| Wolfgang I | |
|---|---|
| |
| Elector of Saxe-Wittenberg | |
| Reign | 1533-1570 |
| Coronation | 29 October 1533 |
| Predecessor | Edmund Alwin |
| Successor | Henry V |
| Duke of Saxe-Belzig | |
| Reign | 1555-1560 |
| Predecessor | Charles the White Barbara (Co-ruler) |
| Successor | Agnes |
| Born | 1489 Kemberg, Duchy of Saxony, Holy Roman Empire |
| Died | 20 May 1577 Wittenberg, Duchy of Saxony, Holy Roman Empire |
| Spouse | Maria Premyslid |
| Wife | Barbara of Belzig |
| Issue | Henry, Duke of Saxony Clementia, Queen of Portugal Joseph Alwin, King of Sweden Wolfgang Alwin Frederick Maria, Countess Palatine Edmund Alwin II Barbara Wolfgangia Maria Frederica |
| House | House of La Marck |
| Father | Edmund Alwin |
| Mother | Clementia of Thuringia |
| Religion | Jungism (1507-) Catholicism (-1507) |
Wolfgang I was the Duke and Prince-Elector of Saxony, reigning from 1533. He succeeded his father Edmund Alwin, and was named after his maternal uncle and his father's best friend, Wolfgang of Thuringia. His official title was Elector of Saxony and Duke of Saxe-Wittenberg; his brothers and his cousin had received other Duchies within Saxony upon his father's death, while Wolfgang as the oldest inherited the electoral dynasty. Much of his early reign was spent attempting to placate the Papal States following the Gunpowder Plot. Wolfgang was at first criticized for being too lenient towards Catholics, perhaps because of his Catholic brother, Edmund, the Duke of Saxe-Jessen. However, following the Wittenberg Massacre, in which Wolfgang was nearly killed, and various high-ranking noblemen and Jungist priests were murdered by an explosion set up the Catholic Jessen League, Wolfgang came down hard on Catholics, forcing his Catholic brother Edmund to abdicate, and launched his campaign to eliminate all Catholics from the Duchy of Saxony. This was at least partially successful, but Wolfgang later reconciled with his brother, and support the right of the Northern Catholic Church to elect an antipope.
Later on in his reign, tensions grew in Europe and within the Holy Roman Empire, culminating in various wars in the mid-16th century. Wolfgang supported the Duke of Brandenburg during the War of the Three Henrys, and like previous Dukes of Saxony, took advantage of the situation to annex several small lands, this time from Bohemia. Wolfgang sent Saxon explorer Kolias Kape to the New World, where he made contact with the Iroquois Confederacy, while the Duke also attempted to secure territory in Meridia later on his reign, during the Eight Years' War.
Wolfgang remained physically fit well into his late seventies, but following the Trier Crisis and the death of Emperor Henry X, he began to lose weight and took to bed, eventually dying in the late 1570s, and being succeeded by his son, Duke Henry V of Saxony.
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