Saxe-Altenburg (German: Sachsen-Altenburg) was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine branch of the Wettin dynasty.[1] Altenburg was its own state, with a vote in the diet, for much of the 17th century until the extinction of its ruling line in 1672, when it was inherited by the Duke of Saxe-Gotha, who married the heiress. It remained part of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg until the extinction of that house in 1825 , when Gotha and Altenburg were split up, with Gotha going to the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and Altenburg to the Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen, who in exchange gave up Hildburghausen to the Duke of Saxe-Meiningen. This family ruled in the duchy until the end of the monarchies in 1918. Saxe-Altenburg was incorporated into the new state of Thuringia in 1920. Saxe-Altenburg had an area of 1,323 km² and a population of 207,000 (1905). Its capital was Altenburg. The Saxe-Altenburg line became extinct following the death of Prince George Moritz in 1991.
In 1991 the Saxe-Altenburg line became extinct. Two branches descend from duke Ernest the Pious, the father of the progenitor of this Saxe-Altenburg branch: Saxe-Meiningen and Saxe-Coburg-Gotha; according to old Wettin family law, they would have divided the actual territories between them (as happened to Gotha and Altenburg in 1826). The senior male agnate descending from duke Ernest the Pious, in 1991 , was prince Frederick-Alfred of Saxe-Meiningen (a monk, 1921-1997), and thus technically succeeded then as titular duke of Saxe-Altenburg and head of the whole branch of Ernest the Pious (he had renounced his rights to Meiningen in favor of his uncle Bernhard, but not explicitly Altenburg). His successor was either the (morganatic) prince Frederick of Saxe-Meiningen (1935-2004) or Konrad, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, the present head of that branch, depending on whether in 1997 marriage requirements were applied as strictly as fifty years earlier.
Holy Roman Empire — Upper Saxon Circle (1512–1806)
States of the German Confederation (1815–66)
States of the North German Confederation (1866–71)
States of Germany during the Weimar Republic (1919–33)
