Christian I Saxe-Merseburg

Christian was the sixth child (the third surviving) of the Saxon elector Johann George I and his second wife Magdalena Sibylla of Prussia . As the youngest son, he had little chance of succession of the Elector; instead, in 1650, he was appointed by his father to manage the lands of the former Merseburg bishopric confiscated during the Reformation .

In his will, drawn up on July 20, 1652, Johann Georg pointed out that after his death, his three youngest sons should receive second-generation possessions. On September 30, 1653, Christian departed with his wife and children to Merseburg , and formed his own courtyard there, which soon reached a population of 150 people. In 1655, he joined the Fruitful Society .

On October 8, 1656, Elector Johann George I passed away. The funeral took place on January 27, 1657, and on April 22, 1657 Christian entered into formal management of his lands - by will he received the cities of Merseburg, Bad Lauchstedt , Shkoydits , Lutzen and Zwenkau with their castles, half of the cities of Brena and Zerbig , as well as the Margraine of the Netherlands (with cities and castles of Lübben , Doberlug , Finsterwalde , Huben , Luccau , Kalau and Spremberg ). So the duchy of Saxe-Merseburg was formed .

When the Bieberstein clan was suppressed on January 9, 1668, Christian became overlord of Forst with all its castles and villages, including Döburn in the Elector of Saxony, which led to a dispute with his brother, Elector of Saxony Johann George II . On August 11, a division of new territories was made: the cities Delic and Bitterfeld (received by Christian in 1660), as well as Zerbig (who returned to Christian in 1681) were returned to the electorate.

Being dissatisfied with the decision of his father, Johann George II was afraid that the division of land by testament would lead to the collapse of the Elector. After the negotiations on April 22, 1657, a “friendly fraternal pact” was concluded in Dresden, and in 1663 an additional treaty was concluded. These documents described sovereign rights allocated to each of the sons of the territory; the heads of the sidelines recognized the sovereignty of the elector. However, when in 1680 Johann George III became the new elector, he tried to return the lands, having canceled the upsets of uncles and cousins. For the rest of his life, Christian lived under the threat of an open conflict with the elector's nephew.

On November 19, 1650, Christian married in Dresden Christian Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburgskogo , daughter of Philip Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburgskogo . They had 11 children:

• Magdalena Sofia (1651-1675)
• Johann Georg (1652-1654)
• Christian II (1653–1694), inherited the duchy
• August (1655-1715), received Zerbig
• stillborn son (1656)
• Philip (1657–1690), received Lauchstedt
• Christian (1659–1679), married Christian Saxe-Eisenberg
• Sophia Gedwig (1660–1686), married Johann Ernst Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeldsky
• Henry (1661-1738), married to Elizabeth of Mecklenburg-Gustrow , received Spremberg, and subsequently inherited the entire duchy
• Moritz (1662-1664)
• Sibylla Maria (1667–1693), married Christian Ulrich I of Württemberg-Els

• Christian I of Saxe-Merseburg in the Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie