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45-581: The Münzkabinett is one of the three largest numismatic collections in Germany. Its nearly 300,000 objects include coins from most countries of the world from antiquity to present day, historic and modern medallions, medals and insignia, historic bank notes and bonds, minting dies for coins and medals, seals, models, early forms of money, and minting machines and equipment. The Münzkabinett is a Landesmünzkabinett or official state collection, and has claim to any hoards of coins found on Saxon territory. The Münzkabinett

90-537: A cousin of Duke George. George, as the eldest son, received an excellent training in theology and other branches of learning, and was thus much better educated than most of the princes of his day. As early as 1488, when his father was in East Frisia fighting on behalf of the emperor, George was regent of the ducal possessions, which included the Margraviate of Meissen with the cities of Dresden and Leipzig . He

135-467: A cross-section of the various parts of the collection. They are presented in four chapters (rooms). For research work, the collection has a library of some 30,000 volumes. The library and a study room are open to the public. George, Duke of Saxony George the Bearded ( Meissen , 27 August 1471 – Dresden , 17 April 1539) was Duke of Saxony from 1500 to 1539 known for his opposition to

180-746: A famous coin collection in Europe. The collection became a universal one during the Baroque period. Beginning in the second half of the 18th century, the Münzkabinett also developed into an important German center of scholarly research. The collection was kept in Dresden Castle until 1743, when it was moved to the Taschenbergpalais . In 1786, it was transferred to the Japanisches Palais by Augustus III ,

225-545: A number of reforms were introduced, and Humanism , as opposed to Scholasticism , was encouraged. From the beginning of the Reformation in 1517, Duke George directed his energies chiefly to ecclesiastical affairs. Hardly one of the secular German princes held as firmly as he to the Church, he defended its rights and vigorously condemned every innovation except those countenanced by the highest ecclesiastical authorities. At first he

270-565: A rock above the confluence of the Elbe and Triebisch rivers to erect a new fortress, called Misni ( Meissen ) Castle after the nearby Meisa stream. The fortifications were renamed Albrechtsburg in the 15th century. A town soon developed around the castle. King Henry, however, made no attempts to Germanise the Slavs or to create a chain of burgwards around his fortress. Sat alone, like Brandenburg , with few defenses or towns around it; Meissen probably

315-518: Is also a center of scholarly research and has a public library of some 30,000 volumes. The Münzkabinett is one of Dresden’s oldest museums, dating back to the time of Duke George the Bearded (1500–1539). Over the centuries the collection has expanded through the constant acquisition of items by the Electors and Kings of Saxony. At the turn of the 18th century, the Dresden Münzkabinett was already

360-603: Is buried with his wife Barbara in the purpose-built Georgskapelle in Meissen Cathedral . The room contains a magnificent altarpiece by Lucas Cranach the Elder . In 1677 a highly ornate ceiling was added to the chapel, designed by Wolf Caspar von Klengel . George was married at Dresden, on 21 November 1496, to Barbara Jagiellon , daughter of Casimir IV, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania and Elisabeth, daughter of Albrecht II of Hungary . They had ten children, but all, with

405-619: The Carolingian Empire called Sorbian March ( Limes Sorabicus ), after Sorbian tribes of Polabian Slavs settling beyond the Saale river. In 849, a margrave named Thachulf was documented in the Annales Fuldenses . His title is rendered as dux Sorabici limitis , "duke of the Sorbian frontier", but he and his East Frankish successors were commonly known as duces Thuringorum , "dukes of

450-698: The Investiture Controversy in 1089. Emperor Henry IV then granted Meissen to Count Henry of Eilenburg of the Wettin dynasty. The margravate would remain under Wettin rule for the rest of its existence. Under Wiprecht von Groitzsch in the 1120s, Meissen underwent a process of Germanisation. He was succeeded by Conrad the Great (1123–56), Otto the Rich (1156–91), and Dietrich the Hard-Pressed (1191–1221), under whom

495-524: The League of Halle , formed in 1533, from which sprang in 1538 the Holy League of Nuremberg for the maintenance of the religious Peace of Nuremberg . The vigorous activity displayed by the duke in so many directions was not attended with much success. Most of his political measures stood the test of experience, but in ecclesiastico-political matters he witnessed with sorrow the gradual decline of Catholicism and

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540-558: The Reformation . While the Ernestine line embraced Lutheranism , the Albertines (headed by George) were reluctant to do so. Despite George's efforts to avoid a succession by a Lutheran upon his death in 1539, he could not prevent it from happening. Under the Act of Settlement of 1499, Lutheran Henry IV became the new duke. Upon his accession, Henry introduced Lutheranism as a state religion in

585-650: The Albertine lands of Saxony. Duke George was a member of the Order of the Golden Fleece . His father was Albert the Brave of Saxony , founder of the Albertine line of the Wettin family , his mother was Sidonie , daughter of George of Poděbrady , King of Bohemia . Elector Frederick the Wise , a member of the Ernestine branch of the same family, known for his protection of Luther , was

630-403: The Albertine line, while George's brother Heinrich became hereditary governor of Friesland. The Saxon occupation of Friesland, however, was by no means secure and was the source of constant revolts in that province. Consequently, Heinrich, who was of a rather inert disposition, relinquished his claims to the governorship, and in 1505 an agreement was made between the brothers by which Friesland

675-834: The East Frankish rulers; in 908 they were first campaigned by the Saxon prince Henry the Fowler , son of Duke Otto the Illustrious . By 928/29, the main Glomacze fortress on the Jahna river was destroyed and their lands up to the Dresden Basin incorporated into the Marca Geronis . In 928 and 929, during the final campaign against the Glomacze tribes, Henry the Fowler, East Frankish king since 919, chose

720-636: The Northern March were lost, and the German forces were pushed back west of the Elbe. Margrave Eckard I from Thuringia succeeded Rikdag as Margrave of Meissen in 985. His descendants of the Ekkeharding noble family would keep the margravial title until 1046. Upon his appointment, Eckard allied with Duke Mieszko I of Poland in order to reconquer Meissen Castle from Duke Boleslaus II of Bohemia whose forces occupied it

765-662: The Saxon electorate , in which they ultimately merged their margravial lands abandoning Meissen's status as an independent principality; though they retained the margravial title. In the late 15th century, the dynasty held a large contiguous territory between the Werra and Oder rivers. By the 1485 Treaty of Leipzig , however, the Upper Saxon lands were again divided between Frederick's grandsons Ernest ruling in Wittenberg and Albert , who took

810-585: The Saxon Eastern March. When the Marca Geronis was divided in 965 upon the death of Margrave Gero , Meissen became the center of a new march with the goal of controlling the local Slavic population. The first Meissen margrave, Wigbert , is mentioned in a 968 charter of the Archdiocese of Magdeburg . That same year, the Meissen fortress also became the see of the newly created Bishopric of Meissen . In 978,

855-671: The Saxon count Rikdag became the Margrave of Meissen , and incorporated the marches of Merseburg and Zeitz into Meissen. By 982, the territory of the march had extended as far as the Kwisa river to the east and as far as the slopes of the Ore Mountains to the south, where it shared a border with the Přemyslid duchy of Bohemia. In 983, following the defeat of Emperor Otto II at the Battle of Stilo ,

900-840: The Slavic Lutici tribes bordering eastern Saxony rebelled in the Great Slav Rising . The newly established bishoprics of Havelberg and Brandenburg as well as the March of Zeitz were overrun by Lutici tribes. Margrave Rikdag joined forces with the Margraves of Lusatia and the Northern March , the Bishop of Halberstadt , and the Archbishop of Magdeburg and defeated the Slavs in the gau of Balsamgau near Stendal . Nevertheless, large territories of

945-479: The Thuringians", as they set about establishing their power over the older Duchy of Thuringia in the west. The Sorbian march had already lost its importance around 900 AD; the last known margrave Poppo was deposed by King Arnulf in 892 and replaced with Conrad who continued to appear as a "Duke of Thuringia". Conrad himself was replaced by Burchard , whose title in 903 was marchio Thuringionum , "margrave of

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990-720: The Thuringians". Due to scarce sources, the geographical extent of the Frankish march east of the Saale is a matter of ongoing debate among historians; it may have reached up to the settlement area of the Slavic Glomacze ( Talaminzi ) tribes beyond the Mulde river, identified as eastern neighbours of the Sorbs by the Bavarian Geographer about 850. These territories were under constant attacks by

1035-708: The abuse of Indulgences and the annates . In 1525, he combined with his Lutheran son-in-law, Landgrave Philip of Hesse , and his cousin, the Elector Frederick the Wise, to suppress the revolt of the peasants , who were defeated near Frankenhausen in Thuringia . Some years later, he wrote a forcible preface to a translation of the New Testament issued at his command by his private secretary, Hieronymus Emser , as an offset to Luther's version. Lutheran books were confiscated by his order, wherever found, though he refunded

1080-457: The ardently desired council, from the action of which so much was expected. While awaiting its convocation, he thought to remove the more serious defects by a reform of the monasteries, which had become exceedingly worldly in spirit and from which many of the inmates were departing. He vainly sought to obtain from the Curia the right, which was sometimes granted by Rome , to make official visitations to

1125-553: The area of the modern German state of Saxony . It originally was a frontier march of the Holy Roman Empire , created out of the vast Marca Geronis ( Saxon Eastern March ) in 965. Under the rule of the Wettin dynasty , the margravate finally merged with the former Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg into the Saxon Electorate by 1423. In the mid 9th century, the area of the later margravate was part of an eastern frontier zone of

1170-733: The books and magazines which had also been taken. From 1959 until 2002, a selection of coins and medals was on view in the Albertinum . In the summer of 2002, the Münzkabinett finally moved to its place of origin, the Georgenbau of Dresden Castle. Until the permanent exhibition was installed in June 2015, the museum had been holding a series of temporary exhibitions in the Hausmannsturm (Hausmann Tower). The Münzkabinett exhibition shows around 3,300 objects, including rare and unique items, which represent

1215-416: The conventual institutions of his realm. His reforms were confined mainly to uniting the almost vacant monasteries and to matters of economic management, the control of the property being entrusted in most cases to the secular authorities. In 1525, Duke George formed, with some other German rulers, the League of Dessau , for the protection of Catholic interests. In the same way he was the animating spirit of

1260-453: The cost of the books. He proved himself in every way a vigorous opponent of the Lutherans, decreeing that Christian burial was to be refused to apostates, and recreant ecclesiastics were to be delivered to the bishop of Merseburg . For those, however, who merely held anti-catholic opinions, the punishment was only expulsion from the duchy. The duke deeply regretted the constant postponement of

1305-537: The division of the march, however it would reunite soon after each time. Meissen was often enlarged by marriage, purchase, or conquest, which is how it gained the rights to the burgraviate in 1426. In 1423, Margrave Frederick IV was assigned the heirless Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg , formerly held by the House of Ascania , by Emperor Sigismund in turn for his support against the Hussites . The Wettin rulers thereby entered into

1350-482: The duchy to Ferdinand , brother of Charles V . His sudden death prevented the carrying out of this intention. George was an industrious and energetic, if somewhat irascible ruler in the furtherance of the interests of his land and people. A faithful adherent of the Emperor and Empire, he accomplished much for his domain by economy, love of order and wise direction of activities of his state officials. The grief of his life

1395-406: The exception of a daughter, died before their father: In 1498, the emperor granted Albert the Brave the hereditary governorship of Friesland. At Maastricht , 14 February 1499, Albert settled the succession to his possessions, and endeavoured by this arrangement to prevent further partition of his domain. He died 12 September 1500, and was succeeded in his German territories by George as the head of

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1440-420: The government of the ducal territory proper. When regent, during the lifetime of his father, the difficulties arising from conflicting interests and the large demands on his powers had often brought the young prince to the verge of despair. In a short time, however, he developed decided ability as a ruler; on entering upon his inheritance he divided the duchy into governmental districts, took measures to suppress

1485-552: The intermediate Pleisseland around Altenburg in pawn. In 1307, the attempt by the Luxembourg king Henry VII to once again subdue the Margraves of Meissen failed with his defeat at the Battle of Lucka . By that time the margravate was de facto independent of any sovereign authority. In the following years, there would be joint rule of Meissen by multiple members of the Wettin dynasty at any given time. In 1382 and 1445, this even led to

1530-670: The march would expand and develop. By then, Meissen had become a stronghold of the Wettin dynasty, suspiciously eyed by the Hohenstaufen emperors who nevertheless were not able to deprive the margraves of their power. In 1264, during the War of the Thuringian Succession , Margrave Henry III asserted himself in the Landgraviate of Thuringia, where his uncle Henry Raspe had died childless. Between 1243 and 1255, Henry III had also acquired

1575-517: The opposition of the theological faculty of the university, he originated the Disputation of Leipzig , with the idea of helping forward the cause of truth, and was present at all the discussions. In 1521, at the Diet of Worms , when the German princes handed in a paper containing a list of "grievances" concerning the condition of the Church, George added for himself twelve specific complaints referring mainly to

1620-484: The robber-knights, and regulated the judicial system by defining and readjusting the jurisdiction of the various law courts. In his desire to achieve good order, severity, and the amelioration of the condition of the people, he sometimes ventured to infringe even on the rights of the cities. His court was better regulated than that of any other German prince, and he bestowed a paternal care on the University of Leipzig , where

1665-735: The son of Augustus II the Strong , along with the library and the collection of antiquities. In 1877, the Münzkabinett was moved back to the Dresden Castle. From 1911 until 1945, it was housed in the Chancellery Building, near the Stallhof yard. At the end of the war in 1945, the collection was confiscated by the Red Army and taken to the Soviet Union . It was returned to Dresden in 1958, but without

1710-464: The spread of Lutheranism within his dominions, in spite of his earnest efforts and forcible prohibition of the new doctrine. Furthermore, during George's lifetime his nearest relations his son-in-law Philip of Hesse, and his brother Heinrich, joined the Reformers. He spent the last years of his reign in endeavours to secure a Catholic successor, thinking by this step to check the dissemination of Lutheran opinions. The only one of George's sons then living

1755-425: The year before. When Eckard was assassinated in 1002, however, Mieszko's son, the Polish king Bolesław I Chrobry , took the occasion to conquer the margravial lands east of the Elbe and demanded the surrender of Meissen. The following German–Polish War ended with the 1018 Peace of Bautzen , whereby Meissen had to cede the Milceni region (later Upper Lusatia ) to Poland. In 1031 however, King Conrad II of Germany

1800-411: Was Luther's Reformation and what he regarded to be apostasy from the Old Faith. Of a strictly religious, although not narrow, disposition, he sought at any cost to keep his subjects from falling away from the Church, but his methods were sometimes questionable. Margraviate of Meissen The Margravate or Margraviate of Meissen ( German : Markgrafschaft Meißen ) was a medieval principality in

1845-402: Was able to reconquer the Milceni lands, which were returned to Meissen. In 1046, Count Otto of Weimar-Orlamünde became margrave, followed by Egbert II of the Brunonids upon his death in 1067. Egbert II entered into a longstanding conflict with Emperor Henry IV , because of which he had to renounce the Milceni lands to Duke Vratislaus II of Bohemia in 1076, and was finally deposed during

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1890-424: Was not opposed to Luther, but as time went on and Luther's aim became clear to him, he turned more and more from the Reformer, and was finally, in consequence of this change of attitude, drawn into an acrimonious correspondence in which Luther, according to some without any justification, heavily criticized the duke. The duke was not blind to the undeniable abuses existing at that time in the Church. In 1519, despite

1935-477: Was temporarily occupied by Bohemian forces from 936 onwards. The town beneath the fortress grew, however, eventually becoming one of the most important cities in the vast Marca Geronis , covering the Slavic lands east of the Saxon stem duchy . King Henry, and later on his son and successor Otto I , continued the Slavic campaigns into the lands of the Polabian Milceni tribes around Bautzen ( Budissin ), with their gained territory being gradually incorporated into

1980-459: Was the weak-minded and unmarried Frederick. The intention of his father was that Frederick should rule with the aid of a council. Early in 1539, Frederick was married to Elizabeth of Mansfeld , but he died shortly afterwards, leaving no prospect of an heir. According to the act of settlement of 1499, George's Protestant brother Heinrich was now heir prospective; but George, disregarding his father's will, sought to disinherit his brother and to bequeath

2025-542: Was transferred to George, while Heinrich received an annuity and the districts of Freiberg and Wolkenstein . But this arrangement did not restore peace in Friesland, which remained a source of trouble to Saxony. In 1515 George sold Friesland to the future Emperor Charles V (then Duke of Burgundy ) for the very moderate price of 100,000 florins. He tried to keep the newmade lands of het Bildt which weren't granted him by Charles V. These troubles outside of his Saxon possessions did not prevent George from bestowing much care on

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