Thuringia (Chaos)

Thuringia was a margravate in the center of. 1247-64, it fought in the. Sophie of Brabant (who was supported by the ) made sure that Hesse stayed independent and went to her son Heinrich "the Child". ITTL he even got a slightly bigger share, at the expense of Thuringia.

The Wettin division
reigned all of Thuringia, the margravate and the Palatinate of Saxony. But in 1265, he divided his lands and only kept Meissen and Lower Lusatia, while Thuringia and the Saxon Palatinate went to his son "the degenerate"; his other son  received the Mark Landsberg and. (Wettin history seems to diverge when Heinrich had no third son in 1273.) In 1288, he died too; Meissen went to Albrecht II, Lower Lusatia to.

1306, the Wettins suffered the loss of Lower Lusatia which went to Roman king. In the years 1335/37, most Wettin lands were united by ; but as soon as 1357, Meissen and Thuringia were seperated again, between and. And 1445, Thuringia was again divided into the lines of Weimar, Altenburg and Coburg. This was no help in the, where the Wettin states of Thuringia, Meissen and Osterland only acquired Meissen and Merseburg, which was why they made war against , too.

In the 16th century, Thuringia slowly consolidated again. 1526, Meissen and the Saxon Palatinate were inherited by Thuringia-Weimar; in 1589, Thuringia-Coburg went to Altenburg; and 1622, Thuringia-Altenburg was inherited by Weimar.

In the years 1566-70, -, and the Wettin states allied and fought the n theocracy in the, divided and annexed the Sudetenland.

In the years around 1600, peasant uprisings happened. The German nobles repeatedly had raised taxes, which the peasants in Thuringia couldn't pay anymore, because in these areas, the peasants used to divide their lands among all kids - so their plots had become smaller and smaller. The revolters demanded a "jubilee" (when all debts were to be cancelled), no lord except emperor, pope and God, liberation of the serfs, election of the clerics by the people, peace among Christians, restitution of their old rights and lower taxes. The uprisings were mixed with religious movements (which were, sadly, often antisemitic). Not too surprisingly, the uprisings were defeated as everywhere else. Those who could, tried their luck elsewhere - some going even to.

The Wettins could celebrate another triumph when was Roman king 1695-99.

1750, the Thuringian line of the Wettins died out, so the country was inherited by, who already reigned (and was thus nicknamed the "lucky bastard").

Thuringia participated in the French Republican Wars at the monarchist side, not to their luck. In 1783, the French invaded Dresden, and made the of the old duchy of Thuringia-Meissen. The Wettins fled to Prussia, spending their last years in a civil war, until invaded the place and made their end.