Duchy of Saxony

Duchy of Saxony (and the Palatinate of Saxony)
804–1296
Left: Arms of Ascanians (from around 1000), who ruled the Duchy of Saxony last Right: Coat of arms of the Palatinate of Saxony (instituted in the southern part of the duchy)
Attributed arms of the Duchy of Saxony The Saxon Steed[Note 1]
Saxony around 1000 CE, within the German Kingdom
Status	Stem duchy of the Carolingian Empire (843–911) of East Francia (911–962) State of the Holy Roman Empire (from 962)
Capital	None (ducal) Allstedt (seat of the Palatinate)
Official languages	Latin
Common languages	Old Saxon Middle Low German
Religion	Roman Catholic (official) Germanic paganism
Historical era	Middle Ages
• Conquest of Charlemagne	804
• Welf ascendancy	1137
• Expanded by conquest	1142
• Welfs deposed, Ascanians enfeoffed with severely belittled duchy	1180
• John I and Albert II co-rulers	1260
• Competences divided	1269, 1272 and 1282
• Definite partition into Saxe-Lauenburg and Saxe-Wittenberg	1296
• Wittenberg Ascanian line extinct; reunification failed	1422
Preceded by Succeeded by Old Saxony Saxe-Wittenberg Saxe-Lauenburg Westphalia Oldenburg Anhalt Blankenburg Bremen Münster Hildesheim Tecklenburg Holstein Hoya Magdeburg Verden Lübeck Minden Lippe Brunswick-Lüneburg Ratzeburg
Today part of	Germany

The Duchy of Saxony (Low German: Hartogdom Sassen) was originally the area settled by the Saxons in the late Early Middle Ages, when they were subdued by Charlemagne during the Saxon Wars from 772 AD and incorporated into the Carolingian Empire (Francia) by 804. Upon the 843 Treaty of Verdun, Saxony was one of the five German stem duchies of East Francia; Duke Henry the Fowler was elected German king in 919.

Upon the deposition of the Welf duke Henry the Lion in 1180, the ducal title fell to the House of Ascania, while numerous territories split from Saxony, such as the Principality of Anhalt in 1218 and the Welf Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg in 1235. In 1296, the remaining lands were divided between the Ascanian dukes of Saxe-Lauenburg and Saxe-Wittenberg, the latter obtaining the title of Electors of Saxony by the Golden Bull of 1356.
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