Alternative History
Gedeon I
Mor-antonis-self-portrait
Duke of Thuringia
Reign 1534-1569
Coronation 30 August 1534 in Erfurt
Predecessor Hugh the Heir
Successor Issachar I
Born 1 February 1500
Coburg, Thuringia,
Holy Roman Empire
Died 14 March 1569
Altenburg, Thuringia,
Rätian Union,
Holy Roman Empire
Spouse

Philippina of Meissen
Seffora of Anhalt
Aloisia von Battenberg
Margaret of Wolfenbüttel
Naamah of Brandenburg

Issue

Issachar I
Barnabas I

House House of Jenagotha
Father Hugh the Heir
Mother Mary von Wittlesbach
Religion

Jungism (after 1506)
Roman Catholicism (-1506)

Gedeon I (1 February 1500 - 14 March 1569) was Duke of Thuringia from 1534 after the death of his father Hugh the Heir. Soon after his succession as Duke of Thuringia, Gedeon would be reigning during the creation of the Rätian Union later that year. His father's death by assassination was the beginning of a war in the fragile Duchy of Bayreuth, which Hugh had ruled indirectly as its hegemon for over a year by the time of his death. Gedeon would guide Thuringia, and by extension the Rätian Union, through a series of conflicts that nearly collapsed the nation, but ultimately ended in Bayreuth being admitted into the Rätian province of Franconia.

As Duke of Thuringia Gedeon differed from his father in that he had little interest in intrigue and political manipulation. He sought to preserve the success of Hugh the Heir, without further antagonizing the rest of the Empire or his extended family. To this end he reconciled with Henry I, Apostolic President and other dynasts. In 1535 Gedeon famously met with Yahya Mamamoo, a representative of the Mali Empire, who wrote about his experiences visiting Thuringia. Gedeon gifted Yahya a comprehensive series of books from throughout Thuringian history, known as the "Yahya Library", and sent diplomats to travel with him back to Mali. Two years later Gedeon also sponsored an expedition to the Abbasid Caliphate. He took up a tradition his father and grandfather the Thin White Duke had begun of having numerous polygamous marriages and children. Later in life Gedeon became an avid painter as well.

However, Gedeon was also a military man who crushed dissent in nearly pacified Franconia, leading soldiers against a Catholic uprising in the 1540s. In 1537 he fought in the War of the Bayreuth Succession against Bohemia and its allies, which confirmed Jungist rule in the territory under Albert von Hohenzollern. More importantly the conflict led to the Peace of Passau, which formally legalized Jungism under the principle of Cuius regio, eius religio ("whose realm, his religion") within the Empire. During the Kerpen War Gedeon sent an army under the command of his son Maximilian to aid the Hanseatic League, which ultimately cost Maximilian his life.

Without a prominent position in the Supreme Rätia, Gedeon became disconnected from Rätian politics, unlike Hugh who had been President of the Magi. Thus Gedeon focused primarily on Thuringia itself, and also on the Jenagothas who remained in the country. He appointed numerous relatives to key positions, and also sought to grant his most capable relatives homes, estates, and wealth befitting of their lineage. He died in 1569 and was succeeded by his son Issachar I.

This article is part of Merveilles des Morte.