History of Saxony

The history of Saxony traces the changing peoples, territories, and governments associated with the name, from early Saxon communities to the modern German state of Saxony.

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Saxons: A Germanic people whose communities lived around the North Sea and later across parts of central Europe. Their name became attached to multiple territories, including the region later called Saxony.
Wettin dynasty: A German princely house that ruled Saxony and other central European territories for centuries. Wettin inheritance and rule shaped Saxony’s political divisions and territorial growth.
Reformation in Saxony: The spread of Protestant reform in Saxon territories during the sixteenth century. Saxon protection helped Martin Luther’s reform movement survive and expand.
Lower Saxony: A modern German state in northwestern Germany, established in 1946. Its territory is distinct from the eastern lands of the modern state of Saxony.
Old Saxony: The homeland of the continental Saxons, centered in what is now northwestern Germany. It distinguishes the early Saxon homeland from the eastern territory that inherited the name.
Electorate of Saxony: A state of the Holy Roman Empire whose ruler held the right to elect the emperor. Its elevation to an electorate gave Saxon rulers exceptional influence in imperial politics.
Martin Luther: A German theologian whose writings initiated the Protestant Reformation in the early sixteenth century. His protection by Frederick the Wise tied the Reformation’s early history to Saxony.
Saxony-Anhalt: A modern German state in central Germany, formed after German reunification in 1990. Its name reflects historical Saxon territories, but it is a separate state from Saxony.
Duchy of Saxony: A medieval duchy in the eastern Frankish and later Holy Roman Empire, ruled by the Saxon dynasty and others. Its shifting boundaries established Saxony as a major medieval political territory.
Albertine and Ernestine Saxony: The two principal Wettin branches formed by the division of Saxon lands in 1485. Their partition explains why Saxon territories followed distinct political paths.