John Ernest was a
DukeA duke is a member of the nobility, historically of highest rank below the monarch, and historically controlling a duchy. The title comes from the Latin Dux Bellorum, which had the sense of "military commander" and was employed by both the Germanic peoples themselves and by the Roman authors...
of
Saxe-CoburgSaxe-Coburg was a duchy held by the Ernestine branch of the Wettin dynasty in today's Bavaria, Germany.After the Division of Erfurt in 1572, Coburg was part of the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Eisenach, ruled by the Ernestine duke John Casimir jointly with his brother John Ernest. In 1596...
.
John Ernest was born in
CoburgCoburg is a town located on the Itz River in Bavaria, Germany. Its 2005 population was 42,015. Long one of the Thuringian states of the Wettin line, it joined with Bavaria by popular vote in 1920...
as the third (but second surviving and the youngest) son of
John, Elector of SaxonyJohn, Elector of Saxony, known as John the Steadfast or John the Constant was Elector of Saxony from 1525 until 1532...
, and Margarethe of Anhalt-Zerbst, his second wife. After the death of his father (1532), his half-brother, John Frederick I, assumed the title of Elector of Saxony; John Ernest took part with him in the rule over the
Electorate of SaxonyThe Electorate of Saxony or Duchy of Upper Saxony was an independent hereditary electorate of the Holy Roman Empire from 1356 to 1806...
.
In 1542 John Frederick I decided to rule alone, and ceded to John Ernest the
FranconiaFranconia is a region of Germany comprising the northern parts of the modern state of Bavaria, a part of southern Thuringia, and a much smaller region in northeastern Baden-Württemberg called Heilbronn-Franken...
n areas of the Wettin family lands (
CoburgCoburg is a town located on the Itz River in Bavaria, Germany. Its 2005 population was 42,015. Long one of the Thuringian states of the Wettin line, it joined with Bavaria by popular vote in 1920...
,
EisfeldEisfeld is a municipality in the district of Hildburghausen, in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated on the river Werra, 12 km east of Hildburghausen, and 19 km north of Coburg....
, etc.); but it was not until 1547 (after the
Battle of MühlbergThe Battle of Mühlberg was a large battle at Mühlberg in the Electorate of Saxony during the Protestant Reformation at which the Catholic princes of the Holy Roman Empire led by Emperor Charles V decisively defeated the Schmalkaldic League of Protestant princes under Elector John Frederick I of...
) when John Ernest could govern undisturbed in Coburg.
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John Ernest was a
DukeA duke is a member of the nobility, historically of highest rank below the monarch, and historically controlling a duchy. The title comes from the Latin Dux Bellorum, which had the sense of "military commander" and was employed by both the Germanic peoples themselves and by the Roman authors...
of
Saxe-CoburgSaxe-Coburg was a duchy held by the Ernestine branch of the Wettin dynasty in today's Bavaria, Germany.After the Division of Erfurt in 1572, Coburg was part of the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Eisenach, ruled by the Ernestine duke John Casimir jointly with his brother John Ernest. In 1596...
.
John Ernest was born in
CoburgCoburg is a town located on the Itz River in Bavaria, Germany. Its 2005 population was 42,015. Long one of the Thuringian states of the Wettin line, it joined with Bavaria by popular vote in 1920...
as the third (but second surviving and the youngest) son of
John, Elector of SaxonyJohn, Elector of Saxony, known as John the Steadfast or John the Constant was Elector of Saxony from 1525 until 1532...
, and Margarethe of Anhalt-Zerbst, his second wife. After the death of his father (1532), his half-brother, John Frederick I, assumed the title of Elector of Saxony; John Ernest took part with him in the rule over the
Electorate of SaxonyThe Electorate of Saxony or Duchy of Upper Saxony was an independent hereditary electorate of the Holy Roman Empire from 1356 to 1806...
.
In 1542 John Frederick I decided to rule alone, and ceded to John Ernest the
FranconiaFranconia is a region of Germany comprising the northern parts of the modern state of Bavaria, a part of southern Thuringia, and a much smaller region in northeastern Baden-Württemberg called Heilbronn-Franken...
n areas of the Wettin family lands (
CoburgCoburg is a town located on the Itz River in Bavaria, Germany. Its 2005 population was 42,015. Long one of the Thuringian states of the Wettin line, it joined with Bavaria by popular vote in 1920...
,
EisfeldEisfeld is a municipality in the district of Hildburghausen, in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated on the river Werra, 12 km east of Hildburghausen, and 19 km north of Coburg....
, etc.); but it was not until 1547 (after the
Battle of MühlbergThe Battle of Mühlberg was a large battle at Mühlberg in the Electorate of Saxony during the Protestant Reformation at which the Catholic princes of the Holy Roman Empire led by Emperor Charles V decisively defeated the Schmalkaldic League of Protestant princes under Elector John Frederick I of...
) when John Ernest could govern undisturbed in Coburg. After he died unmarried and childless in Coburg, the city fell for a few months to John Frederick — dismissed from the imperial detention — before his death, and then, to his three sons, which governed the Ernestine lands together from 1554 for some years.