
• Capitulation of Wittenberg	19 May 1547
• Acquired Lusatia by Peace of Prague	15 June 1635
• Personal union with Poland–Lithuania	1697–1706 & 1709–63
• Raised to kingdom	20 December 1806
Preceded by Succeeded by Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg Margravate of Meissen Duchy of Thuringia Duchy of Saxony (1485–1547) Kingdom of Saxony Duchy of Saxony (1485–1547) Duchy of Saxony (1547–1572)
Today part of	Germany Poland

The Electorate of Saxony, also known as Electoral Saxony (German: Kurfürstentum Sachsen or Kursachsen), was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire from 1356 to 1806 initially centred on Wittenberg that came to include areas around the cities of Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz. It was a major Holy Roman state, being an electorate and the original protecting power of Protestant principalities until that role was later taken by its neighbor, Brandenburg-Prussia.

In the Golden Bull of 1356, Emperor Charles IV designated the Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg an electorate, a territory whose ruler was one of the prince-electors who chose the Holy Roman emperor. After the extinction of the male Saxe-Wittenberg line of the House of Ascania in 1422, the duchy and the electorate passed to the House of Wettin. The electoral privilege was tied only to the Electoral Circle, specifically the territory of the former Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg.

In the 1485 Treaty of Leipzig, the Wettin noble house was divided between the sons of Elector Frederick II into the Ernestine and Albertine lines, with the electoral district going to the Ernestines. In 1547, when the Ernestine elector John Frederick I was defeated in the Schmalkaldic War, the electoral district and electorship passed to the Albertine line. They remained electors until the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, after which they gained the Saxon kingship through an alliance with Napoleon. The Electorate of Saxony then became the Kingdom of Saxony.

The Electorate of Saxony had a diversified economy and a high level of prosperity, although it suffered major setbacks during and following both the Thirty Years' War of 1618–1648 and the Seven Years' War of 1756–1763. Its middle-class structures were restricted in their development by the nobility and the administration and tended to lag behind contemporary western nations such as the Dutch Republic. Important humanistic and educational impulses came from Saxony through the Reformation that started in the Electorate in the early 1500s. Especially in the 18th century, Saxon culture and arts flourished.

For about 200 years until the end of the 17th century, the Electorate was the second most important territory in the Holy Roman Empire and a key protector of its Protestant principalities. At the time of its greatest extent in 1807 (one year after it was elevated to the status of a kingdom), Saxony had reached a size of 34,994 square kilometers (about 13,500 square miles) and had a population of 2,010,000.^[1]

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