Elizabeth Sofia Saxe-Altenburg

Elizabeth Sofia is the only child in the family of the Duke of Saxe-Altenburg Johann Philipp and his wife Elizabeth Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttelsky , daughter of the Duke Heinrich Julius Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttelsky . October 24, 1636 in Altenburg, Elizabeth Sofia married Ernst I the Pious , who in 1640 received the title of Duke of Saxe-Gotha . The dowry of Elizabeth Sofia amounted to 20 thousand guilders, in which amt Rosla was laid. Amts Kapellendorf and Burka , as well as the so-called Garden House in Weimar, were identified as widow estates for Elizabeth Sofia.

Since the law in force in Saxe-Altenburg did not provide for the inheritance of power by female successors, after the death of Father Elizabeth Sofia in 1639, his brother Frederick William II ruled in Saxe-Altenburg. Uncle Elizabeth Sofia died in 1669, and was succeeded by his young son Friedrich William III , who also died at the age of 15 in 1672. With the death of Frederick William III, the senior line of the Saxe-Altenburg house on the male line was interrupted, and Elizabeth Sofia became the main heiress of the estates.

Her husband Ernst the Pious declared his claims for the inheritance, for two reasons: first, he himself, as a representative of the Ernestine line, Vettinov was a relative of the coal ducal house, and secondly, he presented the demands of his wife. Saxe-Weimar also became a contender for the inheritance, and Saxe-Altenburg was divided, with the lion's share of the inheritance including the residence city Altenburg passed Saxe-Gotha. Thus, the new Ernestine line of Saxe-Gotha and Altenburg was founded, which lasted until 1825.

Elizabeth Sofia survived her spouse for five years and received amta Reinhardsbrunn and Tenneberg castle as a result of a change in the widowhood agreement of 1640.

Elizabeth Sofia had 18 children:

• Johann Ernst (1638)
• Elizabeth Dorothea (1640-1709), married to the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt Ludwig VI (1630-1678)
• Johann Ernst (1641-1657)
• Christian (1642)
• Sofia (1643-1657)
• Johann (1645-1657)
• Frederick I (1646–1691), Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, married Princess Magdalen Sibyll of Saxe-Weissenfels (1648–1681), then Princess Kristina of Baden-Durlakh (1645–1705)
• Albrecht (1648–1699), Duke of Saxe-Coburg, married Princess Mary Elizabeth Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttelskaya (1638–1687), then Suzanne Elizaveta Kempinskaya (1643–1717), “Countess of Schwizicka and Altenhof”
• Bernhard I (1649–1706), Duke of Saxe-Meiningen , married to Princess Maria Gedwig of Hesse-Darmstadt (1647–1680), then to Princess Elizabeth Eleanor of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel (1658–1729)
• Henry (1650-1710), Duke of Saxe-Römgild , married to Princess Maria Elizabeth of Hesse-Darmstadt (1656-1715)
• Christian (1653–1707), Duke of Saxe-Eisenberg , married Princess Christiane of Saxe-Merseburg (1659–1679), then Princess Sofia of Hesse-Darmstadt (1661–1712)
• Dorothea Maria (1654–1682)
• Ernst (1655-1715), Duke of Saxe-Guildburghausen , married to Princess Sofia Henrietta of Waldeck (1662-1702)
• Johann Philip (1657)
• Johann Ernst (1658–1729), Duke of Saxe-Saalfeldsky , married Princess Sophia Gedwig of Saxe-Merseburg (1660–1686), then Countess Charlotte Johann Waldeck-Wildungen (1664–1699)
• Johanna Elizabeth (1660)
• Johann Philip (1661-1662)
• Sophia Elizabeth (1663)

• August Beck: Ernst der Fromme, Herzog zu Sachsen-Gotha und Altenburg , H. Böhlau, 1865, S. 754 ff. ( Digitalisat )
• Ludwig Storch: Das Fürstenhaus von Gotha , Erfurt 1826, S. 155 f.