Editing Saxe-Meiningen (section)

===House of Wettin===
The [[House of Wettin|Wettiner]] had been the rulers of sizeable holdings in today's states of [[Saxony]], [[Saxony-Anhalt]] and [[Thuringia]] since the Middle Ages. In the ''[[Treaty of Leipzig|Leipziger Teilung]]'' of 1485, the Wettiner were split into two branches named after their founding princes [[Albert III, Duke of Saxony|Albrecht]] and [[Ernest, Elector of Saxony|Ernst]] (''albertinisch'' and ''ernestinisch''). Thuringia was part of the Ernestine holdings of ''Kursachsen'' (the [[Electorate of Saxony]]). In 1572, the branches [[Saxe-Coburg-Eisenach]] and [[Saxe-Weimar]] were established there. The senior line again split in 1641/41 into three duchies, including the [[Duchy of Saxe-Gotha]].<ref name="Museum"/>

[[Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha|Duke Ernst I]] who founded this duchy with its seat at [[Gotha]] opposed the system of [[primogeniture]]. As a result, on his death in 1675 all of his sons inherited part of his holdings and were supposed to rule under the leadership of his oldest son. In practice, this proved very complicated and brought on three settlements in 1679, 1680 and 1681 that established the following princedoms: Saxe-Gotha ([[Frederick I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg|Friedrich]]), [[Saxe-Coburg]] ([[Albert V, Duke of Saxe-Coburg|Albrecht]]), Saxe-Meiningen (Bernhard), [[Saxe-Eisenberg]] ([[Christian, Duke of Saxe-Eisenberg|Christian]]), [[Saxe-Hildburghausen]] ([[Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen|Ernst]]) and [[Saxe-Saalfeld]] ([[John Ernest IV, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld|Johann Ernst]]).<ref name="Museum"/>