Duchy of Saxe-Belzig | |||||
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Map of Saxe-Belzig in 1595
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Capital | Belzig | ||||
Largest city | Belzig | ||||
Languages | Middle Low German | ||||
Religion | Jungism, Roman Catholicism, Northern Catholicism, Starkism, | ||||
Government | Feudal duchy | ||||
Duke | |||||
- | 1489-1555 | Charles the White | |||
- | 1560-1589 | Charles II | |||
Historical era | Middle Ages | ||||
- | Established | 1489 | |||
- | Disestablished | Present |
The Duchy of Saxe-Belzig (German: Herzogtum Sachsen-Belzig) was a feudal duchy of the Holy Roman Empire founded in the early modern period from land partitioned from the Duchy of Saxony. Founded in 1489 in the aftermath of the Lenzburg-Premsylid War, the duchy was created by the victorious Henry VIII, Holy Roman Empire at the insistence of the Thin White Duke of Thuringia, who had occupied Saxony. Saxe-Belzig would be created and granted to a close ally of Henry and his son-in-law, Charles the White, while the remainder of Saxony remained in the House of Marck under Edmund Awlin.
Charles the White would have an exceptionally long and influential reign, governing during the start of the Protestant Reformation. He eventually adopted the Jungist faith, facing pressure from the likes of Charles I of Brandenburg and other early adopters on his border, although he remained loyal to the Catholic Ottokar I, Holy Roman Emperor. Saxe-Belzig would be left in a precarious position as a relatively weak duchy situated between the often warring parties of Bohemia and the Rätian Union. From its inception the duchy was coveted by the Dukes of Saxony, who were members of the latter nation; the duchy was briefly ruled by the Marcks from 1555 to 1560, after the death of Charles and his dynasty, but passed instead into the hands of the Přemyslid Dynasty soon after under Charles II, a prince from Brandenburg.
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